More ramblings….
In my last journal entry I mentioned that I had doubts about my ability throughout the next few weeks to develop a plan to become a better leader. While I still have no clue how I will develop such a plan it suddenly seems much less important. Having just concluded the readings for this week with, Do Your Commitments, Match Your Convictions?, I am suddenly not so concerned. What I realize is at the very least, my time in this course will help me develop a better life plan – it will help me develop a plan to make sure that I am doing the things that will make me the happiest. While I still do not know if that will help me be a better leader, I don’t really care.
In the past few months I have struggled with several life decisions. When my employer canceled our tuition assistance program, in a fit of anger I decided, “I’m going to pull my graduation date ahead to August 2009 and recruit for full time positions this fall”. While I didn’t really know what I wanted to do with my professional life (only mostly true…but that is another story), I have always somehow been drawn to consulting so I decided that would be my primary focus. I started meeting with an extraordinary group of people to prepare for case interviews which led me to learn a few things about myself. First, I was incredibly unprepared for recruiting. I had not put in any time networking, I was behind the curve on interview prep and I didn’t really understand the differences between firms so I struggled to find the best fit. After much deliberation I decided to delay recruiting until next fall and graduate in December 2009 as originally planned. I now am dabbling with the possibility of taking a leave of absence from work and trying for a consulting internship, however that has yet to be decided.
So is consulting the right choice? Would I be better off in a Leadership Development / Rotational Program? I don’t know. I actually think that longer term, I see myself getting a PhD and teaching. When students at Ross ask their peers which classes they should take, two courses are recommended more than any others, Advanced Competitive Tactics with Ahuja, and Strategies for Growth with Karnani. I loved Professor Ahuja’s course, however it was Professor Karnani (whom I consider to be my long lost Indian brother) who first made me realize that being a professor may be my calling. I watched the way he taught, challenging the way we approached problems. On a weekly basis I felt myself change, I started thinking differently. I started approaching problems more systematically and asking more questions. One might argue that I became even more obnoxious; however I do not see this as a bad thing. Over the course of 7 weeks I feel that I grew immensely and there is a large part of me that believes that shaping future business leaders may bring about a level of satisfaction that I will not find in corporate life. While I certainly do not expect this course will answer these types of questions for me, I am hopeful that I will be able to weave a lot of this thinking into my leadership development plan.
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