MBA Talk at Globis University

Last week, I attended the talk at Globis University titled "Will an MBA Make You Happy?" For those who don't know, Globis University (http://e.globis.co.jp/en/gg/) is a management school whose students are typically salarymen or salarywomen (salaryladies?) working in Tokyo, Osaka, and Nagoya. Just recently, the school launched an English-language MBA program called International MBA program (http://imba.globis.ac.jp/index.html) aimed at both Japanese and foreign people working in the Tokyo area. This program is what interested me to attend the talk.

The speakers were Philip Broughton and Daisuke Iwase; both wrote books about their MBA experience at Harvard Business School (HBS). Before entering Harvard, Philip was a successful journalist at the Daily Telegraph. The uncertain future of the newspaper industry and one life-altering experience of being a direct witness to the 9/11 event in New York are several factors that led him to apply to B-school. He told the audience that he wanted more control over his life/career, which sounded entreprenurial. Despite his lack of technical background, he had a fruitful time at HBS. Perhaps many people were surprised to hear that he did not land a six-figure salary at a bank or consulting firm after graduation. Instead, he chose to be a freelance writer, a work that he loves although the pay may not be as good. The Japanese speaker, Daisuke, is an equally interesting character with the same entreprenurial mind. After graduating from Harvard, instead of joining the pack, he helped founding Lifenet Life Insurance Company. Going to a B-school, he said, is like going to the gym, an interesing comparison. It is up to the user what kind of tools and how much exercise s/he wants to use/do.

Obviously, there is no straightforward answer to the question "Will an MBA make you happy?" In the US, a lot of MBA graduates would aim for high-bonus jobs on Wall St. In Japan, however, getting an MBA most likely will not lead to a huge jump in salary, especially in the current economic reality. So getting a part-time MBA with company support seems to make more sense. While studying at HBS, initially both speakers did not feel certain about they were going to do after graduation (even HBS students are mere mortals). When not learning the technical jargons and making connections, it may help if one can spend a bit of time to dig deep and do some soul-searching. And maybe write a book or at least a blog to share with the uniniated...