Mentorskap

Jag forskar skolor och går på möten för tillfället, med mig har jag en äldre gentleman som är god vän med min VD och tillika professor på en av skolorna jag tittat närmare på. Han heter Tom och är lång och förfärligt trevlig.

Jag gillar trevliga människor.

Idag skickade jag ett mail till Tom med en del funderingar jag hade efter ett lunchmöte igår, jag undrade om han tyckte det var en bra idé att någon som jag skulle gå på handelsskola egentligen, jag kan ju ingenting om entreprenörsskap och affärer när man tänker närmare på saken. Så här svarade han:

Charlotte, Charlotte, Charlotte …..

We engineers are great because we think methodically. We plan. We measure everything. We deduce things from other things. We are logical. We make decisions solely based on fact usually with huge complex spreadsheets showing benefits and risks so that we can feel confident we made the right decision. That is the beauty of who we are.

It is also our curse because sometimes, while we analyze things to death, the world passes us by because we fail to see the obvious. I have been asked to coach senior executives at several companies, the analytical ones have their career path mapped out for years. They know where they want to go and have a clear path on how to get there. Many times these people get absolutely nowhere and that is because unknown doors have opened as they go along their path and because those doors were not in their plan, the failed to explore them. My best advice for career planning (it happened to me many times) is to always go into open doors, that is where opportunity lies. Detailed plans assume that the world stays stationary.

So what does this have to do with you? This opportunity for you to get your MBA at an American University is a door opportunity for you. Everything is in your favor.

• 21 months from now you will know how an American businessperson thinks (good or bad)
• You have a boss that is encouraging you to go (very unusual)
• You have a boss who is going to pay for the whole thing (unheard of these days)
• You will develop a whole new bunch of friends not connected with Sectra
• The number and types of jobs available to you opens up 100 fold (technical, business, finance, marketing)
• UNH will accept you with little application hassle (no GMATs and the like)
• UNH is very close by meaning little lost time commuting
• You can earn a graduate degree while working

The list is endless. As for whether you will be able to keep up, I know the students. Trust me when I say that you will be in the top 10% of all the students. You impress me as a very bright articulate young lady who really has her act together. Sectra would never have hired you is you weren’t really smart, Sectra hires only the best and brightest. As for timing, I don’t know your personal situation
but I think you are single, this is a real plus. Many of the students are married with 3-4 children; they work a job, work with their families and also go to school to get their MBA. At least you don’t have many of the family responsibilities that you may have later in your life which makes the decision much more complex.

Opportunity knocks Charlotte. Apply. You will not regret it, 21 months from now, you will be thanking me.

Put that into you differential equation, rocket scientist.

... Jag misstänker att jag kanske har hittat en slags mentor.