I sincerely feel bad about this.  The people in my group seem to be really smart and spend a bunch of time on the homework problems and I totally admire them for that.  I usually saunter into the group meeting with absolutely no work completed come and totally sponge off of their hard work and and intelligence.  And then just when I’m about to give up and officially quit this program, I start to get it.

But here’s the main issue: I just can’t stand to sit down and read an accounting text book.  I simply can’t do it.  Put me in a room with some people to talk about it, I’m fine with that.  I just can’t read it.  And I pretty much refuse to do homework too.

This isn’t new.  I was a total slacker in high school and college – at least in the classes I didn’t want to take.  But in my professional life, I consider myself to be “on the ball”.  I rarely procrastinate, and always get my shit done.  So, now that I’m back in a school environment and have a positive team experiences under my belt, I actually feel guilty about being a piece of shit teammate.

But we’re also reading a book called “Go Find Your Strengths” and the main point of it is to focus on what you’re good at and screw the rest of the stuff you don’t like and/or aren’t good at.  This seems like a good idea to me, since I gots no accounting skillz.

According to this book, we’re trained to focus on our weaknesses as we progress through life, which leads to us not effectively contributing to the team we’re on.  Sounds like a plan to me.  Also sounds like I better bring my “A” game when it comes to the Marketing portion of our program.

The good news is that I have pretty much an unlimited supply of beer and I’m hoping I can keep them happy that way.

Financial Accounting:

I learned that different companies “realize” their revenue at different points in the process – usually whatever is beneficial for their bottom line.  LIFO is Last in First out and FIFO is First in First Out.  Most companies use the LIFO process, but everyone is going to be screwed in 2011 when everyone has to change from GAAP (Generally Accepeted Accounting Practices) to IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standards) because IFRS doesn’t allow LIFO.

Leadership Intelligence:

One of the authors of Life Entreprenuers, Gregg Vanourek was our guest speaker this week.  The crux of Gregg’s talk was the merging of a person’s core identity with their passion to develop a “Life/Business Integration”.  In other words: Knowing your core values + integrating your passion and your profession = The Good Life.

It’s a pretty simple concept, but those are usually the best ones.  The tough part is to visualize what this means for you and how you activate it.  The problem for me is that it got me thinking that I’ve already got it pretty good, which led to me questioning why I am sitting in a classroom one day a week and taking on all of this outside work for the next 18 months – but I won’t bore you with all of those details again.

What about the Personal MBA?

Yeah, I looked into that, but part of what I liked about a true MBA program is the sharing of challenges, feedback, insights and ideas.  It’s actually the main reason why I chose Daniels/DU – their class sessions just seemed to have a better vibe than the other schools I checked out.  People actually seemed happy to be there.

What windows do I want to this open for me?

I’ll answer this two ways:

Personally, I’m at a point where I want to learn.  i have a pretty good grasp of my industry (beer) and I think I have a pretty good understanding of my field (marketing).

Professionally, I want to be able to run a business someday and by working at a small company, I’ve been able to pinpoint my weaknesses.  When I worked for a larger company, we were asked to do one thing: marketing.  That’s pretty easy.  At a smaller company, I am more involved with production/operations, HR and Accounting.  I’ve picked up a few things in the last two years, but I want to be better.

Will it destroy my life?

No, because I’m not going to let it.  I’m going to put in the work, but the rest of my life won’t stop.  I just can’t function like that.

Is it worth giving up immediate gratification to reach my goal.

I’m going to flip that question a little and say that I am going to look at school AS my immediate gratification.  I was starting to psych myself out and then I realized that I want to do this, so why question it so much?  I’ve also decided that based on my needs and desires, I’m looking at this like an 18 month seminar.  Learning is the primary objective.  Grades and a certificate are completely secondary.  By thinking of it this way, it allows me to think of the process in a completely different light – and one that is far less daunting.

Thanks again for the comments.  They helped.  Now I gotta get back to my homework.

I’ve been thinking about this for the last few days and here are the pros and cons I’ve come up with:

I’ll start with the cons of doing the EMBA program:

• I know what my weaknesses are: Accounting, Finance and every can always learn to be a better leader.  I’m sure that I could piece together my own curriculum and learn a lot of these things on my own time and on my own terms.
• I don’t NEED an MBA.  I love my job and it’s not like I need to get this degree to get a promotion or a new job.
• I like watching football.

Pros:

• From what people tell me, it’s more about the journey than the classes themselves.  The real value in this particular program is hearing the successes, challenges and point of view of others in the class.
• I was previously freaking out about the workload.  I’ve talked to a lot of people who have been thru similar programs and they tell me that it’s harder to fail than it is to get an “A”.

If I move forward with this, I will have to set my boundaries.  I’ll set aside a certain number of hours to dedicate to schoolwork and once I reach that, then I’ve fulfilled my obligation.  If I do that, I can deal with the results – whatever they are.

BTW, I totally respect the people that have been able to do an EMBA program, or any kind of MBA for that matter.  It’s a huge commitment and takes a lot of discipline.

So, what do you think?  Should I stay or should I quit. Vote here.

Orientation was 2.5 days of lectures, campus tours, classrooms, panel discussions, group meals, awkward introductions and an assortment of other mandatory type stuff.  Looked like school, smelled like school. I think it was school.

By all accounts, the next 18 months are going to be a complete roller coaster.  One minute, I was totally energized by learning something new or taking in a good conversation, the next I had internal panic thinking about the scars I’m left with from Freshman Algebra.

Over the weekend, I kept hearing:

• It’s a lot of hard work
• You’ll miss it when you’re done
• Don’t worry about grades – concentrate on learning
• You must keep a 3.0 or you’re on probation
• Whoa, what was that? I gotta keep a 3.0?

All in all, it sounds like a fraternity Hell Week that keeps on giving… for 18 months.  Back then they kept telling us that it will be “the best week you’ll never want to do again.”  Not showering for 5 days and public humiliation is one thing, but reading 5 chapters on Assets, Liabilities and Stockholder’s Equity is another story.

Overall, my thought process is this: I’m definitely not the smartest person who has ever entered this program, but I’m not the dumbest either.  I’m just going to find my home in the middle and do my thing.  After all, the guy who finishes last in his Med School class can call himself “Doctor”.

I know the SEMO photo is a little fuzzy, but isn’t it amazing, how I look exactly the same?  I know!

But school on the other hand, seems to be completely different.

Maybe it’s the shitty college I went to for under-grad – but it seemed like it was student vs. professor back then.  I remember their attitude being (asshole voice) “you better learn this shit or you’re fucked”.  Now it’s more like (nice comforting voice) “hey, we’re in this together. we want you to be comfortable..”

Of course I’ve only been to 1 of 3 days of orientation, so things could change quite a bit when the real classes start.  At that point it could go back to (jerkoff voice): “ok, pop quiz, maggots.  i hope you read all 17 chapters!”