Diversity

I've always believed that experiencing diversity teaches us to think outside of the box. Being exposed to more of the same curtails thinking to dynamics we have already seen, and reinforces our notions that the world is static or unchallengable.

I chose to do an MBA to understand and underpin my experiences as a manager at Arthur Andersen and to build a new pillar of competence for my work going forward. As a technologist it initially seemed that more or different technology could solve any problem or be the sole driver for opportunity. Not so, as the MBA taught, many other factors are a far greater issue.

While it would have been easy for me to study in the UK, doing so would not have addressed my life goal of seeing as much of the world as possible. Eventually I chose Melbourne Business School, Australia for my studies; I then exchanged into the University of Toronto, Canada for my third term. (In fact, I ended up swapping a course with McMaster University as I particularly wanted to focus on Knowledge Management). I feel that I have certainly met a great number of friends during my travels!

Essays

The MBA teaches you many skills, essay writing being one that I particularly enjoyed. Soon I will list a small selection of some of the essays I wrote while I was studying:

• WiFiHeaven^?:
• Business And World Trade: A not-so-comfortable shift to comparative advantage
• Business Strategy: An analysis of Intrawest
• Implementation of Strategy: An analysis of IBM
• Managing Innovation:

Course Notes

In addition, I kept all of my MBA notes on a publically facing wiki. The notes are only meant to be for my comprehension but you might find something useful. http://mbawiki.com.

Extracurricular Activities

My main contribution to student life was at Melbourne Business School where I founded and organised the student council website. http://mbssrc.com

MBS does not have a public list of their graduates, but I was mentioned on http://www.student.mbs.edu/main.cfm?pid=356 when I got elected onto student council - search for my name.

Observations on the MBA

• ShouldResearchersTeach?