Monday, January 31, 2011

You got your MBA, huh?

An MBA can be a valuable piece of currency. That is one reason I decided to pursue one, in addition to the education and mountain of student loan debt I would accrue along the way.

The worlds of LinkedIn and Twitter can offer creative interpretations of what an MBA is. One LinkedIn user in my network claimed that he got his "MBA" (his quotes) while working on the road as a tour and team manager for a skateboard company. A guy I follow on Twitter an respect for what he has done in the business world recently tweeted that he "got (his) 'MBA' last night from knowledge dropped from" the founder of a large company he works for. (I know he doesn't read this, but I'll protect his identity anyway). Heck, the founder of his company deserves a ton of props because he has built a successful, wildly profitable company that markets its products better than almost anyone in the world. I would love to have a chat too.

The issue is the idea that a 45 minute chat constitutes an MBA. An MBA is not just some inside information. It is a series of seminars with different business professionals from different backgrounds. It takes years to complete, full dedication, and over a thousand hours of work when it's all said and done. It is meant to prepare one for any business situation that may arise, not unlike a law degree prepares one for any legal situation. You don't hear people claiming they got a JD after having coffee with Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Please stop this, people. No doubt you have had experiences that are probably much more valuable than what is offered in business school, but you don't have an MBA. If you mean it as a joke it's a dumb one, and the joke is on you.

Elitist rant ends here.

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Searching for things that don't exist

I enjoy people, especially smart ones.

Paulo Coelho wrote "The Alchemist" and other rather quixotic novels, and he always seems to have a (sometimes annoying) positive message on Twitter. However, I enjoy Mr. Coelho. So do 4.2 million other tweeters. He interviewed Napster founder, early facebook contributor and guy-who-was-played-by-Justin-Timberlake, Sean Parker.

Parker and Coelho discuss facebook, The Social Network and happiness in general. Coelho and Parker ask each other if they are happy. Instead of dishing out some boiler plate bullshit on happiness being the only thing that matters, seeking the light, etc, Coelho says,

"No. I'm never happy... It was not one of my goals to be happy. One of my goals in life was to have challenges. It was to have joy. At the end of the day it was to have fun, which I have and I'm sure you have... in the sense that you and I are never satisfied. We need the next step, the next mountain to climb."

I like this. It's simple to make happiness a goal, but that is like making wellness a goal without focusing on our health.

People like Paulo live in a state of perpetual dissatisfaction. I feel like I constantly need challenges as well to attain any state of happiness. I will never surf as good as I think I can. I will never travel to enough places or have enough knowledge of all the things I am passionate about. My career goals are impossible to define and thus impossible to achieve.

I know how to find happiness and simple satisfaction. I am easily pleased, but I am looking for more. I am working toward something I will never get and I don't plan on changing that any time soon.