Today at the gym I was on the elliptical machine and there was an older woman in front of me who had really short hair. I wouldn’t have noticed, apart from the large tattoo on her neck of a pink “Care Bears” fully exposed given the short hair.
If she doesn’t already, my guess is she will someday regret getting that tattoo.
So at that moment I started thinking about regrets.
I’ve got some and so do you.
For some that say “I have no regrets”, I know it sounds fashionably independent and confident–almost brash and brave. But it also says that they probably aren’t thinking hard enough about their past or their memories are too short.
When it comes down to it, I think we all have regrets. Often, decisions are based on whether we think we’ll have a regret or not as a consequence.
Years ago I was working at the corporate offices of Eli Lilly in Indianapolis in a Marketing role. Many of my peers had MBA’s from the top tier schools, and I remember working with some exceptionally talented people. Say what you what about Pharma/Biotech (and I do think, generally, the health care model is broken with many of these companies), but they generally have
exceptionally talented people that work in the corporate offices.
There were a few corporate guys like me who had risen up to a corporate role from the field sales position, but we were always a little bit different than the “MBA employees.” At least that’s how I felt at times–but it didn’t hold me back and it really didn’t bother me, I always acknowledged the value of higher education. Except for one time I remember getting pretty rankled, as I heard with great clarity and ringing words in my ears as one Duke MBA brat told me “nobody without an MBA has the ability to work in Business Development” (which, ironically, I later did, though with a different company).
This statement alone made me want to NOT get my MBA and prove him wrong. But that response only lasted a few minutes, and truth be told I had been wrestling with the idea of
whether to pursue an MBA.
In fact, I had a three pronged decision: 1) Bypass the MBA and just continue getting some incredible work experiences and climbing the ladder; 2) Continue w/ the great work experiences but give up a lot of my personal life for a few
years and go to a part time MBA program; 3) Go to a stellar full time MBA program, giving up my full time job, so I could focus all my energies on education.
One of the great things about a large Company like Eli Lilly is the wealth of knowledge and intellectual horsepower that exists and is freely available. I worked really hard to perform while there, but I also worked equally hard to learn. And during that time I had outstanding mentors. So I used the vast network of people during the course of four months and I set up about a dozen different meetings with various colleagues to pick their brain about MBA programs and get different perspectives so I could make my own decision and take a best course of action. It was a big decision for me.
Invariably, almost without exception, I learned three things when trying to assess a no-go, PT, or FT MBA program decision.
1. Those who didn’t go to get their MBA generally didn’t think it that useful or “needed” in order to succeed. So they didn’t really recommend it.
2. Those that went part time were convinced that getting a part time MBA was the best approach, that getting an MBA was vitally important but not enough so that you should leave the workforce and miss out on those workplace experiences.
3. Those that went full time were equally convinced that getting an MBA was not only vital, but that you really “must” go through a full time program at a top tier school.
This proves a bit of the problem with selection bias. I learned a lot from these informational meetings, but ultimately the advice-giver couldn’t generally divorce themselves from personal bias–and people usually want to validate their own personal decisions.
My final information-gathering meeting was with a mentor of mine named Joe. We talked for about an hour, he had an easy and casually conversant style–peppered with lots of questions about my goals and aspirations, but he also did a great job of sharing with me various experiences and some of the pros and cons of my decisions as he saw it.
In fact, he was so objective that I can’t even recall if he had an MBA or not. He was one of the few that didn’t have such a strong personal bias. And as much as I liked the advice and his mentorship, what we discussed during the 59 minutes didn’t really help me as much as what he said in the final one minute.
As we were closing the dialgue, he made a statement so simple but provided such exceptional clarity that I remember this being the tipping point of my decision to go and pursue and MBA. Joe said the following simple statement in both a confident and reassuring way:
“Raz, I have no question that if you go back and get your MBA that you’ll never regret it. Never.”
And oddly enough, that’s all I needed to hear.
Hours and hours of deliberation and dialogue suddenly flew out the window, and I knew EXACTLY what I was supposed to do. So quickly thereafter I enrolled in a fantastic part-time MBA program while also continuing with the great experiences at Lilly (which also led to another more diverse set of experiences in Manhattan at a start-up and other adventures, for another blog entry).
What crystallized the decision for me was the simple acknowledgment and affirmation from a trusted mentor that I would never regret the decision to go back to school to get my MBA. That’s it. Clearly, a large part of my decision was driven by ambition and a thirst for learning and personal/professional development; but another part of it was driven by a very simple motive: not wanting to have any regrets.
And that’s the simple message of today that, while seeing a pink bear tattoo while working out on the elliptical machine, initiated all these thoughts that tie back to where we are today. I think the question goes through everybody’s mind at some time: “Do I really want to work in Relationship Marketing? And, if so, do I want to do it with Univera?”
Today, when it comes to this industry and our Company, I think the best advice I can give comes directly from a mentor of mine years ago.
If you join us on this journey, it’s a decision that I’m confident that you’ll never regret.
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We’re never too far in life to make big decisions – family, education, personal growth.
I regret (although that’s kind of a harsh word!) a lot of stuff, but it’s made me who I am today.