Seven Life Lessons You Will Never Learn in an MBA Class

Experience, they say is the best teacher and when it comes to life; what better teacher can beat life
experiences themselves? Remember, experience is also a school of hard knocks so better learn it from others. Here’s a summary of life lessons a former MBA student documented.

1. Networking: If there’s anything I’ve learned in the 2 months since I’ve been out of school, it’s that I didn’t know a thing about networking. The only thing I learned about networking in business school is that it was important. The reality is, like most things in life, networking is a skill you have to develop. One of the things I made conscious effort to do was to follow the networking strategies of books like Brian Tracy’s Luck Factor and Never Eat Alone.
Perhaps the best networking advice I’d ever come across was volunteering for organizations in your area of professional interest. I started to do that and the interview I had today was purely the byproduct me recognizing the hiring manager’s name when I checked him in at an event. The next day he emailed me about the position even though I didn’t get a chance to
talk to him at the event.
The other important realization I’ve come to is that networking is something you should be doing whether you have a job or not. I’m in the position I’m in because I didn’t network in my last semester at business school the way I should have.

2. Ego: There really is no class in
business school that teaches you how destructive the power of your ego is, although there should be. I made an error in judgment early in my business school career, which completely changed the trajectory of my MBA experience. I indirectly violated someone’s trust and never managed to earn it back. My ego-driven desire to get ahead was what caused that decision and in the long run, it didn’t even pay off.

3. Enlightenment : I’d love to see the
day when a business school offers a course on enlightenment. Just imagine a bunch of MBA students sitting in a room meditating and contemplating life while the professor appears to be some sort of monk. This kind of coursework is highly unlikely, but enlightenment is an important quality of all important leaders. In fact at the top of Maslow’s Hierarchy is self-actualization and thus in my mind essential to effective leadership.

4. Goal Setting: To say that business school doesn’t teach us how to set goals might seem ridiculous to some. But, if you ask some MBA students what they want to do they will most likely reply “find a job after graduation and make 6 figures.” While that’s a noble goal it’s really more like a task. It’s only through my study of personal development that I’ve come to understand the power of goal setting.
If MBA programs offered a course on goal accomplishment for one semester, it’d be really interesting to see how much more effective people would be. If I could go back and do it again, I would have kept a visible reminder of my goals somewhere all during business school.

5. Perseverance: Nobody teaches you this in business school. This is a lesson that you can only get through the school of Life. Unfortunately we’ve been conditioned to believe failure is bad. But it’s times like these you have to remember that Michael Jordan said” “I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”

6. Detachment: If we could master on skill that would forever change the quality of our life experience is becoming detached from outcomes Business school is a goal driven environment where everybody is trying to get a good job, make good money, and end up doing what they love. So being detached from all outcomes would be almost looked down upon.
However, if we did become detached we would find peace of mind inside ourselves that would allow us to sail through our personal and professionallives.

7. Patience: Wayne Dyer, in A Course in Miracles says somewhere that “Infinite patience leads to immediate results.” I personally am not the most patient person in the world. But, there is something I’ve noticed in my moments of patience. Usually after I
surf, I’m often stuck in traffic, but I’m so wiped out and mellowed out that I’m completely patient no matter how bad the traffic is. This kind of peace where nothing phases you is an ideal place to'operate from.

Coudtesy: theskooloflife.com

Jobless Conmen Preying on Kenyan Job-Seekers

Thousands of Kenyans are seeking jobs and yes, it gets to the point of desperation with the cost of living rising every single day. Another bunch of jobless conmen have devised ways to take advantage of the vulnerable job seekers by setting up fake companies advertising for jobs and exploiting money from them via M-Pesa and other mobile money transfers.

One of these conmen recently preyed on a friend of mine and after loosing her money and wasting time, she decided to share the information, so we can help other job seekers recognize the tricks of these guys. First of all, they sent her an SMS saying they found her number on OLX and that they were recruiting:

Now, here are a few things to note –these guys have gone a step further to make their business look legit by using Google’s free website service, KBO.CO.KE which is highly ranked on Google. This tricks the job seeker to imagine that this is a legit company with a good history and investment. These guys will often create multiple websites since it is free and eventually when they are exposed they will move to using a different name.

My friend who was desperate for a job was excited and went ahead to contact them. She went to the website and sent her CV to the provided email and eventually, they contacted her and told her that she had been shortlisted. Eventually she was asked to go for an interview but they needed a full medical report from her or she pays Kshs. 500 via M-Pesa so that it can be done at the day of the interview. This she sent the money, just like most Kenyans would, we rarely have full medical reports.

The money was sent to MARSYDEN MULEI – 0725644814 and she was even sent a confirmation and a reference number from the “Company”. She was asked to go for an interview on Monday 24th June and it was supposed to be a the Brick Court Building in Westlands.

Come Monday, my friend went there and when she got to the building, the guards told her they did not know of such a company on that building. Being a new company, she gave it the benefit of doubt and went ahead to look for it within the building. No one had an idea about such a company. So she decided to call the guys she has been talking to, the person who picked up directs her to another person saying he was not around. She calls the second person who in turn tells her that she was late for the interview but she can send him 500/= and he will pick her up at the gate of the building.

Naively, she sent the money and waited. The guy’s phone went unpicked for a while and that was when she realized she had been played. She had referred another friend so both of them fell victim to the con plan.

Please spread this message as far as you can and help vulnerable Kenyans avoid these traps. These guys are cunning and they know what will make you easily trust them, they ask for small amounts of money but they end up getting it from hundreds of people. Please report any of these cases to Safaricom and the Police.