You create your own story – keep it original. This is my wrap up of MBA wisdom to take away for my 2017 classes & friends:
It’s not only about making more money. Only people can make business, not products or companies. You will spend at least 1/3 of your life with the people you work with – create trust, share good networks, and become friends with them, like on your MBA.
Maybe you’ve dreamed of being a CEO since you were 10 years old, like me, but if you want to be independent then working for a corporation is pointless. Instead you can become your own CEO – in Estonia it takes just 18 minutes to set-up your own company. You have no reason not to try now.
So accelerate everything you do – even mistakes. Every entrepreneur succeeds overnight, it’s just a question of how many nights you work smarter than others. Fail quickly and cheaply, but learn from the mistakes and fail forward. Stay playful enough to try to make your ideas come true, and to do this you must proactively manage the perceptions of failure in your life and company.
Do things differently: Great ideas become great with execution. Success often comes to those who dare to dream, share their dreams with the best team, and also care about society. But never forget that time is your most valuable asset, and you must have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.
This is why you should make decisions now. Do something important after your MBA, whatever that is for you. The world needs it, and your chances of living a successful, happy life will increase dramatically. Just be sure that you love what you do. You will be constantly evolving, so it’s important to focus on what you enjoy while always being open to change.
But to really change you must listen carefully – more than talking – and remember the wise words from your MBA sometimes. Always think of the next step, and pursue opportunities beyond the resources you control, like my HBS professor Howard Stevenson taught me.
Finally, you have already shown that you have motivated minds, and this must be supported by the lifestyle you adopt. Only a healthy, strong body and peaceful soul can power your brain beyond its usual, more limited usage. By taking care of yourself, you will be better prepared to dare, care, and share to make your ideas fly.