Transitioning to Business School Culture

Midterms!

At HBS, we’re currently in the middle of midterms.  I can’t believe ½ of ¼ of the experience is over.  It flew by.  This experience will be over sooner than I’d like!

I haven’t been this busy since undergraduate, save some of the more busy periods leading up to deployment. That said, the experience has exceeded my expectations.

Academically, I’m learning great business fundamentals, but learning them in a more concrete and rapid manner than I anticipated.  The case method’s ability to teach fundamentals in a non-lecture, story-based method provides takeaways that are “stickier” than a Miley Cyrus track.  

The academic culture is utterly different from that of the Marine Corps, and I suspect will be different from that which many service members come from.  To be perfectly honest, I wasn’t prepared for the transition to be this difficult.  The environment is more gender balanced population-wise, more international, more verbal and much more “touchy feely”.  The Marine Corps that I came from did not include hours of open discussion, feeling sharing and pontificating.  The sensibilities and sensitivities are different.  For example, just consider the methods used to give feedback and correct behavior in the military.  The feedback methods are vastly different!  Even a slight raising of one's voice would produce a surprisingly different outcome in an academic setting.  One culture is not better than the other. They serve the purposes of their constituents. Just different. 

Beyond academics, we are learning, and reinforcing, important “soft skills” (presence, public-speaking, time management, building relationships, etc).  It’s this phenomenon that will be the enduring “value add” of the experience.  My 990+ classmates come from myriad of backgrounds and have rich experiences.  I’ve been blown away by a.) how generously they share those experiences in a non-pretentious way, and b.) how effective they articulate major takeaways of their experiences in a manner that is impactful to those not from industry.  It’s truly inspiring in that this sharing encourages further sharing and learning.

Now comes the difficult part:  Honest self-assessment.  Measure your weaknesses.  See into your blind spots. Digest honest feedback. Parse through the lessons and skills offered via the experience.  Add those that will push you closer to your destiny.  Discard the rest.  And continue to walk toward your purpose.

Written by Ahron (ahron@MilitarytoBusiness.com), a transitioned Marine Officer in the HBS Class of 2015