The entrepreneurial skill-set

No, no, no…! Don’t get scared…. This post is not aimed at trying to convince you to become an entrepreneur, nor is it aimed at convincing you to choose entrepreneurship as your MBA major. I am neither and, having served and worked in very large organizations, I do play with the idea of going down that path one day, but it is definitely not my focus during the second year of my MBA program. Having said that, I do think that entrepreneurship has a lot to offer and that every MBA candidate or student should consider taking a least one class from this department (even if your school of choice doesn’t have a strong entrepreneurship department as the one at McCombs).

Many of us perceive entrepreneurs to be “different”. They are those people who can’t see themselves in any corporate environment and seek the strange notions of “career independence” and ”being their own boss”. Besides the fact that more and more business people choose to become entrepreneurs these days, I would like to suggest that entrepreneurship shouldn’t only be considered as an MBA major, a way of life or a career choice. I strongly feel that it can be treated as a set of skills that you can acquire and use in any business environment you’re in. Therefore, taking a dip into the entrepreneurship world, while breezing through your MBA program, can be beneficial, interesting and fun. The main reasons are:

• Entrepreneurship usually examines, analyzes and promotes a business as a complete system, including all of its components (marketing, finance, operations, strategy, etc.). Therefore, an entrepreneurship class will give you the opportunity to understand how the entire mechanism interacts and to get a better perspective of the role of your expertise in promoting your company’s strategic goals.

• If, for example, you’re a finance major who’s looking to diversify your classes but can’t take a concentrated marketing class (the core course was more than enough for you, right?!), an entrepreneurship class offers a good mix of the different aspects of a business, without concentrating only on one.

• More and more business professionals need to be able to evaluate businesses as part of their daily activities; among the many examples I can think about: money managers need to evaluate companies in order to choose the right stocks for their clients, individual investors do the same for their own portfolios, M&A experts need to evaluate potential acquisitions, marketers constantly evaluate competition, VC’s can’t move an inch without mastering the ability of breaking-down a business, etc. The ability to understand a business model, to figure-out its strengths and weaknesses and to be able to evaluate its potential is hardly entrepreneurship-exclusive.

• The criticality level of making the right decisions in an entrepreneurial setting is usually high. In large corporations a wrong decision usually end-up to be a lower slope on the company’s earning’s graph, a lower stock prices or a lost opportunity. For an entrepreneur, a wrong decision may well be the end of the business, no less. Therefore, entrepreneurs must develop critical-thinking skills and an acute ability to analyze the challenges they’re facing and call the right shots, time after time. To me, these are skills that I’d like to have wherever I end-up as a businessman: a small start-up, a corporate-development division of a global company, etc.

• More and more companies are realizing that in many markets it is not enough to hire smart people. Especially in today’s competitive markets (in which many of us will find ourselves, sooner rather than later), it is no longer enough to know the “trade”. One needs to think differently, creatively and synthesize large quantities of complex information and be able to derive the right conclusions….quickly. All of that is what happens in a good entrepreneurship class. Mastering these skills will help set you apart.

If you’re convinced you should, at least, take another look at the list of courses your entrepreneurship department, let me offer this additional advice: Choose a very hands-on, case based class. If possible, chose a class that enables you to work with real entrepreneurs. At McCombs, due to the entrepreneurial spirit of the city if Austin (which is somewhat similar to the one in Israel), and to the strong connection that exists with the university’s technology incubator, we are privileged to be able to do just that. MBA students team-up with real-world entrepreneurs and help them develop the business plan for their product. It is an exciting way to apply what you’re learning and challenge yourself to face dilemmas from different aspects of a business – not just the analysis of its DCF or its 4 P’s.

Having said all that about entrepreneurial skills, I do have some criticism to express. We all know by now that in order to make something popular and widely accepted, it helps a lot to have a catchy name… Google, Skype, Jajah, Youtube and many more have invested much time and money in order to come-up with a name that will easily roll on our tongues. How come, then, that this unique, smart and self-motivated people are still stuck with “Entrepreneurship”…?!!!! It is long, cumbersome and almost no-one can really spell it without the help of a speller. Therefore, I hereby urge the entrepreneurs of the world to gather some of their famous creativity and ingenuity and come-up with a better, catchier name. Any ideas?

Should I ride "The Wave"?

Israelis call it “the wave”. It is the phenomenon created by thousands of adventure-seeking Israelis, usually after finishing their military obligations, who invade (in the touristic sense of the word…), such continents as South-America, looking to travel, party and conquer mountain tops and short-term romances. Since arrival to “the continent” is usually aligned with such events as the famous Carnival in Brazil, a “wave” of “Muchileros” (back-packers) is created. “Riding the wave” means that, during a trip lasting several months, you would meet the same people, again and again, all over the continent.

“Riding the wave” helps a lot. You meet Israeli all the time, receive great tips regarding where to go, where to stay, who’s who and what’s what. It makes the traveling experience in an un-known land much more comfortable and accessible. On the other hand, the wave´s resistance claims, with much logic, that you shouldn’t travel across the world and then look for people who came from the same place and the same culture - the same type of people you would probably live with during the rest of your life.

Then what should you do?! What does it have to do with your MBA experience?!
Since you’re an MBA hopeful, and therefore extremely smart (and if not, don’t tell anyone!), you’ve probably figured-it-out by now. Many MBA hopefuls apply to MBA program that are popular in their countries of origin. Even though it is an understandable process, aren’t we missing something? A very significant aspect of going abroad to get your MBA is the cultural exposure. We all think that and we all talk about it in our heavily-invested applications. But then, after being admitted, do we actually go-out and expose ourselves?! Watching many of my classmates during my first year and speaking to Israeli MBA’s, I would dare to say that many of us don’t. All of us arrive with all the intentions to “internationalize” ourselves to death. The problem is that once pressure hits, and we find ourselves drowning in assignments, deadlines and interviews, we need something to hang-on to, something that will make this experience more familiar, more easy to handle, less uncertain… get it? Many of us find ourselves mingling with our kind. All the pressure around is too much as it is and we don’t need to add cultural barriers and communication complexities to the mix. That’s why any MBA alumnus will tell you that, sure, in his/her class there were the Japanese group, the Mexican gang, the Indian colony and, in some schools, the Israeli band.

During my first year at McCombs, I didn’t have that choice. Not because I mindfully chose that, but rather because there aren’t any more Israeli students in our program. Reflecting on my first year while using the great tool called hindsight, I think I gained a lot from it. In a sense, it is like traveling alone: you are much more inclined and open to interact with other people. You don’t have your “band” to fall-back on. At times it is a little harder, but eventually it is very rewarding. Today, I think that my wife and I are enjoying a great group of good friends we’ve made during the last year. These friends are as culturally diverse as a UN council and it adds a lot of color and flavor to the our "MBA recipe" (believe me, the cooking that’s been going-on around here has been AMAZING….).

So, what’s the bottom line? Should you reject schools that enjoy a large number of students from your country of origin? DEFINITELY NOT!!! Then what? Well, mainly, don’t reject programs that don’t have that. Look at the diversity of your future class and ask yourself whether the mix that you see makes you intrigued and excited about being part of it. Don’t be afraid not to ride the wave; don’t be afraid to go for a quality program that’s not as common in your country of origin, whether you’re Israeli, Chinese or German. The people you’re going to meet are going to make this time very exciting and an MBA is an awesome opportunity to go beyond your own borders and be exposed to other cultures. Not by sitting with people from other countries in the classroom, but by really becoming friends with people who may have different perspectives regarding the world we live in, the music we listen to, the politics we take part in and, oh yeh, the businesses we’re all going to manage soon enough.