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How an MBA Will Help When Running a BusinessWhile an MBA is generally considered to be an advanced master’s degree that assists employees to get promoted or transfer into a higher paid role in another company, there’s much confusion over whether it’ll be useful for the owner or CEO. In fact, entrepreneurs do take MBAs, but they do so for their own reasons that have nothing to do with their career advancement. In this article, we consider how studying for an MBA and getting the credentials might be useful as the owner-operator. How Is an MBA Taken When Working Full-time?
Entering into MBA programs in Michigan, you get to study for an online program that lets you run the business during the daytime and advance your knowledge in the evening or weekends. This is an ideal situation for business people who are already swamped with work during the day and cannot possibly take one or two days a week off per week to visit campus and attend lectures. Instead, they can view pre-recorded lectures and access relevant course materials entirely online on modern MBA degree courses. Building up credits towards qualifying for one of the MBA programs, it’s possible to complete this type of course in as little as a year and a half too. It wasn’t always like this. Most college degrees weren’t accessible online even a couple of decades ago but fortunately, with faster internet access and progressive colleges, all that has changed now. Learn About Accounting and Corporate Finance Unless you’ve worked as an accountant previously or have a familiarity with accounts or finance, there’s often a disconnect between managing your business and understanding the numbers behind it. Sometimes, you rely on your accountant on-staff (or an external accounting firm doing the books) to keep you apprised of what’s going on. You fear that lacking a deep appreciation of the financials, you’re at a considerable disadvantage from an operational standpoint and when competing against stiff competition too. The reality is that if you don’t bridge this gap, it will seriously impact how your business operates and the level of success you can achieve. Ultimately, it’s possible to reach a stage where you’ve no longer the best person for the CEO role when not grasping the fundamentals once hitting mid-seven-figure revenue on the top-line. That would be a personal failing for most business owners. Don’t let that happen to you. Embrace your lack of understanding of financial accounts and finance. Rather than hiding in the shadows, make it a point to learn what’s necessary. It’s actually not that hard. Sure, if you’re not numbers-oriented it will require more deliberate focus but like most things, it can be done with sufficient effort. Also, once understanding finance and lending, you’ll be far clearer on whether borrowing money to fund business growth is worth the risk and what lending costs are reasonable for a business of your size. An MBA covers all these areas in-depth to support CEOs, VPs, Operations Managers and other people working in upper management. Becoming a Better Leader As you may have discovered through various challenges along the way, leadership is different to just being the manager. While they want to do well in their job, employees also need to pursue something bigger than themselves. A larger goal which is inspiring and that they can push towards. This also motivates teams or departments and the company as a whole if approached in the right way. CEOs must be good leaders of the men and women who work for their business. Ideally, staff should look up to the boss and be inspired to succeed. Not just to get promotions but because they want to better themselves and feel that they’re making a worthwhile contribution with their role in the company. Leadership is a strong component of an MBA degree. Usually, there’s a separate course within the MBA syllabus that specifically focused on leadership and perhaps by association, management too. Students get exposed to case studies that illustrate how respected leaders previously responded to different issues within their companies. They are also taught relevant concepts, the qualities of effective leadership, proven strategies for leading people and managing the executive team too. Networking with Alumni Being able to associate with thought leaders and people who have taken the same MBA degree as you is invaluable. Finally, there are other business people who speak your language, know what you’re going through, and can empathize with the many business difficulties you face. Often, alumni who are business owners have already struggled through difficult systems and processes that hit a roadblock, staff recruitment issues, dealing with a temperamental management team who were reluctant to change, and a host of other issues that the typical CEO has to contend with. As well as lending an ear, this extensive network is useful in another way. Making new contacts within the industry (and outside of it) can further bolster your business presence and extend its reach. Putting together joint ventures becomes much easier when getting an introduction by a third-party who knows both of you. Even getting featured on a podcast or TV segment becomes possible when a friend of a friend has a connection on the production staff. For business owners that are serious about plugging the gaps in their knowledge, taking an MBA is in many ways a further investment in their business. Rather than getting caught out by what they don’t know resulting in a costly unforced error, a tactically smart CEO moves to address those blind spots to remove the obstacle. Running the company day to day doesn’t necessarily give you the proper exposure to new ways of thinking. While short articles providing business leadership tips are all well and good, they don’t provide sufficient substance to resolve the matter satisfactorily. Even reading a book like The Personal MBA whilst no doubt beneficial, doesn’t provide the kind of well-rounded business education that’s so needed by company leaders today. That’s especially true of CEOs who started a business without previously having operated one. If you’re in that position, then isn’t it time to accept that a little extra knowledge is in order before you ruin a good thing? CommentsComments are closed.
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