The Lives and Loves of an MBA

Fear can be a great motivator. Just ask Gemma Townley, an MBA student at Henley Management College. She was so afraid that enrolling in an MBA program would suck the creativity out of her that she wrote her first novel, When In Rome (Ballantine Books, 2004). "I thought that my days of being a creative soul were gone," she says. But really it was just the beginning of her career as a novelist.

Like her characters, Townley has undergone many transformations over the years. She started out editing Financial Management, a magazine for finance directors, and having her work appear in the Sunday Telegraph. Then she headed communications, first for the Charter Institute of Management Accountants and then in a government department.

Finally, in 2003, she began the MBA program and launched her career as a novelist virtually at the same time. Unafraid of a busy schedule, Townley also got married just as her first module for the MBA was starting. Recently she decided to give up her corporate job to work full-time from home as a writer. She's also close to earning her MBA degree once and for all.

Townley's latest book, Learning Curves: A Novel of Sex, Suits, and Business Affairs (Ballantine Books, 2006), is a romantic comedy that draws on the author's MBA experience. The main character, Jennifer Bell, goes from saving the earth to saving her notes on a Palm Pilot as an MBA student.

Originally, she takes this course of study to help her mom determine if her father's company is corrupt -- but she starts to shed her disdain for corporate culture after finding love with a businessman. That helps her realize the world isn't as black and white as she thought.

A unique MBA student herself, Townley can relate to Jennifer, who enters the MBA program under false pretenses. "She's there but she doesn't feel like she's there to do an MBA," says Townley. "I almost started feeling like that half way through my course because I'm doing this MBA but my career is moving in a very different direction." Townley recently spoke with B-schools channel editor Francesca Di Meglio. Here are edited excerpts of their conversation:

What inspired you to get your MBA?
I was head of communications at a big government department. I was in an appraisal [annual review meeting] with my boss. My strategy always was to talk at length about the things I'd done really well. That lasted about 10 minutes, and I thought my boss would start picking on the stuff I hadn't done so well. He had earned an MBA, so I started talking to him about that. Before I knew it, he talked me into doing an MBA.

This is my big problem. I keep getting phone calls from Henley saying: "You're almost there. You've virtually done it." My dissertation has gone back and forth to my professor a couple of times. All I need to do is spend a day finishing the dissertation, and I'll have my MBA. But it's easier said than done. I have all these deadlines. Life kind of got in the way. Half of me likes the idea of being someone who so nearly earned an MBA (see BW Online, 4/20/06, "Unfinished Business: Is the Degree Key?").

What made you think to meld your MBA experience with the novels you were writing?
You're always looking for something original to write about. But you have to write about something you know. My first novel was set very much in business. At the time, I was always at my desk. That was the world with which I felt comfortable.

I also thought that you don't often get someone who writes novels and has done an MBA. They're not natural bedfellows. I didn't see anyone else who had put the two together. If I can teach people who know nothing about business just a little bit while they're reading a fun romantic comedy, then it's all the better.

Do you think this book dispels some of the myths about MBA students?
Because it's a comedy, in many ways it will probably exacerbate them. You do get the obvious stereotypes. But I hope that I've shown that it's not all black and white. Good people work in good businesses. The business world is all around us, and it's part of who we are and what we do.

What does the protagonist Jennifer gain from her MBA program?
An MBA is common sense written down in many respects. She starts to apply the whole idea of strategic planning to her life, which I remember doing myself.

You do your external analysis of the marketplace and then you do your internal analysis of strengths and weaknesses as a business. Then you put them together and you have your opportunities and threats, etc. She applies this to her love life and all sorts of things.

Can someone really meet Mr. Right at an MBA program?
It's a great hunting ground. Whether you can meet Mr. Absolutely Right, I don't know. That depends on fate. But if you're looking for good odds, the MBA program is not a bad place to start.

In my program, about 80% of the class was male, and 70% of them were single. They were in their late 20's and early 30's, on the brink of being super-successful, and always incredibly busy. They were not out there meeting women in bars and didn't have time for a social life.

What kind of reaction have you gotten from your friends in the MBA program?
They look at me with arched eyebrows. It's really difficult to say I'm writing a book. They want to know how this aligns with my strategic plan and competency framework, and it actually doesn't at all. It was just something I wanted to do. But they think it's marvelous.

What advice do you have for MBA students who want to keep up their creativity?
We were put on teams of people who lived near one another for study groups. We used to meet regularly to go for pizza. It was more important to have a bit of down time and talk about what we were doing than it was to sit around the table analyzing GlaxoSmithKline's (GSK ) expansion program and whether it was strategically aligned with its brand values.

You need to keep your feet on the ground and balance your life with your MBA (see BW Online, 12/23/05, "Summoning the Will to Chill"). It's easy to get completely obsessed by it. You need to maintain a bit of space for yourself.