A Call to Spread Alumni Love

"Having a brand such as Oxford University on a CV is nice, but the true value of an MBA program is the network it provides post-MBA"

By Larry Kao

Pressure, stress, and anxiety were common feelings among a group of soon-to-be MBAs from the Said Business School (Said Full-Time MBA School Profile) of Oxford University one short year ago. A few felt the pressure of the empty recession and abysmal wasteland of job opportunities. Some had the stress of moving their families across the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian oceans. Others felt anxiety swimming toward a completely new industry and the steep learning curve that was soon to follow. We all knew that our tight-knit crew of 200 friends would soon get a lot looser, and the safety net that was business school would soon disappear. Nevertheless, the world waits for no one, and we all continued in our foggy career journey, eventually making it to safe shores.

One extraordinarily short year later, the freshness is gone. We're no longer the exciting catch that we once were (perhaps I never was!). I'm no longer the MBA guy. Now, I'm the digital strategist or just the guy downstairs. My stories are no longer tales of late-night finance cram sessions but rather tales of late-night pitch strategies. However, as much as each of our individual focuses have shifted toward our respective fields, it is encouraging to see our collective hunger in fighting for career advancement, our passion for more corporate transparency, and our desire to create a more sustainable world. Similar to how we pushed each other academically, we continue to push each other professionally. We are classmates, friends, and life coaches. This sentiment continues with the new class that has taken our place at school.

Providing a Safety Net

As a young school, it is up to a proactive group of students and alumni to create a successful culture. Having a brand such as Oxford University on a CV is nice, but the true value of an MBA program is the network it provides post-MBA. We are all Said Business School lifers and it is in everyone's favor to give back to the university. I am sure there's a Nash equilibrium theory on this somewhere on the Internet.

I am not suggesting a business school organization should be a network that gives handouts. Nevertheless, the Oxford Business Alumni, an organization connecting thousands of former students, and the quality of the Oxford brand are directly related to the collective success of its alumni. Therefore, we are in many ways directly and indirectly motivated to help each other progress in our careers.

Students are immediately bombarded with business school, university, and college events upon arrival on campus. School spirit is contagious at the start of every term. As the year wears on, we quickly learn small tricks, such as owning a tuxedo or only buying particular text books. These small pieces of informal knowledge can be lost in one-year programs. But, in fact, the entire year is filled with small gems and unexpected events. Classes and the pursuit of a job, however, remain the top priority as everything else mounts. This is where the alumni become crucial to the improvement of our institution.

In typical entrepreneurial fashion, one classmate made the selfless contribution in creating, editing, and designing a new Said Business School newsletter. Other students started an MBA forum directly helping incoming Oxford and Cambridge students. Many international Oxford alums hosted current students for drinks and networking sessions to offer new career perspectives.

From Classroom to Real Life

I myself contributed what I knew: advertising. As a business school, SBS does a tremendous job in training brand managers. Led by How Brands Become Icons author Douglas Holt, the school encourages critical thinking around culture, marketing, and brands. This fundamental theory is what most advertising agencies use today to create strong brands. The best way I felt I could contribute was to host an Oxford-McCann night to bridge classroom case studies with practical executions. With several students and alumni, we organized a fantastic night with McCann creatives, account managers, and planners interacting with students interested in media, marketing, and advertising. A group of enthusiastic Oxford alums gave up their time, travelling from all over Britain. They spoke about their marketing consultancies and consumer-goods companies to offer a complete 360-degree perspective of our industry.

After the success of this event, McCann Erickson welcomed in a team of Oxford MBA students to work on their summer Strategic Consulting Project helping the agency examine the digital advertising landscape and future software trends. Having a team of former consultants, bankers, and software professionals gave the agency a new perspective on our capabilities and our competition.

This month will see a new batch of talented MBAs enter the workforce and a new class of students enter the halls of universities across the world. Even if the freshness has waned, the importance of each alumnus to his or her school has not. More than ever, the importance of volunteering for your school, mentoring new students, or pledging small donations can pay dividends for several generations. It is with this spirit that I am excited to see what clever contributions this new graduating class will add to our business school mix. I am certain I will gain new friends, colleagues, and life coaches in 2010, and I hope I can do the same for them.

Larry Kao is an MBA Journal writer and a member of the MBA Class of 2008 at Oxford's Saïd Business School.

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