Road Map to Success

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A recent visitor to our Power and Politics class, Chidi Achebe (MBA-E Class of 2007 and CEO of the Harvard Street Health Center in Boston), offered some parting words of wisdom regarding business success and power: "People are people because of other people." Businesses and powerful individuals work in isolation at their peril. In the thick of it, when the work gets tough and the nights get long, you start to realize that your choice of business school should also be a good match for your commitment and dedication to more than just yourself. Business school, after all, is also about relationships and working with others.

The soft skills of negotiation, patience, timing, empathy, and situational awareness, all mentioned in the Podolny HBR article, are only just starting to get the attention they rightly deserve in the business world; failure to be aware of their importance in the classroom and within the work setting could have disastrous results. Relationships matter and must be cultivated and cared for to thrive and grow. Take into consideration how hard you're willing to work for yourself, your team, your class, and ultimately the reputation of the school and for what it stands.

You'll be held to those standards while attending the program and long after you graduate. The rigor of admission is nothing compared to the rigor of the classroom and it shouldn't be. You can't and won't be the best at everything; you can and should be the best version of yourself and figure out what you have to give.

OFF THE BEATEN TRACK

Throughout the past year, I have experienced some of the best opportunities for my own learning outside the classroom. During a class this past semester in Health Care Economics & Finance, I found myself wanting a real sense of what it is like to be in Washington, D.C., at this pivotal juncture for health-care reform. To enhance my academic experience, I spent several days in Washington, D.C., as part of the Tenth Annual Patient Congress. I was able to network with other health-care advocates and business leaders, and I had the chance to meet with health-care legislative assistants to Senators Lieberman (D-Conn.) and Dodd (D-Conn.) as well as my congressman, Representative John Larson (D-Conn.).

In addition to discussing health-care reform, I had the opportunity to ask that my senators and congressman to support the Autism Treatment Acceleration Act of 2009, a piece of legislation important to my own family and far too many other families across the country. My trip to Washington gave me the opportunity to convey my position on health care as a constituent and health-care scholar, as well as to put the concepts of the classroom into context. This experience in Washington also helped solidify and confirm my long-standing aspirations and goals to be a part of a policy relative to the health-care business industry.

It has been quite a year. I'm now 43 class days (nine months) away from the completion of my MBA; business tax and law await me during my second summer boot camp and a week-long stay at the Omni in New Haven. I'm keeping my eye on the prize, but I'm holding onto the enjoyment and fulfillment during this journey. I enter the second year excited about all I have yet to learn and with anticipation for all that will come my way in the months ahead. I owe a debt of gratitude to every person who was a part of my first year at Yale: every single member of my class who teaches me so much, particularly the incomparable Team C (Senai Ahderom, CEO Weblinx; Dr. Edward Valentine; Dr. Jianlin Xu; and Marilyn Cross Piedra) the MBA-E staff, visiting scholars, and the professors who challenge, encourage, and ultimately educate me every day. Onward to second year!

Linda Craib is enrolled in the Yale School of Management Health Care Executive MBA program with an expected graduation of 2010. She has degrees in nursing and art history and is a pediatric critical care registered nurse living and working in Hartford, Conn.

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