Will my MBA make me an expert in anything?

Read, discuss, write, read, discuss, write, analyze, struggle with some canned simulation problem, that's what I've been doing for the last eight weeks. That's how Marist has been training me to manage change. Will these things make me an expert in change management? Maybe. That will really depend on what I DO with all of those random bits of information that I've picked up during my class.

My organization is getting ready to go through a very serious transition. At least the executive leading the change envisions a serious reorientation of what we do and how we do it. I'm not so sure that everybody else feels the same way. We had a big meeting on Friday where the details of the new organizational alignment and the philosophy behind that structure were shared with the entire group. There was no excitement when the meeting broke. Just another rearrangement or who reports to whom. Big deal.

A change management expert would recognize the mood of the meeting and know how to get people excited. That's what separates me from the expert. I may be able to draw from an inventory of different ideas and theories about changing organizations, but I really have no idea how to apply them. I see the same gap between my research skills and the less experienced scientists I work with. Both of us can do the same things in the lab, but they don't know how to use that knowledge to answer a question. They have the knowledge, they're just not as adept at recognizing when and how to leverage that knowledge.

The expert has that intuitive sense of what needs to be done to resolve an issue. That instinct comes from doing. Expertise is really just knowing what will work without being able to explain why. The last eight weeks certainly hasn't given me that sense, but I did get a much better sense of the implicit aspects of leading change efforts. Experts pick up on little things that other people miss. It's about seeing more than what's there to be seen. The explicit contains everything that you need to pick up on the implicit, the unseen, the felt. It's just a matter of being able to see how one relevant fact connects to other relevant facts.

I'm going to attempt to influence how my group receives the details of the new organization. It won't make me an expert, but it's a start.

Will my MBA be nothing more than an incremental improvement?

I'm really just adding a feature that so many other people possess. My MBA won't even be from a program that gives me a boost through mere association. I know that I'm benefiting from the program, but I'm not just sure if the amount of time and effort that I'm putting in will be worth whatever benefits I may derive.

This thinking is really just me wondering if this program is the best use of my time. I think about the things that I would rather be doing than spending my nights working on school stuff and I start to wonder if the returns on this effort justify the lost sleep, the reduction in blog posts, fewer workouts, and neglect of various work activities.

I'm not really sure what I would do that would be a more radical improvement in my capabilities. Most of my voluntary activities would likely deepen my existing skills and expertise. I can't think of much that would broaden my perspective like the MBA classes. I guess if I can ever come up with something that is more compelling, I'll leave the MBA program and work on that. I guess I can use the amount of effort I put into finding something else to keep me busy as a gauge for my subconscious desire to keep pursuing this status quo project.

A daily decision

My wife will start a half-marathon in about 15 minutes. She's been training for months. There was no fancy training program. Just the commitment to get up and run. She showed up and put in the time.

At the heart of it, that's all achievement really requires. You have to show up and put in the time. A writer has to write, a musician has to perform, a computer programmer needs to write code, a researcher needs to be in the lab. The consistent accretion of skills, knowledge, and experience that build from working on your craft, whatever that may be, day after day eventually becomes a spectacular ability.

The best don't become the best by accident. It's a decision. You have to make the choice to show up everyday. Day after day after day...

I'm a leader, now what

I've been trying to figure out how I should approach the first formal leadership role of my career. After struggling to develop some kind of cohesive plan for my new group of four, I stumbled onto a simple plan. I've spent the last five years silently critiquing my leadership. That well of observations offers a few good ideas to start developing a leadership style.

My first struggle was whether to treat my group as a group or individuals. I've long bemoaned the way that those of us in the lab are treated like interchangeable parts. I'm going to take the individual route. Rather than having a meeting with everybody together, I'll meet with each person individually, away from the lab, to talk about this new relationship and how we'll work together.

There is far too much emphasis on what needs to get done and far too little effort placed on what can be done to make it easier to get those things done. I think I'll try to focus more on how things are getting done and what I can do to make it easier rather than focusing on making sure things are getting done. I want to put the emphasis on the process more than the result. When you focus on the process, you have a better chance of finding ways to make it better.

Given that managers are focused on whether or not a task has been completed, most people feel that they are mere order followers. Managers are there to give assignments and make sure those things get done. They're not there to help people get out of a jam or find a way to make the work flow more smoothly. I'm going to take the approach that I'm there for my people rather than my people being there for me. I'm their resource. They are not mine.

The Pursuit

In order to achieve something, you need something to achieve. Yes, it sounds a bit like a truism, but what guides your energies if you're not seeking to make something happen? There's a big difference between trying to get promoted and trying to achieve a specific goal.

Crowding out

Exceptional performance doesn't allow for automatic decisions. Settling into a routine, being comfortable, that's not going to get it done. You can't be satisfied with the way things are now. Get better, get better, get better. Small choices, what to have for lunch, when to go to bed, what to do with the 45 minutes you have to yourself before you go to bed, matter when you're pursuing excellence.

The decision to be the best dictates your every move. Total commitment. Eliminating the excess, getting to the core of building the skills and experience needed to achieve something extraordinary becomes the driver of everything else. Focus on advancing. There can be no more dabbling. You're going to have to give something up.

Six-pack abs don't come easy. Boston marathon qualifying times don't just happen with a few jogs through the neighborhood. Exceptional performance narrows your experience. Depth replaces breadth. The accumulation of experience required for expertise, the layer by layer acquisition of improving skills that requires concentrated effort over an extended period of time, doesn't leave room for much.

I'm spread too thin. I spend time writing blog entries rather than working on a paper describing some research I've done at work. I do school work instead of writing blog entries. I do school work rather than sleep. What do I have to give up to keep advancing? What am I trying to achieve?

What makes you weird?

What makes us weird is usually what makes us interesting (assuming what makes you weird isn't too, well, weird). Elite athletes are weird. They keep crazy schedules and follow odd diets, all in pursuit of being the best in their chosen sport. This kind of behavior is expected for money sports (the games that are on in sports bars every weekend), but when you tell somebody that you fence or row or do judo, that makes you weird, but that also makes you different.

Weird is in our wiring. I always see connections in things that I read. This blog post is about regrets. This book is about science monks (at least that's the best I can summarize in a few words). I was at the beach earlier this week and a water park this morning. Last year I thought that I would like to get rid of my gut so I could walk around these places without the roll of fat that virtually everybody at these places carry around. I'm a little thinner than I was last year, but you'd be hard pressed to tell the difference if you saw me walking around the park. So I'm thinking about how I regret not working harder to lose my gut over this past year. That gets me thinking about religious groups that demand adherence to a strict discipline. This discipline typically requires the observance of strict dietary and lifestyle rules. They also require the observation of regular rituals.

Is there such a thing as a weight-loss ritual? A ritual is just an activity that we observe on a regular basis. There's just as much discipline required in observing a ritual than abstaining from foods we enjoy. I've decided to link up this idea of regret with the idea of a ritual, and implement a regular abdominal exercise ritual into my day.

What will I be observing in this ritual? My virility. Belly fat is linked to low testosterone. I stopped carrying my cell phone in my pocket to preserve my testosterone. I'll be engaging in a daily rite of medicine ball exercise to keep myself masculine. I hope you don't think this makes me too weird...