How Far I'll Go

This is not the post I expected to write.

It has the right title, but the content is very different.

The summer before I started my MBA at Wharton I thought about what a successful experience would look like. Two years ago I wrote a blog post talking about starting grad school. As I did so, I imagined what I would write two years later when it came time to graduate.

I knew I would write about Moana. I just didn’t realize it would be this post.

Wait so Erik for the past two years you have been planning on writing a blog post comparing yourself to a fictional island princess?

Yep. Be honest, you would’ve been surprised if I hadn’t.

I freaking love Moana. Great movie. Even better soundtrack.

As I pictured what a successful MBA experience would look like, I couldn’t help but think of the song How Far I’ll Go.

Much like Moana has spent her whole life called by the horizon of an endless sea, I have felt compelled to pursue entrepreneurship. That’s been my line where the sea meets the sky.

I entered Wharton expecting that a successful experience would be something like starting my own company to pursue post-graduation. At the very least, I thought I would be joining a high-flying startup ready to experience the world of hypergrowth. This post then would’ve been about how entrepreneurship has been calling to me my whole life and I couldn’t help but climb into my little sailboat and make for the horizon with the Disney princess-esque confidence that my destiny lay somewhere beyond the reef.

But this is not that post.

Please don’t be distressed, my faithful reader. Though this is not the post that I was expecting, it is not a sad post. Quite the opposite in fact. My MBA experience turned out very different than how I expected it would.

And I couldn’t be happier.

But before I get to what is next, I want to discuss the path that got me here.

The Path Revisited

I’ve written before about my belief that the mystical “path” that everyone tells us we need to be on is a lie. I have taken a professional path less traveled. Whenever the opportunity presented itself I opted to veer away from the well-worn path. This strategy got me where I am today, and I don't regret it, but I do sometimes wonder if it was the right one.

Part of me wonders if it was motivated by a lack of patience on my part. I can have a tendency to spend too much time thinking about what is next instead of living in the present. In some ways, this can be a good thing. It motivates me and helps me think long-term. In other ways it hampers me. It keeps me from being content with what I have and it causes me to become frustrated if I don't feel like I am growing and progressing.

This one, a long time have I watched. All his life has he looked away… to the future, to the horizon. Never his mind on where he was. What he was doing. Hmph! Adventure. Ha! Excitement. Ha! A Jedi craves not these things.

From the outside looking in my path may seem nice and clear. You get good at making it seem that way when applying to MBA programs.

If you ask me my story I will tell you how everything I have done is according to a north star. How each step in my journey set me up perfectly for the next one and how each has marched me towards my goal of being a builder of great things.

There is truth in that story. A lot of truth in fact. But isn’t the whole truth.

The whole truth is that my path has looked far straighter and more purposeful in hindsight. (As I am guessing most people's do). I haven't always had a grand plan. Whenever I thought I did, those grand plans have inevitably been discarded as I have grown and matured and realized they were facsimiles of what I thought I wanted.

When I first graduated from undergrad I thought I would spend my career as a venture capitalist. I thought I would be the person to say “yes” to entrepreneurs trying to change the world. I thought that’s how I would leave my mark. Then I became disillusioned with a world that, to quote a good friend, had an altogether too high “ratio of noise to substance.” I became frustrated by seemingly ever-present grifters and entrepreneurs more interested in being the modern rock stars our society labels “founders” than in actually building a business.

Eventually, I realized I didn’t want to be a VC. I wanted to do something more substantial. I wanted to work on the other side of the table. I thought I would take everything I had learned as an investor and catapult myself to success as an entrepreneur. The fact that I didn’t have any real expertise or a problem I wanted to solve was inconsequential. I would go to grad school and slingshot myself onto the stage at conferences wearing my company’s logo t-shirt beneath a sports jacket so I could wax lyrical about how my company was changing the world.

Well, I tried that. Didn’t work.

In my first year at school, I worked on my own startup idea. The idea had some promise, but it was in a space that was quickly growing too hot, serving customers I didn’t really understand, and leveraging absolutely zero unique insights or connections that made me the right person to start that company.

So I scrapped that and spent my MBA summer interning at a promising startup in a space I was passionate about from my time as an investor. I enjoyed the work, the team, and the fast-paced startup environment, but something still didn’t feel quite right.

I realized with my background as an investor and my MBA education startups would love to hire me. But only for general business/operational roles. Roles that required someone who was smart and good at problem-solving. Roles that would further cement my status as a jack-of-all-trades-master-of-none. I realized I didn’t want to continue being a mile wide and an inch deep. I wanted to develop skills, expertise, and know-how that I could leverage no matter what I did in the future.

In some ways, I think I have been too harsh on "the path". I see other people who paid their dues and built a foundational skillset in a particular area or industry and I can't help but be envious. In contrast, sometimes I feel like an anchorless ship drifting upon the currents of my own aspirations.

After two years at Wharton, I see the path a little bit differently now. Instead of a pre-ordained beeline directly to your life’s great work I believe it is instead a much more iterative process. A series of experiments.

Have a hypothesis. Test it. Learn from the outcome. Re-orient and plan your next experiment.

I thought I wanted to start my own company. I tried that and realized I needed to have more of a unique insight/skillset to anything I might one day start.

I thought I wanted to work at a startup. I tried that and realized that I didn’t want to be a generalist or part of the crew on someone else’s ship.

In some ways, the next step in my career seems like a far cry from what I expected to be doing post-graduation. But if you zoom in a bit, the journey from there to here has been a series of iterative stepping stones as I learned more about myself and what I wanted from my career.

The Next Experiment

Earlier I said that my path only really looks clear in hindsight. The truth is that the only real undercurrent my path has ever had has been my desire to build something important. I didn’t know what that would be or how I would build it. I just knew I wanted to build something and that I wanted that something to matter (defining what matters is a conversation for a different time).

This desire to build was what motivated me to be an investor. It’s what motivated me to try being a founder and then an operator.

It’s taken me a long time to realize that if I want to be fulfilled professionally I need to build something.

And so for my next experiment, I am going to a place where I can actually learn how.

This week I’m starting as a Product Manager at Capital One and I couldn’t be more excited.

I am excited to learn how to build products. How to work with engineers and to guide software development. How to delve deeply into the needs of customers and prioritize solutions that solve their biggest problems.

For all of my career, I have wanted to “build” without really knowing what that entailed.

And I am excited that I am finally taking the time to learn.

When I started at Wharton, I didn’t really expect to be taking this kind of role or joining this kind (or size) of company post-graduation. But I am confident in the path I have followed to get here and that this next step is the right one for me and my family. Here’s why.

It’s A Wonderful Life

One of my all-time favorite movies is It’s a Wonderful Life. Besides being a Christmas classic, it also is an evergreen story of a man who finds meaning, not in what he thought he wanted, but in the relationships he stumbled into following a path he was pressured into. I’ve written about how my biggest surprise from my Wharton experience has been my lesson that what I do matters less than the person I become along the way.

I am trying to be more like George Bailey. I am trying to build a wonderful life. A life that is less focused on what seems cool or what I think I want and more on becoming the best man, husband, father, and friend I can be. And I believe this job is the next step in that journey.

When I started at Wharton, I expected my next steps to be defined by the Moana song “How Far I’ll Go.”

At the end of the experience, I now realize that what I am looking for in the next stage of my career in life is better explained by a different Moana song, Where You Are.

Moana, stay on the ground now

Our people will need a chief and there you are

There comes a day

When you’re gonna look around

And realize happiness is where you are

In an ironic twist, my MBA journey actually represents the opposite of Moana’s. She was held back by feelings of family pressure and longed for the adventure of the sea. I started Wharton longing for the status and adventure of entrepreneurship and unexpectedly found myself in a place where my priorities had shifted towards family, relationships, and seeking contentment.

I believe in the principles with which I decided to join Capital One. I believe that it is a role that will allow me to focus less on where I am going and more on the person I am becoming along the way.

Three quick anecdotes (that may or may not become full-blown blog posts at some point) that I think hammer home the transformation I have experienced over the past two years:

Opting out of Pie Eating Contests

One of the most transformational experiences I had at Wharton was participating and then being a leader in a program called P3. P3 stands for Purpose, Passions, and Principals. It is a small group program where we read through the book Springboard by the legendary Wharton Professor Richard Shell who created Penn’s famous “Success Course”.

The program entails spending six weeks discussing big questions such as “what do I want from life”, “what are my core values”, and “why am I pursing the goals I am”.

I think it would be a useful book to read for anyone at any stage in life, but it is especially appropriate during a time of transition such as grad school.

The book includes a variety of memorable anecdotes, but my favorite is about an entrepreneur who goes to his trusted lawyer asking for recommendations on who to hire as an in-house counsel. The lawyer, who is a partner at his firm, offers to take the job himself despite the offering being for much less money than the lawyer is currently making. Surprised the entrepreneur asks why the lawyer wants to leave his high-powered role and the lawyer responds that “It is just a question of more pie.”

He goes on to explain:

“Working the way I have all my life is like a pie-eating contest. I worked in high school to get into a great college. Then I worked in college to get into a great law school. Then I worked at the law school to get a job at a top-flight law firm. Then I worked at the law firm to make partner. I’ve finally figured out that it is all just a big pie-eating contest. You win, and the price is always… MORE PIE. Who wants that?”

For most of my career, I have been chasing more pie and boy, is it easy to continue to do that at a place like Wharton. When everyone is interviewing for the upper echelon of banking and consulting firms you begin to wonder if maybe you should be too.

I am going to Capital One because of what I intend to learn there. But I am also going to Capital One because it is a place that treats its employees like people. A place that prioritizes balance and where I can live in the area my wife and I have always talked about building our family. Capital One represents an opportunity for me to opt out of pie-eating contests. I still want to work hard and ambitiously, but my focus isn’t simply the accumulation of more pie, but on personal fulfillment and growth.

Gryffindor to Hufflepuff

This one is quick but revealing. You know those sorting hat quizzes that tell you what house you would get sorted into in Harry Potter? Going into school I always was a Gryffindor. I wanted to be the hero in every story. I wanted to be the person in the limelight for having saved the day. Recently on some post-graduation travel, my friends and I were taking the sorting hat quiz and discussing our results for fun. For the first time in my life, I was sorted into Hufflepuff. At first, I was indignant.

I am not a Hufflepuff, I am a Gryffindor!

But even as I heard myself thinking that I realized that it was an incredibly poignant example of the growth I had experienced over the past two years.

When I entered Wharton I wanted to be a courageous leader. The daring knight who saved the day.

As I leave Wharton I am much more focused on being a better person. Being a kind, loyal, ethical, and hardworking man.

Maybe you’ll find this anecdote a bit silly, but for anyone who is familiar with Harry Potter, I think it does a great job of capturing my changed priorities.

A picture of the lake next to my family’s cabin in Norway.

The Mondays and Tuesdays

Post-graduation I got to spend some time traveling around Europe. A big highlight was getting to go to Norway to spend some time with my relatives on my dad’s side of the family. While spending some time at the Berg family cabin in the mountains, we went for a hike and I ended up spending the bulk of the time talking with my Aunt Hilde. She wanted to hear about my Wharton experience and we discussed many of the topics I have written about in this post. I told her that my priorities had shifted and that I was more focused on my family and on finding contentment versus always looking toward the horizon.

That’s when she told me about her husband Leif. Leif passed away from cancer when I was younger, but his presence still looms large in my family. On top of being my Aunt’s husband, he was also my dad’s childhood best friend and so his loss hit my family hard. He was an exceedingly kind man with a larger-than-life sense of humor that brightened any room he entered. My aunt told me about how when he was diagnosed with cancer, she asked him what he wanted to do with the time that he had left. Did he want to travel? Were there items that he wanted to check off his bucket list?

I’ll never forget what she told me his response was.

“I just want the Mondays and Tuesdays.”

Here was a man with limited time left. And all he wanted was as much of his normal everyday life as possible. He wanted to work for as long as he could and spend time with his family and friends as he always had.

There are rare moments in life when someone tells you something and you immediately know that it is going to stick with you for the rest of your days.

My Uncle’s idea of “the Mondays and Tuesdays” was one such moment for me.

I don’t know where my path is going to take me. I don’t know if I am going to stay at Capital One for three years or thirty. I don’t know if we are here to stay in Virginia, as we expect, or if something unforeseen will draw our family elsewhere.

But whatever happens, I know that if I can find a way to fall in love with my Mondays and Tuesdays, I’ll have a pretty good shot at leading a worthwhile life. Admittedly, this is probably something that is easier said than done, but I think my newfound strategy of prioritizing relationships and the journey of becoming a better version of myself every day is as good of a path to a good life as any.

Thank You

Thanks for following along over the past couple years. I wrote with less frequency and regularity than I would have liked, but my priority was fitting this blog into my grad school experience and not the other way around. I am sure I will have more thoughts and insights on this transition in the weeks and months to come. I’m not sure how this blog will change as I re-enter the working world. I’d love to keep writing and I hope you continue to follow along.

Journey before destination.

Erik

The Tactics of Ethical Influence

At Wharton, there are a few "famous classes" that every alum recommends you try to take. This semester I had the opportunity to take one such class. Influence, taught by Professor Cade Massey was about the theory, strategies, and tactics of exerting influence on others both personally and professionally. Now, this was a class I entered into with a not-small degree of skepticism. I have worked in highly-political environments before and hated it. I viewed political behavior as the sort of brown-nosing and maneuvering that people did when they didn't have the skill to succeed on their own merit. I have always tried my best to be genuine and direct about my thoughts, feelings, and positions on things. So what was I to gain from a class all about politics and power?

Turns out, a lot.

Three things changed my mind about the concept of influence. In our first class, the professor hammered home the idea that influence is not a substitute for merit, but an accelerant. A point of leverage when you already are in a position of strength. The ability to outmaneuver an opponent when backed into a corner. An option to win against adversaries who are larger, more powerful, and backed by better resources than you are. Throughout the course, this concept that neither merit nor influence will likely be sufficient for you to accomplish your goals on your own was hammered home. We also explored how influence was itself a skill that needed to be honed and so really was an aspect of your merit itself. It opened up my eyes to the fact that utilizing influence wasn't something that people did when they didn't have anything else to rely upon, but an important part of anyone's professional development.

Second, we talked about the "Just World" hypothesis. The idea that too often people operate as if the world was perfectly just and that there were cosmic scales that automatically balanced out every act with an equal reward. Do good, good happens to you. Take the expedient route, it'll come back to bite you. The danger with the Just World hypothesis is that it hinders people's agency. If you believe that what goes around always comes back around, there is little reason for you to take it upon yourself to improve circumstances. Now I personally think that in the long-term, there is an aspect of balancing that occurs. If you spend your life burning bridges, eventually you are going to lose our credibility, reputation, and any goodwill from others. But one need only turn on the news for 5 minutes to see that bad things happen to good people and vice versa. Now, this isn't to say that the world is completely unjust, just that it is a bit rough around the edges. Good and bad things happen to both good and bad people. Hard work and good intentions usually pay off, but not always. Merit matters, but it isn't the only thing that matters. In the "rough world" that we live in, influence matters. We may not like it, but to argue otherwise is naive. And I feel confident saying that as someone who has made the argument myself all too often.

Now I know what you are thinking. "Oh great, a bunch of Ivy League MBAs learning how to manipulate people. What could go wrong?" The same thought crossed my mind and that is why I was so glad that ethical considerations were a crucial cornerstone of this course. At the end of the day, influence tools are just that, tools. And as tools, they can be used for good or ill. The matter of real importance comes from deciding when and how to use these tools. Whether to use them for expedience's sake or with honor. Whether to use them to treat people as means to your own ends or to use them with the conscious belief that others are ends unto themselves. Wielding influence is not only an avenue to accomplish your goals but also a defensive mechanism. A shield from bad actors who would spoil your cause for their own selfish gain. If you are like how I used to be and simply refused to participate in "politics" out of principle, you may open yourself, your friends, and your causes to manipulation by others who aren't as principled. It may not be ideal, but in the world we have, being aware and capable of wielding influence is especially important if you are a good person with noble ends. If these tools really are effective, we need the people using them to be thoughtful, ethical, and conscientious of their impact, not just those who will do whatever it takes to see their goals realized. In my first semester at Wharton, I wrote an ethical manifesto about how I wanted to be an ethical leader. Of the 6 pillars I highlighted, two are especially salient to the guidance of when and how to use influence tactics: Treat everyone with Honor and Don't take shortcuts. On the last day of our class we discussed the importance of integrity as it related to influence. Of making decisions by principles instead of simple cost-benefit calculations. Of the fact that not only can we exercise influence with integrity, but that sometimes, in order to act with integrity, situations will require us to exert influence and to do so effectively. The foundational importance of ethics and integrity in conversations of politics and power was a pleasant surprise to me and a throughline I wish that more of my classes grappled with. Often even more important than the question of whether or not we can do something is the question of whether we ought to.

What exactly are these influence tactics that I am referencing? Each class we would hit on one or two tactics and a figure whose behavior served as an example of them. I can't do them all justice in a simple blog post, but I will outline the tactics at a high level here. Our professors’ research broke the tactics into three buckets, hard power, soft power, and smart power.

Influence Tactics

Hard Power

Hard power is what it sounds like and what many of us first think of when we think of influence. Hard power is using your position or authority to get someone to do what you want. It is easy to have negative feelings about hard power, but a real challenge is thinking about how to use these tactics in a relationship-preserving way instead of burning bridges with them. The two tactics in the hard power bucket are Ethos and Might.

Ethos - Someone's credibility and a key element to persuasion. The trick with Ethos is displaying your credentials within an appropriate context so it doesn't come across as obnoxious.

Might - Coercive Power. Might is the ability to address difficult issues and to tolerate conflict or unpleasantness. Might may be the most challenging strategy to use the appropriate amount of and most people tend to over-rely on it or to completely neglect it.

Soft Power

Soft power is the more subtle side of influence. It is all about getting others to want to do what you want them to do versus forcing them to do it. It is about building bridges and relationships and using those connections to accomplish your goals. The six tactics in the soft power bucket are Coalitions, Pathos, Networks, Team Building, Exchange, and Allocentrism.

Coalitions - The ability to garner support from other actors and to align incentives towards a common goal. Coalitions are crucially important because they are the most effective way for someone with low power to overcome a more powerful opponent.

Pathos - Creating emotional resonance with an audience and the second key element to persuasion. Pathos is often created through the telling of stories and allows the user to relate to the topic or issue at hand.

Networks - Building bridges between yourself and others. Effective networks are diverse and contain both formal and informal relationships. People who have the most valuable networks sit at the leverage points between different network nodes and can act as an intermediary between otherwise separate groups.

Team-Building - Team-building takes the idea of coalitions one step further. It is often not enough to bring desperate actors together in pursuit of a common goal, the real trick is in keeping all the diverging interests from tearing the group apart. Effective team-building means creating a sense of cohesion and loyalty between members of the team and ensuring that everyone's unique strengths are able to be leveraged.

Exchange - Human beings are naturally inclined towards reciprocity. A powerful way to win allies is to do things for them knowing that most people will naturally seek to even the scales. Those who are most effective using the tactic of exchange go beyond simple transactions and develop habits of helping others without short-term expectations of anything in return.

Allocentrism - The opposite of egocentrism. Allocentrism means being cognizant of and orienting yourself towards others' perspectives versus your own. Allocentrism is key for exhibiting empathy or looking at a situation from someone else's perspective.

Smart Power

Smart Power is the bucket that may be the newest to you. It deals with meta-level tools that are more about the appropriate recognition of when to use what tools versus the tools themselves. Research has shown that smart power tools have the biggest impact on whether you are effective or not with Agency being the most effective tactic to cultivate out of all the tactics discussed. The four tactics in the smart power bucket are Situational Awareness, Agency, Intent, and Logos

Situational Awareness - The ability to understand one’s environment and how it is changing. Those skilled in situational awareness understand the interests of different actors and can reliably make predictions about how situations are going to play out.

Agency - The understanding that nothing in the environment is fixed and that you can exert influence to change circumstances. Agency is found to be the most impactful of all influence tactics which makes sense because if you don't think you will be able to influence a situation, you are unlikely to even try.

Intentionality - Intentionality is a complete focus on achieving goals. It is the ability to sacrifice the battle to win the war and to compromise tertiary interests in pursuit of a larger design.

Logos - The logic of one's arguments and the final key element to persuasion. Logos can take the form of facts and figures or a simple logical flow.

Developing My Influence

A major aspect of the class was evaluating our own influence abilities and seeing where there were opportunities for improvement. As someone who had eschewed "playing politics" I expected that I would have some areas to work on.

Little did I know how un-influential I really was.

We were rated on our ability to use influence tactics by both fellow classmates as well as by former colleagues. And my ratings stunk. I had one rating, Network building, that scored in the 80th percentile of my class, and everything else was much lower. In some cases, much, much, much lower.

This definitely was a bit of a blow to my confidence, but I have decided to look at the positive side of things. I have been relatively successful so far in my career apparently without the ability to influence people at all! Imagine what I can do if I develop even just one or two of these skills!

Joking aside, these assessments were definitely a wake-up call, and as I think about how to practice some of the things I learned in influence I want to make sure that I have concrete strategies and tactics that I can employ moving forward.

My Influence Action Plan

One of my favorite parts of Influence was how the professor emphasized the importance of making these theoretical ideas highly practical and building tangible habits to improve these skills. As someone who has so much room for improvement across so many of these tactics, part of the challenge for me is simply narrowing down what I should be working on. After reflecting on the various influence tools I learned in the class, two stick out as key areas I need to improve on, Agency and Situational Awareness.

I think the first step of improving both of these areas was simply taking this class. It has opened my eyes to the fact that influence matters. That these tools can be powerful and that they really can shape situations when applied directly.

To improve my Agency I plan to:

• Challenge myself to never assume that an environment is fixed. I know that the game board is constantly shifting and I need to act accordingly.

• Always question whether there is a "third-way". There are often alternatives that haven't been considered or opportunities to break with "the way things have always been done" if you are willing to take them.

• Take the initiative. I want to be someone who raises their hand and takes the initiative on things. Even when it doesn't work out I need to know that in the long-term, building that habit will be worthwhile.

• In an attempt to keep the importance of Agency top of mind, I added these qualities to an identity affirmation I regularly review that describes the kind of person I am working on becoming.

To improve my Situational Awareness I plan to:

• Practice regular mindfulness and meditation in order to be more aware of my own thoughts and to give myself the cognitive space to be aware of how others are reacting around me

• Set aside 10 minutes before meetings to think through what environment I am about to walk into and what my objectives should be

• Reflect on what has changed in my environment each week as a way to practice noticing any shifting ground

• To help me stay on top of improving my Situational Awareness I added all of these items to my weekly self-check-in

To keep the lessons learned from Influence top of mind I plan to:

• Send myself a quarterly recurring email containing this blog post as well as my ethical manifesto for me to review whenever it is in my inbox

• Add a to-do list item to my quarterly self-review check in to re-evaluate where I am with improving my influence capabilities and to set up new habits according to the tactics I want to work on next

• Add a to-do list item to my weekly check-in to ask myself if there are any little notes or thank you notes I should be sending to people in an effort to maintain my network

Influence was one of the most interesting, informative, and impactful classes I have ever taken. It challenged me and made me feel convicted about my attitudes and actions in ways that I had never even questioned in myself previously. If the hallmark of an excellent course is one that will stick with you long after your last assignment has been turned in, then I think Influence has the makings of a very excellent course indeed. Hopefully, you found this brief overview of what I learned interesting and informative!

Until next time. Journey before destination.

---

If you have thoughts on this post leave a comment below or reach out to me on twitter @abergseyeview where my DMs will forever be open.

If you enjoyed this post, you can subscribe here to receive all of my posts delivered directly to your inbox.

If this is the first time you are reading something I wrote and you want to learn more about me, this is a good place to start. It includes some background on me as well as a collection of my top posts.

The Modern MBA: A Halfway Point Review

As I sit down to write this, I am a bit more than halfway through my MBA experience. As such, I wanted to take some time to reflect on my thoughts on the experience so far. Both to capture a snapshot of my feelings at a moment in time as well as to hopefully serve as a helpful data point to anyone who may be asking themselves “Should I get an MBA?” I think this sort of reflection is important with any big decisions, but doing so halfway through my MBA is especially meaningful given just how different the two years are turning out to be. I plan to also revisit my MBA experience post-graduation as well as hopefully a few years down the road to see how my thinking has evolved given the outcome of my final year and some additional time to let the experience breathe.

Let’s jump in.

---

Why I’m getting an MBA

To review this properly I need to start at the beginning of why I am pursuing an MBA in the first place. I have written about my motivations in-depth previously, but I will summarize them here:

First, and probably least outwardly applicable to any readers, is the fact that my dad went to Wharton and for as long as I can remember it has been something I have always wanted to do too. Growing up I saw the impact that a Wharton MBA had on my dad’s career and I listened as my parents talked about what had been a supremely formative experience on their careers and relationships. I sometimes joke in my family that growing up, I had no idea where I wanted to go for undergrad but I always knew where I wanted to go for grad school. Writing this motivation out, I am struck by how easy it is for us to sometimes forget how badly and for how long we wanted something once we get it. School has been such a whirlwind in so many ways that it can be easy to forget that every moment spent here is a little moment of triumph from the achievement of a lifelong goal. And that is nice. The fleeting joys of achievement is a bigger topic for another day, but I think it’s sufficient for the purposes of this post to say that going to the same school my dad did really has been special. Having my parents visit and walking around campus hearing stories from their time and how much Philadelphia has was changed will be something I never forget and I find a lot of significance in this bridge between both of our stories.

Okay, now on to the stuff that is probably a bit more relevant for you.

Outside of it just being a personal goal of mine, there are a few other major reasons I wanted to get my MBA and to get it from a place like Wharton.

In my prior post about my motivations for getting my MBA, I landed on three major driving reasons.

• To build my network

• To learn as much as I absolutely can

• To build my (internal & external) resume

In order to properly reflect on each of these and whether the experience has lived up to my expectations, I think it would be helpful to break these larger themes into their composite parts and address each of them in turn. We will use these reasons as our success criteria as I attempt in this post and subsequent others down the years to evaluate whether I was right to get my MBA and which aspects of the experience I found most valuable:

• Building my professional network

• Building my personal network

• Academics

• Personal Growth

• Prestige

• Career Acceleration

---

Professional Network

I am thoroughly impressed by my fellow classmates. But maybe not for the reasons you might think. I think improving your professional network is a big reason why many people pursue their MBAs. Sometimes you hear people describe their MBA experience and say something like “everyone I am in class with is so amazing and inspiring! I don’t know how I got in!” There are two things wrong with this statement. First, it is without a doubt a not so subtly veiled humble brag (everyone who gets in here is so impressive -> therefore by the transitive property I too must be impressive). Second, it sets some pretty unrealistic expectations. I don’t walk around campus bumping into people who have cured diseases or started companies that have changed the world or patented technology that helps baby rhinoceros (rhinoceri?) survive in arctic climates (at least if I do go to school with those kind of people they steer far clear of me). My classmates are all smart and they have worked hard to get to this point but they are largely normal people. Just like me. And to be perfectly honest, I take a lot of comfort in that! Maybe I am just lacking for confidence but if everyone in my classes were mini Elons and Jobs I’d probably feel pretty out of place. The truth is that the people who have already changed the world probably aren’t going to business school, and you may disagree with me on this, but I honestly believe that we would be better off if more of the people changing the world did. No, I am not inspired as much by my classmates’ professional accolades. What impresses me is the kind of people they are. With small exceptions, my classmates are kind, inclusive, smart, ethical, and hard-working. They got to Wharton by making long-term plans and executing on them. Some of them stepped away from high-prestige, high-paying jobs in order to better themselves. And I think that is all pretty damn cool if you ask me. My classmates come from a vast array of different backgrounds. Some of them have been leaders. Many of them don’t come from “business” backgrounds. Some of them are genuine examples that the American Dream is alive and well. A few of them are honestly kinda pretentious jerks. But the vast majority of them are good people and I couldn’t be happier to have them as my peers as I continue forward in my career.

Personal Network

Outside of your professional network, I think building out your personal network is a huge benefit of getting your MBA. There aren’t many opportunities in life to meet and build genuine relationships with such a large number of peers. And a huge part of the secret sauce is that everyone being thrown into the mixer is highly motivated to meet and get to know one another. I honestly doubt there is a period in most people’s lives where making friends is easier. Now that isn’t to say it is always easy or streamlined. Between covid (more on that topic later) and some family commitments it didn’t feel like my wife and I really got settled socially until the spring of our first year. There were times early on where we were anxious that we hadn’t made the amount of deep, genuine relationships that we had hoped for. But we eventually found our tribe and it seems like just about everyone else did as well. Two pieces of advice for people. First, give it time. Genuine relationships don’t happen overnight but if you put yourself out there you will find your people. Second, go first. Be the one to invite someone to coffee. Be the one to invite people over for dinner or to organize an activity. Everyone else is probably just as worried about making friends as you are and it is a huge relief when someone else tries to include them.

I think the modern MBA can really be an opportunity to find people to journey through life with. And I am happy to report that I am 100% sure that many of the friendships my wife and I have made will last a lifetime. In some ways, that is probably worth the cost of admission alone.

Academics

Based on my experience, this category is not at the top of many MBA’s priority lists. And it probably shouldn’t be! One of the interesting things about grad school is that everyone is here for different reasons. And that is a good thing! For me, Academics aren’t my top priority, but learning is. After I graduated undergrad, I really missed the academic environment and I felt like I hadn’t really appreciated what I had till it was gone. I loved the learning and the discussions and the semi-structured way of living. I swore to myself that if I ever had the opportunity to be in the academic environment again I would really try to make the most of it. And I think I have been relatively successful in that. There are definitely times where I want to do something fun and instead, I am doing some busy work for a class where it is easy to forget my vow to appreciate school. But largely my experience has been that the more you put into your classwork the more you get out of it (intuitive but not always obvious). I think if I am being perfectly honest, my academic experience has been something of a mixed bag. I would say I have largely been pleased with most of my classes and professors. There have been a few stinkers where I felt like I was wasting my time, but I think the coursework has been pretty engaging for the most part. This is definitely partially being colored by the first couple of months of my second year. I really focused on knocking out my core requirements in my first year. I still enjoyed most of the classes, but the opportunity to take more elective classes based on my interests has definitely increased the average quality of the enjoyment and the applicability of the learning I am getting from each class (with one notable exception COUGHcomputationalstatisticalanalysisinrCOUGH).

For anyone interested in pursuing their MBA, the pedagogical structure is an interesting point of comparison between MBA programs and ranges from some schools where everyone takes all the same courses their first year to Wharton which is probably the most flexible in terms of what classes you can take to fulfill your requirements. It is hard to say which is best since I have only experienced Wharton’s “Choose-your-own-adventure” structure. I think the answer to what is the best structure probably depends on what your focus is. The more defined structure from places like HBS or Darden definitely seems to have the benefit of really creating strong bonds between your cohort (or whatever those schools call it). The downside of this is that, especially if you have a business background, you will probably be stuck taking some classes with material you are already familiar and it could feel like a waste of time. The benefit for structures similar to Wharton is the inverse. You have more flexibility to make sure that you are getting the most out of your limited window of time and not taking classes that are auxiliary or overly repetitive. The downside is that you probably don’t develop quite as tight bonds with your cohort since you are only taking a couple of classes with them instead of a whole year’s worth. I got really lucky and my cohort was unusually tight with one another, but I don’t think all the cohorts at Wharton had that same experience. Covid probably didn’t help.

I will address it head-on later, but it is impossible to discuss academics without mentioning covid. This year, our classes are fully in-person and the difference is pretty much night and day. I enjoyed many of my classes last year, but there is a nearly uniform step-function positive difference to having teaching in-person. The professors are more up for it, my fellow students are more engaged, the lectures are more interesting, it is easier to follow along, harder to get distracted. There is one class I prefer watching the recordings of (Intro to Computer Programming) so I can pause and rewind when I inevitably get confused and have to rewatch an explanation, but largely classes are vastly improved in-person.

The one area where I have been slightly disappointed with the academic side of the experience is just how much of a low priority it is for many of my fellow classmates. It’s fine that it isn’t everyone’s number one priority (again. it isn’t mine either), but there have definitely been times where my fellow classmates’ lack of engagement had a deleterious impact on my own experience. There are few things I enjoy more than a lively and vibrant discussion and it kinda sucks when it is clear that others aren’t prepared/engaged. I hope this doesn’t come across as holier than thou. There have definitely been times where I skipped a reading or turned in an assignment half-done because I was prioritizing something else (honestly I think I probably don’t do this enough given what my priority stack for Wharton is), but I do wish my fellow students would turn up the “student” knob at times ever so slightly. (I should note that this is definitely an area that has improved with being in person but this is supposed to mostly be a review of my first year so 🤷‍♂️)

Personal Growth

Perhaps the most pleasant surprise of the whole MBA experience is the personal growth I feel like I have gone through during my time in the program. It isn’t often talked about as a selling point for pursuing a graduate degree, but if I look at the value of the MBA so far, the amount of personal growth I have had is probably the number two most valuable category under the personal relationships I have built. I feel like I have grown as much in the past ~year as I have in the rest of my years of adulthood combined. The MBA really is relatively unique in that it is a time to take a step back from the hand-to-hand combat of everyday working life. To take a breath. To ask yourself big questions and grapple with what the answers mean for how you want to live your life. I struggle to think of one other time in life where you can take a step back from the rigmarole of life and not only have that not count against you but you are actually rewarded for doing so!

I have referenced it in other posts, but the past year has been pretty transformational in terms of what my priorities are and how I am orienting my life around them. And I am not sure that I would’ve been able to work through what I needed to in order to get to where I am today if I wasn’t getting my MBA. When you are working full time it is really hard to do anything but execute on what is urgent. I salute those of you who are able to work on your side project after work and travel on the weekends but I have never been able to do much more than spend time with my wife, walk my dog, try to exercise a little, watch some TV together, and occasionally string together a semi-coherent blog post. A great part of the whole MBA experience is that the application process itself actually gets the ball rolling on asking yourself some pretty big questions, but too many seem to drop their progress as soon as they get to school and the custome party circuit begins.

Maybe this is just me being overly self-analytical and other people simply haven’t experienced the kind of growth I am talking about or they are better equipped to do so during normal life and don’t need to wait until a water break like I did. Maybe I simply had more growing up to do than my classmates. Maybe people are simply unwilling to really sit and grapple with tough questions. It sure isn’t always easy or pleasant. Whatever the case, I think the personal growth you can do during your two years is one of the most underrated benefits of getting an MBA. And if any of my classmates haven’t taken the time to be intentional about pursuing that kind of work I would really encourage them to not let our final year slip by without doing so.

Prestige

This isn’t super comfortable to talk about, but I feel like I would be disingenuous if I didn’t at least mention the factor that prestige plays in the MBA experience. In some ways, this is more an input of which MBA program you attend versus the decision to attend an MBA program as a whole. If I am being completely honest with myself and open with you, I have got to admit that the prestige of getting my MBA from a school like Wharton did play a role in my decision criteria. And as uncomfortable as it can be to say something out loud, I don’t think it necessarily is bad or wrong. Prestige matters. We may not like it, but it does. I have felt like I didn’t really have a “gold stamp of approval” yet in my professional life and I thought going to a school like Wharton could fill that gap. I thought it would open doors for me and that people would use my degree, at least partially, as a proxy for my talent.

And so far, the initial indications are that I was correct in my thinking. Now how much it matters is a topic for another day and probably depends on a variety of factors (industry especially). But I think it is pretty hard to say it doesn’t matter at all. When I tell people I go to Wharton, I can tell they look at me differently. Sometimes that difference may be for my benefit and other times it may be to my detriment, but there generally is a difference all the same.

Now the one thing I will close with on this topic is that while I do think prestige matters, I don’t think it matters THAT much. No amount of attending a prestigious program will offset your actual capabilities or hard work, but I do think it probably can augment them.

Career Acceleration

Probably the biggest reason why people get their MBAs is for the acceleration/pivot point that it can play for their career. At this point where I am not 100% sure what I will be doing post-graduation, it is also probably the hardest category for me to really rate with any degree of confidence. What I can say is that it really does serve as an excellent way to pivot your career. I came to school because I wanted to pivot from being on the investing side of the technology world to being on the operating side. My career north star is that I want to be part of building businesses that create an impact by solving important problems for people. I didn’t feel like I was doing that as an investor and the MBA presented me with an opportunity to pivot into a more hands-on role in the building process. To a degree, the proof will be in the pudding depending on where I land post-graduation, but so far so good. I interned in an operational role for a startup my whole first year and then I got exposure to both operations and product work during my summer internship. Both of these have been really great experiences and have allowed me to show at least the initial indications of a skill-set in some of these areas.

One of the things I struggled with last year was my struggle to figure out what I was going to do with the rest of my life and my eventual conclusion that the answer is really only ever understood in hindsight and that career pathing is much more of an iterative process than a pre-scripted one. For others who take this more experimental approach to career pathing, the MBA is a perfect sandbox. It allows you to develop hypotheses around what you want to do and then actually go and test them in a low-stakes way either through classes or internships. This is massively valuable, both for the hypothesis you confirm and (perhaps even more so) for those whose conclusions surprise you.

---

COVID

The 800-lb gorilla in the room. It is pretty hard to talk through the first half of my MBA experience without discussing the impact Covid-19 has had on it. A few thoughts:

My first year was quite a bit different than the first-year MBA experience in years past or even this year. All of our classes were virtual and there were no officially sanctioned, in-person, social activities of any kind. Most of our social outlets my first year were coffee chats and small group dinners. In many ways, this stunk. We weren’t able to participate in any of the annual traditions that accompany most Wharton students’ first year. It was harder to make friends and the quality of the class experience was inevitably diminished. But it wasn’t all bad.

The way I like to talk about it is that it seems to me like the MBA experience under normal circumstances is a bit like an amusement park ride. You must pass certain criteria to get on but then once you are on, you sorta are just whisked on your way, with networking, academic enrichment, and professional achievement in some ways being the default for showing up.

That was not the case last year. My wife and I had an awesome experience. As did many of my classmates. But that is because we were intentional about willing that experience into existence. It did not just happen on its own like I expected and my guess is that this review would not be nearly as positive as it is if I hadn’t been in Philadelphia or if I hadn’t been as proactive while I was here.

Do I think Wharton did a good job in handling the pandemic? No. The administration clearly cared more about covering their own asses than they cared about treating their students like adults. They did little to foster anything resembling a sense of community and actively stymied it when given the chance. They hid behind the veil of trying to keep everyone safe while making nonsensical policies that had little logical or scientific basis. They accepted their largest class on record without making any cuts to tuition and then, with their all-time greatest tuition revenue in the bank, proceeded to make constant cuts to the student (and ESPECIALLY the partner or “non-tuition-paying-members-of-the-community” in their parlance) experience. They refused to dip into their multi-billion dollar endowment to alleviate some of these challenges and in doing so dispelled any possible justification of these unfathomably large investment vehicles being anything that resembles a “rainy day fund” for the institution.

The actions of the school over the past year serve as a stark reminder that just because Wharton is, among if not, the best business school in the world, does not mean that it is in any way, shape, or form run like a business. Students are not treated as customers and they are barely even treated as stakeholders. I am sure the administrators and leaders of the school think they care about students, but their almost militant willingness to adopt a strategy of “wait them out, they are only here for two years” speaks otherwise. With all of that said, I doubt any MBA over the past two years would have glowing things to say about how their school handled the COVID-19 pandemic. Does that excuse their behavior? Not in my humble opinion. I wish the school had created realistic guidelines that students could abide within instead of creating these completely illogical and unrealistic rules which only succeeded in driving social events underground (and inside), thereby making them more exclusionary and less safe.

Now Covid’s impact on the MBA experience wasn’t all bad. Virtual class afforded a certain amount of flexibility for those students who wanted/were able to take advantage of it. I also think the modality of making social connections in smaller groups had some distinct benefits over the usual shouting to each other over the cacophony of packed night-club parties.

As much as I am enjoying this year, it is honestly exhausting. It is awesome and I am loving it, but I constantly feel tired and that I am being pulled in 10 different directions at once (part of the cause of my infrequent blog posts). I struggle to imagine keeping up this pace for two whole years. I also think there is something to be said about how different my two years will be and the stark contrast they will live in my memory with compared to the average MBA student under more normal times.

---

Conclusion

I am really happy with my MBA experience so far. Parts of it haven’t been what I expected, both for good and ill. Parts have been hard and stressful. But I feel like I have gotten a ton out of the experience and I am really glad I decided to pursue it. We will see how much, if at all, that changes as I finish up my final year and figure out what I will be doing post-graduation.

I hope this semi-coherent rant was informative and maybe even a little bit helpful. A lot of the value I get from writing is that it helps clarify my thoughts on a subject and this was definitely a helpful exercise in that regard. Until next time.

Journey before destination.

---

If you have thoughts on this post leave a comment below or reach out to me on twitter @abergseyeview where my DMs will forever be open.

If you enjoyed this post, you can subscribe here to receive all of my posts delivered directly to your inbox every Monday morning.

If this is the first time you are reading something I wrote and you want to learn more about me, this is a good place to start. It includes some background on me as well as a collection of my top posts.

The Church of Reason

I was asked this week what I thought the future of MBAs will look like given the proliferation of online learning in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Would getting an MBA still be worth it? What will teaching look like in an increasingly virtual world? What is the impact of being in-person vs. virtual?

These questions were timely as we had our first opportunity to attend classes in-person this past week. I can’t answer all of these questions right now as my experiences are only my own and my MBA story is still in its early innings, but I did want to talk a bit about the experience of being in-person compared to being virtual.

The Church of Reason

To set the stage, I want to turn towards one of the most thought-provoking books I have ever read, the part autobiography, part exploration of philosophy and metaphysics, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert M. Pirsig.

In the book, Pirsig describes modern universities as “Churches of Reason.” He discusses the question of whether a roadside sports bar located in an old church is still a church? Is it simply the building that matters or something more?

Pirsig would tell you the roadside sports bar is no longer a church. Not really.

The object of a church is defined by its purpose. If a church is not being used for worship, it is just a building. We may continue to refer to the building as a church because of its familiar architecture or because that is how it has been known historically, but it no longer is a church. Pirsig believes that there is a deeper meaning to something being called a church. There is a required ‘spirit’ of the physical object. As that spirit leaves, the purpose and very essence of that object leaves with it. It becomes something else entirely. A simple building.

Similar to religious churches, Pirsig argues that Churches of Reason are intrinsically defined by their use or purpose. In the case of universities that purpose, that spirit, is to pursue truth through learning. To expand the boundaries of knowledge itself.

Pirsig would argue that, just as with religious churches, these Churches of Reason become simple buildings as soon as the Spirit of the University leaves. As soon as the pursuit of truth and expansion of knowledge stop becoming the purpose, the buildings become nothing more than a mausoleum to their former holy endeavor.

But what if we turn it around? What if the Spirit of the University is alive and well, despite not being able to meet within the confines of a classroom?

Zoom University

The past year has been an interesting exploration of that exact question. Can the Spirit of the University continue to live on virtually?

I believe that on a macro-level, the answer is a resounding yes. Over the past year, we have seen people adapt and evolve in an unprecedented way. We have seen the important roles that education plays in our society and I expect that long after COVID-19 has faded, its impact on education will continue to be felt acutely.

But I think the answer may be different on a mico-level. One of the things you realize when you start a graduate school program is that everyone is here for different reasons. There are some people who are just checking a box as they climb the corporate ladder at a bank or consulting firm. There are some people who want a two-year vacation where they can travel and party. There are others who are just focused on getting a job and others still who are deeply committed to learning in the classroom.

And I don’t want to try to prescribe which is more important. Everyone has their own reasons and they can all be legitimate depending on where you are at in your career/life.

For me, the value of the MBA revolves around three pillars: building lifelong relationships, learning as much as I absolutely can, and growing personally.

Whatever the reason someone is here, I do think it impacts the question of whether the Spirit of the University lives on. The reality is, that for a decent amount of my peers, the academic side of the MBA experience is a necessary evil required to access the other aspects of the experience.

Without saying whether this is right or wrong, I think I can say that it does make me a little bit sad. The opportunity to attend a school like Wharton is such an incredible privilege and it does make me sad when people ignore a part that, I believe, can drive so much fulfillment and accomplishment. I should note that this perspective is definitely colored by my intense love of both learning and the academic environment. I did not take full advantage of the academic environment in undergrad and it was one of my few regrets from those four years. I promised myself that, should I ever have the opportunity to be a student again, I wouldn’t take it for granted.

And I think it is impossible to look at the academic side of the experience without taking the virtual medium into account. It is clear to me that the Spirit of the University can live on virtually, but I think what the virtual medium does is that it makes it much easier to not really engage with the academic experience.

Even for someone as gung-ho about the academic side of things as me, there have definitely been times I gave in to the temptation to roll out of bed 5 minutes before class and passively listen while constantly refreshing my All Things Arsenal Twitter feed. (Side note: Thanks for the memöries Mesut! And Here-We-Gø-Confirmed that I will be getting a new jersey in the near future!)

As with many things in life, whether the Spirit of the University lives on for each individual is largely a choice. My belief and experience so far is that the more you invest into it, the more you’ll get out of it.

Come to class with me!

To my fellow Wharton students, I highly recommend you at least give the in-class learning opportunities this semester a try.

I get the temptation. It is extremely convenient to be able to roll out of bed and into class. Needing to walk back and forth between school and center city since there aren’t really places to hang out in between classes sucks. Wearing a mask is a pain and needing to drink through a straw seems a bit silly. And the Walnut Street bridge gets cold this time of year. LIKE REALLY, REALLY, REALLY COLD.

But I would encourage and challenge you to at least give it a try. I believe one of the great dangers we all face in life is the choice between doing what is easy and what is right. Between comfort and doing what is best for ourselves and the world.

And if my experience is anything to go off of, going back into the classroom is well, well worth it if you feel comfortable doing so given your own health/risk/life parameters.

Getting to be in class and on campus last week was simply amazing. It was a little window into normalcy and a reminder of some of the things we have probably forgotten we are missing out on. I loved simply being on the move on a beautiful (if brutally cold) day. Enjoying the sun on my face instead of on the window in my office. Serendipitously running into friends on the way to campus or in the bathroom between classes. Getting to look new acquaintances in the eyes when you introduce yourself and feeling the energy of a classroom filled with interested and engaged students.

You simply can’t beat it.

I can’t recommend trying to go in person highly enough and that was when A) I went to the wrong room for my first class and had to zoom in from a floor away anyway and B) there were only a handful of people who were brave (foolish?) enough to be the guinea pigs for the first week of classes. If we are able to get a critical mass of 10-15 students in each class (even our stream together classes!) I really think it will make for a huge improvement and provide much more value to most of us over the zoom status quo.

Maybe I am making too much of being in person.

Maybe the Spirit of the University lives on no matter the medium.

Maybe I am overreacting to what was just a nice day.

Maybe COVID has simply lowered the bar for what a good day looks like.

Maybe that isn’t such a bad thing.

Until next week. Journey before Destination.

---

If you have thoughts on this post leave a comment below or reach out to me on twitter @abergseyeview where my DMs will forever be open.

If you enjoyed this post, you can subscribe here to receive all of my posts delivered directly to your inbox every Monday morning.

If this is the first time you are reading something I wrote and you want to learn more about me, this is a good place to start. It includes some background on me as well as a collection of my top posts.