You Don’t Need A High GPA To Get Into A Top MBA

Lessons You Don’t Learn In Business School

Not all lessons you learn in business school are taught in class.

Carolyn Disbrow, senior director of brand marketing for CNN Worldwide and a member of Columbia Business School’s Executive MBA Class of 2018, recently broke down a few business lessons she didn’t learn from the classroom.

YOU CAN NEVER MAKE ‘MORE TIME’

Time, Disbrow argues, is more valuable than money. The only constantly appreciating asset, time is a valuable asset that Disbrow argues should not go to waste. It’s also what differentiates successful business people from unsuccessful ones.

“We studied some of the world’s greatest business leaders and they all managed their time like a priceless commodity,” Disbrow writes. “That single skill meant the key difference between success and failure on many occasions for them. This skill does not require anything other than simple discipline. Spend your time on the things that truly matter and you will never waste this precious asset.”

BE YOUR OWN CEO

While leading a company is hard enough, leading from within is often the more difficult task. A successful CEO of a company can be a failure as a “personal CEO.” Being your own “personal CEO,” Disbrow says, is crucial to success.

Learning how to handle the negatives and channeling productivity into solving issues is the key to being a successful “personal CEO.”

“That’s a tall order given the bottom-line focused, Type-A personalities in business school,” Disbrow writes. “But by listening to and learning from the intimate stories of challenges and adversity of fellow classmates, we discovered ways to better manage our own human natures and become our own personal bosses.”

HAVING INTEGRITY — IN EVERYTHING YOU DO

Having integrity is what differentiates successful business leaders from unsuccessful ones, Disbrow says.

“Your strength of character will set you apart as a leader, not only personally but professionally,” she writes. “Have a set of beliefs, values and standards and uphold them. And put a system in place to hold yourself personally accountable for your actions.”

Brian Tracy, contributor at Entrepreneur and chairman and CEO of Brian Tracy International, mirrors the same sentiment when it comes to being accountable for your actions.

“Leaders keep their promises,” Tracy writes. “They give promises carefully, even reluctantly, but once they have given that promise, they follow through on that promise without fail. And they always tell the truth.”

Additionally, Tracy argues that leaders should have integrity — because it’s the right thing to do.

“Leaders with integrity may not be the most famous or flashy of leaders, and they don’t care,” Tracy writes. “Integrity means doing the right thing because it is the right thing to do. And that’s what makes success.”

Sources: CNN, Entrepreneur