Realizing the Value of a Wharton Exec MBA Panel Summary

Wharton Alums speak on the Value of a Wharton Exec MBA after graduation

Last night on Friday November 3^rd, WEMBA Class 31 invited our class to join a Wharton Alumni panel last night for a panel discussion on the topic, “Realizing the Value of a Wharton Exec MBA”. Most of us agreed that it was very useful and valuable to hear what the alums shared with us. We also agreed that it was weird being at 101 Howard without any books on a weekend that we didn’t have class! John and I managed to get there early in time to grab the usual dinner being served after class. Dessert was very good last night. The turnout was pretty good for Class 32; there were about twenty of us that made it. There were about thirty Class 31 students there. This would have been a good event to videotape because it would be of general interest to all of our cohort, not just the Bay Area students. Some of the panel speakers agreed to send some of their advice via email; stay tuned for more info as I get it.

Here’s what the invite for the event said:

“We have organized a panel of Wharton EMBA alums to come speak to us about how they leveraged their Wharton education to propel their careers. Panel will comprise of EMBA students who have been in the industry for a years and can speak to realizing the value of their education.

If you are looking to grow rapidly in your career, make lateral changes in your organization or move to a new industry - this is the panel for you!

The panel participants were:
Gaurav Kapoor (Class 27, CFO, MetricStream)
John Balczewski (Class 27, Project Manager Gas Hydrates at Chevron)
Shauna Barker (Class 28, VP Finance and Treasurer, PMC-Sierra)
Wael Diab (Class 28, Director of Marketing, Broadcom)
Roel Peteers (Class 29, Co-founder/VP Marketing & Business Development, H-Stream Wireless)

Russ Laraway (Class 29, Senior Manager, Google Adsense Online Sales and Operations)
The panel was moderated by Naveed Hussain (Class 27, Director, Boeing)

Afterward the event, we met some of Class 31 and Prof. Len Lodish and his wife at Frisson, a restaurant and bar that’s walking distance from the Le Meridian Hotel. It was a good place to meet and it was nice to chat in a more informal setting. We should go there again sometime. Here’s the URL: www.frissonsf.com

Here my summary of the ideas that were discussed last night, if my recollection serves me right:

• One alum made the case that most underutilized resource at Wharton is your classmates. Get to know them as much as you can while you are here. Don’t hang out with the same people all the time. Broaden the base of people that you get to know well.
• Another underutilized resource is the faculty. They have a wealth of knowledge and contacts that are useful. Some faculty have been very instrumental in helping companies get off the ground.
• Networking is more about what you can give that what you can get. If you take that point of view, it’ll change the way you approach networking. Ask yourself “how can I help?”.
• Maximize your time after class to get to know your classmates. Do you always eat lunch with the same people? And yes, it’s ok if you aren’t the Palmer scholar. One guy started a company and never had to make a “cold call” to someone he didn’t know personally for two years!
• Wharton gives you the confidence to take risks. You know the brand is strong enough to rely upon if you have to switch industries or jobs. There were many examples of this.
• For those that are younger: it might be good to get a major and don’t put WEMBA on your resume so you look more like a FT program grad. A number of students have moved east to the FT or WEMBA East programs who want to make the transition to a finance job in the East Coast.
• Don’t be afraid of calling Wharton alums; they are usually very willing to take your calls to help you out.
• The food is better in the West than the East.
• Don’t chicken out of the GCP or anything else. You don’t want any regrets.
• 20% of Class 31 has switched jobs during the past five terms.
• Keep things in perspective during the program from a work-life balance point of view. Four of the sixty Class 27 cohort went through divorces during the program.
• What is the ROI of a Wharton education? The PVLR is very high but the P&L is still negative.
• Try to leverage your domain knowledge when moving jobs. Keep your technical skills sharp because you never know when they will come in handy.
• A major does not really matter that much for experienced professionals who stay in their fields. Don’t overlook the soft stuff and focus too much on the quant stuff. Some of the alums wished they took more management classes as opposed to more finance/quant classes.
• As you move up in your career, people become much more important. Go for breadth in your classes so you know what you don’t know.
• A spirit of always learning and being able to pick up new things is one key to career advancement.
• Get as many of your classmates phone numbers in your cell phone as possible.
• Stay in touch with your classmates after graduation.
• Take advantage of the facebook, alumni database, and many services while you are at Wharton.

Out for now...good luck on studying for the Management final in Useem's class.

-"Chairman P"