Priceless

Reflections on the Future
by Maya Herrera on Saturday, 10 December 2011 at 14:07

As seems always to be the case, the last few weeks prior to graduation have been full of last minute submissions and special requests for moved deadlines or reconsideration.

These final days are always emotional. We exult in the happiness of the students who realize they are ready to face the next chapter of their lives. We are saddened to see them go. We are challenged by those that seem to need multiple boosts before they are finally able to clear that last hurdle.

This week, I thought I would publish a letter that I think many teachers around the world would want to be able to write to their students.

****** Dear student,

These last days have been a whirl. I know you have missed sleep preparing for the end of the MBA program.

Like you, we in the faculty have missed sleep. Like you, we have had to set aside other activities that are personally valuable to us.

I will tell you that I have done this because I understand that the MBA degree that students work towards is an important milestone for you. It marks a turning point in your lives.

As you move towards your last days in AIM, I would like to share a few final things with you.
There are many things you can learn in the MBA program. Some of them you learn in the classroom. Some of them you learn as you interact with others. Possibly the most important things you learn as you “speak with yourself.”

I think that the ability to reflect on what you have done and what you can learn from what you have done is critical to personal growth. I hope you take time to reflect on these past few months.
As you reflect I would like you to consider a few things. Let us begin with choices.

One of the things I often tell students is that teachers do not grade students; students grade themselves, teachers merely record those grades. Every day, you make choices. In the MBA program, many of your choices affect something not too significant, your grades.

Outside of the MBA program, your choices will affect greater things. Your choices will have real financial consequences. Even more importantly, your choices will have real human consequences. Someday, the careers and futures of employees will depend on your decisions. The futures of families, including yours, will depend on your choices.

I do not know if you ever stopped to read the quotations I used to have pinned to my door. My favourite one is by Dan Coats:
“Character cannot be summoned at the moment of crisis if it has been squandered by years of compromise and rationalization. The only testing ground for the heroic is the mundane. The only preparation for that one profound decision which can change a life, or even a nation, is those hundreds of half-conscious, self-defining, seemingly insignificant decisions made in private. Habit is the daily battleground of character.”

The choices you make not only determine your future; ultimately, they determine what kind of man you become.

The second thing I want to discuss with you is the attitude that you bring to your daily choices. One of the things that you probably learned in the MBA program is that people are generally judged based on their actions. This is true. The reason for this is that, except possibly for that rare human being with unusual talent, most people cannot read minds. What is true, however, is that most people believe that people do things for a reason. When they observe your actions, they will supply the motivation. One of the things you need to remember is that you cannot really know the motivations of anyone other than yourself. You can guess, you can deduce. But you can never be 100% certain.

The only things you can be certain about are those things that occur within your own self. Here’s what is true: It is the basic attitudes you bring to your own life that ultimately determine the decisions you make, and therefore the actions you take. Even more important than what others think about you is what you think about yourself. If you do not like what others think about you, you can always avoid them. You do not have the ability to do that with your own self. You are with you 24/7.

There will be enough hard questions in your life. The most important thing you will need to bring to those questions is not respect for others; it is respect for yourself. You must create a picture of the person you believe you can be. You must then live up to this vision every time you make a decision. All of this begins with giving yourself real value. Ultimately, your decisions depend on the attitudes and image you craft about yourself. This is the value of reflection.

Finally, I would like to discuss the last decision I made about you. I gave you a grade on the basis of what I can observe: your performance in class, the papers you submitted. I cannot know what you have truly learned.

In any case, it is not only the technical knowledge that I hope you take away with you. In this program, we hope to hone not only your mind but also your heart and your spirit.

Certainly, I hope you learned the technical skills. Even more importantly, I hope you learned to create an image of yourself as someone who begins with good intentions and then follows through. I hope you learn to live up to that image. I hope you learn that doing something well the first time is always the better choice. I hope you learn that even though you are sometimes given leeway, it is far better not to have needed to ask.

The reality is that all of us teachers only have one real goal; and that is to prepare our students for life out there in the real world. I hope we have prepared you enough.

Congratulations and good luck, Cohort 6! First published 9 December 2011 by - The Manila Standard Today in the column Integrations.