Time Management and the MBA

What does it mean to do an EMBA program and hold down a demanding management job? Each of our 1400 EMBA graduates started their own journey with the question, “Do I really have the time and resources to go back for an MBA now, amid my work and family commitments?”

What they found was a different philosophical question with rewarding answers: What does the EMBA experience do to make you a better time manager? Moreover, how will it affect your work and family ongoing, and how will the world view your accomplishment as a master juggler of multiple priorities? I think of these aspects when I get the occasional question about whether EMBA programs are MBA Lite. Here it’s quite the opposite.

Vanderbilt EMBA students are masters of hard work and earn every one of their 60-credits for the MBA degree without falling down on the job. Vanderbilt EMBAs experience the following:

• A longer week than the typical MBA. Our EMBAs spend 20-25 hours a week on school work after putting in a full work week and class every other Saturday. They test their stamina for this juggle by preparing for the GMAT, experimenting with where 20 hours can be found to get ready for that first of many tests.
• A vacation from volunteer activities. Incoming EMBA students unvolunteer themselves for the next two years from nonprofits, boards, committee chairs, coaching and other activities to clear their schedules for school.
• The ability to avoid time wasters at work. EMBAs practice the economic principle of moving their resources (time) to higher order uses. They manage their time more critically and eliminate nonproductive activities from their day.
• Decisiveness, overcoming the inclination to revisit issues. The ability to analyze thoroughly, make sound conclusions, and move on are hallmarks of the EMBA program’s effect on personal management style. In short, you can’t thrive here if you are the sort of person who gets caught up in analysis paralysis.
• Good practices outside of work and school. EMBA ’05 David Adams talks about how his “family night” consisted, pre-MBA, of his wife and 4 kids all scattered in different rooms. During the EMBA program, this changed to planned events, where the family agreed on a game or movie or activity they could all do together. That lesson alone made the family stronger, and helped him not only get through school but become a more involved parent. That habit continues.
• Respect by employers of MBAs from rigorous executive programs. As EMBA ’87 Corbette Doyle put it: “With so much high potential talent pushing for promotions and so many baby boomers not yet ready to retire, it is important to differentiate. The EMBA program showcases a significant career commitment and critical ability to multitask.” Vanderbilt’s EMBA format and MBA weekday format have the same academic credits and admission requirements leading to the MBA degree so that they are comparable in learning transformation and reputation.

The EMBA experience is time well spent. It’s a juggling act that says a lot about you as the MBA student to manage your time successfully and excel at it all. Picking the right time--for you, your career and your family-- is the next step.