Ricky’s Online Business Blog

Two years ago I was not satisfied with my A- result in the Marketing Management class in my MBA course, that I confronted the lecturer and argued with him. After all, I thought I was one of his best students in the class. If some others could get a full A, why not me too?

But he asked me instead, “What makes you think you deserve an A?” I didn’t have a good answer to that. I was made speechless.

It’s getting normal for students to expect an A instead of B or just a pass. After all, it’s becoming easier to get A nowadays. It’s also becoming politically incorrect for lecturers not to dish out A’s. In fact, for many students, the grade A has become the passing grade.

It’s good to aim high, but do we deserve it? Looking back, I didn’t really complete all my works diligently. I submitted late for one assignment. There were weaknesses in my case analysis. There were areas I couldn’t justify well in my presentations. There were weak spots in the subject I still couldn’t grasp well.

An “A” means excellent performance. But I didn’t perform well enough to qualify for it. If I went to Harvard Business School instead, I wonder I might not even pass! It’s only because others got A in the class that made me think I should get A too.

To limit the number of students who get A’s in a class, some schools might impose a “quota system”. Now all students are ranked statistically and A’s have become a precious treasure.

But what happens to those who deserve to get A but are edged out by even better students? What if undeserving ones getting A just because there are not enough students to fill in the quota for A’s?

Or perhaps students are marked and given their own grade they deserve. If the whole class have done excellently, then all should get A’s. If nobody deserves, then nobody should get it. I’m more inclined toward this solution.

But then students may compare one class to another, or one school to another, and find it unfair. Why is it that, given the same effort, they can’t get A while those in another class or school can?

And for those of you who think you should get A, allow me to ask you the same question. What makes you think you deserve to get A?

I’ve already lost count of how many times fresh graduates asked me about MBA and I told them to go to work instead.

Sure, they can enroll into MBA, pass all exams and graduate with this prestigious business masters degree. After all, “professional students” in our education system nowadays have been trained how to memorize, spot questions and cram through exams.

The problem is, anyone can study theories, but not everyone can fully understand and appreciate how these are applied in real-world business. With some working experience, one is better equipped to go through the learning experience more easily and smoothly.

I’ve seen many friends who are fresh graduates suffering in an MBA program. Worse still, some of them are not really interested in what they study nor the business world out there. What could have been a fruitful learning journey turn out to be bitter experience having to go through assignments, presentations, case studies and exams.

Due to their lack of “context” experience, they then are less able to bring meaningful ideas and insights for meaningful discussion when they work with their classmates and group mates who are more experienced.

There are different breeds of MBA students. But to cater for the needs of fresh graduates, even lecturers and business schools have to suit their teaching method for this group of exam-oriented students. As a result, teaching quality suffers. Business school ranking drops.

There are of course exceptions. I’ve seenvery bright MBA students too even though they don’t have any formal working experience. Their character and interest in business somehow compensate for what they lack. But they are in the minority.

Correct me if I’m wrong, for the sake of the fresh graduates, the more experienced students, the business school and the education system, I think MBA should not be open for fresh graduates.

Born and grown up in Ipoh, Ms Stephanie Lai dropped out of college and started to work in an international bank as receptionist at the age of 19. One day, she saw a good opportunity to be promoted to a marketing position. However, her application was denied because an applicant needed to have worked for at least five years in three different departments before being eligible to apply. The job then went to a colleague..

The colleague did not stay on long at the new job. The position was opened up again and Stephanie tried to apply for the second time. Thanks to her diligence and resourcefulness, this time she managed to get it. Although she had to accept the job without a formal promotion and a pay rise, she went for it as she just wanted to learn new things. In the eight years that followed, she had dealt with corporate figures like C-level executives and financial controllers and gained much exposures. On the fifth year, she was formally promoted.

After over a decade in the bank, Stephanie left and started her own Kumon centre in Sunway in 1997. In the beginning, she employed no staff but learned up to do every aspect of the business herself. Unlike other Kumon centres, her centre was open for only two days a week. Why waste costs like electricity when all students could be made to come on two days only? Later, she started to hire staffs including her younger brother. In 2005, her brother took over the business as she moved on to AsiaWorks Training.

Stephanie then spent one and half year in AsiaWorks and laid down its basic training ground work. Afterwards, she got herself certified in business coaching from Brad Sugars’ company ActionCOACH in Las Vegas. She took up the franchise and became a business coach in Malaysia. She started coaching business owners in individual and group coaching to help them succeed in their business.

In 2008, she took up another opportunity to work with an investment company from Europe. However, she got embroiled in legal disputes later when the company’s CEO was charged for criminal breach of trust. A period of setback started as she spent much time and money fighting for her innocence.

During this period from 2008 to 2010, her beloved father passed away. These incidences had given her a double blow. But it was during this time that she took many effective actions to take up certifications she is using today, including neuro-lingustic programming (NLP), hypnotherapy and training. In particular, she decided to become a certified trainer as many clients saw her potentials in training and she kept receiving suggestions for training.

In 2010, Stephanie started her training company. She got only two clients in the first year and less than 10 clients in the second year. However, in 2012, a break came when suddenly she received many requests for training. Up to August 2012, her client base has grown to over 10 companies.

Today, Stephanie is known as an entrepreneur who picked herself up from the ashes and as an upcoming trainer specializing in soft skills in the training industry. Besides, she provides services as a hypnotherapist in a clinic. She also acts as consultant to European companies in their business expansion into this country and region, and helps matchmake them with local companies and business people.

As the eldest daughter with two younger brothers, Stephanie was deeply influenced by her late father. Her father came from a poor family whose mother died at a young age. Since childhood, he had been tortured and mistreated by his step-mother. However, he did not complain but lived on forbearing all hardships. He knew he owned nothing but the ability to think. He clung on the principle of endurance or forbearance (Chinese: 忍), which later brought success in his life and left a legacy to his children including Stephanie.

At the age of six, instead of accepting his fate, Stephanie’s father decided to change his own course of life. He earned for himself to enter into Standard One in a primary school by working on the street. He sustained his education by successfully negotiating with the headmaster to work for the school. He worked his way up and finally got himself a degree in computer engineering from Australia in those nascent years of computer in the 1960′s. His various achievements included programming and engineering the whole ticketing and communications system connecting the turf clubs in Malaysia at that time. Today, his story has been told in Stephanie’s training course called “Dare To Be Great”, moving and motivating many people including insurance professionals in Million Dollar Round Table (MDRT).

Ms Stephanie’s first advice to budding entrepreneurs is to turn ideas into actions, instead of just talking about them all the time and suffering from “analysis paralysis”. On top of that, her father’s principle of endurance to suffer all difficulties, accept all good and bad in any given situation, take ownership of one’s own problems instead of blaming other people or the environment. The principle works not only in business, but in life too.