During my MBA, whenever I asked my classmates about their past jobs and internships, most would invariably start with, “Oh, it was amazing!”
Then as you probed further, they would often sheepishly confess that it actually wasn’t THAT great. And in some cases, those jobs were absolutely mind-numbing and horrible.
So why this sugar-coating? It made it impossible to get a straight answer. Often, you had to extract it like you were doing a police interrogation. This is the one big gripe I have against these MBA programs (and the corporate world in general).
I loved my MBA and met many wonderful people, but always wondered why we were all trying so hard to conform? Nobody wants to rock the boat or call a spade, a spade.
I understand that one has to be polite and can’t reveal personal stuff to total strangers. Yet, the degree of sugar-coating was way beyond that.
The result is that today, in the corporate world, there is way too much BS – too much nonsense that nobody wants to call out. And trust me, individually, none of us like it – we are all, in fact, sick of it.
I think we need some more honesty and openness.
Whenever we are talking to people or sharing our opinion (including on platforms like LinkedIn), we keep thinking about what others will think. But when I am listening to you, I want to know what YOU think – not what others think 🙂
There is already too much drivel in the world. So let us not add more to it through conformist nonsense. There is nothing more refreshing than the unvarnished truth, minus the hedging and sugar-coating.
Let us say it as we see it. Trust me – people will love that.
– Rajan
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