GeekMBA360

I haven’t made any post for a few days because I was completely “off the grid”. We spent a few days in a small resort near Port Townsend in the Olympic Peninsula in Washington. No Internet connections, no emails, no computer access, and no web surfing. We swam, played tennis, and spend some quiet time sitting there, reading, and doing nothing.

I felt relaxed, peaceful, and re-charged. I think for any knowledge worker who spends a lot of time in front of computer and on the internet, he/she should take an internet holiday once every six months (or even more frequently).

In the age of Twitter, Facebook and Instant Messenger, a lot of folks are struggling to find quality quiet time for themselves without interruption.

Turn off your computer, get off the internet, go out for a walk, chat with someone in person, put away your iPhone/Blackberry/Smart Phone, start an “media diet” for a few days – you’ll find peace, new perspectives, and sanity.

Recommended reading:

• The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich
• Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel
• Simpleology: The Simple Science of Getting What You Want
• Port Townsend Travel Guide
• Hiking Olympic National Park, 2nd: A Guide to the Park’s Greatest Hiking Adventures (Regional Hiking Series)

Autotrader.com in Atlanta, GA lays off 220 today – reported by a fellow reader from his iPhone. Thanks!

If you’re a fellow autotrader.com employee who is visiting this site for the first time, below are some helpful articles:

This post is inspired by a tweet I came across a few days ago — @batess I’d like to see a blog post about alternative career choices for MBA graduates.

When I was attending business school, one thing I enjoyed the least was the herd-like mentality –- there was tremendous amount of peer pressure to follow the crowed to pursue one of the traditional MBA career paths such as investment banking, management consulting, brand management, or high tech. So, I have developed a very healthy respect for MBAs who have taken the road less travelled by pursuing an “alternative” career path.

I supposed it’s hard to define “alternative”. For the sake for this article, when I say “alternative career choices”, I mean the career choices that are not typical for an MBA graduate.

Below is my list of five alternative career choices some MBAs have taken.

Sports Analytics

If you’ve read Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, you know how important a role data analytics could play in drafting professional athletes and running a pro sports team. In this year’s NBA playoff, Houston Rocket was the only team who took the eventual champion L.A. Lakers to a game 7. But, do you know that the Houston Rocket is run by a general Manager who has never played professional basketball, who has an undergraduate degree in computer science, and an MBA from MIT Sloan School of Business? His name is Daryl Morey, who puts his faith in numbers. Now he just needs to get them to add up to another title. MIT Sloan even offers a Sports Analytics Conference.

Improve public education

Take on full-time managerial role in a school district or charter management organization. The prestigious Broad Residency is a “two-year leadership development program that places participants into full-time high-level managerial positions in school districts and charter management organizations (CMOs), where they can have an immediate impact on the education of America’s students.” 89% of Broad Residency alumni continue to work in public education, and 72% of alumni work in district or CMOs.

Become a franchisee

According to this New York Times article, an increasing number of business school graduates and corporate executives are going into low-tech franchises like Dukin’s Donuts and gas station. I happened to know one of the MBAs mentioned in the article – running a franchise could be very lucrative and providing an alternative income stream to supplement (or even replace) the not-so-stable corporate gig.

Start your own non-profit organization to change the world

John Wood, a Kellogg MBA and an overworked Microsoft executive, founded Room to Read, which strives to provide children access to education, one child at a time, one school at a time, and one village at a time. John Wood also wrote a great book, Leaving Microsoft to Change the World, talking about his experience of starting and running Room to Read. It was a very inspirational read.

Strike on your own

From laid-off banker to Wall Street tour guide: Andrew Luan is a MIT Sloan graduate. He was a former vice president at Deutsche Bank who traded CDOs. After getting laid off, he started  Wall Street Experience LLC, which offers the Financial Crisis Tour.

Given the shortage of jobs, it’s conceivable that more and more MBAs will choose to strike on their own.

The not-alternative-any-more-career-choice: I intentionally left out working for the US Federal Government as an alternative career choice for MBA – more and more MBAs will be working for the US Government. It’s going “mainstream”.

Related posts:

• Seven Lessons I learned from attending business school during recession
• An in-depth look into MBA Admission Consulting
• Seven lessons I learned from applying business school while I was unemployed
• What percentage of MBA students from a top business school had visited psychological counseling service?
• Should you go back to business school to hide from recession? (Part 1)
  

   

I was not a happy child when I grew up. I was the only child in the family. I was super obedient. I had always done well in school. My parents would tell their friends that I never caused them any trouble.

But, deep inside, I wasn’t a very happy boy. I was keenly aware of it, but I was too afraid to question. I didn’t like how my parents were treating me:

• My parents would always pick the clothes for me. I remembered once my mother picked this ugly grayish exercise outfit for me. When I showed up at my physical education class, all of my classmates were laughing at me. I knew when we bought the clothes at the store, it wouldn’t be popular among my peers. But, my mother always decided for me.
• My mother would open mails addressed to me without my permission. I remembered I hated it when I was in high school.
• When my parents made a sacrifice or did me a favor, they would always say to me: "we’ve done so much for you. When we got older, you must return the favor". There always seemed to be something attached to whatever they did to me. I was so disgusted about the guilt trips that I refused to ask for their help.
• My mother would go to school to talk to my teachers without giving me any advance notice. When I got home, she would say that "I just talked to your teacher today. I’d like to have a serious conversation with you". Usually I’d be really confused, surprised and scared — It wasn’t like I did something wrong. I wasn’t sure why my mother went to talk to my teacher, and I wasn’t sure why "she wanted to have a serious conversation."
• Until my teenage years, my family lived a comfortable middle-class life in another country. But, my dad had always had the ambition to immigrate to the United States to fulfill his American Dream. For the first few years in the United States, life was very tough. I would hear my Dad complaining to his friends: "we came here for our kid. If it’s for us, we would have stayed". I knew it wasn’t true because I had overheard conversations between my parents — my father really wanted to get to the United States. It’d be good for my education, but it wasn’t the primary reason for them to come to the States.

As you can see, I carried a lot of pressure, guilt, and stress while I was growing up.

I was also taught that my parents were right, always right — I wasn’t supposed to question what they did. I was constantly struggling with this internal conflict — my gut was telling me that something was not right, but I couldn’t question my parents. It was hard.

Going to college at Berkeley was a huge step for me since I finally got the chance to live by myself. It was incredibly liberating.

• I only went home to see parents every few weeks. I hated to go home, and now I had a legitimate excuse — "I’m busy with school work".
• I was fiercely independent. I’m proud to say that I worked all three summers during my college years, and I paid every single penny of my college expenses myself (tuition, housing, living expenses, etc.) I didn’t want to feel guilty again.
• I lived on my own and kept everything away from my parents. My parents would not longer see my mails. In fact, they knew very little about me when I was in college — I didn’t like the scrutiny from them, so I kept everything away from them. They didn’t know who my friends were. They didn’t know what I did for extracurricular activities. They only knew I was doing well in school, and I was healthy and alive.
• I also found an intellectual home at Berkeley. In addition to take Computer Science classes, I took many social science and humanity classes such as sociology, ethnic studies, architecture, etc. These "soft disciplines" really helped me to develop my own critical thinking skills. I learn to reflect, introspect, and think critically.

When I was graduating, I thought I was ready to dominate the world. I got three great job offers, but I didn’t know which offer I wanted to take.

All of them looked good. More importantly, I didn’t know what I wanted. I suddenly realized that throughout my life, I was not given the opportunity to make a lot of choices. My parents were very strict, and they would always make the decision for me.

It was a painful realization. I was flipping a coin in my room to decide which job offer I should take. In the end, fortunately, I made the right choice to pick a great employer.

This was a wake-up call. I started training myself to know what I want and make decisions.

• When I ate out with friends, I made sure that I read the menu, figured out what I really wanted, and then ordered. In the past, I might have randomly picked one or order what others have ordered.
• When I went shopping for clothes, I would always ask myself "what do I want", and then picked the one accordingly
• At work, I would always make a recommendation. I didn’t give "maybe this, maybe that" answers.
• etc.

I’m much better at making decisions today. I’m also much better at knowing what I want. It’s actually not that hard to figure it out because deep in my heart, I know what I want. It’s just that I wasn’t given the opportunity to do so in the past.

About ten years ago, when I was browsing books in the Border’s bookstore on University Ave in Palo Alto, CA, I saw a book called If You Had Controlling Parents: How to Make Peace with Your Past and Take Your Place in the World. I was so excited about the book that I stayed in the bookstore for a long time and finished reading the book!

I cried. I just felt that someone actually understood all of my problems in the past. It’s okay to feel that way I had felt. In fact, when I did the exercise in the book, I got a pretty high score, which meant I had "highly controlling parents".

Why am I telling you this very personal story? I thought long and hard before I wrote this blog post. I didn’t particular enjoy talking about my personal life in the public. But, I have come across so many people who have problems with their parents that I’m compelled to share this story with you.

What I learned is that your relationship with your parents will have a lot to do with your career success. You cannot run away from the problems with your parents. You somehow have to reach peace with yourself, and address the problems. Otherwise, the problems with your parents will come back you to haunt you some point during your career.

Over the years, I have talked to people who are in their 40s, 50s, or even 60s who still have problems with their parents although in some cases their parents have passed away. Although problems with parents might be caused by external circumstances, the are internal to each individual — i.e. they’re all in people’s minds. If you don’t take proactive steps to address the problems, they will still be there even after your parents are dead.

How sad is it to let your problems with your parents to ruin your life and career?! If you have problems with you parents, be proactive and take actions now.

Related posts:

• Are you down? depressed? frustrated? confused? tired? purposeless? — Watch this video, and you’ll be inspired
• Perseverance through adversity leads to success
• 8 Things you should do if you feel stuck in your career
• Business School or Law School? You’re asking the wrong question!
• Are you interested in a lot of different things, but not sure what exactly you want to do about  your career?
• Retire early? or Never Retire?

Recommended reading:

• Toxic Parents: Overcoming Their Hurtful Legacy and Reclaiming Your Life
• When You and Your Mother Can’t Be Friends: Resolving the Most Complicated Relationship of Your Life
• Will I Ever Be Good Enough?: Healing the Daughters of Narcissistic Mothers
• Secrets You Keep from Yourself: How to Stop Sabotaging Your Happiness

Although I’ve been critical of Microsoft in the past, I have to say that I’m somewhat impressed by Bing.

I’m a fan of the PBS “Great American Scenic Railroads ” series. I have been to the official web site (www.gsrj.com) before, but I forgot to bookmark it.

Last night, I searched “Great American Scenic Railroads” on Google. I couldn’t find the official site on the first 3 pages of the search results. In fact, I stopped browsing through the search result pages since most of the search results are online shops who sell the Great American Scenic Railroads DVDs.

For the first time in a long time, I gave up on Google. I went to Bing.com, entered the exact search keywords “Great American Scenic Railroads”.

The official web site was returned as #1 search result. That’s exactly what I was looking for.

Why is Google not showing the official site? Is it because of search engine optimization (SEO) done by all of the online sellers who’re gaming for the top spots on the search result pages?

Google CEO Eric Schmidt commented on Bing recently: “"It’s not the first entry for Microsoft. They do this about once a year.” I think Google needs to take Bing and Microsoft more seriously. Microsoft had a lot of problems over the past few years and failed many times. But, Microsoft is a very resilient company. It seems to be at its best when its back is against the wall. Remember the browser war between Netscape and Microsoft? Microsoft kept trying, and eventually got it right.

Don’t count Microsoft out yet in the search war.

Related posts:

• Microsoft Laid-off Employees spoke up! — Layoff Satisfaction Survey Results – Microsoft
• Microsoft second round layoff satisfaction survey results
• Would Microsoft have been better off if DOJ broke Microsoft into pieces
• Great Depression 2.0 Survival Guide — May, 2009 Edition

Excellent resources:

• Competing On Internet Time: Lessons From Netscape And Its Battle With Microsoft
• High Stakes, No Prisoners: A Winner’s Tale of Greed and Glory in the Internet Wars
• Burn Rate: How I Survived the Gold Rush Years on the Internet
• Conspiracy of Fools: A True Story