I prefer to minimize my political ramblings on here but watching the Republican convention last night made me crazy so I was ripe to respond to anonymous's comment on my last post about my thoughts on Palin.
So I'm irritated with the reporters who are using the Palin nomination to revive the tired old working mom debate. Rounding up some convenient "everymom" and asking her to speculate on someone else's working life is not news and it's not journalism. And I am bloody tired of it. So, in direct answer to the question, my irritation lies with the media, not the Obama campaign ... as far as I know. And I'm also irritated with women who engage in this useless, self-absorbed battle.
But, on the political front, I am deeply irritated with the fact that this meaningless conversation about Palin's family life obscures the real issue at hand. That is, there is a woman on the Republican ticket for the first time in history and the best they can do is a someone whose sole relevant experience, aside from a stint as the mayor of a town with a population smaller than the University of Chicago, is 20 months presiding over a state with less than 1 million people that lives on government handouts and oil money? It's insulting. Palin's numerous children are the least of her problems at the moment.
I was relieved to read the Economist hadn't bought into the bullshit and amused to hear what Republicans really think of the nomination when they're not playing cheerleader to the bandwagon of illogic.
Introduction
- MaybeMBA
- University of Chicago Booth School of Business, Class of 2009 - Finance and Accounting concentration - Investment Management career - Mother to Baby Y born in 2007 and Baby X born in 2009 - CFA designation. I can still be reached at maybemba at gmail dot com.
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5 comments:
Hi
I have been following your blog for a while, its really interesting. I admire you for having a baby and at the same time taking a MBA.
Does a CFA helps to get into an MBA? It is possible to get into finance with a management background and a CFA? Do IBs give credit to CFAs?
thanks
Hi Maybe,
Does your name start with J? I am a prospective MBA and have one question regarding LEAD. I know from your blog that you dint enjoy LEAD :-).
There seems to be something called TKI in LEAD. "The TKI gives each person a report on five conflict styles or modes. Each mode is appropriate in different situations; each is effective at different times. Learn which mode is your primary and when to use it for best results. Discover how to use your less preferred modes for conflict resolution in work, family, and social settings. "
If you can throw some light on what these 5 styles are, it will be helpful.
Hi Jun: While having the CFA designation certainly don't hurt your chances of getting into an MBA program, it is by no means worth pursuing for that reason alone. If you have one, it will be looked on favorably by admissions, simply for the reason that it demonstrates hard work and accomplishment and a sense of commitment(just like any other professional certification), but most of my peers do not have it and they don't seem any worse for that. Finance is a broad term. If you mean investment management (my expertise), a CFA gives you a definite edge (I was close listed for virtually everything) but all my peers w/o a CFA were successful in the internship search in IM if they prepared sufficiently. I think the CFA is not really that useful for ibanking (or other finance jobs for that matter), while it doesn't hurt, I imagine that other qualities are more important there (schmoozing potential, for example, grades, aggressiveness, ability to survive on coffee and take out ... ;)
Dear anonymous: Hmmm. Well, as you noted, I loved LEAD so much that I could not for the life of me remember the TKI modes. Luckily, you can see a sample report here: http://www.cpp.com/images/reports/smp248248.pdf. And I now see that they are: competing, collaborating, comprimising, avoiding and accommodating.
Follow-up questions are welcome.
Regards.
Hi, thanks for your reply. To get into IB or Assets Management, its better to have a senior general management position like deputy managing director in a $8mn subsidiary of a MNE without finance experience and a CFA or a junior position as corporate finance analyst?
thanks
Hi Jun - Sorry to seem vague but I think you could sell both experiences. There is so much intangible stuff that goes on in the hiring process - how you carry yourself, which sport teams you get excited about (unfortunately), what sort of suit you wear, your sense of humor (or lack thereof), why you picked your undergraduate college. Experience is important but it doesn't always have to be a particular title or set of responsiblities to get into IB or IM. I think your motivations for being in a particular position and what you got out of the experience (from hard technical skills to interacting with coworkers) are more important. I think your pre-MBA career should be about following opportunities that excite you most and enable you to create skills and experiences that you most want for yourself. Focus less on how that experience fits into an end goal because I've seen people with all sorts of backgrounds end up in IB and IM. Cheers.
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