MBA Insider

Lindsay Sage is the Founder of Sage Admit, and an MBA Admissions Consultant based in the New York City area. In this episode, Al Dea and Lindsay Sage discuss the M7 business schools, exploring their definitions, unique attributes, and the strengths of each institution. They delve into the commonalities among the M7 schools, the importance of selecting the right school based on individual goals, and when it might make sense to consider schools outside the M7. Finally, Al and Lindsay emphasize the need for prospective students to do their research and understand the nuances of each program to find the best fit for their career aspirations. Links: https://www.sageadmit.com/

Note: This is a replay of one of our most popular episodes Career development doesn’t happen by accident. It happens through intentional actions and practices. In this episode, we talk about what intentional career growth is, and practical actions you can take to start growing your career today.

Note: This is a replay of one of our most popular episodes In this episode, I share three of my favorite habits that I regularly practice in order to manage my career.

Note: This is a replay of one of our most popular episodes Your success in your career is correlated to the amount of people that want you to succeed. That’s why it’s important to have the right kinds of relationships that can help you in your career. In this episode, we talk about why relationships are important, and the kinds of people who can join your “career team” and help you advance in your career today

Note: This is a replay of one of our most popular episodes Working hard and doing good work is important. But if you just put your head down and do good work, you’ll miss out on a lot of opportunities. This episode focuses on helping people understand the importance of speaking up and sharing your work, and how you can use professional advocacy to elevate your work, help others, and grow your career

Note: This is a replay of one of our most popular episodes Sometimes, it's hard to know how you want to advance in your career, or what steps to take. We don’t have to have it all figured out, but when we use an iterative and experimentation approach to career growth, we can often find great opportunities. This episode focuses on the concept of career experiments, and walks you through how you can run your own career experiments to test, explore and learn your way to growing your career.

Note: This is a replay of one of our most popular episodes Many MBA students cite that networking and building relationships are two of the most valuable parts of the MBA experience. But how does that play out, and how do MBA graduates cultivate their relationships with their peers and classmates during business school and beyond? In this episode, we spoke to three MBA alums, Margaret Nealon (USC Marshall, ‘22) Ethan Siegel (Owen, ‘22) and Jill Toner (UNC Kenan-Flagler, ‘22) about their MBA experience, and how the as recent MBA alums are using their relationships to develop personally and professionally after they graduate from business school. Margaret Nealon – https://www.linkedin.com/in/mknealon/ – USC Marshall 22 Jill Toner – https://www.linkedin.com/in/jill-toner/ – UNC Kenan-Flagler, ‘22 Margaret Nealon – https://www.linkedin.com/in/mknealon/ – USC Marshall 22

Note: This is a replay of one of our most popular episodes Whitnie Narcisse is an MBA Graduate from UNC Kenan-Flagler, and currently the SVP of Operations at First Round Capital. Whitnie spoke about her journey to UNC and her journey to venture capital. She also provided insight into the moves she made to land a career in VC, as well as practical advice on some important lessons when it comes to networking, and Whitnie’s practical tips for building mentor and mentee relationships. Links Proving the Power of Mentoring with Whitnie NarcisseVCICAdams ApprenticeshipWhitniewLowHere’s What Makes Mentorship Work

Note: This is a replay of one of our most popular episodes Nasim Mirzai came to Duke University (Fuqua) after spending the beginning of her career in the Art Gallery Industry. During her time at Fuqua, In addition to her coursework, Nasim speaks to lots of prospective MBA students, holds numerous leadership positions, is an MBASchooled Ambassador. During our conversation Nasim spoke about her decision to attend Fuqua, the types of questions she helps prospective MBA students answer, and her advice to prospective and admitted MBA students for how they can select the right MBA Program. Nasim’s MBASchooled Ambassador Profile

In this episode, Al reflects back on his MBA Internship from a decade ago in the summer of 2014. He shares how he ended up at Salesforce (it wasn’t planned) what that recruiting experience taught him, as well as the key lessons he learned from that internship that has helped him navigate his career.

Note: This is a replay of one of our most popular episodes In this episode, MBASchooled Ambassador Margaret Nealon (USC Marshall, ‘22) joins us to talk about her journey to USC Marshall. During our conversation, we spoke about Margaret’s career journey, why she chose to get an MBA, and her advice to prospective MBA students.

Note: This is a replay of one of our most popular episodes Dr Lisa Orbe-Austin is an Executive Coach and Psychologist, as well as the author of Own Your Greatness: Overcome Impostor Syndrome, Beat Self-Doubt, and Succeed in Life. As someone who is an expert in imposter syndrome, Lisa shared her journey to studying imposter syndrome, the foundations of imposter syndrome, and why it impacts high-achievers and career strivers like MBA students. She also provided tactical advice, based on her research and clinical work on how MBA students can overcome imposter syndrome and achieve their goals. Links: Lisa’s WebsiteLisa’s Book

Note: This is a replay of one of our most popular episodes Gorick Ng is a HBS Alum and the Wall Street Journal Bestselling Author of The Unspoken Rules: Secrets to Start Your Career Off Right,. The Unspoken Rules is now offered at multinationals, professional services firms, startups, and non-profits around the world for onboarding, training, and diversity and inclusion. In 2021, Harvard Business School offered The Unspoken Rules to every MBA student. Gorick has been thinking about careers and jobs since he started helping his mother prepare her resume and apply to jobs when he was only a teenager. Since then, he’s gone on to help countless numbers of students and young professionals navigate their careers, and built his own career first as a management consultant and now as a career development expert. During our conversation, Gorick spoke about his learnings about careers over the years, some of the challenging events in his career that led to the ideas for his book “The Unspoken Rules’ ‘ and a wide-ranging conversation around career development advice for MBA students and Alum. Links: Unspoken RulesGorick’s WebsiteGorick’s LinkedIn

Note: This is a replay of one of our most popular episodes Felix Watson Junior is a UCLA Anderson Alumni, and the Founder of the PM Mastermind Group. After starting his career as an engineer, Felix pursued an MBA to pivot into a career in product management, and has done PM stints at Microsoft and Google. Now, Felix helps educate current and aspiring Product Managers through his PM Mastermind Group. During our conversation, Felix spoke about his journey into Product Management, and his advice to aspiring Product Managers. Additional Links Felix’s LinkedInLinkedIn Product Management Mastermind Group

Note: This is a replay of one of our most popular episodes Breanna Atkinson is the Co-Founder and CEO of Kokada, whose mission is to create good-tasting and healthy food with ingredients from around the world. After her undergraduate career, she spent some time in consulting. She was inspired to pursue her MBA early on, and applied to Wharton while launching her first company. Another large influence has been in her time as an athlete, playing as a student athlete at Duke, and then going on to be a member of the Jamaican national women’s volleyball team. In this conversation, we discuss her journey as a student-athlete, developing her pitch, the value of an MBA for an entrepreneur, and the challenges of starting your own business. Links WebsiteBreanna’s LinkedInInstagram

Right now, many MBA students are in the thick of internship interview season, navigating preparing for interviews, finding opportunities and building relationships with hiring managers and recruiters all while managing all the other academic components of business school is no easy task! In this episode, Al Dea, walks through some common challenges that MBA students face during internship recruiting season, and provides some tips and best practices for staying on course and focusing on your own personal goals.

Note: This is a replay of one of our most popular episodes from 2023 This week, we’re flipping the format on the MBA Insider Podcast, with the help of a former guest and friend Eryn Schultz, and putting Al Dea (MBA Insider Host) in the guest chair. In this episode, Eryn, a fellow entrepreneur, talks to Al about his own entrepreneurial journey with building MBASchooled. Al spoke about his motivation for creating MBASchooled, why he recently left his corporate career at Salesforce to focus on his entrepreneurial journey, and what’s next for MBASchooled.

Note: This is a replay of one of our most popular episodes from 2023 Paul Millerd is an MIT Sloan MBA Graduate, and the Author of the Pathless Path: Imagining a New Story for Life and Work. Like many hard-working and driven college graduates, Paul entered the corporate world after college ready to work hard, achieve success and climb the corporate ladder. But through a series of events before and after business school, Paul ended up taking an alternative path, and evolving his views on life and work. Much of which is written about in his book The Pathless Path as well as his newsletter, Boundless. During our conversation, Paul spoke about his career journey after graduating from MIT Sloan and with an MBA, and what ultimately led him to leaving his corporate career for a path of exploration, as well as the many learnings, lessons, and experiences Paul got along the way. We also spoke about his book, and the applications and insights that can be relevant to those who are reflecting on their career aspirations.

Note: This is a replay of one of our most popular episodes from 2023 Many MBA students cite that networking and building relationships are two of the most valuable parts of the MBA experience. But how does that play out, and how do MBA graduates cultivate their relationships with their peers and classmates during business school and beyond? In this episode, we spoke to three MBA alums, Margaret Nealon (USC Marshall, ‘22) Ethan Siegel (Owen, ‘22) and Jill Toner (UNC Kenan-Flagler, ‘22) about their MBA experience, and how the as recent MBA alums are using their relationships to develop personally and professionally after they graduate from business school.

Note: This is a replay of one of our most popular episodes from 2023 Christina Wallace is a Senior Lecturer at Harvard Business School, an HBS Graduate, entrepreneur and author. In her most recent book, The Portfolio Life: How to Future-Proof Your Career, Avoid Burnout, and Build a Life Bigger Than Your Business Card, Christina makes the case for how employees are multi-dimensional individuals, and can re-think and reframe their relationship with their job and career, and to use portfolio and diversification theory to de-risk and explore multiple paths instead. During our conversation, Christina spoke about how living her own version of a Portfolio life gave her the idea to start researching the book, and why we need a more expansive mindset around how employees can navigate their lives and careers in a more expansive and modern way. She shares her perspective on how people who are not interested in a more traditional or tried career path, can use the portfolio model to find meaning and success, and she also makes the case, for how in the future of work, The Portfolio model can be a more expansive way for employees to manage their career in today’s modern world of work. Links The Portfolio Life: https://www.portfoliolife.com/