Your life story is your leadership story. Not An MBA goes deep on your individual leadership development - something that Chris Jones, Regional Manager at Downer NZ, hugely appreciated.
“There's lots of leadership cliches out there about what it means to be a people leader. You can Google some tips and tricks pretty easily, but it doesn't mean anything if it doesn't first start with you as an individual.
naMBA is about focusing on you as an individual - how do you think? What's the wiring that you've been preconditioned with, or have developed over time? We unpick and understand that, because if you can understand yourself and how you approach situations, you’ll get even greater insight and depth into how other people have been preconditioned and wired.
The whole purpose of Not An MBA is to help you understand how you can be the best version of you, as a leader in your organization. The tips and tricks and tools that you learn and test along the way help cement the value.”
Hear Chris discuss how he came to understand himself better in this video:
Not An MBA brings together the most incredible community of smart, curious, senior leaders. Many students find the most valuable part of their Not An MBA experience is the depth and richness of connection they build with their fellow students. Chris reflects on the level of comfort and vulnerability he was able to build with his cohort.
“You’re in it together, and there’s nothing to hide. There’s no incorrect answer and just when you think you’re going off on a tangent, the room will add to that, and you'll then create this discussion that you didn't realise you were going to have! It’s through that, facilitating that level of comfort as a group, that you unlock these awesome conversations in breakout rooms. I met humans that I want to keep in touch with because they’re awesome. And you really only get that through having a diverse group, and allowing that diversity to come out.
The level of experience and the wealth of of knowledge and wisdom in the room gives you some really cool conversations and some really unique insight into situations that that you otherwise wouldn't get and my takeaway from it has been: make sure you've got the people that are aligned with you and make sure you've got everybody in between. Because it's only then that you really break down and get into the real raw reality of what you're trying to thrash out as a team.”
Chris found the community connection so valuable that he’s taken our thinking on diversity and representation into his own team meetings.
“It’s been awesome to take the benefits from the naMBA training into day-to-day meetings. I start a meeting off and say: “Have we got the right people in the room? Is anyone missing?” If we’re missing people, I send everyone away and give them their hour back. It’s brilliant. I’m not having the conversation if the right people aren’t in the room.”
Hear Chris talk about his experience in the Not An MBA community in this short clip: