Application Of Post-Military Experience To Mba Studies

Student Name Veaceslav Paladi

Benefits of Military background in post-MBA careers

      Abstract
      This paper will be examining the challenges and advantages a military career offers prospective MBA students, examining examples from United States.

      With the United States military being 1 444 108 people strong [i] created on a rotation based principle, the number of people exiting active duty and seeking civilian employment is constantly growing. Some of them face challenges in the adaptation process and arguable the best way to pass through the rehabilitation phase while welding the support needed for future career growth is attending a business school.
      Today’s military is more complex and differs in many ways from the conventional archetypical perception of ‘people with guns’. The skills, knowledge and information processing capabilities required are rather comparable to the business world needs. According to Al Chase of White Rhino Partners, the military may be compared to a laboratory that crafts outstanding commanders needed in the battle field while also serving as an incubator for future business performers.[ii]   He supports this by the importance that business puts on leadership—a quality the Armed forces develop maybe better than any other institution in the world. The importance of leadership in business can not be overstressed, this also being one of the core values of any MBA programme. While military MBA students might have little experience in specific business areas – marketing or finance – they definitely have developed strong leadership, team building and motivation skills.
      While on active duty being in a position of controlling and being responsible – in the deepest sense of it – of a group of   people with different backgrounds, personality traits and   skills, military personnel are receiving the best managerial training there is. As retired Major General Joseph Franklin states it in his book Building Leaders the...