Alan Morrison was teaching a class on Finance, Rationality and the Profit Motive, and made reference to the AOL/Time Warner merger.
Then he asked in a by-the-way sort of way, “anyone here familiar with this merger?”
A cool California drawl came from the back of the class.
“I worked with AOL/Time Warner”.
Bob, one of the quiet men of class, spoke knowledgably about the effects of the merger in back and forth with Alan for a few minutes.
Later the subject of Vodafone-Mannesmann came up. Again the question. “Anyone here from Vodafone?”
Ahmed put his hand up. “I work for Vodafone”. Again, a knowledgeable dissection of the merger. From the class.
That’s when I knew I’d made the right decision— to join the Executive MBA and not the MBA class.
Notwithstanding the years of work experience— 20 in my case— there are solid arguments for going MBA.
One year instead of nearly two.
Singular focus on an academic year out of work, instead of mixing work and study.
The small difference of £15K or so.
 
The advantages of the EMBA were:

• Not having to give up the job completely
• A more manageable programme for people who’d not performed at an academic gig for a long time  
• Experienced classmates who’d achieved much professionally, from whom you’ll learn a lot.
   

Listening to Bob and Ahmed in class just confirmed what was already clear— there was some serious mental and professional firepower in the room, and not all of it was Alan’s.
There are some pretty robust incisive contributions.
Adrian or Tico talking financial trading.
Or Barbara talking company contracts.
I cite a couple dozen more examples.
I’d made the right choice.
It’s going to be tough for a broadcaster for whom garrulousness comes naturally, but if I’d just keep quiet I might learn something these next 20 months.