Reflections on My Conferencing Career: Wanting More from Plain Vanilla Education

 

I look back at the past decade devoted to business education and real-world exposure to corporate life. Though one is always a student of life, being a “real” student enrolled in a full-time university comes with a mixed bag of experiences. I did not like that we were expected to produce reams of semi-useless write-ups at periodic interval. I did not appreciate the fact that we were expected to conform to university’s specific attendance mandates. Later, I disliked being considered a perpetual rookie especially, by self-proclaimed business pundits,the kind usually found in interview panels. I detested being the “brick in the wall”. I decided early on that I will not be one of those defined all their lives by the legacy of the colleges they attend. Yes, we are framed deeply by the education we receive but I have this disdain for institutions that promote a cookie-cutter approach. I appreciated that not everyone was privileged like me to get a chance to attend some of the most respected institutions in my nation, with a liberal environment and quality education. I eventually acknowledged “the greater system” had its own inbuilt limitations.  University students are in a hurry to get at the end of the tunnel, looking for shiny lights. They are looking for moolah-minting careers and jet-setting jobs: Nothing wrong in that goal, except I was looking for more than just a degree or a job. I wanted to enhance my educational experience. I needed to add years, see the world, meet intelligent people and find bigger platforms to shine and make a difference. I want to send out a message to my peers (whoever is listening) that your education is what you make of it. It is not just about obtaining a fancy degree, a smart-sounding job title, or boasting about the heritage of your college building- real education is a quest for adding value to the world, maybe, only your world.

Enter -conferences and internships. They provided me precisely what my formal university education mainly focused on classroom learning could not.  Being competitive, I realized that bookish knowledge is not enough to succeed. One needs the company of smart people, access to information sources and real-world exposure.

Though professional life has its own charm: pride of independence and lucrative rewards for adding value to the world, student life sounds tempting sometimes. When I look back, I wish I was a student once again, just to get another chance to learn more, explore more, think and act at a global level at the pace I wanted. I wish we had platforms like Heysuccess.com available to our generation, where literally plethora of opportunities awaits to be picked up by worthy students. Hey, it’s never too late to top-up your education. 

Image courtesy: conference-health.com.
This post is written for my friends, Milenko Pilic and Aazar Ali for www.heysuccess.com. A shout out to those who have shared it on their blogs here and there.  Thanks to Obelix too :)