altMBA is an intensive 4-week leadership development workshop upon which leaders from 90+ countries come together to transform their leadership mindsets, habits, and skills to the next level.
I have to admit, at first glance, it’s hard to tell exactly what makes altMBA special.
Is it their students – the leaders across the globe from all walks of life – that separate altMBA from the traditional MBA programs?
Sure. But how big is the gap between this student body and those of MBA or EMBA programs from top business schools?
Is it the 13 prompts created by Seth Godin on goal-setting, business modeling, and decision making etc.?
Of course! But which business schools couldn’t put together topics like these for their course offerings, if they want to?
Or could it be their cutting-edge learning materials – the curated videos, articles, and books from big thinkers?
Could be. But in this information age, how hard is it to collect learning materials like these? And F.Y.I., all these books can be found on Amazon.
Or check this out: they have no tests, no grades, and no lectures – that must be what separates altMBA from the other programs, right?
Right, except many other workshops are also decoupling themselves from the formal education systems.
So back to our question – what is it? What sets altMBA apart from the rest of the world?
Answer: the deep thinking stimulated by the program.
What is deep thinking?
Deep thinking is a thinking process characterized by being active, dynamic, and creative, according to William Byers in his 2014 book.
It’s a natural mental state for true learning to occur – a difficult but essential process upon which insight, deep understanding, and creation come to light.
Four prerequisites are essential in stimulating deep thinking:
Prerequisite 1 – Intrinsic motivation
People need to have a reason to learn, be it an intrinsic motivation or an extrinsic explanation.
An extrinsic explanation says someone else tells me what to learn. The keyword is utility – the exploitation of the known.
The exploitation of the known involves institutionalized goals, measured steps, entrenched paths, and materialized reward – essentially a systematic approach in moving things forward along an assembly line for tangible utilities. Along this line, people repeat what is told, reach the goal, and stop. A lot of hard work indeed, but deep thinking is neither encouraged nor rewarded.
An intrinsic motivation, on the other hand, says I want to learn. The keywords are curiosity and desire – the exploration of the unknown out of curiosity and desire.
Exploration of the unknown involves moving targets, tentative steps, unrecognizable paths, and frequent pivoting – essentially an endeavor to gain a deeper appreciation of uncharted territory. No gatekeepers, no roadblocks. The joy is in knowing and creating through deep thinking.
Deep thinking begets enlightenment, and enlightenment satisfies curiosity and desire for truth.
Out of curiosity and desire, through deep thinking, people reach the beyond.
Prerequisite 2 – True guidelines
Deep thinking needs true guidelines – the knowledge of what is what and how to get from here to there. No one needs to reinvent the wheel for sure.
But the matter of the fact is, the world is filled with noises. Noises are not guidelines – they distract, mislead, and suppress deep thinking.
To cut through the thick of noises, people need to stand on the shoulders of giants – the previous discoveries and intellectual insights – in search of truth.
The challenge, however, is not to choose giants over noises, but to find giants in the first place.
More often than not, giants remain obscure except to a trained eye. True guidelines are hard to come by, to say the least.
Thence, be mindful of what to read, what to watch, and what to listen to. Make sure to stand on the shoulders of giants first before digging deep.
Prerequisite 3 – Open-endedness
Yes, deep thinking needs guidelines. But it does not need confinements.
Confinements are the gatekeepers, roadblocks, and arbitrarily imposed evaluation systems. They tell people what is right and what is wrong; they advise people what to think and what not to think; and they decide who can pass and who will fail.
They are there to conclude. They build a closed system within which ‘errors’ are punished and deep thinking is tamed.
This closed system can be a sophisticated architect, but it has boundaries. Boundaries are good if they stand by the truth. That’s a big ‘if’ because we admit our knowing has limits and the boundaries can be arbitrary.
Implication?
The boundaries can be too rigid to accommodate deep thinking which tends to be fluid and destined for infinity.
As many thinkers would agree, deep thinking honors a free spirit. It needs air to breathe and open-endedness to flow – that’s where true enlightenment occurs.
Prerequisite 4 – Multiple feedbacks
Sure, deep thinking refuses confinements. It needs feedback nonetheless.
Feedbacks are not conclusions or verdicts. They are comments, suggestions, and questions – something for people to think about and reflect on.
People need feedback to make sense of where they are, where to go, and how to get there. One feedback is a good start, and multiple feedbacks are the charm.
No story has one facet only, but multi-facets. That multifacetedness becomes evident when multiple feedbacks are voiced and encouraged.
Every feedback invites some deep thinking. As the feedbacks keep coming, so will the deep thinking get going.
What about altMBA?
So, back to altMBA, does it have all the four prerequisites for deep thinking to occur?
Well, let’s check it out.
Intrinsic motivation? Students come here for change – the change of mindsets, habits, and skills for better leadership. They are not here for a degree. Indeed, altMBA was set up as an informal and unaccredited workshop. They remove extrinsic explanations, leaving intrinsic motivation the only reason for students to come.
True guidelines? 13 hands-on prompts developed by Seth Godin. Plus a long, curated list of videos, articles, and books that are timely, relevant, and cutting-edge from big thinkers. That’s an ocean of thoughts, ideas, and insights to indulge in.
Open-endedness? No tests, no grades, and no wrong answers. Even the learning materials are not delivered as doctrines or standard textbooks. What a sense of liberation, for students AND for faculties alike.
Multi feedbacks? Yes, frequent collateral, not top-down, feedback exchanges among students. Finally, real conversations begin.
Does altMBA get it all right?
I think so. I think altMBA makes true learning begin.