Why I started looking at an MBA? (Part 2)

Read Part One.
My expectations working at Medullan were not disappointed. Of the three guys I met that day I accepted their offer, I worked closely with two of them over the course of almost the next two years. The work was hard, I was challenged in a way beyond any job previous, to stretch my previously known capacity to learn, to grow, to perform, and then once I had reached these new found limits, to stretch again beyond those. Frankly the first week of working at the pace of global business in that small office in Medford, I seriously doubted that I was up for the task at hand.
I will be honest and say that I failed at times to meet what I thought were unreachable goals during my time there, but for every day that there was failure, there was the following day that I still got back up again to meet the challenges of the new day once again.

Working with Medullan and these young entrepreneurs named Geoff and Ahmed, only a few years older than myself, I realised what made them different was that they were vessels filled with global leadership experience and best practices that could only have been gained from having worked with some of the best in the industry. The fact that Geoff, in particular, was a Harvard MBA graduate with MIT pedigree who constantly instilled in me ideas that raised my thinking to another level only added to the respect I had for him.
They were excellent mentors and I hope whatever I achieve in life brings credit to the lessons they've taught me. They are the reason I saw how high the bar for excellence and leadership really goes, and just how much more I had to learn if I was to ever return to my dream of building Redditech into a great company and make it a successful reality. They are also a reason in my realisation that an MBA is not just a piece of paper, that if approached right, it will present oneself with the opportunity to hone one's own skills, not only to develop and create but to also debate with others of similar and different thinking one's own business ideas, and in the end, to mold oneself more purposefully into the best leader and entrepreneur one can be.

The fact that I now truly appreciate and value what an MBA offers for what it really is now does not mean that now that I have left Medullan, I am on standstill for restarting Redditech. I believe I have been a good student, and it is now time to put those lessons into action. I remember Paul Graham's talk at Startup school 2008 where he quoted General Patton:

"A good plan violently executed right now is far better than a perfect plan executed next week.".

After moving on from Medullan, I still continue to converse with my past mentors, as often as their time allows, since building a high growth company leaves little time for idle chat. I have also started the process for piecing together the direction I wish to take Redditech into, now that I have the time available to dedicate to this effort. I have no assumptions in this brainstorming effort, even the name, Redditech, is up for revamping as I do my research into what I now believe is a survivable business idea I can implement from my home in Trinidad on a self-funded budget.
I remember as well though a quote my primary school teacher gave us as we prepared for our secondary school exams.

"If you fail to prepare, you're prepared to fail."

Google revealed to me that Mark Spitz said this originally, but I have always kept its meaning close to me throughout my life well beyond my days as an 11 year old in blue shirt and khaki short pants when I first heard it uttered.
By NOT actively searching for and pursuing an MBA which offers the correct mixture of focus on leadership, entrepreneurship and technology I am looking for, I will be failing to prepare. I am not saying that by relaunching Redditech now I am prepared to fail, I do believe that this rejuvenated effort will lead to a successful result.

I do also believe though that I would benefit greatly from the opportunity an MBA experience offers to share and collaborate with others of similar thinking the "field lessons" I have learned and continue to learn, to refine them and adjust them based on lessons others have learned and through the results of these discussions become more finely tuned and crisp in my ability to execute these ideas for the success of Redditech or whatever new venture I may pursue then.

I started looking for an MBA for these reasons, to grow myself as a leader and an entrepreneur so that I may achieve my highest potential in these roles, to bring honor to the effort past mentors have made investing in me, and to raise my level of thinking and ability to build a successful business venture of my own making.