REVIEW: Snapshots from Hell: Completing an MBA by Peter Robinson

“During his hectic freshman year at Stanford Business School, Peter Robinson kept a journal of his daily impressions which evolved into this book, the writing of which he came to see as a” simple act of decency, like going back to the last corner. Quiet on the river and nailing a sign that says ‘Cascade Ahead’ “.

I received this book from my uncle as a graduation gift, to push me to the next level!

In the solitude of my rented room, I giggled reading this tickle written by the former speechwriter for Presidents Reagan and Bush. Robinson also writes on business and politics as a researcher at the Hoover Institute.

I instantly connected with Robinson from his first words:

My friend Steven warned me before I came here that most of my classmates would be former engineers, consultants, and financial analysts – people who knew how to work with numbers.

“Then there will be some students with irregular backgrounds like yours,” he said. “Poets. You know, people who have never done anything real for a living.”

Every time I tell someone I’m in corporate communications, images of clicking cameras, glamorous celebrities, lavish buffets, and fantastic gifts come to mind.

Along with that came comments that I had the BEST job in the world as I didn’t have to do anything but dress up, smile at people and take pictures. Like!

No one except those in the PR / media industry will understand the pains of

• send press releases to the media,

• endless follow-up calls with busy (and sometimes grumpy) editors,

• have drafts of your speech or press release edited for the tenth time,

• Missing that split-second photo opportunity of the organization’s president or

• the monotony of filling media packages with press releases and other guarantees.

Along the same lines, Robinson puts up with his smart and cocky classmates like Joe Toscana, 26, who graduated in economics from Rutgers University and later worked as a financial analyst at Salomon Brothers, a large investment bank. Joe quickly goes through business classes and promises to be a teacher’s pet.

Robinson sticks with Connor O’Flaherty, an Irishman with a philosophy degree who made him feel better because:

“The daily commute to business school is from one hour to the next. And since we have a little boy, when I get home at night, I have to spend time being a dad.”

I am a minor in Administration, I identified with him when he writes,

I have now been to the first session of each of my five core courses. I don’t understand Trees (Decision making under uncertainty). I don’t understand Computers. I don’t understand Micro (economics). I don’t understand Accounting. I understand organizational behavior as it is about words rather than numbers. But I do not like. So what am I doing in business school?

It also made me wonder if he would fail midway, as his “Trees” class is taught by 20-year-old genius from Lebanon, Omar Kemal, while Micro (economics) has the menacing, monochrome Yeager that reminds me of myself. super-smart, relentless additional math teacher who sped up lessons so fast she was dubbed “The Night Express” …

You will need to read the book to find out if Robinson is graduating. Workers thinking of doing their MBA part-time will get a feel for the homework load, group discussions, group projects, and hectic final exams that a full-time graduate student encounters.

Even if Robinson staggers like a fish out of water, I think he appreciated the great mathematical and administrative minds he had the opportunity to mingle with at this important American business school. Exposure in a truly international university community also helped this open-minded and pleasant student.