露西回答MBA學員的問題 Lucy Kellaway tackles MBA students' dilemmas

As a female MBA student, I get a strong sense that some male classmates presume I have benefited from unofficial positive discrimination and do not deserve to be there as much as them. This is untrue and irritating, but should I tackle it head-on and challenge them or rise above such pathetic views?

作爲一名女性MBA學員，我有種強烈的感覺，同班的一些男同學認爲我受益於非正式的“特殊優待”，不如他們有資格在這裏學習。他們的這種想法不僅不對，而且令人憤怒，但我是應該單刀直入地處理這件事，直接質問他們，還是無視這種牽強的看法？

There are two different things here. The first is whether you have benefited from unofficial positive discrimination. As most schools are ashamed of how rotten they are at attracting women, it is possible that you did. The other question is whether you deserve your place. Just because you may have benefited from discrimination does not mean you don’t deserve to be there. Throughout my career I have benefited from being female — I have been given opportunities and pushed forward and allowed to be different. At the same time, I think I deserve the breaks I’ve been given, so I don’t feel in the least sheepish about it. Make the most of it and take the opportunities. Women spend too much time trying to prove that they deserve the positions they have been given. I suggest you copy your male colleagues and act entitled. If you do it convincingly enough, they may well end up thinking you are entitled to everything you’ve got.

有兩個不同的問題。第一是你是否受益於非正式的“特殊優待”，大多數商校都因爲在吸引女性學員方面的糟糕表現而感到慚愧，因此有可能你的確從中受益。另一個問題是，你是否夠格被錄取。你或許從這種“特殊優待”中受了益，但僅憑這一點並不能說你就不夠格在這裏學習。在我的整個職業生涯中，我的女性身份一直讓我受益——我得到了機會，受到了重用，可以與衆不同。同時，我也認爲給予我的機遇是我應得的，因此我沒有任何難爲情的感覺。充分利用，把握機會。女性花了太多時間試圖證明自己獲得的位置是她們夠格獲得的。我建議你效仿你的男同學，表現得理直氣壯一些。如果你的表現足夠令人信服，最終他們很有可能認爲你的所有成就都是理所應當的。

I have a PhD in physics and decided to study for an MBA to help turn my specialist knowledge into a career in business. I find that some of the people teaching courses are less qualified than me and I feel short-changed. Is it unreasonable to demand that I am taught by more highly qualified academics for the rest of the course?

我擁有物理學博士學位，決定攻讀MBA是爲了結合我的本專業知識，在商界開創一番事業。我發現有些課程的任課教師水平還不如我，我感覺自己虧了。要求更稱職的老師來教授我剩餘的課程是否不合理呢？

So how do you see that working? You march up to the dean and point out that as you have a PhD in physics you need to be taught by smarter people than the other students, who are less brainy and will be fine with mediocre teaching? I guarantee your dean will send you away with a flea in your ear and you will get a reputation for being stuck-up, humourless and insufferable. You are not learning physics now. This is business, and one of the most important things you must grasp is how to work in teams and to pretend to show respect for people you don’t actually respect at all.

你打算怎麼把這事兒辦成呢？走到院長面前，說你有物理學博士學位，教你的老師需要比其他學生的更聰明，因爲他們沒你那麼聰明，只需要一般的老師教就行了——是這樣嗎？我敢保證，你的院長會把你譏諷走，你會得到自命不凡、一本正經和討人厭的名聲。你現在不是在學習物理學。這是商學院，你必須學會的最重要的事情之一就是如何在團隊中工作，並且假裝尊敬你實際上絲毫不尊敬的人。

I work at least as hard as my classmates, but more efficiently than some. I have other commitments and try to keep weekends free as far as possible, and do not want them consumed by panicky emails from group project colleagues — which infuriates them. How can I convince them I am pulling my weight?

我至少和別的同學一樣努力，還比一些同學更有效率。我還有其他的一些事情要做，我試着儘可能地把週末空出來，不想把週末耗費在小組項目的其他同學發來的驚慌失措的郵件上——而這讓他們大爲光火。我該如何讓他們相信我沒有偷懶？

You have three options. Number one is to spoil your weekends, which you have already said you don’t want to do. Number two is to tell them point blank you don’t work on weekends. Finish your bit by Friday night and leave the rest to them. The trouble with this ploy is that the others will not like you much and they will end up making final decisions on projects on Sunday nights without you. The third option is to take control of the project so that it has to be done on your terms. Everyone else would surely rather not have to work on weekends either, but are too inefficient to manage it. If you show them the way, you will almost certainly end up doing more than your fair share of the work, but you will be earning their gratitude — as well as teaching them the important life lesson that weekends aren’t for working.

你有3個選擇。第一個是毀掉你的週末，你已經說過你不想這樣做。第二個是直截了當地告訴他們你週末不工作。在週五晚上就把你的部分做完，然後把其他的工作留給他們。這種策略的問題在於其他人不會太喜歡你，他們會在週日晚上沒有你的情況下做出項目的重大決定。第三個選擇是取得項目的控制權，讓項目根據你的安排進行。其他人肯定也寧願不在週末工作，但他們效率太低，無法做到這一點。如果你教他們該怎麼做，最後你所做的工作幾乎必然會超過你本應承擔的部分，但你會贏得他們的感激，你還將教會他們人生中的重要一課——週末不是用來工作的。

My partner wants to do an MBA abroad. I realise this may mean a significant salary rise in the long term, but there is a cost, too. Together with our children, I would move with him for the duration and would have to give up my job. Is he being unfair? What do you think would be fair quid pro quo?

我的伴侶想要到國外攻讀MBA。我認識到長遠來看這意味着薪水的顯著提升，但這樣做也是有成本的。在他求學期間我和孩子們也要一起搬過去，我不得不放棄我的工作。他這樣做是否對我不公平？你認爲怎麼做纔是公平的呢？

What he is asking you to do is huge. To relocate everyone and to lose your job and have to find schools for your children and a new job for yourself — only to have to do it all over again at the end of two years? How do you feel about the country he is dragging you off to? How important and enjoyable is the job he is making you leave? How certain is he that the MBA will transform his career and earning prospects? It sounds as if he is being utterly unfair. Can’t he do an online course or a local one instead?

他要求你做出的犧牲是巨大的。要舉家搬遷，你會失去你的工作，既要給你們的孩子們找到新學校，還得給你自己找份新工作——而且在兩年的課程結束後還得全部再來一遍？你喜歡他要把你拖過去的那個國家嗎？他讓你放棄的工作有多重要和有趣？他對MBA能改變自己職業前途和收入前景的信心有多大？聽起來好像他的要求對你挺不公平的。他就不能選擇網絡課程或者在當地求學嗎？

There are too many students on my MBA with poor English and not enough work experience to fully understand the programme. I fear this is affecting my education. What can I do? Can I legitimately ask for a rebate?

我攻讀MBA的班級裏有太多學員英語不好，工作經驗也不夠，以至於無法充分理解項目。我擔心這會影響我的MBA教育。我能做什麼？我能合理地要求退款嗎？

You can try. I would love to hear how you get on. I don’t believe for a moment that you will have any luck. Neither do I believe that it is affecting your education too badly. Can’t you just enjoy being a star on the course? And isn’t one of the points of an MBA the contacts that you make? If you befriend these people from all over the world you will have an international network that will surely stand you in good stead with whatever you go on to do.

你可以試試。我很想聽聽後面的進展。我根本不相信你會成功拿回退款，我也不認爲這對你的教育會有太嚴重的影響。你就不能享受當“尖子生”的感覺嗎？結識人難道不是MBA課程的意義之一嗎？如果你和這些來自世界各地的學員成爲朋友，你會獲得國際人脈網，無論你今後將要做什麼，這對你必然都是有幫助的。

I’m still unemployed 18 months after graduating from my MBA. I keep hearing that I am overqualified but I don’t get offers for more senior roles either. The school’s career service doesn’t seem able to help. I’m considering further education but would that simply make it worse?

MBA畢業18個月後，我依然沒找到工作。僱主老是說這職位讓我來做就屈才了，但我也沒有拿到更高級的職位。學校的就業指導中心似乎也幫不上什麼忙。我在考慮進一步深造，但會不會適得其反呢？

No, do not dream of signing up for yet another degree. That will cost you more money and make the situation worse. Instead you need to understand why you aren’t getting the jobs. Are you applying to a sector that is too competitive? Is there something off-putting about your CV? Are you getting interviews and the process goes awry at that stage? There must be someone at the career service who can answer a few basic questions. Show your CV to a sensible person. Work out what the gaps are. Broaden your net. Try different things. And, hardest thing of all, try not to get too discouraged.

是的，不要幻想着再讀一個學位。這會花掉你更多的錢，讓情況變得更糟。相反，你需要搞清楚爲何你沒能找到工作。你是否申請了競爭過於激烈的行業的職位呢？你的簡歷上是否有什麼東西讓人反感？你是否獲得了面試機會，而在這個階段搞砸了？就業指導中心一定有人能夠回答幾個基本問題。找個靠譜的人看看你的簡歷。搞清楚問題出在哪。廣泛撒網。試着投一些不一樣的職位。最困難的事情是，儘量別太灰心。