How do I move into senior management cadre?

I have considered an Msc in Information Technology but I don’t know if it would be of benefit to me since I have about 7 years experience in IT. I have also considered doing an MBA but I still dont know what schools I should be looking at and what discipline I should choose and the value proposition.

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First and foremost, I am so happy for you for being able to rise to mid-level management position in a financial institution, despite your third class degree. I like your smartness, and I will like readers to learn something from you: when you have a poor grade, go acquire some special skills, especially rare expertise, and follow that route. You made a third class in Biochemistry, if you had wanted to secure a job in your field, you may still be there today searching for job, being turned down because you had third class. But smart you, you went ahead and acquired IT skills, and got IT job. This is a classic case study I want Jarushub readers to learn from. If you made a poor grade, you may consider acquiring expertise in rare fields, and use that route to penetrate.

Back to your dilemma, although first degree is usually downplayed at management level, never say never. That is why I will advise you to get a Masters to obliterate your not-too-presentable first degree. Now, Msc IT or MBA? I’m inclined to MBA here. I am also an MBA candidate in a Scottish school and I must confess that MBA is just one fantastic programme that exposes one to workings of management (although as mid-level management staff, you should be used to some of these things already). And no, not from Nigeria please, with due respect to Nigerian Business Schools. Since you are a mid-level manager, I expect you to be able to fund a decent foreign MBA. If you want to kill it, go for a top school. And no, not necessarily Harvard, Stanford, MIT, Oxford or Imperial. Warwick, Manchester, Cranfield etc are great Business Schools you can cop your MBA from. You may decide to take study leave and do the programme full-time in one year (if you are sure of retaining your job), or do it by distance learning like some of us. MBA from a good school, 7 years experience, and personal qualities like being smart, totally obliterate your first degree.

You may or may not specialize. If there is an IT specialization in MBA, you may want to opt for it. But I’m not inclined to you restricting yourself to any specialization. General MBA is more like it for me, as it broadens your options.

In the IT field, practical experience trumps formal education. One of the Jarus Eggheads, Idris Bello, for example, does not have any IT professional qualifications other than first and second degrees in Computer Science and, later, MBA, and he was for more than 4 years an IT professional with a top IOC in the United States. So I don’t think you need more formal education in that field, since you said you already have 7 years hands-on experience and some professional qualifications that matter. If at all you want to have more, you may consider short IT courses, again, in any of those top schools.

It should however be noted that moving from middle level to senior level management cadre, entails more. What is the structure of your organization? Is it a bank that, as a matter of regulation, has defined structre (SM-AGM-DGM-GM etc)? In some semi-structured organizations, only the owners are senior management staff. Are you an exceptional performer? It may also entail corporate politics. All these factors also play out in moving into that cadre, but no doubt, being an exceptional performer, great decision maker, and skills you will learn from MBA are helpful.

All the best.

Jarus