“How’s the MBA going?” This is the most frequent question I am now being asked. It seems like so many of you are really interested. My answer is usually… “It’s good, but WOW, it’s a lot of work! Lots and lots of work…”
To put it into perspective, for me personally, it’s more work than my two Masters Degrees put together. Yes, that much! I think the explanation for this is that it’s a very different topic to what I’m used to. Doing dental post-grad is easier, since the terminology used isn’t alien. We already know what an implant and an ortho bracket are. We certainly all should know what a BPE is as well!
But MBA jargon is very different. We are well into the Accounting part of the programme, and (oh boy!), I now have a new-found respect for my accountant. Accountancy is HARD! Do you know what a ‘deadweight loss’ is? What ‘gearing’ means? How do you work out EBITDA? So this is the issue… there’s a lot of brain re-wiring that needs to be done in order to continue with the course and I believe you have to be open to making this change. To be honest, I am going to re-jig my work commitments to let me focus more on this stuff than teeth.
So what have I learnt so far? Well, I don’t have time to go into all of it here, but to somehow simplify what’s been going on… It has broadened my horizons and made me see the bigger picture. We have had sessions on how to negotiate, about price structure and how to develop our knowledge further in team management. It has been very useful, and I certainly feel it’s becoming even more beneficial when I’m bringing the newly collected information back to the dental environment.
We have regular quizzes, which count towards our final grade. This of course means, every week, there’s the crucial need for some serious study time. In dental post-grad you can do an intensive amount then almost (sorry to say this) ease the pressure on the accelerator for a few weeks. Not with an MBA! At the moment I have two quizzes to revise for, a few telephone meetings, two sessions of group work and the pre-reading for the University sessions next week.
Sleep? Who needs sleep? I have my accountancy textbook to keep me awake!
Stay tuned!
Dr Nilesh R. Parmar BDS (Lond) MSc (ProsthDent) MSc (ImpDent) Cert.Ortho was voted Best Young Dentist in the East of England in 2009and runner up in 2010. He was shortlisted at the Private Dentistry Awards in the category of Outstanding Individual 2011 and received Highly Commended for Best Dentist South at the 2013 Dental Awards.
Nilesh has a master’s degree in Prosthetic Dentistry from the Eastman Dental Institute and a master’s degree in Clinical Implantology from King’s College London. He is one of the few dentists in the UK to have a degree from all three London Dental Schools and has recently obtained his Certificate in Orthodontics from Warwick University. His main area of interest is in dental implants and CEREC CAD/CAM technology.
Currently studying for his MBA at Imperial College, London, Nilesh runs a successful seven-surgery practice close to London and is a visiting implant dentist to two central London practices. Nilesh has a never-ending passion for his work and is famed for his attention to detail and his belief that every patient he sees should become a patient for life. He offers training and mentoring to dentists starting out in implant dentistry, more information can be found on his website www.drnileshparmar.com.
