How are board seats viewed?

Friend works at a GCC state oil & gas company (4 years so far) in their planning department since graduating college, is on the board of directors of a large private oil & gas company in Southeast Asia (revenues of $100 million), and a large private conglomerate in the GCC (revenues of $500 million).

Very bright kid, these companies are owned by his college friends' families and they trust his advice and views and as such hired him as a board member. He's very talented.

My question is how do business schools view board of directors seats in the application process?

These are not small start-ups, these are serious companies with over 75 years of history in their respective countries.

9 Comments
 

I would imagine they'd cream themselves, but I'm no b-school admin.

"After you work on Wall Street it’s a choice, would you rather work at McDonalds or on the sell-side? I would choose McDonalds over the sell-side.” - David Tepper
 

No, full time MBA. If he were to attend a full time program, he would still serve on the board but obviously would be present through tele-conferencing for both companies.

Greed is Good.
 

He wants to strengthen his entrepreneurial skills but first would like a career shift towards finance (project finance or private equity in SE Asia). If he's at this level now, imagine what he could do with a top 5 MBA.

Greed is Good.
 

I agree with the "cream themselves" person. But he has to be careful and not overplay his hand. That is, touch on what he wants to expand on (the "why MBA/why this school" part) somewhere in the application. B-schools stress teamwork, so he has to come across without arrogance and at least some humility.

 

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