2013 MBA Students Mark Their “Keystone”

At the middle of the ancient Roman Arch that is still renowned today for its strength and style lays the “keystone”- a practical centerpiece that serves to reinforce the arch by allowing the two sides to work together.  Metaphorically named after this symbol of continuation, collaboration, and support, the “Keystone Week” for the Full-Time MBA Program at Goizueta Business School took place and marked the official beginning of the year.

“I categorize it as one of the signature events of a Goizueta students career,” says Brian Mitchell, Dean of the Full-Time MBA Program at Goizueta.  “It is important that we take a pause and reflect back on what you’ve learned, how you’ve applied it, how you’ve changed, and how you’re going to apply going forward…It is an important skill that great leaders have, but it is a rare thing for us to actually take the time to do.”

Through five-day long series of activities, workshops, socials, and volunteer options, the program serves to bind the foundation of the students’ initial academic and work experiences of their first year with the refinement and application of that experience as they complete their second, and final, year of business school and enter their post-MBA careers.

“I don’t want students to think about their MBA journey as a purely linear experience, I think that is a weak structure,” Dean Mitchell goes on to explain.  “A straight line is very easy to break.  What I mean by linear is that you take accounting, you take your final, you finish, and you put it behind you.  I want them to imagine traveling along an arch.  Those are among the most sturdy, durable, long lasting, and weight-bearing structures that have ever been made…and the keystone is the most critical in giving the arch its strength. So although it is a very brief point in time, just a singular stone, and it is important for us to take advantage of that before students go down the arch through their second year.”