4 lessons from my Kellogg experience
By Mrinalini (Mrin) Bhushan ’26 MBA
One-Year MBA Program
As my MBA journey at Kellogg comes to a close, there is a lot that I am grateful for: a diverse, supportive and exciting community of friends and mentors; experiences that crossed borders and pushed limits; and ideas that tingled intellectual curiosity. These have challenged the way I approach life every single day.
There is a lot to be thankful for, particularly the classroom and experiential learning environment at Kellogg. Sitting at my desk in Evanston one last time before I pass the baton to the next class of learners and doers, I take a moment to reflect.
Before I step out of the comfort of structured learning and back into the real world, I feel grateful for classes that became lifelong lessons and professors who became lifelong role models.
While there is a lot I learned during my Kellogg journey, here are four meaningful classroom insights that I’ll carry into my next chapter.
Lesson #1: ‘If you don’t know and believe in your story, no one else will’
I walked into my accelerated MBA experience with a strong sense of self-awareness, confidence and understanding of who I am. I didn't think much of self-brand building surveys, self-pitches and intentional story crafting, but Professor Craig Wortmann’s Selling Yourself and Your Ideas course challenged that assumption.
A simple statement in office hours turned into a profound recognition: “No one will notice you if you don’t make yourself known, and that begins with you deeply understanding who you are.” I realized that the only thing between me fully stepping into myself and setting a successful path to my goals was my own ego — refusing to do the work I’d written off as fluff. I am nowhere near finished figuring it out, but I leave with more confidence to tell my story.
Lesson #2: ‘Good communication has everything to do with what you want your audience to hear, know, and do; it has nothing to do with what you want to say.’
Taking Professor Joel Shapiro’s How to Make Data Work, I expected a deep dive on excel spreadsheets and PowerPoint graphs. Instead, I experienced a data communication masterclass. As someone who has never struggled to find something to say, this experience put me out of my comfort zone.
Professor Shapiro highlighted case after case where data insights were lost in communication because the presenter prioritized their own narratives over the audience’s need. This struck a chord. I have spent years in management consulting gathering my thoughts, sharpening my arguments and walking into rooms ready to speak but never gave enough time to deeply understand what the person across from me needed to walk away with.
The shift seems simple but requires real resistance, moments of silence and intentional absorption of the environment around me. While I thought my self-awareness would carry me across the finish line, I found that the real work lies in using this knowledge to create value for those around me.
Lesson #3: ‘The leaders who show up with the most intention are the ones who have done the most seemingly unglamorous internal work first.’
Artie Starrs, CEO of Harley Davidson, was a guest lecturer who shared the above during Professor Matt Levatich’s Rookie General Manager course. Starrs shared how identifying his core and seeking the right coaching to truly understand what values guide his actions exponentially improved his ability as a leader, and this resonated.
Our midterm assignment was to complete a values exercise to identify the top 10 values that guide us. At first glance, this felt abstract and forced. The exercise challenged me and led me to discover that adventure is one of my core values. I would have never thought of adventure as a value.
However, after some introspection, I was able to identify what motivates me, how it shapes my actions and the boundaries I need to create around it, giving me a better understanding of myself. Seeing first-hand how such awareness helps executives and leaders show up intentionally is inspiring, and I hope to get one step closer to my core with every adventure I seek.
Lesson #4: ‘Don’t compromise who you are in the name of opportunity and success.’
In Professor Brooke Vuckovic’s Moral Complexity in Leadership, we explored complex character journeys centered on themes of leadership, moral decision-making and the cost of surrendering your own narrative to someone else’s. These discussions made me aware of the silent choices I had been making because they seemed right, not because they felt right. Erosion doesn’t announce itself or arrive in a dramatic ultimatum; it occurs through small compromises. This class equipped me with tools to bring my values into conscious awareness.
Growth begins from within
Each of these lessons asks me to adventure inward and build from there: know my story, communicate it with others, lead from the inside out and never trade who I am for opportunity. I arrived at Kellogg thinking seeking adventure is purely external, but I leave knowing it’s a self-guided choice. I hope your Kellogg experience equips you to do the same.
Watch: One Day in Kellogg’s One-Year MBA Program
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The views and opinions expressed in this post are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the position of the Kellogg School of Management or Northwestern University.