uch as it hurts me to say this, Derrick Rose is approaching his off-court role as a Chicago Bull all wrong. He did not see it as his job to recruit talent such as King “flop-master” James to the team when we so badly needed him. I like everyone else outside of Miami will diss LeBron, but that’s only because he’s so freaking good and would gladly take him on my team. Back to my point: Rose said he didn’t have a problem with recruiting and would do it if the team asked him to do so. That, my fellow MBA candidates and alumni, is precisely the attitude that results in 2 championships in ANOTHER CITY. Ah screw it…I HATE MIAMI! THE PACERS OR SPURS BETTER BEAT THEM. #BeatTheHeat </rant> (that’s pseudo “end rant” for my non-HTML people).
MBA students should look instead to Joakim Noah, who has [allegedly] been actively recruiting Carmelo for the Bulls for inspiration (just look at his intensity!). Like Rose, most of my classmates say they’re willing to help and do whatever is asked of them. Many will even go as far as say “I want to help” and then simply wait for further instruction. I too have been guilty of this many times, but seeing this article about Noah going after Melo really made it click.
Your B-School Is a Part of Your Brand
Let’s consider the consequences of our actions (or inaction). Whether we like it or not, our B-school is now a part of our personal brand. I have totally embraced this as you may have noticed by the glaringly large red banner at the top of this page. If the school’s rankings and overall brand improves it automatically boosts our brand too. You or your company paid (probably a lot of money) for this brand association. The flip-side (or negative consequence) of this deal is that if the schools brand deteriorates well yeah you get the idea.
So back to the point I want to make: if you have invested a lot of time and money into something that can greatly impact your personal and professional brand, why wouldn’t you want to do something to help improve it? Stop waiting around for someone to tell you what to do. You’re a grad-student or graduate of one of the world’s most prestigious organizations. You didn’t get there by holding someone’s hand, you earned your spot! Like Derrick Rose, you have an incredible amount of talent in something – whether that’s crunching numbers, increasing throughput, designing beautiful marketing pieces or making presentations.
You Have the Ability to Influence Who Attends Your B-School
Make use of your skills and help your spread the word about how good your school is and help them recruit the top talent. Someone from your business school network could be your next co-worker, boss or even employee. Don’t you want to make sure you did your part to get the best possible candidates onto your team?
I have to thank both Kelley and Booth students who reached out to me when I was making my MBA school decision a couple years ago. Both schools had people willing to take out their time and talk to me about their programs and actively promote their school. Those students helped their business school programs make a positive impression. In the end I went with the program that made the most sense for me, but I don’t think I would have been at Kelley if there weren’t enough Kelley Direct alumni willing to share their stories and invest in their brand via investing time in their school’s brand. 
Talking to them helped me feel comfortable about start an online MBA program – which still comes with a stigma to some (but that’s going away quickly as more and more schools are coming online).
So I say to you fellow Kelleys and fellow MBA’s from other schools (although I won’t mind if you don’t try as hard), go pull a Noah and encourage some more people to announce that they’re taking their talents to Bloomington this year!
Let’s talk tactics in the comments: What are some ways to recruit top candidates – or – How did you get recruited?