People make the same mistake all the time.

They try to mimic. You have to be yourself – be scarce.

Companies, Investors and people in general are looking for people who can’t be found in Linkedin or in Google ads.

If you are like all the others, you are wrong.

If people will work for you no matter what – you right.

Business people add value when they act and ship fast, not when they tell stories.

Lately, I have seen some job postins for Business Development position for startup companies. Business development can be a tricky position and can be seen differently by many people. Wikipedia defines business development as “number of techniques and responsibilities which aim at attracting new customers and at penetrating existing markets. Techniques used include: intelligence gathering on customers and competitors, generating leads for possible sales, advising on, drafting and enforcing sales policies and processes, follow-up sales activity, formal proposal and presentation management and writing, pitch and presentation rehearsals, business model design, account planning and performance monitoring, proposition development and campaign development” . As you can seem business development is undefined. Mix of sales, marketing, management, customer service, business analyst and advertising.

If a startup looks for business development guy, it means they have no idea what they want. They probably want a guy to help them with all their sales, marketing and customer service initiatives. For larger and well-established companies, especially in the hi-tech industry, the term “business development” often refers to setting up and managing strategic relationships and partnerships with other, third-party companies. In the startup world, It’s just a “I can do all” guy.

It’s now the time when any MBA student is looking for an internship or a full time job. From my experience so far, many companies fail to discover the full potential of Babson MBA students for few reasons.

The MBA program at Babson is a small and unique program. Being the leading entrepreneurship program in the world for 17 years in a row, Babson is still unknown factor for most of the companies. The simple reason is obviously the general rankings. Companies usually hire top MBA students from the top 20 programs in the world, and I’m totally agree with that. Babson is different. High percent of Babson MBA students plan to start new company right after their MBA. Why companies should hire such people? because entrepreneurship doesn’t only mean igniting new ideas, but also initiating new projects inside a company. Over 40% of the top Fortune 500 companies in 2000 were no longer in that list in 2010. It is around 250 companies! Where will your company be in the next ten years?.

Dynamic global economy changes require leaders and workers act and lead in a different way in at entirely unpredicted times. The challenges make everyone think differently then we do, if we want to win the game and stay in the top fortune 500 list. Every top MBA program prepares you with core understanding of business knowledge, but which program give you different skills? Babson. Recruiters should hire the best of the best, but they also want to hire the best people who can make a difference. Ask the entrepreneurial workers at Google who created google maps, gmail and other products as part of their work time. Do you want people like that? This is what Babson is all about. We as students at Babson love to be different. We act, learn and repeat our actions, creating economic value and opportunities all the time.

Unlike any other school, we learn entrepreneurship from day one at school. Yes, core courses in entrepreneurship – we act and do things from day one. Read more about that in the new book by our president -  Action Trumps Everything.

I’m inviting you today to stop thinking about people as ones who make rational decisions. Discover today the world of uncertainty , the world of Babson MBA.

From the moment I arrived at Babson, one of my main goals was expanding my network. I’m excited to meet new people in the Boston area where there are a lot of activities for entrepreneurs. This week, I met with Tim Chae, Babson ’13 student last week. This 19 year-old guy forced me to think about not only the differences between him and me, but also between me and my class mates. I came to the meeting with a clear goal to listen. It’s not a secret that I want to learn from everyone, no matter how old or young you are.

When Tim told me about his goals in the next few years, he mentioned all the time that he has “nothing to lose”. Yesterday, he published a post about that subject if you are interested to know more. Entrepreneurs are mostly inspired by the idea that there is never a guarantee, but you don’t know until you do something. Tim gave me a great example of Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg, who dropped out of Harvard because he decided to focus full time on his company, Facebook. When I think about myself, I also have nothing to lose, but don’t see myself dropping out of Babson – no matter what. I have a lot reasons for that, but mostly because I just don’t want to apply again. Although, I’m not the same age as Tim, I’m in the same mind-set. Each person defines his “safe zone” differently. For Tim it could be his parents home or the area where he grew up and still knows everyone.

I learned a lot from Tim about taking risks, networking and enjoying the time at Babson. Tim is writing a great blog, and I highly recommend reading his blog.