Who needs relaxing weekends if you can do an EMBA instead?
Last summer, at Pfizer Switzerland we had a visit from a Senior Leader from our New York headquarter. I had the chance to have a time slot with him to discuss my personal development. Glancing over my Bio, he posed a question that hadn’t crossed my mind before: “Have you ever considered pursuing an EMBA?”.
In February this year I started the Rochester-Bern Executive MBA. He must definitely have planted a seed.
With a law degree and working experience mainly in policy and public affairs, I now feel that a Master’s in Business Administration is exactly what I need to complement my experience. What I learn really helps me to better understand the company and the industry I’m working in. Whilst working in public affairs enables me to keep an overarching perspective, I recognized a gap in my understanding of the business itself. In just a few weeks into the program, I’ve gained a deeper comprehension of the challenges faced by my commercial colleagues. Also, as fields like “Valuation” or “Managerial accounting” are all quite new to me, the learning curve in these two first months has been remarkably steep. For example, I’ve learned what companies need to do when it comes to decide about a potential investment project (e.g., expanding the production capacity) – in other words, understand if the investment increases the value of the company. Also, I’ve learned about how companies deal internally with information in order to allow the management to make the best decisions (e.g., where it might be worth to allocate more and where less resources).
What is keeping me busy right now is the Valuation assignment. The task is to examine an investment project in the own company from a financial perspective. This is good timing, as the company I work for is currently discussing the potential launch of a product, and this is what I chose to look at. It has been only a few weeks since the start of the program, and already there is a chance to apply the acquired knowledge in a way that is valuable for the firm.
I’ve felt all this quite stimulating so far, and I’ve learned to my big surprise that I didn’t feel resentful for spending my Sundays on the desk. My takeaway: embrace advice – it might lead to unforeseen growth opportunities.
