Coming from a military background, what motivated you to pursue an MBA?
I had an interest in business for quite some time. My decision to pursue an MBA crystallised when I came to the realisation that my military career was going to be increasingly focused on business/corporate type roles; I spent more time reading business and finance publications like WSJ and Bloomberg rather than geopolitical publications in line with my military career.
What about your business school experience most enabled you to make your career switch?
For one, technical knowledge. The MBA provided me with a solid grounding in core business topics like finance, corporate and business strategy, mergers and acquisitions, marketing, and accounting. This provided me with the technical grounding I needed to be an effective management consultant. The other big thing is networking. Business school connected me with graduates working in management consulting and allowed me to gain insights into their careers, the culture of different firms, and how to navigate the application and interview process.
Which skills that you developed at business school have had the biggest impact on your career so far?
A combination of hard and soft skills. Since completing my MBA, I have largely specialised in Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A). The MBA program provided the formal technical knowledge in all facets of business that I needed to be able to be an effective management consultant and executive focused on M&A.
My MBA also offered the opportunity to hone my business communications and networking skills. Both skills are critical to be an effective business professional, and even more so to be a successful management consultant or executive. It is these two skills that become increasingly important as professionals take
on more senior roles.