EMBA reveals other sides of business world
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After a decade or more in the corporate world, high-flying executives often realise the best way to keep their careers moving forward is to go back to school.
They may be already be leading teams, running projects and overseeing sizeable budgets, but a candid self-appraisal shows they don't yet have the full range of skills and experience to be in contention for significantly wider roles and responsibilities. Something extra is needed if they hope to take the next big step.
Iris Liu found herself in exactly that position back in 2017, and that’s why she signed up for the two-year EMBA at CUHK Business School. Having completed the programme in July this year, she has no hesitation in saying it is one of the best decisions she ever made.
“The course was great, and it also helped me realise the sky is the limit,” says Liu, who is now executive group director with leading advertising firm Ogilvy. “You really grow, not just in academic terms and in your understanding the business world, but by becoming a better person too.”
Liu first considered an EMBA at a point when her career had reached a bottleneck. She had risen steadily through the ranks since graduating with a first degree in advertising and public relations, but felt there was much she still didn’t know, whether about basic finance, strategic planning, effective leadership, or the shifting forces within the global economy.
After careful research, she chose CUHK programme for a number of reasons. The regional perspective was an immediate attraction, taking in developments in China and around Asia. A course on the I Ching (Book of Changes) in a management context looked particularly intriguing. The school’s culture was also a factor, with its emphasis on mutual support in group projects and the chance to develop friendships with classmates from diverse backgrounds. And the recommendations of clients and other contacts who had previously taken the programme proved the real clincher.
“I’d always felt I wasn’t strong enough in the business disciplines, but I didn’t want to be seen as just a communications expert,” Liu says. “I wanted to be someone who could add value for clients and tackle all their business needs. For that, I knew it was important to hear different points of view and to open my mind to new information and ideas.”
Along the way, she particularly enjoyed the courses on negotiation, which highlighted common failings and provided a framework for success, and on business strategy, which took a very practical approach.
Others on finance, accounting and investment were more of a struggle, but fortunately classmates or group members were always ready to answer “stupid” questions and explain complex issues in simple terms.
For Liu, everything really came together during the week-long study tour to Germany. It was not just a chance to visit leading names like Bayer, BMW, DHL and Siemens, but also to see how established industries are innovating and incorporating new technology.
“The way we interpret innovation is very different from the way the Germans do; some of those companies are already far ahead,” she says. “It was eye-opening for us to see the pace of digital transformation and how people there now view the future of the business world.”
