The Executive Master Journey of a Mother and Business Leader
The Journey of a Mother and Business Leader Senior Professionals look for different strategies, motivations, and frameworks to balance work, education, and family. Many of them are parents who have to figure out what works best for them and their families while ensuring they stay focussed on their Executive MBA pursuits. One of the reasons why senior executives join SDA Bocconi’s International Executive Master In Business (IEMB) program in Mumbai is to get access to Europe’s top-ranked business school right here in India. SDA Bocconi School of Management is amongst a few prestigious b-schools that has triple crown accreditation and ranks 7th Worldwide for combined executive education and 3rd worldwide for custom executive education by FT Rankings 2022. Anchoring on the International brand value of SDA Bocconi becomes a key reason for choosing the IEMB Program delivered at the Asia Center, Mumbai Neelam Pandey Pathak SDA Bocconi, IEMB, Class of 2021. Director – Sustaining Engineering-Philips HIC. SWE Global Ambassador, PMI ACAC Member, VP NRV Bihar, PMP®, VMA I graduated in Mechanical Engineering in 2001 from the University of Pune and started my career with the auto behemoth Tata Motors. Over the years, however, the onus was back on me to equip myself further in order to not just excel in what I was doing but also unlock new opportunities by gaining more knowledge and qualifications outside of what the typical ‘on-the-job’ experience provided. In 2011, it led me to enrol in one of the top Indian management institutes to pursue a one-year on-campus program for executives. As usual, given the era we live in, there was this urge to further up-skill again after 4 to 5 years to counter complacency and career stagnancy. Around that time, the industry was also witnessing major transitions. Digital transformation, analytics, and globalisation were new themes that were gaining massive traction. So, the realisation set in that I needed an international executive MBA that would help me take on leadership roles in a global context. That’s when I decided to opt for SDA Bocconi’s International executive Master in Business. I realised that if I needed to transform from a managerial position to a leadership positio, and when I say leadership position, I mean taking up the entire responsibility of a business line, I had to evolve professionally and develop a global outlook. When you are working with MNCs, you need to have this global perspective about the interlinkages of economic paradigms. Pursuing my executive Master from SDA Bocconi not only allowed me to up-skill with contemporary skills but also helped me cultivate a global perspective of business realities. And it surely helped me with my next career move, as I joined an international organisation headquartered outside of India. Having that global exposure and perspective paved the way for me to undertake leadership responsibilities that required me to know how businesses operated across different regions. How did you manage the stress when juggling work, family, and education? I have two children; one was eleven years old and the other was two and a half years old when I enrolled in SDA Bocconi’s executive masters in Mumbai. From the get-go, I knew it wouldn’t be an easy journey, but I had the clarity and willingness to pursue the program. I had to communicate to my husband that the IEMB program required me to travel from Pune to Bombay every weekend, stay there for two days to attend my classes, and then return to resume my full-time job. Explaining to my husband that this would be my life for the next two years paved a path around a discussion about how we would navigate the myriad parenting challenges that came with the decision. It was important to talk to my eleven-year-old and explain how my availability would change for the next two years. But once I had the confidence of my family, I knew we would manage. There are a few things that I wanted to highlight here. >> First of all, when you are thinking about enrolling in a program like IEMB, you should build a matrix of pros and cons. You won’t believe it, but I plotted mine in excel. There needs to be clarity about how the program will help you, how your life will be affected, how your decision will affect your family, how you will prevent burnout, and how you will sustain your efforts for the next two years. And I must emphasis that you need to plan till the end to prevent burnout. In my case, I even did a demo of what it would be like for my kids to be away from me. >> Secondly, I would say having a discussion with your family and managers is essential to convey how exactly things would change after you enroll in the program. This ensures you have a support system to rely upon during the entire two-year journey. It also takes away the emotional and mental strain of second-guessing how they would cope with your regular unavailability. On the professional end, it is important that you communicate with your bosses that you are going to need flexibility in terms of office timings. You have to take them into confidence that your work will not be impacted. I became intentional about my time, and I learned to say no to certain commitments early on. This is when you need to step back, look at the bigger picture, and prioritize accordingly. You have often mentioned your perspective on the scarcity of women in top management and especially in core engineering/manufacturing companies. Can you share what solutions as a leader you have implemented to improve the situation in your capacity? If you look at the numbers, women are underrepresented at managerial and leadership levels. So, it is very important that women are given equal opportunities and avenues that increase their representation at the top levels. How I have approached this problem is through a two-front
An International Education in India- Master in Business,The Italian Way
At first glance, an Indian-Italian connection may seem unlikely, but in fact, Italy and India are long-time partners in international business development and managerial education. SDA Bocconi Asia Center is a Pan-Asian hub delivering Top Executive Education Programs and Top Post Graduate Programs in Mumbai designed by SDA Bocconi, a Top B-School in Italy. Today, Indian students are pursuing International Master in Business, Executive Master similar to other Top Executive MBA programs, Executive Program in Luxury and in Business Analytics, and Education in Entrepreneurship and Innovation at SDA Bocconi Asia Center. The International Master in Business takes two 11-month modules to complete and is modelled after the Master’s in Management at SDA Bocconi’s Milan campus, currently ranked 10th worldwide. What value does a distinctly Italian business education bring for an Indian student? International professors – SDA Bocconi Italy maintains a core faculty of 20 researchers and teachers along with an advisory board of 12 top leaders from the finance world, including the Chief Executive Officer of Credit Suisse Italia and the Chairman of Dompé Farmaceutici. The school’s core faculty earned academic credentials from top European and North American institutions such as New York University and MCE Brussels. The school also hosts professional and visiting faculty members from cutting-edge academic and financial institutions all over the world. Some of these professors hold teaching positions at internationally renowned business schools like Stevens Institute of Technology – New York and ESADE Business School – Barcelona while others lead major corporations such as Credit Suisse and the Sandoz-Novartis Group. At SDA Bocconi Asia Center, this faculty body along with some faculty from India create a truly intercultural educational approach. Typically, Bocconi professors focus on a student’s knowledge acquisition and retention, an approach that proves especially helpful for the student’s overall development. International Faculty teach students how to conduct business within one of the world’s largest economies but also one of its most bureaucratic. Indian students who gain the skills needed to succeed in International business settings can thrive in nearly any cultural setting. Cross-cultural experience – Indian students spend their first 11-month term studying on site, at SDA Bocconi Asia Center in Mumbai. In this term students are joined by Essec-Bocconi Double Degree students for 3 months. The students do an Internship and then an advance term followed by a mandatory four-month stint from September to December, taking four courses at Bocconi in Milan, Italy. During these four months of study, learners establish and conduct the “specialisation” component of their International Master in Business program by enrolling in subjects such as business analytics for decision making, luxury and fashion management, strategic management and management consulting. The cross-cultural experience offers students much more than simply a seat in a classroom in a different locale. Participating Indian students can flourish through consistent international exposure, not only from the diversity within the classroom but from the surrounding European business culture. Bocconi welcomes 1,600 exchange students from more than 80 countries around the globe each year, so students get to know one another, build teams, strengthen their interpersonal skills and ultimately expand their professional and personal networks. In addition to the above, SDA Bocconi Asia Center hosts different modules for schools such as CEIBS, Rotman, Esade among others. Internships and Placement Opportunities – Internships are key to a world-class business school education. Internships create the introductions, hands-on projects and networking opportunities that offer business school students a chance to land top-paying jobs immediately upon graduation. Internships begin with a live project in which students work for a limited number of hours each week and under the direction of a mentor. By mid-October, student internships are in full swing. A large percentage of intern employers request students to return as full-time employees upon graduation. Some of the participating companies are multinationals and European companies with their offices in India. They are extremely keen on hiring students who have exposure to international business models and business ideas. Membership to an Exclusive Club As an alumnus of the Bocconi, students join an exclusive club to which few people can aspire, but as part of a network that’s 1,00,000-strong and growing, and build lifelong relationships that will prove invaluable throughout your personal journey and professional career. Earning a business degree, the Italian way can prove critical to an Indian student’s future career. SDA Bocconi Asia Center leads the way forward in intercultural business development by offering a rigorous, world-class learning experience taught by Italian professors, incorporating cross-cultural diversity and expanding the global reach of internship possibilities.