Becoming a Better Leader - 2020

2020 has been a pivotal year. The importance of the strategic changes to the way we do Global Business presents challenges and opportunities. In 2019, I joined the Monash Business School Global Executive MBA. Like you, I was very unaware of what 2020 was about to unpack.

The Monash Global Executive MBA is international in its orientation, content, partnerships and projects. Among the executive-oriented topics are Global Political Economy, Design Thinking, Sustainable Strategy in the 21st Century, Global Logistics and Operations, Corporate Governance and Executive Masterclasses.

Our group, like any executive group in 2020, faced some hurdles, and it was the experience within our Executive cohort that I would quickly come to value. The generosity, deep sense of shared camaraderie and sheer professional ability shone through effortlessly. This spirit was continuously offered by my fellow students, without question and condition. My colleagues demonstrated what I had heard from previous mentors and graduates, the immense value of the partnerships, connections and challenge that comes from meeting such a diverse and experienced executive cohort—the heavy lifting of study, learning, researching and presenting was a shared experience. To add the political, trade, climate and health challenges to the personal development challenges mutually shared among us has forged strong bonds that will last a lifetime. 

Thank you for the support GEMBA Class of 2020 - Margaret Wright, Sandie Parker, Mike Lenné, Andrea Galt, Donna Papworth, Professor Vera Ignjatovi?, Natalie Reynolds, Jose Ramirez, Amy Hunter, Haydn Fletcher, Lucas Sadler, Sean Ryan, Maurice Fowler, Stefani Adams, Rosie Stramandinoli, Glenn Pringle, Amy Lamb, Rebekah Haig, Aliesha O'Malley, Emma Potter, Sophia Brown, Jason Snuggs.

The Executive MBA included business coaching and leadership sessions throughout, in support of the academic modules and industry consulting projects. Undertaking such development in realtime, while also on the job, has meant I have learnt a lot about myself, challenged to become a more effective leader.

With Michael A. Witt, Professor, INSEAD

Our GEMBA Program addressed complex and challenging strategic problems and decisions in organisations. Each of the four program modules has a strategic theme: Foundation, Globalisation, Innovation and Transformation.

The study was at the new Monash Business School facilities at the Monash University Caulfield campus in Melbourne, with three international modules at business schools and in the marketplaces in Europe, Asia and America. 

Along with your classmates, you have achieved something truly profound - especially in the most extraordinarily challenging circumstances this year. Your commitment to your personal and professional development will undoubtedly play a critical role in your success in the coming years.- Professor Patrick Butler, Director, MBA Programs.

The Monash Global Executive MBA program was led by experienced professors and industry practitioners who, also under our challenged Global world in 2020, created and delivered an exceptional Executive Program. Thank you for your dedication and valued support  Patrick Butler, Richard Hall, Edward Buckingham, Paul Collier, Rob Feeney, Sarah Barnett and many others.

No doubt the pace, content and commitment required to complete a Masters Program part-time are not without its rigour and challenge, but the journey is an excellent foundation for any future corporate roles. The role of uncertainty and ambiguity is now a constant in our modern Global Business world, and I can think of no other way to help a Senior Executive to prepare for what lies ahead. I do highly recommend the Monash Business School Global Executive MBA.

Learn more here: https://www.monash.edu/business/global-executive-mba

Finally, I would like to thank Robert Immelé, C.E.O. & Chairman Solar Business at Schneider Electric for the continuing empowerment and encouragement, and Isabelle Esnard, Global HRBP Solar Business at Schneider Electric for the confidence to not only allow me to launch a new market within the Oceania Region but to study part-time in what we know became an extremely turbulent global environment.