An Executive MBA is not only about finance and accounting

As I just graduated from the #ExecutiveMBA programme at ESCP Business School , I am looking back at incredibly enriching years.?

When I started this journey, I expected it to be mostly about acquiring new skills on the financial aspects of business. And indeed, this programme includes some number crunching, with core courses in Corporate Finance, Economics, Cost Accounting, Financial Accounting and more. Some other key figures are: 9 core courses, 12 electives, lectures on 4 campuses (#berlin, #paris, #london, #madrid), 5 international seminars in Paris, Madrid, Brussels, Austin and Singapore. It is also about figures to be proud of, namely #5 EMBA ranking and #3 Business School ranking by the Financial Times in 2022.

?As it turned out, it was much more than that. It was also a great opportunity to freely explore exciting topics in many different directions and to develop the T-shaped profile rendered famous by IBM. My very personal and subjective top 5 subjects would include Entrepreneurship and Intrapreneurship with Prof. René Mauer , Design Thinking with Prof. Jacqueline Fendt, MBA, PhD, HDR , Scenario-Based Strategic Planning with Prof. Philip Meissner and People Management with Prof. Marion Festing . As a result, I have added quite a few tools to my personal leadership toolbox, such as strategic decision making or effectuation, and deepened my understanding of tried and tested approaches such as User Centred Design or Servant Leadership, just to name a few.

However, beyond acquiring and applying new skills and knowledge, this Executive MBA was for me the opportunity to work closely with a wealth of brilliant professionals coming from all parts of the world and having gathered experience across so many industries. Our exchanges were an invaluable eye opener on other ways of leading, other ways of solving problems, other perspectives and opportunities.

For their support during evening and weekend calls through assignments and projects, for their insights and also for the good laughs during shared lunches, coffees and diners, I would like to take this opportunity to thank a few of the students who have accompanied me along this journey: thank you Bruno Acampa , ??Salvatore A. , Nabil Behloul , Christian Boehmer , Malgorzata Bocian , Christian Donn, MBA , Manuel FERNANDES BORGES , Eriza Fazli , Andrea Ferrari , Claire Friedel , David Guillery , Yogesh Gupta PhD , Xiaowei HUANG , Theofilos Karageorgiou , Nicolas Lachaud Bandres , Francois Lacour , Olivier LAURENDEAU , Pieter Manden , Fabrice Mandroux , Radu Moldovan-Petrut , Laurent Monnier , Carolina M. , Pierre-Hadrian NAVARRE , Riccardo NICASTRO , Zhihong PAN , Silvia Perez-Baires , Pablo Ponce de Leon , Xavier Saez , Gervais Tibe , Olga Semenova Allen, CPA , Kristin Shi-Kupfer , Bernhard Svejda, MD, MBA , Joelle Tebily Kouakou , Nicolas TEYSSOT , David Timm , and of course special thanks to my unforgettable #icp team Marc Schurr , Elena Ivanchenko , Davide Berruti and Outmane Laaroussi?

I would also like to thank the ESCP team who has made this journey possible, in particular Prof. Francesco Venuti , Manon Marinière , Sven Scheid , and Pierre Wolf , as well as the European Patent Office , which has supported me financially throughout this programme.

Last but not least, all my gratitude goes to my wife and family, without their patience and understanding, this journey would not have been possible.?