My E-MBA grades came in

I'm now a grain away from graduating with distinction from the 17th rated university in the world. It all depends on what the committee will think of my dissertation but i've already secured my merit "badge".

Let me break down that first paragraph for you:

I have met some truly impressive individuals on this journey, all deserving of that distinction. Always being the best is not an option when you strive to be a jack of all trades and i'll bow in respect to any and all of my colleagues that managed to obtain that distinction.

You simply must learn to take the back seat sometimes, especially when you meet a better driver than you are. And this is a leadership "must": you simply can't cry in agony when your resources become better than you. And yes, i've been considering my colleagues valuable resources, from which i have learned quite a lot myself, who complimented my work in group projects, and who motivated me to achieve in parallel with the group standard.

This is how you manage an office of talented individuals, after all: you prepare them to take your place. The better they are, the more you learn from them and the best they compliment your work. But in this case, there was no manager... We were a class of leaders and achievers and we all performed. And i'll admit it first: if it wasn't for these specific people, i have no idea if i would have been as motivated to succeed as i was.

I do, however, value my work and personal achievements in this program. It is quite obvious that i managed to break my trusty keyboard while typing away at my many assignments and my now famous dissertation, so if any of you notice the letter "d" missing here and there, i tried my best. I did try my best, as well, at understanding and adopting the most valuable lesson in this Master's, in every aspect of my life: compare, contrast, integrate.

In an era of rage, persecution, victims and oppressors, antagonisation, polarisation, haste and blunt conclusions, i am now the one that takes a step back and takes his time to analyse. Larry King famously once said that he never learned anything when he was talking himself. I've enquired a whole lot, to the point of becoming annoying, during the courses of this program. Sat in the first row, i harassed and bombarded my instructors with long, explanatory questions that were all answered. Those debates, the back and forth and conclusions have all been revealing for me.

Keep in mind that i started out waiting tables when i was 17 years of age (even though i don't include it in my CV anymore) and i clawed my way up in a fruitful career. I have gathered experience in various sectors and domains that fuelled my passion over the span of 15 years. In that first row, in the class, i was taken back to school. There is so much that i gained!

I have never been a STEM guy, myself. I learned the basics and more, to be able to manage and integrate. I don't code, but i sure can integrate IT solutions where most wouldn't even know they're needed. I try my best to avoid opening a spreadsheet when my finance people can take the helm, but i'll read it through to the last decimal. I'm more impressed by the aesthetics of a building than its load bearing and i love the business side of flying but you'll never see me calculating the drag coefficient in adverse weather.

So i have learned and performed better than i expected in accounting, finances, logistics and the other modules dealing with the regulated side of administration. Not to diminish the role of these domains, but i will always regard them as "non essential - essential tools". However, this specific program takes you on a wild ride through the strategic side of administration. You're greeted with micro and macro economic data and interpretation techniques, then you're taken to marketing, strategy formulation tactics and, when you feel that you're mastering it all, they lock you (figuratively) in a room with a hand full of colleagues to test what stuck to you via business cases. Real companies treat you as consultants for their actual problems, and that incentivised me more than the cookies and coffee (which they had, and were delicious). We performed.

Then there's the HR side of the program, which i dubbed "leadership studies". There actually is a module called "leading and managing people" but the whole experience was abundant in resources, divided in several modules. I again found passion here, so much so that i gradually built my dissertation subject on the leadership art. And i call it an art lightly, as i found formulas and tactics that stand against the preconceived idea that leaders are born. You just have to compare, contrast, integrate your path to leadership.

I believed (and still do) so much in my findings that i felt i owed them to the world. And i took my research public, on a media platform that shared my interest. Then the whole market joined in. Leadership is a specific set of conditions and motivators, adapted to diverse typologies of people that want to participate in your purpose. People are driven by much more than the mighty banknote. We now know and grasp the dynamic drivers of leadership, which translates into organisational performance.

Just as in financial evaluation there is no one specific formula to reveal the performance of an organisation, there is no one rule to leading. Just as in marketing you don't only throw the four Ps at your clients, you never should feel that your employees are happy with the holy trinity offer of "top employers" (decent salary, nice office, stale breakfast buffet). There are, though, several measurements and tactics that allow you to maintain an efficient employer brand.

So yes, i've become quite knowledgeable in HRM, only finding this calling within Sheffield's program. Don't get me wrong, i learned and put consistent effort into a lot more than one subject... I would not be fractions away from a distinction if i wouldn't have. However, it took me two years of research to realise that people are the most important resource of an organisation. There most probably is someone who made it to this sentence thinking that money is more important, and i will agree: the money you save by efficiently managing people is absolutely important. But, as Ayn Rand stubbornly repeats as the narrative for her novels, when you grow too big, you'd better be in good terms with the people that got you there. I know there's more to Ayn Rand's ideology, but this specific argument only needed this point of view.

This is long enough all-ready, so i will wrap it up by thanking everyone at Sheffield and City College for the chance and opportunity to become a better person, not just a better business administrator. Education does that to people... They evolve.

You chose the right person to award that scholarship to. I really put a whole lot of effort into proving that i deserved it over the last two years. I hope you all feel the same and i hope your next choices will be at least as inspired as i was by this experience. The entire staff were guides and inspiration in this journey.

However, the first people that i must thank are my wife and two daughters. I stole a lot of time from them to perform in this program. It is odd, though, that i feel guilty because i truly enjoyed this experience. It's not like i preferred taking time off from my family to do an assignment... But if there is anything that is worth missing out on strolls to the park or beach days, is the feeling that you are doing it for a better you.