Executive Education Programs: What Happens Next?

A burning question about executive education programs that is often asked but doesn’t always receive an answer. It’s only natural to want to know exactly what will happen after you have invested your time, money, and efforts in an executive education program – whether the efforts you have put in will yield value and provide the required benefit to reach your professional goals.

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Executive Education Programs: What Happens Next?

To begin answering that question, let’s start with how executive education can help. Executive education programs make it possible for you to achieve what you want to achieve in your career. It gives you valuable experience, knowledge, and skills to help you move forward and upward in your professional journey. The payoff of doing an executive education program partly depends on why you might be doing that program and what you want from it.

In light of that, there isn’t one specific outcome that is standard for every professional who takes up a program. There are a variety of goals you can achieve with the tools you gain through an executive education program.

Achieve your career goals

An executive education program can foster your requirements to achieve your career goals. Whether it might be getting a raise, getting a promotion, changing your role, taking on more responsibilities, or switching industries altogether, an executive education program can empower you to achieve it.

Suprita Vohra, who is Director, Risk Solutions Group at Barclays, Singapore did just that. With a finance MBA and an engineering degree, she has spent most of her career in the finance industry, working with brands like HSBC, Citi, and Barclays, across India and Singapore.

She sought out a program that would help her achieve her career goal which was to bridge the gaps in her experience and knowledge. MIT PE TLP allowed her to take back fresh ideas and the know-how that she could implement at her own company. It also allowed her to be more relevant with her clients and extend that benefit to her company as well. She hoped to leverage the program to build partnerships with the relevant stakeholders and drive more holistic solutions, which ultimately strengthened her business offering. You can read about her journey and objectives here.

Enhance your leadership skills

Participating in an executive education program can help you transform your leadership skills and make you a better leader. For those moving into higher positions or those who want to move into a higher position, an executive education program can help you achieve that. A program can not only aid in honing and improving the skills you need to be an effective leader, but also help you uncover your leadership qualities that need to be nurtured as well as identify your personal leadership style.

This was the case for Anand Menon. Working at Nike, Inc. as an Engineer – GSM, he has over 11 years of experience in manufacturing and sourcing in the sportswear, FMCG, and automotive sectors. His expertise extends to production, engineering, operations management, vendor development and sourcing, process excellence and optimization, quality, etc.

He attended the UCLA PGP PRO after he realized he needed to improve his leadership skills. He moved from a more functional side to a managerial side and realized he wasn’t ready to be the kind of mentor and leader he wanted to be.

Through the program he has gained knowledge in functional areas as well as strategy. He has been able to widen his thought-process, refine his implementation skills, and develop his problem-solving skills. Employing all that he has learned has allowed his efforts to be recognized by his peers and superiors at his workplace. You can read more from his experience here.

Start your own company

Exploring brand new opportunities is also a possibility with an executive education program. If your career goal is to start your own company, then an executive education program can help you achieve that. A program can help you discover your own unique strengths that can lead to practical action plans in your entrepreneurial journey. It can teach you the essentials of innovation, and other best practices that are necessary components to compete successfully in today’s market. It can give you the tools you need to begin a new journey.

A great illustration of that is Neha Mathur who is currently Co-Founder at Personifwy and WishYogi India Pvt Ltd. Her program of choice was Berkeley EPM. Her professional life before the program was solely in the hospitality industry. She has 16 years of experience managing large-scale operations and corporate strategy for various companies in the industry. After attending Berkeley EPM, she along with her peers from the same program, started their own company in a different industry. Watch her talk about her experiences and her journey here.

Improve your business offerings

If your goal is to raise the level of your company and your product or service, an executive education program can help you achieve that goal. An executive education program can renew your perspectives, widen your thought process, and in-turn give you the tools and skills to improve your products and services. By learning the best-practices and strategies you need in a competitive global market, you will be able to compete at a much more advanced level after participating in an executive education program.

Ritesh Singh is currently the Co-Founder and MD at ARM Worldwide, a marketing and communication consulting company. He has over 18 years of experience in digital and activation. His aim was to leverage the executive education program he chose to do to better manage his business. After attending UCLA PGPX, he was able to improve his knowledge in his expertise of marketing, branding, and communication, due to the program. He was also able to familiarize himself with the global market, learn to manage investors, and manage finance, which has allowed him to better service his clients and compete at a global level. Learn about his success story here.

Embark on a new career at any age

Executive education programs are meant for professionals with some amount of work experience. And from there it opens up an unlimited pathway of possibilities. It is not aimed at a particular professional journey, nor does it define anyone’s journey to be a certain way. The experience of an executive education program enables you to create your own career goals and your own professional journey. It equips you with the knowledge, skills, tools, know-how, and network you need to explore and thrive in the career and industry you want to – whether you chose to excel and grow in your current professional journey, or you decide to redefine your career path.

And it’s never too late to redefine your career path. Abhra Banerjee is a prime example of that. Presently the President and CEO at Cleanomatics, he has begun his new professional journey at the age of 50, taking his inspiration from Colonel Sanders. Before doing an executive education program, he had over 25 years of experience in leadership roles across India, Southeast Asia, and the US. While still participating in Berkeley EPM, he has also become a Silicon Valley entrepreneur. Find his journey from C-level corporate executive to entrepreneur here.

Executive education programs help you amplify and magnify your ambitions and goals and boost your ability to achieve them. Different programs can help you achieve different career goals and maybe even set new ones. There are various kinds of pay-offs and success stories for professionals who have participated in an executive education program. Your options and ambitions are limitless.

FAQs

Q. How can executive education programs help you achieve your career goals?
A. Executive education programs can foster your ambitions and give you the tools you need to help achieve your career goals.

Q. How can executive education programs help you enhance your leadership skills?
A. Executive education programs can help you uncover your leadership qualities that need to be nurtured and identify your personal leadership style.