Hello, dear readers! Welcome back to “The Road to an MBA” where I, Fraser, continue to share the twists and turns of my journey through an MBA at the University of Liverpool. In this episode, we’ll dive into some of the highlights from my first 3 modules and my first Executive Project Week! As promised, we will also reflect on the logistics of doing this course alongside full time employment, and how I have found managing my schedule so far.
Module Highlights
The first 3 modules I completed were; Developing as a Leader and Manager, International Business and the Global Economy, and Managing Financial Resources. Here are some of the highlights from each module:
Developing as a Leader and Manager
This module was extremely reflective and encouraged us to look back on real scenarios we had experienced either as a leader or manager or where we had been the recipient to leadership. This was a great way to learn and apply the theory to real scenarios.
Something that really resonated with me was the topic of ethical leadership, which is a style of leadership that involves making decisions that are morally sound and in the best interest of the common good. I feel this style of leadership fits closely with my personal beliefs and it is important to me in my role as Employee Engagement Manager at Cloud Perspective.
The final assignment for this module was interesting, reflecting on 3 incidents at work and analysing them using the different leadership and management theories and models. This really helped me put the theory into reality and enabled me to learn from past experiences.
International Business and the Global Economy
A slightly different module from the first one, rather than being reflective we had to apply theory to real global organisations, assessing different entry modes and critically evaluating an organisations expansion strategy. My previous studies of economics and international development were useful here as I had a nice refresher of the Sustainable Development Goals and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). The pleasantly surprising part of this module was how creative I had to be, with the assignments based on slide deck reports, I had to create visual slides that were both packed with information but engaging to the reader. The module also included a group assignment which was a great experience working with peers from all over the world. The toughest challenge was navigating time zones and collectively working on a slide deck than should look like it was made by one person. My final assessment was time consuming but incredibly enjoyable, making a slide deck report for pitching the expansion of Oatly into the Brazil market. This involved creating 15 visually aesthetic slides that touched on different aspects of expansion, considering entry modes, timing, SWOT and PESTLE Analysis, and CSR. This was a fun way to apply the theory from the course into a brand and country of our choice.
Managing Financial Resources
Again, another contrast to the previous two modules, in terms of content and assessment structure. This module mixed financial calculations with critical evaluation of different financial ratios. It was interesting for me to revisit some topics I had learned a long time ago in my first year of my undergraduate degree. The calculations were enjoyable to practice and then put into place during the exam. The final assessment was nicely structured and involved calculations but this time using researched data from public financial reports of a company of our choice. The key takeaway was how to assess the results of these ratios to evaluate a company’s financial position and offer suggestions to their strategy.
Executive Project Week
The executive project week was a fantastic experience – it all kicked off with an excellent guest lecture from Ken Whipp the Programmes Director for Sale up Scotland, leading The Hunter Foundation’s ambitions around building the leadership, growth, and scale capacity of key innovators and entrepreneurs in commercial and social businesses.
The task at hand was to work together as a small team to come up with and present a pitch for an innovative social business. We came up with our business proposal for Sport2Support – the idea was an app where when you logged exercise or activity you earned coins and rewards that could be used to contribute to development projects in Gambia. We came up with the six-word story: “Train, Play, Earn, Donate—Change Lives”. The experience was very insightful and enjoyable, and I even learnt how to use Canva for the first time, which was a nice fresh alternative to the usual PowerPoint presentations!
Reflections on Growth and Balance
What is it like balancing an MBA with full-time work and home life? Well, if it was easy I would have posted this blog 3 months ago when it was initially drafted! The truth is you must be able to continuously shift priorities, deciding what is most important to you at the time, which includes spending time with family or attempting to improve my golf game. Finding the right balance is tricky, but the experience you get from this balancing act is certainly one to cherish.
As I move forward in this journey, I’m excited to see how these lessons continue to shape my approach to leadership and strategy. Stay tuned for the next episode!
If you missed my first blog update – you can catch up here: The Road to an MBA: Episode 1 – Cloud Perspective
