Targeted transitioning with CBS
“I have found that most challenges in Private are similar to Public. Whether it is about leadership and strategy, financing and management procedures, IT architecture and AI enabling or waterfall versus agile, employees want competent and empathic leadership. And the business has to be transformed from something old to the new world of IT and data.
“The language spoken, on the other hand, is quite different; Private is very international and English, while Public is very local and Danish. Additionally, Private is about getting a return on invested capital by creating value for customers they want to pay for, whereas Public is about creating good solutions for citizens in areas where ‘good’ is often difficult to measure and payment is ‘invisible’.”
High quality teaching
“Having followed international leadership development courses at IMD in Switzerland, the CBS EMBA was a very positive experience of how well an accelerated long term learning process can be organized. The CBS Executive MBA is positioned quite high in the international ranking of European MBA programs, but it is only after going through half of the modules that I have understood why.
“One obvious reason is that the teaching in the traditional MBA-subjects like marketing, accounting and financial institutions is super high quality, driven by academic ‘rock stars’ such as Jesper Rangvid. A little more surprising for me has been that CBS tops the European Super League in more ‘modern’ subjects related to digitisation and analytics. It’s really great teaching that spans deep insights and a rich language about the business implications of the digital changes that are hitting companies with a sledgehammer these years. I think CBS has especially managed to get a really good grip on the details of how ‘business and IT’ should merge on all levels in a company, how the dynamics of the platform economy work and how legacy backbone IT-systems can and should be replaced. I recognize most of the dilemmas from my own experience in UFST, and the EMBA has given me the tools and the language to start solving those in a private company.”
Adapting through COVID
“Like everyone, CBS has had to find ways to handle COVID-19, but it has still been possible to establish a strong network. From the turn of the year, the teaching went online, and not all teachers – or MBA students – found themselves equally comfortable in it. However, I think it fell into place relatively quickly, and since then the teaching has been absolutely fantastic. So, if there were to be another lock-down, I am confident CBS is ready.
“One of the best things about the EMBA has been the fellowship and learnings through the shared stories of the other participants. I have gained insight into the problems and solutions of many other industries, but also into other people’s reflections on leadership, work-life balance and career. It has been incredibly inspiring, and I have gained a large network that I will enjoy working with for many years to come.”
Get ready for the senior management level
“An EMBA does take a lot of time. And the yield is equivalent to the time invested. For me, it has been worth it, since I now feel prepared to take on managerial challenges in a private company. Also, CBS has arranged the EMBA in a way that is compatible with both having a career and a family, though most participants need to push their leisure activities to after the EMBA. In that sense, it is like being at the senior management level – and an experience I can fully recommend.”
