– Can you explain a bit about your experience before EADA? What unique insights do you bring to your new role as a result of other work you’ve done?
I had extensive experience in various fields before coming to EADA, including the financial services industry and advertising. I have worked here in Barcelona, in Canada, and really all over the world. I think this was important because I learned a couple of things that marketing directors tell us are very important for their people: adaptability and resilience. Learning how to adapt yourself and how to be persistent in achieving things is key, and participants at EADA definitely learn that.
Secondly, I have been lucky enough to work with clients from Japan, Canada, the U.S., Serbia, and all over the world. I learned that similarity is the basis for working with diversity. Our participants get to work with differences, but by understanding similarities between people, you build a really strong understanding that allows you to use these differences to do something really special or really new.
I have also had the opportunity to work with some really talented people and great companies like Mars, PepsiCo and Wrigley, and I think there I learned the importance of fundamentals, really understanding what’s important, priorities and how to turn all of that into effective actions.
– What do you find most rewarding about being the Master director? Most challenging?
The most rewarding part of my job with the participants is seeing people change and learn. That starts from the moment they get here; you really see people developing new skills and trying to get the most they can out of the experience, and it goes on after that. It’s a great experience to be contacted by alumni 3, 4, 5 years after graduating, saying that they are really applying what they learned at EADA. And the best part is that they want to come back and share their experience with current participants so that others can benefit from it.
The most challenging part of managing the participant experience is to get the right balance between fundamentals and the latest practice. Our students learn in a rigorous environment, but I am responsible for balancing each participant’s personal objectives and the common standards and objectives of the group.
– What are you most excited about in the programme in the upcoming year?
I am excited about the increased alumni involvement; this increases each year. Next year, we will have alumni in very interesting companies doing great things and sharing their experience with current participants. Every year, we have more alumni coming back and sharing.
Another exciting element of the programme is the introduction of the strategic specialisations, called edge-tracks. We went to the Festival of Marketing in London this year to see first-hand the latest in Marketing. That’s really exciting, to get this leading edge stuff into the classroom and familiarise students with what they are going to find when they start working in companies after graduation.
– What is one thing about the Master programme that you wish applicants knew more about?
One of the most difficult things to communicate to participants before they spend a year with us is the richness of the experience: the richness of the interaction with professors, staff and colleagues in class; the richness of solving business problems in EADA-Barcelona and developing their personal skills in the Residential Training Centre. Basically, what they get form a year living and working with a group of people, most away from home, and all with the same objectives. That is very difficult to make tangible before participants arrive in EADA, but after they leave, it’s what they most remember, and it’s what they will take with them and use for the rest of their life.