Career Progression with an Executive MBA

The EMBA is renowned for providing successful candidates with career progression and an immediate return on their professional investment. You may have heard alumni speaking about the positive effect an Executive MBA had on their career. And it’s true! But what exactly does the Executive MBA give you that enables such career trajectory? QS TopExecutive takes a look.

#1: Leadership development

If you’ve reached middle management level in your current profession, there’s a reason why you’re seeking out the Executive MBA – to get you to the top. And one of the key skills required of successful managers is leadership skills.

Anne Nemer, assistant dean for Executive programs at Katz Graduate School of Business, University of Pittsburgh says an EMBA degree enables students to master specific leadership skills. “They [students]will be able to anticipate the future needs of the global market, create a vision of the organization as a worldwide benchmark for meeting those needs, and develop cross-organizational influence that will enable teams to quickly transform this vision into reality,” she says.

“An EMBA develops students’ commitment to creativity, innovation, and a tolerance for ambiguity in planning and problem solving,” says Nemer. “These skills are the foundation of leadership development in our EMBA program and enable students to immediately and successfully apply them at work.”

#2: Ability to see the “big picture”

If you’re seeking an Executive MBA degree, chances are you’re searching for a qualification that will give you an indepth, yet general overview of management skills and practices. Many candidates find the EMBA a great resource to have alongside their previous skill-specific education. But it is this ability to see the “big picture” that you will develop throughout your EMBA studies that will really help to project you up the career ladder.

Mario Ramò, managing director of the Executive MBA at University of Zurich says an EMBA in general management provides candidates with a comprehensive view of management problems.

“In strengthening your multidisciplinary competencies and cross-cultural understanding, you learn how to bring your acquired knowledge and sense of the "big picture" into management practice as a leader for business and society,” he says. “Such a program provides students with a deeper understanding of the broad international context to which executives need to be sensitive when making global business decisions.”

#3: A unique combination of expertise

EMBA alum speak of the general management toolbox their degree has equipped them with, but inside the Executive MBA are opportunities for you to create your own niche. While there may be a range of set papers that form the structure to your EMBA, you will also be able to choose from modules that interest you specifically and are directly applicable to your line of work.

Vani Nadarajah, associate admissions director of the EMBA program at IE Business School says: “IE’s EMBAs are about harnessing the power of every student’s entrepreneurial spirit, cultivating the ideas that they are passionate about and developing those ideas by leveraging the spectrum of talent and experience across the class.”

#4: A new perspective

Bernie Zanck, director of recruitment and admissions for the University of Chicago Booth School of Business Executive MBA Program – Europe, says students and alumni often tell them how an Executive MBA program changes not only their approach to business but to life.

“Chicago Booth fosters an environment which cultivates deep questioning, sharp focus and intense exploration,” explains Zanck. “Our graduates gain the confidence to face the toughest business challenges, an extensive global network to draw upon when needed, and a new perspective on the world.”

It’s this new perspective that Francis Petit, associate dean for Executive MBA programs at Fordham University says can be an extremely powerful “takeaway” of the EMBA experience.

“Besides the obvious in learning strategy and the functional areas of business, EMBA programs can be the impetus for so much more. They first and foremost have the ability to allow students to improve platform skills and increase confidence through group projects, presentations and personal contributions. They secondly allow students to look at business strategy and the overall "value proposition" in an entirely new way. Having an "EMBA experience" in your portfolio will allow you to be prepared for not only the unexpected, but to also create your own future and career trajectory,” Petit says.

#5: Preparing for opportunities

Not only will the course content of an Executive MBA open your eyes to new management practices, but the interaction you have with your fellow classmates, many of whom will bring additional culture, experience and possibly even business opportunities to the program, will increase your awareness of the possibilities and opportunities around you.

Upon graduation – and even before – you will be looking at things in a different way... the EMBA way, and you’ll soon find there are more avenues to explore, opportunities to make the most of, and career progression you may once have thought wasn’t possible.

Joan C. Coonrod, assistant dean of admissions and outreach for Executive MBA programs at Emory's Goizueta Business School says the impetus for seeking an MBA mid-career is highly variable, but it can be summarized broadly as a need to increase individual value and effectiveness in his/her long term career.

“We call it "seeking greater degrees of freedom"; to increase the ability to move into a broader array of opportunities, and to be ready when the opportunity presents itself! In essence, this is taking control of your destiny and in doing so, changing your world!”