Do You Have the Personality for an EMBA?

Executive MBA graduates are an elite breed. Obtaining an EMBA is a notoriously difficult feat and is not something that should be undertaken if you’re not completely sure that you can manage it.

Anyone who has a lot of business acumen and a fair amount of work experience is able to apply to an EMBA – but the degree itself suits people with certain characteristics. If you’re thinking of applying for an EMBA, then first check that you have the personality to match the work intensity. Here are just some of the traits an EMBA applicant needs.

Time management skills

If you ask an executive MBA student what aspect of the course they find most difficult to manage, many students will site time management as a key issue. EMBAs are expected to juggle student life with their professional and personal lives; this is something that can result in a significant amount of stress without some serious time management.

It’s important to monitor all these aspects of your life when studying an EMBA, which is not something that can be achieved by simply keeping a diary. You need to allocate yourself timeframes in which you can study, work deadlines so that you don’t fall behind in your full-time job, and regular breaks and relaxation time so that you are able to recuperate for the next day’s work.

Business schools often provide assistance to students needing a helping hand with their time management, so make sure to use these facilities before you feel like you’re falling behind. If you do not utilize time management  and start missing deadlines or requesting extra time, then you may find it impossible to catch up with your cohort. Studying an EMBA requires a very fast-paced lifestyle and dedication to the degree.

Soft skills are a benefit

The purpose of the executive MBA degree is to create effective and influential managers and leaders. To do this, an outgoing and personable nature is needed – in short, you need soft skills. How people interpret you has a direct effect on how they work with you. Displaying an authoritarian attitude simply doesn’t cut it in the modern business sphere; managers need to demonstrate understanding, achieve cohesion with members of a team and display a reliable nature.

Soft skills are also integral to the networking element of the EMBA degree. Making influential and diverse contacts will benefit you and your company in the long run – so having an outgoing personality is crucial. People who study EMBAs come from a variety of different backgrounds and may not be sure that they have the soft skills needed to succeed – but an EMBA brings out this side of you in positive ways. When you’re put into so many networking situations, you inevitably learn how to handle them correctly.

Global perspective

A global perspective is essential in the modern business world. EMBA applicants will likely have a degree of international experience to draw upon, but this will be extended while studying the degree, from analyzing foreign markets to taking a class trip to far-flung emerging and established markets.

To further their global perspective, students will also work with a group of diverse people from a variety of backgrounds. People travel far and wide to enroll in the EMBA course of their dreams, and they add a lot of value to the cohort. Understanding business etiquette around the world is vital when wanting to close a deal or launch your own company, you must know how to conduct yourself in the proper way and have a global perspective and understanding about how foreign markets work.

This article was originally published in October 2015 and was updated most recently in June 2020.