MBA Alumni Profile: Beate Nicholls, Cranfield School of Management

It took an Executive MBA from Cranfield to draw Beate Nicholls’ entrepreneurial spirit out. She talks to Ann Graham about competition, classmates and changing careers.

Prior to enrolling in her Executive MBA, Beate Nicholls worked as commercial manager on multi-million pound projects in IT, telecoms and transportation for a global blue chip engineering group. Yet she decided to pursue an EMBA because she didn’t feel she had reached her potential professionally. “I wanted to develop, to move into general management,” Nicholls says. “The Executive MBA offered me the additional benefit of maintaining my work contacts, income and the opportunity to apply the learning immediately, thus returning value to my employer right from the beginning.”

Having the best

The single mother of three teenage children spent the better part of 2007-08 in the business school classroom. “The best parts of the EMBA were the leadership skills in terms of self-awareness, social awareness and really getting into emotional intelligence; getting the best out of people,” Nicholls says. The EMBA also got the best out of Nicholls.

Halfway through the second year of her Executive MBA, German born Nicholls changed her career path. “I left my management position with a global blue chip company and started my own interim management and consultancy business [Senlai Associates Ltd]. I have been working with three key clients during the past two years, ranging from a Small to Medium Enterprise (SME) to a large American NYSE Listed Public Company. “I would not have had the courage to leave my comfortable position had it not been for my EMBA, but I would have also lacked the skills and certainly the network needed to be successful when building your own business,” she says.

Invaluable interaction

That network has not only helped Nicholls professionally, but personally and socially as well. “The social network at Cranfield is great – I got some short term work through meeting another graduate at Cranfield’s annual venture day last year but the university has also been extremely supportive in putting me in contact with alumni from other year groups.

“Our own year group was a fabulous team; we have a monthly meeting organized, which we cannot always all fit into our diaries but I do manage to get there at least five times a year. We also keep in touch through texting, calls, visits and email. I have made some very good friends.”

Nicholls is now enjoying the advantages that having an Executive MBA brings, particularly one from a top business school. “The Cranfield EMBA is well respected in industry worldwide, which obviously carries a lot of weight professionally and sets you apart from others. There are lots of interesting events for alumni throughout the year which is a great opportunity to keep your knowledge at cutting edge level and to network.”

A good fit

Yet another advantage of Nicholls’ EMBA is what she learnt about herself throughout the course. “It was invaluable,” she says. “It’s been such an enriching experience and has benefitted me and my family so much that you naturally want to share it with others, that’s why I would recommend others study for an Executive MBA.”

As a woman, and a single mum, one of Nicholls’ greatest pieces of advice to others considering an EMBA is to not doubt yourself. “It is possible,” she says, “my kids were proud of me and very supportive, accepting a lot more responsibility for themselves while I was studying. You just need to communicate your commitment to friends and family, and get their buy-in. Tell your learning team what your work and personal commitments are as well; they will support you too. “If you feel too tired to study after 10pm, set your alarm for 2am and study then for two hours (it works very well).”