Redefined by the HBS MBA: Interview with Ricardo Sanchez Serrano | TopMBA.com

Redefined by the HBS MBA: Interview with Ricardo Sanchez Serrano

By Pavel Kantorek

Updated Updated

What made you decide that you wanted to do an MBA?

At some point in my career, I realized I wanted to do two things: gain international experience, and have access to a more interesting career than my bachelor’s degree allowed. I had always been a good student, my results were always strong, but that is not enough to conquer international positions. I needed more knowledge and I needed the credentials.

Why did you choose HBS?

Although there are a lot of excellent MBA programs, there are many reasons one might make HBS their preferred choice. Everyone, literally everyone, knows what difference putting the word ‘Harvard’ on your résumé makes. Harvard is known globally; nobody needs to discuss its excellence. If you talk to a CEO, an investment banker, a consultant, or a CFO, they all know Harvard. But if you talk to your grandmother or a taxi driver, they also know it.

Among students that do get accepted to the top-10 schools in the US, Harvard is the one which by far the most choose if they're able to. Those who get in can be considered the crème de la crème.

One more reason: Harvard gives you, like no other school on earth, a unique network that is present in every country in the planet; thousands of alumni that WILL HELP YOU as soon as you mention you are an HBS MBA. This is unparalleled of any other school.

Last but not least, Boston is a great city and HBS’s campus is probably the nicest building you can study at in the whole world. Need more reasons? I could continue for hours, but I don’t want to bother you…

What were the key lessons you learned from your MBA?

I arrived to Harvard thinking I was great … just to find out very soon that I was simply ONE truly ignorant guy trying my best among 900 excellent students from the best schools and the best companies around the globe, so maybe the very first lesson has HUMILITY. You get a cold bath of humility that shows you very quickly that you have a lot, a lot, to learn. This stays with you for your life. The good MBA student is the one who knows he or she knows indeed very little and who understands he or she needs to learn from colleagues, superiors, and friends to get somewhere.

The other lesson I learned is that you will never be satisfied with small things…once you have attended a top business school (Harvard, or any of the other ones) you will never be truly satisfied with mediocrity.

Tell us something about the experience of the MBA – what did you enjoy, what was challenging, what extracurricular activities did you participate in?

I enjoyed knowing that I was investing two years of my life at the most respected academic institution in the world. It has been the ONLY time in my whole life when I knew, for sure, that there was no better place on Earth for me to be at that precise time. I found the studies very challenging. And, at the beginning, the language too; as a non-native speaker, needing to read three cases per day, and needing to discuss them in a 90-student class full of smart people is a hell of a challenge. I did participate in some extracurricular activities, but not that much. I did some rowing in the Charles River, and tried out some choral singing during the Christmas season. And of course, there are parties all the time on campus….

What have you done since completing your MBA?

So many things! But most importantly, I have had a lot of fun as well as making very good money. I have worked in seven cities around the world: Lucerne, Lisbon, Mexico City, Rome, Milan, Durham and Perugia. I have worked in different industries, all of them challenging and rewarding: elevators, insurance, fashion, nonprofit, heritage and tourism. I have organized a summit with 100 CEOs inside the walls of the Vatican City. I have been CFO for four years; strategy manager for another four; head of an ethics institute for three and head of marketing for another two. So, many interesting things! I have been promoted and I have also been fired, I have created ventures and sold companies, lots of fun, lots of action; this is what your MBA allows you to do: crazy, creative, lucrative, but most importantly, enriching things – everywhere in the world. You don’t have boundaries. You don’t have restrictions or limitations. The world is your oyster as they say…

How have you applied what you learned on your MBA?

I apply it every single day of my life. Once you have completed a full-time MBA program at any of the top MBA schools, not only Harvard, but any of the top schools, you are redefined. You will never ever be the same again. And you will apply the knowledge and the experience daily. And I mean, not only at the office, but also in your personal life – with your wife, your kids, your parents and, most importantly, with yourself. You will deal with yourself in a completely different manner.

What advice would you give to someone who was thinking about following in your footsteps?

My advice is very simple: apply to Harvard with all your heart. if you try really hard, if you put your heart into it, you will be accepted.

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