Career Boost: My Journey with One-Year MBA in Leadership

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How I leveled up my career with a one-year MBA in Business Leadership

10 Jun 2021
- admin
Going back to study to get an MBA after working for a few years, was one of the most terrifying, yet most rewarding steps I have taken in my life. One year later, I can reminisce about how this initiative revitalized my career. A disclaimer here, the MBA did not teach me ‘everything’ but made me aware as to how much more there was to learn. So, if you’re thinking about an MBA, I would recommend that you take this as a new beginning, on the way learn new skill sets and develop a management thought process.

There were concerns about the financing and time commitment, but I can assure you, it was worth it.

So then, what did the one-year MBA in Business Leadership teach me?

The time spent by me in business school was not just about learning core management skills but was a far more encompassing experience. I did take away a few new concepts and skills on the way, but it was more about
- Expanding / Gaining business knowledge
- Realizing my innate leadership potential and skills
- Improving my brand
- Developing my professional network
On the way, it led to an increase in my salary potential as well. Today, I can safely say that doing the one-year MBA in Business Leadership has had a drastic and positive effect on my life, both professionally and personally. Let me give you a short overview of how the program levelled up my career.
- Leadership and Management – A critical skill that a manager must possess is leadership. It is now an accepted fact that people can become leaders through a process of learning and observation. Effective leadership styles are not predefined and usually are built on the psychographics of humans. This is a critical fact which my MBA at SOIL made me realize. With inner realization, I also learned to apply a human-centric approach to problem solving, one of the key qualities of a leader. Communication skills, decision making, innovative thinking were all developed in the intensive program through case discussions. We were also exposed to core management functional learning.
  
  When I returned to work, equipped with these competencies, I was ready to take on responsibilities and roles that had more depth than my previous profile.
- Improving credibility – What I have realized over the years, and I say this with personal experience, the credibility that I now command amongst my subordinates, peers and superiors has gone up. This has translated into a respect of opinions and views at my job.
  
  On completing this one-year MBA, a whole new vista has opened up. I found that employment opportunities are easier to come by. The roles I am considered for have gone up several notches and with this, the emoluments. My degree is a pedigree that my future employers will look at before they hire.
- Networking Skills – My classmates from the one-year MBA-BL were early/mid-level professionals across functions, profiles and industries. Interacting with these diverse sets of personalities opened new avenues of learning besides being the seed of a life-long network. My professional network now consists of classmates, alumni & professionals from within the industry, which I have taken forward. Networking has been critical to my development by enhancing my knowledge, providing mentoring opportunities, career growth and above all a respect in professional circles. This diverse network has helped me to learn, evolve and thrive.
- Career Transition – During my previous work stint, I realized that acquiring knowledge in a given area limits one to a particular field or functional area. I had read about several industry leaders who added an MBA to their repertoire. This only added to their profile and helped them achieve and undertake positions of responsibility and added to their versatility.
  
  The MBA in Business Leadership integrates learning outcomes to human-centric personality development through a mix of exposure to liberal arts, experiential learning, case studies, and more. This could be applied across functional areas, geographies, diverse work profiles, in fact across the entire spectrum of business.
  
  Today I realize that leadership roles are challenging, especially in these pandemic times. Being successful requires a humane approach to business, something that takes into cognizance the needs, wants and frustrations of team members. Similarly, a customer centric approach is what succeeds in the marketplace. My time at SOIL made me realize this and, in the process, helped to align my career goals to my job profile.
Levelling up

Working in an organization after a technical qualification put me in a rat race where we were constantly striving to meet goals, targets, KPIs. Stagnation was getting on my nerves and I realized that I needed more. This was an impediment in my career progression and to move up, I needed to look at up-skilling.

Larger and evolved organizations were looking to create a culture of innovation where empathy and engagement were key performance drivers. This aligned with my career aspirations, which were focused to be a responsible leader in a large future ready organization.

I joined the MBA in Business Leadership, a one-year, full-time, program offered by SOIL at its Gurgaon campus. This program was conceptually unique and for working professionals like myself who wanted to take a short sabbatical to up-skill and join back early. I do not regret my decision and can conclude by saying that the One Year MBA – PGPM in Business Leadership has a solid foundation in major business disciplines and core leadership skills. SOIL’s world-class faculty and a cutting-edge curriculum have ensured a pedagogy that is based on the industry requirements and relevance. Pursuing the course has put me on par with the latest approaches in leadership and given a transformative impetus to my career.

This program, being one of its kind, gave me the opportunity to climb hierarchy, negotiation power to upgrade my salary, and better employment opportunities. I have a better understanding of business and I can exercise better control over my career.

Trust, diversity, empowerment, and team building are now synergized with my formal education and are giving me a platform to realize my ambitions of going up the corporate ladder into positions of leadership.