Nationality: Greek
Current position: Director of Online Media, working for Star Channel, private nationwide TV station in Greece
Programme: Modular Executive MBA, 2018
What motivated you to do an MBA and why did you choose Cass Business School?
I wanted to expand my knowledge and get a better insight into businesses that would help me gain more confidence when moving up the corporate ladder. I wanted to gain the knowledge to be able to support my colleagues and organisation with new ideas. I am in the broadcast news business, which is a mature industry that is going through significant change and large incumbents are having trouble adapting to the new ways of doing business. I love the industry and wanted to be to ensure I can do as much as possible to help it survive and gain a prominent place in the digital era. I did my masters at City University, I enjoyed the programme and meeting the international mix of students from diverse backgrounds.
What are your career goals and what do you hope to achieve after you have graduated?
I am being partly sponsored by a Greek TV station to take over an executive role within the business. I am hoping to be able to bring positive change to the organisation, making it a better and more efficient place to work. I am also hoping to help the TV station successfully move to the digital age, with a sustainable digital business model, combining my work experience of international broadcaster along with the skills gained during my MBA.
How would you describe your overall experience of the MBA so far?
It has been a great experience. Both interesting and engaging, being able to use the theory from class to look at challenges in my organisation from a different point of view and with a more analytical spirit. Learning about other organisations and industries through coursework and through classmates has been inspirational. I followed a smart plan to balance my studying to allow for personal life too.
How do you balance you work and personal life with academic studies ? Any tips or advice ?
The first semester was quite difficult until I found some balance between work and my studies, but now I have figured out how to best allocate my time and I can say that nothing has changed from my life before starting my MBA. My interest in the subject and the increased levels of happiness from networking with my great class mates has given me more energy and motivation. I am more efficient in my work, I try to finish early and not stay long hours at work unnecessarily, and then it works best for me to study after work on weekdays and then devote most of my weekends to my personal life. I also ensure I take a couple of weeks of holiday each year, where I cut out work and study to allow myself the time to recharge.
What has been the most rewarding experience for you so far?
Making new friends that I know will be for life. In terms of coursework and learning, it has been rewarding and has given me more confidence to know I can write reports on finance and other corporate documents, which I could present to senior management.
What has been the most challenging aspect?
When unexpected work travel came up, meeting with my group and not letting them down on deadlines has been a challenge, I still managed to make this work.
How would you describe your fellow cohort?
They are all really fun people, international and diverse. Having people from different industries is an eye-opener, we learn a lot from the academics as well as each other. Working with different people and identifying each other's strengths through our group coursework is also a great experience and it teaches you a lot about yourself and interaction with others. The group is very international and it will be a great opportunity to visit everyone in their home town when we finish with the MBA.
What has the learning experience been like? How are classes and taught and what sort of expertise do the academics bring?
It has been rewarding to be able to grasp each discipline surrounding modern organisations and businesses with a holistic view, combining all subject areas to real-world business challenges. Class days can feel long at times, but it's definitely rewarding at the end of the day.
What are your thoughts on living and studying in London and does Cass’ location bring any added benefit?
London is an expensive city, however, there are a lot of professionals in the city all with diverse experience and backgrounds, who can bring in a lot of insight and experience to the cohort. For me, the location is great as it's next to my workplace and really close to where I live. I save time on the commute allowing me to balance work, life and study.
What advice would you give to a prospective student thinking of doing an MBA at Cass?
It is worth it. It is life changing, you meet great people, the learning is rewarding, you develop professionally and learn more about yourself and your attitude at work. It gives you the ability to examine and apply the theory into your organisation from day-one and most of all, it has made me a happier and a more confident person.