Alumnus of the Week

It's been many years since I completed my MBA, so I am thrilled to have been selected as this weeks "Alumnus of the Week" at the University of Hertfordshire Business School.

My graduation with what was then called the Executive MBA (with distinction no less) marked a turning point in my career and, in a way that my more recent MSc in People and Organaisational Development has also done, inspired me on to new and better things.

I value the academic strength of my CV. Academic work at Master's level requires a degree of critical evaluation and self understanding that has allowed me to contextualise the world around me in a much more enlightened way and has enabled me to influence and shape the way I work and prioritise what is important for me and the organisations with which I work.

Choosing to study the MBA back in the late 1990's gave me the courage to step outside the world of finance. I remember when I was selecting a course of study it came down to choosing between studying towards CIMA, something which was almost expected of someone working in my role at the time (I was a project accountant), or the MBA, which offered a far wider exposure that I saw as more akin to my own developmental needs at the time. Obtaining the funds was tricky, and having a supportive employer was extremely important, but not quite as important as a partner who can encourage you through those dark nights slumped over the keyboard..

I look back on my MBA with satisfaction and a sense of achievement. My thesis, which I worked towards over the three years of the part-time programme, looked at the commericial pressures facing public sector organisations, and I still apply the experience of that research to my work today.

Above all else the MBA was about change. It changed my views of the world around me, it changed the way that I understood myself and, fundamentally, it changed my own views on what I could achieve. I guess that ultimately it set me off down the road towards the setting up of Poppyfish, and an understanding that there is always more that can be done if you can put a flame to the fuel that is your aspiration.

And I hope now to give a little more back to the organisation that helped me find my way. Last year I was pleased to be able to offer some guest lecturing at the Business School on public sector change and hope to retain a strong connection into the future. Well done to Sue, Matthew, Adah and the team at UHBS Alumni for their hard work in shaping a growing and increasingly supportive network.

My profile as Alumnus of the Week is now showing (for one week only) here.


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