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Alberto Cabanes. Social entrepreneurship with Adopta un Abuelo. Success stories.

IESE Standout — Thu, 23 Nov 2023 12:05:25 +0000

Alberto Cabanes is the CEO and founder of Adopta un Abuelo [Adopt a Grandparent], a social enterprise that connects tens of thousands of young people with older people. Cabanes also has an EMBA from IESE.

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Alberto Cabanes must have been very young – a child, in fact – when he realized that his grandfather, Clemente, always went everywhere with him. Clemente took him to English and handball (Cabanes ended up playing the sport competitively, and joining the federation), and he was also there to tell him stories. Sometimes, little Alberto went on ‘trips’ with him and Pilar, his grandmother, to Picón, the town in Ciudad Real where they came from.

Time passed, and eventually Pilar died. And Clemente became very dependent. And Alberto Cabanes began to come from Madrid every weekend to visit him in the home. And that was how he got to know Bernardo, his grandfather’s new friend. The three of them spent time chatting and playing dominoes or card games. One day, Bernardo, who was widowed, admitted that his greatest dream would have been to have a grandchild. And Cabanes told him that, in that case, he was adopting him as his grandfather.

In this way, the idea for the social enterprise Adopta un Abuelo was the result of a joke. But it was a very serious joke. Because, in some ways, Cabanes really did adopt Bernardo. And he immediately realized that there were millions of ‘Bernardos’ who needed someone who would remember them.

And he wanted to offer them the same opportunity as he had offered his grandfather’s friend. But all he had was an idea, and he needed a helping hand. Lots of helping hands. He could not have imagined that, within a decade, he would become one of IESE’s 40 most prominent entrepreneurs under the age of 40, or that the Adopta un Abuelo website would end up with 250,000 registered users in 18 countries.

I’m going for it: I want to be a social entrepreneur!

By the age of 27, Alberto Cabanes had come to one conclusion: he truly wanted to be a social entrepreneur. And he thought he was ready to launch a project that would create connections of mutual understanding and care between the generations.

It was 2016, and he had a daunting year and half ahead of him. He earned nothing for 11 months, spent all his savings, applied for a loan, sold his car and television, and left his house, sleeping on the floor at his friend Mario’s place, and at his then girlfriend’s. At least, he says, he didn’t have children or a mortgage. In spite of this, as Alberto Cabanes said in the conversation he had with IESE professor Mireia Las Heras, which you can watch below, “I would have been stupid not to go for it!”

The need he wanted to respond to was very real. According to some surveys, more than 10% of older people in Italy, Germany, France and the United States feel lonely. In Spain, where two million older people live alone, and around 350,000 of them are in homes, the situation is the same.

But, even though he was young, Cabanes thought he was ready, because he already knew what it was like to try and fail. He had played handball professionally and, at the age of 24, shortly after having earned his degree in Business Administration and Management, his first startup went out of business. Cabanes made almost 10,000 euros with Tachans.com, which could have been the first social network for federations, clubs and sports people.

However, nothing turned out as he had hoped. He learned how to fall. And how to get back up. And how to stand out as a senior auditor at KPMG once he got back up from his leap of faith. He juggled the difficult beginnings of Adopta un Abuelo and his work at KPMG, until he was finally able to make the leap once again; something which, according to him, was a real challenge.

And that leap would only be the first of many. As a result, in 2021, his passion for continuing to innovate, as well as the growing complexity of the business and of managing more and more operations and teams, led him to believe that he needed more training. So, he studied for his EMBA at IESE; a demanding experience that lasted 18 months, spanning 3 continents.

Cabanes noted that, for him, the program had been “a transformative experience”, in which he had the opportunity to learn from both his classmates and his professors, studying 350 real-world cases of companies that faced some of the challenges that the CEO and founder of Adopta un Abuelo would need to overcome from that moment on.

Once of those challenges, undoubtedly, was how to continue to exploit innovation in order to fight the loneliness epidemic that is plaguing older people.

Innovating with Adopta un Abuelo, so that older people aren’t alone

Adopta un Abuelo has surprised the entire sector, with organized activities (dances, after-work gatherings) and unique experiences that allow the relationship between the older person and their new companion to flow naturally.

Out of all the experiences, it is worth highlighting, for example, one in which some ‘grandmothers’ taught AXA employees some traditional, healthy recipes via video-conference, and another in which BBVA volunteers helped some older people with technology through the Abuelos Hackers initiative.

Adopta un Abuelo has reinvented the idea of donations, creating specific campaigns through which sponsors can give money to help make an older person’s dream come true. This is how, for example, one lady fulfilled her dream of flying in a plane for the first time, and it is how another older person, Juan, was able to watch a match in the new Atlético Madrid stadium.

Both the donations that people make when they become a member and the donations from the challenges use a secure online electronic gateway, and the Adopta un Abuelo mobile app. Cabanes also made the most of technology to increase transparency: sponsors can always see what their donations were used for, and the expenditure that justifies them. At the same time, volunteers can register digitally on the platform in just a few minutes.

Cabanes also designed a digital control panel, which allows him and his team to monitor all the Adopta un Abuelo operations, and to develop their own metrics. As an example, they know that almost 50,000 hours of company have been provided for older people, and they also have specific knowledge of the needs of members, sponsors and volunteers. More than 1,000 Google reviews give Adopta un Abuelo an ‘average score’ of 4.9 out of five.

Naturally, none of this would have been possible if Cabanes had not understood that even the smallest decisions can have a major impact on the organization, and that leading involves learning from the best and cultivating humility, in order to continue learning every day. In short, to be a great leader, you first have to be a great person, because true leadership is human; a real story of Real Leadership from IESE.

Adopta un Abuelo: older people have a lot to offer

For Alberto Cabanes, spending time with older people is a win-win, as the ‘older people’ clearly benefit from the volunteers giving them a helping hand, while at the same time, the volunteers also get access to an experience that will change their lives, thanks to the older people.

What exactly does that win-win consist of? It consists of the following:

1) The volunteers can benefit from practicing their empathy, or their active listening. And everyone gets the opportunity to connect with people from completely different generations, who have had completely different experiences. This is especially beneficial for children.

2) The older people can simply enjoy the company of the people who meet them and appreciate them, or they can participate in fun leisure activities with them, or live their dreams by flying on planes or going to watch soccer.

As Cabanes says, “older people tell better stories than Netflix”, and it’s a pleasure to listen to them. At the same time, volunteers can not only share this experience with the older people, but also with their parents and siblings, school friends or work colleagues.

This was the case for Pablo and Sofía, a couple who started spending time with Mariví, a lady who never left her room in the home as she was suffering from severe depression. As Cabana recounted in the podcast with Mireia Las Heras, after a few months of spending time with them, Mariví not only started leaving her room, but one day even dared to cross the street in the home to buy some cakes. She wanted to organize a little tea party for the couple who had come to see her so often.

Alberto Cabanes is conscious of the fact that this example of Mariví demonstrates the success cultivated by a tiny startup which grew very quickly, and became a well-established social enterprise within ten years. Adopta un Abuelo has already exceeded 12,000 volunteers, 6,000 ‘adopted’ grandparents, and almost 50,000 hours of company for the most vulnerable

Alberto Cabanes knows that he has come a very long way in a very short time since that day, long ago, when he decided to ‘adopt’ Bernardo, and when he subsequently sold his car and left his house to make his dream a reality. Indeed, he has come a long way, but this is just the beginning of the great adventure of his life.

You can watch the video-podcast of the conversation between Alberto Cabanes and the IESE professor, Mireia Las Heras, here:

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Ousman Umar, revolutionizing humanitarian aid. Success stories

IESE Standout — Tue, 02 May 2023 14:08:16 +0000

Ousman Umar, Co-founder & President of NASCO Feeding Minds, wants migrants to be seen for what they are capable of — and prevent boat-crossing tragedies by empowering young people in Ghana through education.

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Many successful entrepreneurs hold up their experiences as an example to others. The implication is that if you act as they do, you, too, will accomplish your dreams. Ousman Umar (IESE Executive MBA 2024) is different. The co-founder and president of the NGO, NASCO Feeding Minds, feels just the opposite. The purpose of his work is to prevent others from having to act as he did.

As a child, Umar traveled alone from Ghana to Spain, a journey that encompassed many years of disasters and false starts. He crossed part of the Sahara desert on foot and the Mediterranean in a boat he had built himself. It is a story of success at great cost.

He saw many people die, including his best friend. After his convoy was abandoned by traffickers in the desert, only six of some 50 people survived the journey on foot. Umar survived when he happened upon a dead man who still had a canteen with some water left in it. Later, Umar, a non-swimmer, survived a capsized boat on his first attempt to cross the Mediterranean; on his second, two boats set out and it was the other one that sank.

The makeshift dinghy carried him to Europe, colliding with the rocks of Fuerteventura. He had reached the promised land, but he soon found it less than promising. He says he suffered in a center for migrants before he finally arrived in Barcelona at the age of 16, homeless and uneducated.

A stroke of luck and empathy brought him to the attention of a local family, who ultimately took him in. He worked for his high-school diploma, then studied chemistry at university.

Now, Umar hopes other African children can avoid the experiences of his early years. NASCO Feeding Minds riffs on the idea of teaching a man to fish. In this case, Umar advocates for feeding children’s minds rather than giving them handouts. NASCO teaches coding and programming skills to children in Ghana to help build their earning potential and equip them for a life at home, so they don’t have to embark on the same high-risk journey to Europe like he did.

NASCO launched in 2012 from the personal savings of Umar and his friends. They bought 45 computers and got to work. Today, tens of thousands of children have passed through their classes in Ghana.

“Our hope,” he says, “is that by attacking the problem at the source, we can avoid today’s children becoming the migrants of tomorrow.”

Lost and found

Upon arriving on the streets of Barcelona, Umar recalls his profound frustration of feeling invisible to people around him. “I would ask for help and no one would look me in the face.” When he reached out to people to get their attention, he encountered fear: “It was as though I wasn’t human.”

There was one notable exception: the woman who ended up becoming his guardian. This changed the course of his life. It still astonishes him.

By that point in his life, he had experienced years of neglect. He wryly remarks that his first real degrees were hard-earned as a child laborer in Accra, where his welding job in the shipyards paid him only enough for a single bowl of rice a day, and then during his long unaccompanied journey north.

But luck, fate, grace even — call it what you will — intervened: “They are decisive in the life and career of any person,” he says. “Merit, effort and commitment are not the only pillars of success. Successful entrepreneurs and managers are also lucky people.”

And this moment of pure empathy and care, in which he was allowed to be visible in another person’s eyes, marked a turning point.

Education is essential

“Africans leave our countries and come to Europe because of a lack of information, a lack of training and a lack of opportunities. And we will continue to come as long as we don’t get those things where we live,” Umar says. “I speak from my own experience.”

The effort to succeed in life was by no means over once he was established in Spain. He has studied relentlessly, adding a marketing degree and a master’s in managing NGOs to his earlier studies. And with over 10 years’ experience heading NASCO under his belt, he now feels prepared for “the emotional and academic equivalent of climbing Mt. Everest” — the two-year Executive MBA at IESE that he is currently completing.

His hopes for the future are to revolutionize how humanitarian aid is managed. He agrees with the economist Dambisa Moyo that the kind of aid the West provides to Africa is deeply flawed, creating dependence while failing to resolve underlying problems. Aid from Europe is also often weaponized, tied to arbitrary policies to reduce illegal migration. Umar himself experienced this, when traffickers took him to Mali rather than Europe to benefit from migration-prevention schemes.

Umar sees no end to migrant crises, either through traditional aid or tougher border policies. Instead, “the time has come to feed minds and scale up initiatives like ours, which aspire to solve the problem of forced migration right at the source.”

And it’s not just about preventing further tragedies like those that he experienced. The man who was once invisible now wants to bring visibility to the ingenuity and skill of his people.

“When I was a child in rural Ghana,” he says, “I saw an airplane and I was told that white men make such things. I now know that talent has no color. I want to show the world that, with training and opportunities, Africans are capable of innovating just like Silicon Valley.”

This is Real leadership. It’s about helping people to work together toward greater goals, improving themselves along the way. It’s about seeing problems from different perspectives and knowing that even small decisions can have a big impact. It’s about learning from the best and having the humility to relearn every day.

Ousman Umar’s story inspires food for thought…

Do you see the human being where others only see threat and fear?
How do you effectively communicate and connect with others on a human level despite language and cultural barriers?
When confronted with a desperate social need, do you jump in to try to help?
Is a different world possible? Instead of looking away, do you seek to get involved instead?

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Paolo Fusaro, baking social impact into a startup. Success Stories

IESE Standout — Tue, 03 May 2022 07:20:54 +0000

Social impact is baked into RobinGood’s business model, which gives new meaning to the term “soul food.”

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A man sets out on foot from Mali. He wishes to escape spiraling violence and economic precarity. He travels for two years, mostly walking, until he reaches Spain. For many, the story would end there: the man would be an undocumented migrant, unemployed and with few hopes for the future. But his story has turned out differently. Today he has a job with prospects, making artisanal food products sold in premium retail outlets throughout Spain.

The surprising twist in the story is courtesy of RobinGood, a Spanish brand that aims to be a positive force in society by sourcing locally where possible, employing people at risk of poverty or social exclusion, and bringing business back to depopulated towns.

Success story of Paolo Fusaro

Paolo Fusaro (IESE Executive MBA ’17) was on the lookout for a socially responsible project connected with food when he was introduced to Luis Font. “I’ve had the good luck to have a ‘normal’ life of privilege,” Fusaro explains. Born and raised in Italy, he has also lived in São Paulo; in Paris, where he was purchasing manager for private label products for the French supermarket chain, Carrefour; and now in Barcelona. By the time an EMBA classmate introduced him to Font, he had a hunger to transform the fortunes of those with fewer opportunities. Font had the idea to combine retail with social initiatives; Fusaro brought experience with brands. RobinGood was born.

Ingredients of success

Fusaro came from a successful career in the private sector – as a buyer for Carrefour, an auditor for Deloitte, and managing director in Europe of the HR firm, Polyglot. He also had one unsuccessful venture under his belt. “It’s true what they say: that failure is a learning experience,” he muses. “I knew how to buy, but I realized I needed to learn how to sell.”

By the time he launched RobinGood, he had learned that “you cannot do a social product without superior quality.” And superior strategy. Focusing on quality cookies and breadsticks, the first order of business was, simply, to make them delicious. The next order of business was to find a sustainable way to employ vulnerable communities.

In Spain, there are almost 12 million people – a quarter of the population – at risk of poverty or social exclusion. Helping all of them is clearly impossible. So RobinGood partners with special employment foundations, defined as either employing 51% vulnerable populations or giving 100% of dividends to social causes.

“The majority of our employees – 85% – have intellectual or physical disabilities,” Fusaro explains. The remaining 15% are from vulnerable migrant populations. In Spain, 65% of people with intellectual disabilities are unemployed, although the positive effects of work in creating stability and a sense of purpose are well documented. Working through these employment foundations, RobinGood is able to arrange jobs in a supported manufacturing environment and provide permanent contracts.

Another success story is Alex, hired in 2020. At the time, he was an 18-year-old Ukrainian with an intellectual disability who had been abandoned by both his parents and adoptive parents. Regular, dignified work has been key to turning his life around, giving him hope for the future and something to work toward. For Fusaro, it’s the knowledge of making concrete differences in the lives of people like Alex that satisfies him most about this venture.

Revitalizing rural towns

“You can’t do everything at once, and I can’t employ all 12 million vulnerable people in Spain,” Fusaro admits. Even so, he has found ways to multiply the company’s impact.

One way has been to concentrate some of their employment efforts in small towns. Rural depopulation has been accelerating in Europe since the second half of the 20th century and large swathes of rural Spain are starved of human capital and investment. In Camporrells, near Huesca, the population has dropped to 137. RobinGood is the only company created in the area in the past decade and has provided work for 15 people (over 10% of the population). A further contract offered to help resettle a Syrian family not only adds to the population, it also crucially brings a child who will prevent the local school from closing. These are small changes, but Fusaro believes they can multiply exponentially over time. The idea is to replicate this impact throughout Spain and beyond.

RobinGood is available in a growing number of supermarkets and online, but Fusaro also has plans to increase their impact through partnerships with larger brands. Currently, Danone and Ben & Jerry’s are in the mix – multinationals that can help ensure RobinGood ends up at eye level in the supermarket placement battle.

More than pretty packaging

Many companies are striving to go green and earn prosocial credentials. But greenwashing and social washing are rife. How can a company that is really going the extra mile stand out? And how can consumers really know what they are getting?

The only way to fight it is with information: “Brands need to be more and more transparent,” says Fusaro. “Consumers are demanding that transparency.” Indeed, RobinGood makes it clear that all its packaging is plastic-free, compostable and biodegradable. It is currently in the process of trying to be the first Spanish food company to go “Plastic Negative.”

Brands should also build communities to make sure consumers are aware of what they are doing right, and they should subscribe to organizations that demonstrate their commitment. RobinGood, for example, is a certified B Corporation. Although this designation is not as widely known in Europe as in the United States where it started, it certifies the company’s seriousness in achieving social change. RobinGood currently scores over 80, which means the business is demonstrating high standards of verified social and environmental performance.

Fusaro hopes for a label in the future that will do for the social economy what the Nutri-Score label does for nutrition, clearly signaling to consumers the policies and ethics behind the food they eat.

For the moment, Fusaro’s plans are a mix of the practical and the aspirational. RobinGood has begun producing beer from leftover bread (bread is one of the products with the highest food waste). It also hopes to establish a training school to empower others at risk of social exclusion: while they may not be able to provide them all with direct employment, they want to be able to equip them with skills to help them find jobs elsewhere.

Beyond that, “We want to keep generating employment, to help democratize the social category of products – and to keep changing lives.”

Building a social enterprise

Make the best product. If consumers pay more, they want quality, not just the feel-good factor.
Don’t forget the business side. Social enterprises aren’t charities, and a product with no sales won’t employ anyone.
Don’t reinvent the wheel. Partnering with associations and foundations makes it more likely your social enterprise will succeed. Experienced partners will have a better idea of how to adapt tasks to specific worker profiles and needs than you trying to figure it out for yourself.
Build community. Make sure people know what you are doing right, and begin a conversation about transparency that all consumers can benefit from.

Training managers who employ people with intellectual disabilities

Together with the Jose Antonio Segarra Foundation, IESE Barcelona has launched a program for senior managers of companies in Catalonia, Spain, that employ people with intellectual disabilities. Taught in collaboration with the Catalan Federation of Disability (DINCAT), the program aims to help participants improve their management of such companies to guarantee their economic viability. The Jose Antonio Segarra Foundation is a private foundation created in 2022. As part of its mission to promote the work and ideas of the late beloved professor Segarra, the foundation encourages the employment of people with intellectual disabilities as a means of social inclusion.

To further complement this story, we recommend you to also read the following article “Good management” by Rafael Andreu, Josep M. Rosanas and Jose Antonio Segarra, published in IESE Business School Insight 153

Read the article How can an MBA help entrepreneurs?

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Ignasi Cambra, concert pianist, plays by heart. Success stories

IESE Standout — Thu, 09 Sep 2021 06:53:31 +0000

Ignasi Cambra began playing the piano at the age of six. At 17, as he prepared to embark on a degree in business administration, he was awarded a scholarship to study piano in the U.S. He went on to earn a Master’s degree at the Juilliard School in New York, one of the world’s finest music schools, and has played in concert halls across the globe. Throughout, he has provided an inspiring example of the human capacity to transform life’s challenges into strengths.

While excelling in music, Cambra has maintained his belief in the impactful potential of business. In 2021, coming full circle from his plans at age 17, he completed an Executive MBA at IESE.

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It’s been a tough year, but Barcelona-born pianist Ignasi Cambra remains upbeat. With almost all his 2020 concerts canceled, he used the time to discover he also had an ear for business. Here he reflects on life, art and entrepreneurship…

Music is what I’ve always enjoyed since I began musical studies at age six, and it ended up being my profession without me ever really planning it. The music world is highly competitive. Like sports, many people try to do it professionally but very few actually make it. It’s also extremely unfair. Admission rates at the world’s top music schools are lower than for business schools. Many talented people who don’t get in are just as good as, or even better than, those who do. Like many other professions, luck plays a part.

Talent is important, but it’s not everything, and neither is constant work. It’s one thing to sit at the piano and play the notes, and another thing to practice in a way that’s useful and where you’re actually making progress. For me, if I practice more than five or six hours a day, I’m just wasting my time, and if I keep going, I’ll create bad habits. That took some time for me to understand.

People always think it’s incredible that I play by memory, except all pianists, sighted or not, play by memory. What’s different is that they may learn the score by reading it through first, but they’ll still have to memorize it. I learn by ear, which may be slower, but then I’m memorizing it at the same time, so in a sense it’s slightly more efficient.

“Of course some things are more difficult for me, but everyone, with or without a disability, has things they find challenging.”

Ignasi Cambra (EMBA ´21)

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I’m not saying I never have challenges. Of course some things are more difficult for me, but everyone, with or without a disability, has things they find challenging. One of my teachers once said that, instead of complaining, you can always adapt and get something positive out of it. Everybody needs to understand what they’re not so good at, which can be just as important as understanding what you’re really good at. It saves you a lot of trouble and future problems.

I love what I do, but I really feel like an entrepreneur at heart. The idea of making a positive impact and giving back to society is something that speaks to me. Although I’d be the first to say that the arts are extremely important to society, I always wanted to do something that had a more direct, practical impact on people’s lives, which is one of the reasons why I decided to do an Executive MBA at IESE.

Art and business don’t have to be opposites. Too often in the arts it’s one extreme or the other: either you focus on the financial side at the expense of creating genuinely interesting experiences for the audience, or you manage very well from an artistic standpoint but are losing money. It’s not either/or. In both cases, it’s about working with other people – those you like, those you don’t like, those you need to have a good relationship with, those who seem like they don’t matter, but they do. Always. In the end, business is knowing how to deal with life.

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Main differences between EMBA and PMD programs

IESE Standout — Mon, 21 Dec 2020 15:34:54 +0000

When you’ve gained a certain degree of experience in the world of business management, there comes a time when you have to decide if you want to go even further. If you find yourself at this point in your career, congratulations! Because you’re one step away from embarking on a process that has the potential to change your life. However, that first step may be the hardest of all.

Even if you’ve already decided to take your career to the next level and to aspire to positions of greater responsibility through executive training (https://executiveeducation.iese.edu/es/), choosing the right program at this point in your career is no simple task.

Becoming the leader you want to be is going to require resources and a lot of effort, two ingredients that may be in short supply right now in your day-to-day life, and at a time when you’re likely also dealing with important personal and professional commitments.

Correctly choosing the right executive training program which best fits your reality is essential to achieving your objectives and developing yourself as a leader capable of positive and tangible impact. To make this selection process a little easier, in this article we want to help you better differentiate the two most in-demand programs by executives like you: the Executive MBA (EMBA) and the Program for Management Development (PMD).

An Executive MBA or PMD: Learn to differentiate the two most in-demand programs by executives like yourself

Age and professional experience

Although age and professional experience are not determining factors when choosing between the two programs, they can be useful as starting points.

The most frequent EMBA profile is a 32-year-old professional with a minimum of five years of experience in positions of responsibility, an optimal level of English and a high analytical capacity demonstrable through their GMAT test score. On the other hand, the typical PMD participant is usually 39-years-old and also has five years of experience, but in team management.

However, bear in mind that these data are only statistics and that each classroom is made up of very different profiles and realities that enrich the quality of both types of programs. This in mind, your specific age and years of experience should serve as orientative factors rather than impediments. It is important to note that the EMBA – being an accredited MBA program – has a more exhaustive admission process. In the PMD, on the other hand, the personal interview is the most determining factor when it comes to being admitted to the program.

The EMBA offers an intense journey of personal and professional transformation that trains you to take on any challenge that arises in the corporate realm.

Program content and structure

In the words of a recent participant who is very familiar with both programs, a quite graphic way to understand what you’ll learn and, above all, the implications of these learnings are that “the PMD is like facing a half marathon and the EMBA, a full marathon.”

As such, both prepare you to make decisions from a general management standpoint, both offer you new skills to master decision-making, and both programs boost the development of your leadership. Both will cause you to grow through the challenges posed and the dedication required. And, in addition, with both programs, you’re free to balance your courses with your current job and apply what you’re learning in the classroom immediately, since classes are concentrated on the weekends and during intensive weeks. But it’s not the same to commit to managerial training for six months as it is for 18.

In this sense, in a relatively short period of time, the PMD covers eight key leadership competencies to accelerate your trajectory towards top management through interaction, discussion of real cases and simulations. Considering that the participants usually arrive with significant experience leading teams, such a compressed format is made the most of, bringing out the best of every participant from day one.

Meanwhile, the EMBA is an intense and long journey of personal and professional transformation that prepares you to take on any corporate challenge. Over the course of nearly two years, with 300 cases, three international weeks, exams, simulations and 1,500 hours of individual and team work, you will deeply refine your knowledge of the main areas of business management, decision-making, your global vision of business and the skills of well-rounded and efficient leaders.

As we said at the beginning, both programs will get you into shape, the only difference is that the PMD will leave you as sweaty as a short but very intense race, and the EMBA with leave you with a muscular soreness that will last you a few more weeks.

The PMD covers eight key leadership competencies in a relatively short period of time to accelerate your track to top management.

Your personal situation

Undoubtedly, where you are in life and your aspirations should be the definitive parameters for making the final decision to pursue a Program for Management Development or an Executive MBA. Once you’ve looked over the figures and details of each program, it’s worth asking yourself with all honesty which of the two better fits your unique situation right now, which one will you be able to enjoy more, and which one will you get more out of. In short, which program can you afford in terms of time and resources, and which one will help you reach your professional goals and expectations.

Although each candidate is different, those who opt for the Executive MBA usually have it very clear that they want to live the full experience of an MBA program or they want to add an MBA degree to their CVs. Either because it’s something they’ve always wanted to do, because they aspire to positions that require the qualification, because they dream of creating their own company or because they’re looking for new opportunities at an international level.

In the case of the PMD, on the other hand, we’re talking (in general) about participants who are looking to take a professional leap, who already have strong professional profiles but who want to go one step further, who are aware of their own limitations when it comes to better managing their own company or to aspiring to positions of greater responsibility and who are excited about the idea of receiving formation in a business school like IESE, but who don’t necessarily need an official degree. These people see a program such as the PMD as a more affordable option that also guarantees them a very rigorous learning experience in all business-related aspects and the impetus they’re lacking to continue progressing in their career and to get out of an area they’re too familiar with.

Don’t doubt it, executive training is worth it

During these uncertain times we’re living, nobody can guarantee you anything. So it’s normal that you continue to have doubts, even after you’ve enrolled in the program you’ve chosen. Will it be as good as I have been told? Will I get that position that I keep thinking about? Will I get the investment back? Will I be able to keep my business alive and strong?

We can’t answer all these unknowns. But we can say that executive training is worth it, and that the economic cost is almost the last factor that you should be thinking about right now. First off, because of the multiple financing options that exist and, secondly, because of the enormous chances you have of increasing your income after the program. But above all, because it’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience that can take you much further than you imagine, and because it constitutes the most solid foundation for you to be able to improve the world we live in as a leader.

Where you are in life and your aspirations should be the definitive factors to finally decide to pursue a PMD or an EMBA.

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Differences between EMBA and GEMBA

IESE Standout — Mon, 30 Nov 2020 15:59:08 +0000

Executive MBA and Global Executive MBA programs share much in common: both are designed for forward-thinking professionals and deliver a rigorous MBA curriculum to help you to excel in complex environments. So how are they different and which better adapts to your needs? The following three questions will shed some light

Executive MBA or Global EMBA? 3 questions to consider

1. What is your career profile?

At a business school such as IESE, all MBA programs help students hone their business acumen and gain a holistic vision of general management. But cohorts differ in substantial ways, including average age, years of experience and international reach. Since peer-to-peer exchange and building your network are key to the learning experience, it’s important to make sure your profile meshes with that of your classmates – although diversity of backgrounds also enriches the experience.

In the case of the Executive MBA at IESE, most students have between 5 and 10 years of experience and hold junior to middle-management roles. Typically ranging in age from 29 to 37, they aspire to expand their business and management knowledge, as well as their team leadership abilities.

For its part, Global Executive MBA cohorts represent over 30 nationalities and reflect more senior profiles, with an average age of 39, around 15 years of work experience and a distinctly international orientation. In fact, the program requires students to have lived or worked in at least two countries and/or have significant cross-border responsibilities. In addition to sharpening their business and management acumen, they also aim to bolster their leadership and stakeholder management skills and expand their skillset to thrive in multicultural and global settings.

MBA cohorts differ in substantial ways, including average age, years of experience and international reach.

2. Which program structure better adapts to your life right now?

Everyone juggles a unique set of personal and professional commitments so the program structure is obviously key. That means issues such as where classes are held, what the time commitment is, whether parts are offered online and when in-person presence is required.

IESE’s EMBA, for instance, is offered on four campuses – Barcelona, Madrid, Munich and Sao Paulo – over a 19-month span. Program sessions generally convene on Fridays and Saturdays (every week or every two or three weeks, depending on the venue), in addition to four intensive international weeks. This program structure influences the cohort’s geographic make-up, with most EMBA participants living or working in the same city or region, and in turn impacts the network you will build.

The IESE GEMBA, on the other hand, features a blended structure, combining remote learning and 15 weeks of on-campus immersive learning over a 18-month period. On-campus learning takes place in 6-8 cities (depending on which electives you choose) across four continents. Students hail from all corners of the globe: half of the class is usually based in Europe, a quarter in the Americas and the remainder in countries across Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

3. What are your end goals?

People pursue an MBA degree for a number of reasons: some seek to accelerate their personal and professional growth, others enroll to explore new professional paths, and some as a gateway to senior-level positions in their current organizations. And in other cases, the motivation is more intrinsic: a drive to explore uncharted territory or embark on a journey to see where it will take you. You would do well to ask yourself these questions when deciding on an MBA to ensure it supports your end objectives.

Although the Executive MBA and Global Executive MBA programs share a substantial overlap of academic content, they contrast significantly in terms of their higher-level learning objectives and cohort aspirations. To determine which program best adapts to your needs and goals, we recommend scheduling a meeting with an admissions mentor, who will be more than happy to provide insight on your best path forward.

Everyone juggles a unique set of personal and professional commitments so the program structure is obviously key.

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The big leap: How you can move from technical expert to executive

IESE Standout — Mon, 23 Nov 2020 11:06:14 +0000

It’s one of the most exhilarating times in your professional life. You’re a good specialist and you know your territory well, but now you want to lead teams and projects, and you’ve even started doing it. Do you know how you’re going to navigate this exciting transition?

The rise to a managerial position starts at the moment that the usual answers are not useful for you anymore (your questions have changed!); you move away from your traditional knowledge area (you’re no longer just a good technical expert), and success in your work depends directly on the success of the team you lead. No one would do things exactly like you because, of course, they’re not you. And the best thing about all this is, you’re going to learn to enjoy it.

What do you need to become a great executive?

Sometimes you make the choice and other times you’re chosen in your ascent to be a manager or executive, although the title is of little importance. In any case, what usually happens is that your overriding goal begins to encompass a strategic vision, to set a direction, for the future and moves swiftly toward this through the work of other technical experts, which occasionally will be engineers. But what do you need to make this jump successfully?

1. Your management of talent has to be impeccable

The success of great executives rests on their successful management of talent. That’s why your specialized knowledge will be less important than your deep understanding of the dynamics of your team, and your ability to coordinate and encourage your team members. You will have to be able to guide them in the execution of ambitious goals, celebrate with them when these are reached and look for explanations and constructive measures when they don’t happen.

The solutions they will put forward to meet challenges will often surprise you, as well as the way they carry out what you’ve asked of them. It’s important that you see these surprises as proof that other points of view exist, and that they are many times enriching. Get the most out these. Remember that executives work with uncertainty and possibilities. There is no black and white.

2. Your team wants to know: why do they work for you and not the other way around?

Good executives know themselves well, and thanks to this fact, are able to easily explain what their function is to their team members.

And this explanation has to include the following: you work for me because I know how to facilitate your work within the team and the company, because I listen to you and treat you like the great technical expert you are and because I help you grow. At the same time, I understand my limitations, I trust in your criteria and I don’t take credit for what does not correspond to me. I know that your function is as important as mine and I not only transmit a clear vision of the future to you, I also encourage you to seek innovative solutions that will greatly build upon what has been done up to now. And I want you to surprise me!

Without a doubt, you work for me because I know how to work for you.

3. Embrace uncertainty and don’t be afraid of questions

For executives, challenging questions are everywhere, and they are always looking for new ones. They suspect (and rightfully so) that simple questions have conventional solutions, which are sometimes easy to implement and other times not. They also discern that doubt is the most powerful lever of innovation.

Your questions, as an executive, will go to two receivers. The first receiver will be the technical experts, to whom you will ask for the most appropriate solutions to problems without ever conforming to overused formulas. Help them be more creative!

The second receiver of your questions will be, of course, you. And this is where you´ll ask yourself how you can integrate solutions from your specialists into a medium-term strategy and make them workable through coordination with other professionals and departments. And there’s more: you´ll try not to make mistakes, of course, while knowing that perfect solutions don’t exist, that innovating brings risks and that many times you’re going to make errors. Just as important as avoiding errors is managing them well.

It depends on you: learning to be an executive

José Luis Illueca, IESE professor, points out that the evolution of a technical expert who wants to be a good executive is more a personal change than adding knowledge to what one already has. You should be willing to leave behind – unlearn – previous points of focus and learn to look and act in a different way. This requires centering less on “what to do” and more on “how to do it.” It involves, above all, learning abilities; knowing oneself and knowing the people who work with you; starting in “slow motion,” case by case, then later gaining speed. This is what academic programs based on the case method achieve. In this way, little by little, assuming positions that are increasingly aligned with the design and supervision of strategy and the management of teams, projects, and, sometimes, budgets.

Do you know how to convince your boss to do an Executive program? Download our letter template to help you.

At IESE, various academic programs adjust to the priorities of professional technical experts who are starting to move into these positions and want to become executives. Among these is the EMBA, designed for professionals with experience who want to jumpstart their careers with an MBA adapted to the goals and agendas of executives.

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