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5 qualities top recruiters are looking for

IESE Standout — Mon, 24 Feb 2025 16:05:29 +0000

If you’re on the hunt for a new job, you may have notice how the hiring process has entered a more stable phase. Following the hiring boom seen in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic—particularly in industries like consulting and technology—economic trends have leveled out. However, with global uncertainty still a factor, companies are now taking a more strategic and measured approach to signing up fresh talent. As a result, hiring trends are shifting, with recruiters placing greater emphasis on adaptability, digital expertise, and an international mindset.

The competencies companies want

A major trend reshaping recruitment is the move toward skills-based hiring over traditional function-based roles. Rather than focusing solely on job titles, more employers are prioritizing specific competencies and transferable skills, making the hiring process more fragmented, and in some cases, more time-consuming. As a job seeker, you’ll need to understand what recruiters are looking for and make sure you position yourself to ensure you stand out in this evolving landscape.

Stay ahead of the competition by focusing on these five must-have qualities that recruiters are actively looking for.

1. Skills-based hiring

Traditional hiring models that focused on job titles and a linear career path are being replaced by skills-based hiring. As well as individuals who can demonstrate adaptability, dependability, and the ability to tackle complex business challenges, companies want leaders with specific technical and leadership skills, with the focus increasingly on digital and AI fluency. There’s growing demand for candidates with proven technical know-how, and those who can integrate sustainability into business models.

2. AI fluency and the digital transformation

The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into business processes is creating demand for tech-savvy professionals, and it’s up to you make sure you tick all the right boxes. Companies want candidates with a deep understanding of AI’s potential, not just from a technical perspective but also in terms of making sure it gets embedded in corporate strategy. As Prof. Javier Zamora explained in a recent article, there’s a need for roles who “orchestrate the cultural shift necessary for this technology to be integrated across the organization.”

Organizations need leaders who can leverage AI tools to enhance decision-making, assess talent, and drive innovation. But more companies also want managers both with the technical competencies to exploit the new technology and the leadership skills to direct the human teams that are deploying it.

3. Agility and entrepreneurial mindset

Startups and scale-ups have long favored candidates with hands-on experience and a proactive approach to business challenges. Now, larger corporations are also seeking individuals who embody an agile entrepreneurial mindset. This means being comfortable with ambiguity, taking ownership of projects, and proactively identifying growth opportunities.

Companies will expect you to show you can respond quickly to a changing business environment as they face increasing volatility and disruption in their industries. Volkswagen, for example, says it wants “versatile profiles and people full of energy, willingness to learn new things, able to face everyday challenges. There are a lot of positions where we need the combination of soft skills, product/project management and technical knowledge.”

4. Generalist expertise

While specialist skills are key, companies will also expect you to show a broad range of competencies and prove you can adapt to multiple roles and challenges. As industries evolve rapidly, employers find that generalists who possess a diverse knowledge base and know how to think critically often become the most effective professionals. As strategic thinkers with a broad perspective, they know how to break silos, adapt across industries, and make the most impactful decisions.

MANGO, for example, says it values the global vision, leadership and analytical skills of IESE’s MBA students, as well as their training in strategy and decision-making. “They bring innovation in sustainability, operations, and customer experience.”

5. Global business exposure

Another aspect you should be aware of is how recruiters, in an increasingly global market place, are putting a high premium on international experience. Professionals who have worked across different markets, managed cross-cultural teams, or studied in diverse environments bring unique perspectives to organizations.

Skills that are particularly valued include:

Cross-cultural communication
Understanding international regulations and market dynamics
Ability to adapt strategies for different global audiences

Advice for MBA talent

In today’s competitive job market, MBA students must stay ahead of evolving recruitment priorities and adapt their skill sets accordingly. Companies are continuously refining their hiring strategies and placing ever greater emphasis on new competencies and technologies.

According to IESE’s Career Development Center, here are some of the steps you can take to prepare your strategy for navigating the job market:

Highlight transferable skills: Showcase your ability to work across functions, solve complex problems, and lead diverse teams.
Leverage AI and digital expertise: Demonstrate familiarity with AI tools and digital business trends to hone your appeal to potential employers as an innovative thinker.
Emphasize global experience: An international background helps you to stand out from the crowd. Highlight your language skills and your ability to adapt and thrive in different cultures.
Network strategically: Engage with your industry peers through alumni networks and business events, and make full use of tools such as LinkedIn to promote and refine your personal brand.
Adopt a lifelong learning mindset: Employers favor candidates who continuously develop their skills through certifications, micro-learning programs, and hands-on experience.

The future of recruitment

As recruitment continues to evolve, job candidates must adapt to a shifting landscape that prioritizes flexibility, technological literacy, and a global outlook. Companies are seeking individuals whose skills extend beyond purely technical expertise, and who can demonstrate resilience, collaboration, and an entrepreneurial mindset.

As you hunt for a job, make sure you stay competitive by embracing continuous learning, leveraging AI tools, and cultivating a strong mix of soft and hard skills. The hiring process may have become more fragmented and take longer in some cases, but for those who can navigate its challenges, the opportunities have never been greater.

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Aya Sakai, aiming to break Japan’s glass ceiling. Success Stories

IESE Standout — Mon, 30 Sep 2024 14:02:12 +0000

Aya Sakai is a winner of an IESE Future Female Leaders Award 2024. She is currently on an MBA program at IESE in Barcelona, Spain, having previously worked for the Development Bank of Japan.

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A recent Kyodo News survey revealed that only 13 of Japan’s top 1,600 companies have female CEOs. What’s more, only around 15% of the country’s private-sector executives are women, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Aya Sakai is determined to help change those statistics.

“My mission is to be a leader in the Japanese renewable energy industry, which is a very traditional, male-dominated industry, and by being a leader in that industry, maybe I can change Japanese society a little bit,” says the current IESE MBA student (Class of 2026).

Her decision to do an MBA at IESE was an important step toward accomplishing that mission. “The opportunity to learn leadership skills and to work with teammates from international backgrounds in an intense environment will really help me when I go back to Japan,” she says.

A focus on renewables

Before embarking on an MBA, Sakai worked for the Development Bank of Japan (DBJ) in Tokyo and in London. One aspect of this organization that she valued highly was that it pursued not only profit but also social impact; that part of its mission was to support and help its customers.

As is common in many Japanese companies, Sakai gained valuable experience in many different departments and sections, from financial analysis to human resources, which was quite a challenge for her, having to quickly get up to speed in new fields every one or two years.

This employment policy did, however, give her the opportunity to work in the renewable energy sector, leading her to the conclusion that it was what she wanted to focus on in the future.

Much of the innovation in the renewable energy sector is being developed in Europe, another factor that attracted Sakai to studying in Barcelona. She wants to learn more about green energy technologies in Europe that can help change the energy landscape in Japan.

Teamwork and leadership

While at IESE, Sakai is also getting used to working with people from a wide variety of different backgrounds and cultures, something she has not had to do before. In her team there are students from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Germany, Kenya, Saudi Arabia, Spain and the U.S., in addition to classmates from Japan, all with different management methods and communication styles, which naturally presents certain challenges.

For Sakai, the solution to those challenges is respect, both for people and for processes. “Individually we each have strengths and weaknesses, and we can all learn from each other,” she says. “And we have strict team rules, a contract that nobody breaks, and that helps us work together effectively in a comfortable manner.”

As an undergraduate, Sakai was a trainer for an American football team, where she enjoyed working for and with other people and achieving good things as part of a great team. And great teams need great leaders.

In her time working in different departments at the DBJ, Sakai had many different bosses. The best leaders, in her opinion, were “insightful, considerate, visionary and hardworking.” Bravery and having the courage to be disruptive are also values that she thinks are important. “A woman who dared to take the challenge of being the first female director in our company is someone I really respect,” she says.

A role model

As the winner of an IESE Future Female Leaders Award 2024, Sakai sees herself as being “a role model for younger female generations” in Japan. “In an environment where there are few female leaders or few female managers, women may feel a little uncomfortable. I want to show them that you can do it. Hopefully, my achievements and the good that I do will encourage and empower some people,” she says.

An achievement from her professional career up until now was, while working for the HR department at the DBJ, managing to increase the number of female applicants for certain roles that had been traditionally carried out by men. “Establishing a good work-life balance can be difficult in Japanese companies; maybe that’s one reason why there are so few female leaders,” she explains.

Less successful was her attempt to introduce reforms so that more men occupied positions that were seen as jobs for women. But that was a useful learning experience about how to manage change.

Looking to the future

Sakai is driven by a desire to “do good things for society,” especially in renewable energy. She envisions a future where the widespread use of clean energy technologies, some yet to emerge, will help achieve net-zero emissions, allowing people to enjoy the benefits of energy without harming the environment.

Sakai’s journey is set to be one of breaking barriers and inspiring change in a traditionally male-dominated society. Her experiences at the DBJ, her commitment to the renewable energy sector and the leadership skills she hopes to perfect at IESE reflect a powerful ambition not only to rise as a leader but to pave the way for future generations of women in Japan.

As she works to challenge the status quo, she embodies a new wave of leadership that is insightful, courageous and inclusive. Her example underscores the importance of diversity in driving industrial and societal change.

Are you a young professional woman with big accomplishments and even bigger goals? Apply to the next IESE Future Female Leaders Award. IESE will select a small number of young professional women who embody IESE’s mission, are focused on developing their careers and on making a positive impact in the world. The next IESE Future Female Leaders Award will take place on Jan. 28-30, 2025, on IESE’s Barcelona campus, coinciding with the Women in Business Conference.

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Everything revolves around people. Camila Escalante. Success stories

IESE Standout — Fri, 26 Apr 2024 14:38:04 +0000

Recipient of the Forté Fellowship, for women exhibiting exemplary leadership, and an IESE Excellence Scholarship, for outstanding achievement, personal merit and strong fit with IESE’s values. IESE MBA 2025.

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The first woman in her family to pursue an MBA, Camila Escalante follows in her family’s entrepreneurial footsteps, aspiring to lead the sustainable growth and internationalization of her Peruvian family business.

Six years before she was born, Camila Escalante’s mother, Luciana D’Angelo, launched her own dairy business, Delice, in 1990. Today, the company has more than 150 employees and is Peru’s leading maker and exporter of cream cheese products.

Although she grew up with the family business, Escalante had a different career in mind for herself in corporate finance. “Delice was a small, artisanal company, managed in a very traditional way. I didn’t see myself going down that path,” she says.

After graduating with a degree in economics from the University of the Pacific in Lima, she began working at Ataria, a venture capital firm for early-stage startups in Peru. With a management team of just five people — two of which were women — Escalante got her first taste of the world of venture capital.

Triple tsunami

This continued until the pandemic hit in 2020. It was a period she describes as a “triple tsunami.”

Alongside the personal restrictions imposed by COVID-19 lockdowns, Escalante’s family business had to deal with operational and supply-chain difficulties. As if that weren’t enough, Peru went through a period of political and social turmoil, further complicating the collection and distribution of the fresh milk on which Delice’s entire business depended.

Given that her mother had always been her role model for hard work and resilience, Escalante was quick to lend a hand. She got involved in the purchasing side of things, managing the daily procurement of some 50,000 liters of fresh milk to supply their production line.

“That’s when I truly understood how all the different areas of a business relate to each other,” she says. “I had studied economics and was very good with numbers and finance, but until then I had never seen a business operate in real life.”

Today, she can proudly say that she has contributed to Delice’s transformation and growth. She adapted the recipes to be healthier (lower sodium, sugar and fat) and more sustainable (eliminating GMO ingredients). The new cream cheese recipe will reduce costs by an estimated 7%. In addition, she implemented a variable compensation scheme to boost employee motivation and give team members a greater sense of ownership and commitment.

It was this defining experience at Delice that made her decide to go and get an MBA to broaden her management skills and acquire a global perspective on business operations. She now sees her professional future linked to Delice in some way.

Credit: Roger Rovira

An unprecedented opportunity

In choosing between a U.S. or European business school, what eventually sold her on the latter was Europe’s cultural and national diversity. In terms of IESE specifically, “it helped that it has a significant community of Latin American students.” As such, Escalante sees promising opportunities for building a strong network across Latin America, helping to expand and consolidate Delice’s market presence in the region. IESE’s focus on people clinched her choice: “It’s something you can feel in the atmosphere,” she says.

Escalante feels fortunate and grateful to be a scholarship recipient of the IESE International Foundation. As the first woman in her family to pursue an MBA, she feels “immense joy and pride to represent both my country, Peru, and the aspirations of first-generation MBA students like me at IESE.”

She describes her experience on the Barcelona campus as an endless stream of stimulation, and she transfers her learnings to Delice through regular online meetings with the company back home.

She has wasted no time in getting involved in various student-run organizations — from the Women in Business Club to the Family Business Club (naturally) but also the Mental Health and Wellbeing Club, helping others thrive amid the stresses of life (the subject of her undergraduate thesis was the effect of the mother’s mental health on children’s emotional and cognitive development). She also finds time to visit supplier factories and attend trade fairs related to her sector.

Growth rooted in a social mission

Since 2020, Delice has tripled its sales, expanded its product lines, and added Colombia as another export market on top of its established presence in Chile. Delice’s commitment to sustainability involves advancing the use of eco-friendly and mono-material packaging that facilitates recycling, and establishing long-term business relationships with suppliers: “When we grow, they grow with us,” she says.

Escalante is determined to take the family business to another level: “In helping to make the company grow, I want us to consider how each step we take will affect others: the community, the workers, the consumers and other stakeholders. In the end, everything revolves around people.”

Contribute to the IESE Scholarship Fund and help forge a global pipeline of leaders who aspire to make a positive and long-lasting impact on the organizations and communities they serve.

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Supporting companies going green. Hiroshi Tomita. Success stories

IESE Standout — Wed, 10 Jan 2024 16:01:47 +0000

Hiroshi Tomita (IESE MBA ’95) is a Consulting Partner of Corporate Sustainability & Climate Change at Environmental Resources Management (ERM).

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We’re at an inflection point to achieve Net Zero emissions goals by 2050. How are we doing? Are there reasons to be optimistic or pessimistic? Both, says Hiroshi Tomita. On the one hand, “we’re seeing attacks, criticisms and negative movements against climate action,” he says. On the other hand, “I look back to when I started working on climate change issues and energy market reforms in the ’90s, and nobody ever thought those would become private sector led like they are now. And that makes me feel optimistic.”

As a bicultural executive, Tomita is used to holding two realities together at the same time. He grew up in Brazil, where his father’s job for a Japanese shipping company took them to live. “Actually the first language I started to speak was Portuguese, and I really only started to speak Japanese after we moved back to Japan. So a deep part of my character is this mixture of Brazil and Japan.”

This embedded in him a keen interest in Latin America. So, after Tomita graduated with a degree in international law from Waseda University in Tokyo in 1990, Latin America became the natural focus of the risk reports he wrote for his first employer, the Nomura Research Institute (NRI). At the time, Latin America was undergoing an economic transition, with Brazil (along with Russia, India and China) soon to form the BRIC grouping of up-and-coming markets.

It was in the midst of these transition years that Tomita decided to pursue an MBA at IESE. “Most people were going to the U.S. to study but, because of my Latin American focus, I was determined to go to Portugal or Spain.” He had to convince his employer though, as there was little precedent for a Japanese student going to a non-English-speaking country to do an MBA. Luckily, NRI supported his application and he was accepted at IESE. He was one of only five Japanese students, among very few students from Asia, although he recalls a diverse student body from Latin America and other countries in Europe, besides Spain, which enriched his learning experience and prepared him for the multicultural, globalized business world he was about to enter. “Here you can exchange ideas with people from many backgrounds while developing invaluable assets for the future,” he wrote in the school magazine.

An idea whose time had come

This exposure to diverse ideas, combined with “the diversity I have within myself,” served him well when he began working in Washington, D.C., for the Inter-American Development Bank, which provides financing for sustainable infrastructure development in Latin America. After that, he spent a decade working on climate financing, including carbon credits, for the Japan Bank for International Cooperation, Fortis Bank and BNP Paribas, again focusing on the two regions he knows best: Asia-Pacific and Latin America. Then, he spent another decade working for PwC Advisory, formulating market strategies for Japanese firms looking to invest in energy and infrastructure projects overseas.

“At first it was my Latin American experience that opened doors,” he says. But once the 1997 Kyoto Protocol (the world’s first emissions reduction treaty) came into effect in 2005, Japanese financial institutions shifted their focus to emission reduction projects and sustainability. And Brazil — being a BRIC economy, as well as the site of the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro (where the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change was first adopted) — became the natural place to invest. “And then the market really started to move.”

“It seemed like everything I had been doing related to energy technology or energy transformation had prepared me for this moment, and I jumped into it.”

It’s when Tomita looks at the sweep of history that he feels hopeful. “Seeing the private sector shifting to renewable energy and biofuels is when I’m most optimistic, together with the increasing adoption of environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria, which the business world wasn’t seriously trying to evaluate 10 years ago. I feel confident about what we can achieve in the long run.”

CREDIT: Jan Buus

Looking back to look forward

Regarding progress on ESG, a recent study by IESE professors Gaizka Ormazabal and Igor Kadach found that 38% of companies globally (60% in the EU) now tie executive pay to ESG goals. This is partly the result of growing alignment on the issue among institutional investors. In companies with ESG-linked compensation, there is evidence carbon emissions are going down (although there do not appear to be short-term financial gains from them doing so).

On this point, Tomita feels ESG is not a straightforward cost-benefit analysis but rather, in Japan at least, an imperative for energy security and to diversify over the long term, so as not to be reliant on one energy source. “Japan started moving in this direction 30 years ago,” he says. “Transforming energy is not something that happens from one day to the next.”

What would he say to a skeptical oil or gas company dragging its feet? “I would say your business needs to be diversified. Maybe not a 100% transformation overnight but you need to start doing something. You need to make an economic calculation for the future. And in making that calculation, you have to remember that renewable energy wasn’t profitable 15 years ago but look at what has happened and where we are today. These were not easy decisions 30 years ago, but we are now sitting in a place where, thanks to those hard decisions, we are seeing transformation.”

Tomita believes these are messages people are more receptive to now, post-pandemic and since the Russian invasion of Ukraine. People appreciate the benefits of diversification as they have experienced firsthand what happens when we put all our eggs in one basket: the risks are all too real.

What gets measured gets managed

Tomita credits diversification as one of the reasons Japan managed to get through the 2011 earthquake and tsunami that took out the Fukushima power plant. Another recent study by IESE professor Pietro Bonetti et al. found that, although the cost of capital went up for all Japanese firms after that environmental disaster, it went up less for firms that had made voluntary disclosures of their carbon emissions in prior years. Moreover, firms that subsequently changed their disclosure practices, doing more sustainability reporting, saw reductions in their cost of capital over time. This shows the importance of environmental reporting, especially in the event of an energy shock, for providing valuable information for investors.

“In Japan, there used to be a notion, especially if you were in a heavily polluting industry, that disclosing too much might have negative business effects. But as I tell my clients, it’s not reporting that has the negative effects. Even with a coal-fired plant, when they started disclosing what they were doing, that had a positive effect. I remember I once took a Brazilian delegation on a tour of a Japanese coal-fired plant and they were surprised there was no dust — it was as clean as a hospital. The people living just beside the coal-fired plant were hanging their laundry outside in the garden as there was no dust, not even in the surrounding area. Of course, the fact they have the coal-fired plant is still something they need to change. However, until you start measuring it and reporting on it with reliable metrics, then improvements or progress won’t be made.”

Best practices in disclosure and corporate decarbonization and climate change are part of what Tomita’s new employer, ERM, provides to business clients as a consultancy focused exclusively on sustainability. “Sustainability is our business in ERM. In this stage of my career, I really want to support companies in the greening of power and the introduction of renewables and new energies such as hydrogen and biofuels.”

Oil and gas companies, in particular, need a roadmap to transform themselves. “They need to understand the risks and the global frameworks that exist, such as carbon credits and carbon markets, to achieve Net Zero goals, which not everyone fully understands.”

One group who does seem to grasp that sustainability is the way ahead for business is the new generation of future business leaders coming through. “Young people have a big interest in sustainability and the idea of business as a force for good,” Tomita finds.

And there’s no standard profile, as Tomita’s own career path attests. With the rise of sustainability financing and big capital pouring into climate projects, a background in banking can be helpful, as could “someone who has been working in a coal-fired plant for 10 years — we need people who understand energy. People with a background in engineering. Or trade.”

In other words, we need diverse profiles able to tackle the climate challenge from multiple angles and “contribute to the development of this exciting new market we are experiencing.” And that’s a reason for optimism.

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Sarah Buckley, finding her voice, telling her story. Success stories

IESE Standout — Thu, 26 Oct 2023 07:22:09 +0000

Sarah Buckley is a winner of IESE’s inaugural Future Female Leaders Award 2023 and a recipient of an IESE Forté Fellowship, for women who demonstrate exemplary leadership.

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“Dream big, do right” is the motto of Mounds Park Academy in the U.S. state of Minnesota where Sarah Buckley went to high school. It could also sum up Buckley’s life philosophy. “As future leaders, we have the responsibility to explore how business can be a positive influence on the world,” says the current IESE MBA student (Class of 2025).

Before embarking on her MBA, Buckley got degrees in accounting and worked in financial planning and analysis, first for The Walt Disney Company and then for Netflix. “What attracted me to Netflix was the idea of being part of something creative. You see the power of storytelling and the impact that can have on someone, connecting with people of diverse backgrounds all around the world.”

She worked closely with the company’s creative executives, making decisions on whether to invest in new projects and managing all the financial implications and risks until the film appeared on-screen. It was, she says, “a beautiful blend of the numbers and the analytical with the creative side and the strategic lens.”

Out of the comfort zone

Initially based in Los Angeles, California, Buckley jumped at the chance to transfer to Netflix’s EMEA office in London as a way of broadening her horizons. There she witnessed firsthand the complexities involved when an expanding business goes global — from the need to adapt content to different cultures, to hiring local talent who understand the nuances of local markets. “It was interesting to see the mindset shift across the company as it grew.”

In 2022, the year she took up the EMEA assignment, Netflix reported its first subscriber decline in a decade, so managing budgets to produce the same top-quality content with fewer resources became the big challenge for her and her colleagues throughout the region. While cultural differences were inevitable, Buckley found the best strategy was to be completely straightforward and honest — “to communicate the goals and understand where local executives were coming from, so we could find the best solutions.”

This is the same approach she brings to the MBA classroom: “Being in a class filled with people from all over the world forces me to find new ways to communicate and connect with diverse groups of people, so we make better decisions together.”

Listening to and trying to understand a diversity of opinions, constantly challenging yourself to step outside your comfort zone, expanding the way you look at things and approaching problems from multiple angles are what Buckley thinks make a good leader, today more than ever.

Values-driven leadership

Leadership for Buckley is also a question of being true to your values. As she says, “The best leaders I’ve met haven’t been driven by extrinsic motivations of money, success or title, but have been those who led in a way that prioritized people, enabling them to achieve their full potential.”

The way leaders conduct themselves is fundamental, she adds: “Most important is having empathy for others, making sure we’re treating each other with kindness and respect.”

Buckley believes “some of the best ways we can drive positive change in the world are through business. How can we do business in a way that’s sustainable, ensuring every decision is aligned with the right core values?”

She’s passionate about empowering women to find their voices (“Women are sometimes made to feel they have to be extra qualified, competent and experienced just to be in the room”) as she advocates for equality in business.

The power of mentoring

Throughout her career, Buckley has been grateful for the feedback and encouragement of female mentors, who she says have had an extremely positive impact on her, both professionally and personally: “Seeing powerful, intelligent, capable women in leadership at Netflix has given me a model of the qualifications and competencies I need in order to deliver the same kind of value.”

Buckley appreciates the support IESE gives to female leaders, not just during the two years of the MBA but throughout their professional lives. For her, a mentor is someone who can “selflessly guide me in aligning the steps on my path with my future long-term goals, which can have more of an impact than any technical learning.”

Eventually, she would like to start her own business, becoming the kind of female entrepreneur driving social change that so inspired her on her own path. Like many of her generation, she wants to work toward solutions to climate change, particularly improving the health of the world’s oceans through a sustainable blue economy, something that struck her the first time she went scuba diving. “I felt an overwhelming sense of inspiration to take a more active role in the preservation of our oceans. Especially for those who never saw themselves as the loud one in the room, like me, I’d like to help others make their voices heard. Inspiring others as they have inspired me would make me forever grateful.”

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Elena Betés. From dreaming of a different culture to founding Rastreator. Success stories

IESE Standout — Mon, 06 Feb 2023 17:05:32 +0000

Elena Betés is CEO of Dide.org, Vice President of Education at Red Ventures, founder of Rastreator, and holder of an IESE MBA. She has two children.

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Elena Betés, founder of the insurance comparison platform and broker Rastreator, believes that, in her career, the “failures have been much more important than the successes.” “The reason for this is that I have learned a lot from them. Above all, I’ve learned how to endure,” she clarifies.

But something very important happened prior to those failures: she realized that the environment of a major international consulting firm like Arthur Andersen was not for her. She had experienced the glass ceilings and confirmed that was not her world. “I wanted to live in an environment where I was the one making the rules,” she recalls.

It was at that point that she decided to do an MBA at IESE, because she thought that was the best way to learn how to start a business or, at the very least, to clarify her ideas about what it meant to set up a business. Betés’ first company, PuntoSeguro, was created with funds from her friends, family, and classmates from her master’s degree. It was the first online insurance comparison platform and broker created in Spain.

“The business did not scale as quickly as we were expecting and, in addition, I linked it to another identical company that I started in Germany, backed by a European conglomerate, and it went bankrupt,” explains Betés. It was a moment that caused her to reflect and wonder “whether I really wanted to keep trying.”

Once she had decided, however, she changed her mentality. “I stopped being afraid of failing and started to feel as though I didn’t have anything left to lose.” The way in which other people were betting their money on the projects that she wanted to lead also began to fill her with confidence: the best part was just around the corner.

Founding Rastreator

And then came Rastreator, or rather, Betés founded it, at arguably the most difficult moment. It was 2008, and the international financial crisis was spreading everywhere like a giant tsunami. The British multinational Admiral partnered with her in a venture which, at the start, relied on two major milestones: strong growth in Spain and a technological center in New Delhi, which Betés herself created. Mapfre invested in Rastreator in less than a year.

“It really was the opportunity that we had been looking for,” confirms the director, “to develop a unique culture in which both employees and clients were treated as authentic individuals.” It wasn’t enough to offer excellent service, or to focus on the consumer. Betés wanted to go one step further.

Based on the success of Rastreator, Admiral entrusted her with the development of similar platforms in the United Kingdom and France, and committed to financing the international expansion of Rastreator, matching the investment that she was able to get from other investors. “I was able to get €20 million, and they contributed another €20 million,” she points out. Later on, in 2020, the platforms that the director had founded and developed were sold for €500 million.

But not all these ventures were victories. In 2015, Admiral joined forces with Mapfre to move into major markets such as China, Turkey, India and Mexico. “And in all of these markets,” recalls Betés, “we were only really successful in Mexico. China, for example, became one of the failures that I have learned the most from in my career.”

“Failures have been much more important than successes in my career, because I have learned a lot from them. Above all, I’ve learned how to endure.”

Elena Betés, CEO of Dide.org, Vice President of Education at Red Ventures, founder of Rastreator, and IESE MBA.

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Failure as fuel

Betés believes that failing has been one of her biggest “sources of inspiration.” And these ideas helped her convert her defeats into major drivers to continue moving forward:

1) Failures help me understand the future of the business. They are necessary.

2) Nothing starts or ends with a defeat. The game goes on until you concede.

3) Failures are the challenge life has given me. A challenge that I know I can and will overcome.

4) Defeats only weaken you when you don’t learn from them. Or when you believe you have nothing to learn.

This is real leadership. Real people, sharing valuable experiences and lessons learned from mistakes they’ve made.

A culture of people, for people

Betés recalls that, for her, it was not enough to launch a successful business, or to learn from her mistakes. She was just as passionate about creating a culture that respected “the authenticity of who you really are, promoting a flexible work-life balance, the conviction that obstacles are just challenges that can always be overcome, and the importance of attitude over aptitude.”

When the moment came to launch and expand Rastreator, she knew for sure: “I wanted a culture where we were all obsessed with excellence, and with being the best, but where we also knew why we were doing what we were doing, and everyone was doing it in their own way, not necessarily being uniform.” No one needed to be the same as anyone else, or dress like soldiers, or sleep in a dorm in order to feel like they were part of a winning organization that shared their dreams.

And these dreams came through in a shared culture that not only encouraged talent, but also a very concrete customer concept. And this is where Betés opted to put herself on the front line: “I decided to get stuck in, speaking directly with some of our users, offering them a telephone conversation with the CEO of Rastreator, during which I asked them to tell me what they expected from us and how we could help them more.”

But what about the leadership culture? What example did Betés want to set for her own staff, for the other directors, and for thousands of women beyond her company, whether they were directors or not?

In this sense, Betés has her priorities straight, “demonstrating that you can be both a good mother, although you sometimes miss some first teeth, and a groundbreaking leader of a multinational company that launches successful products onto the market at the same time.”

“The Elon Musk model of sleeping in the office is not only unnecessary in a world where you can work remotely and automate processes, it also isn’t sustainable for anyone,” she adds.

Betés spends her time seeking to find the best way to develop talent. As Vice President of Education at Red Ventures in the United States, she became ever more aware of “the need for diversity in companies,” in addition to the role women play in “making the difference, and creating new worlds and cultures in environments that were, until recently, exclusively male.” Due to her support of this cause, Betés won the International Women’s Entrepreneurial Challenge (IWEC) award in November 2022.

Recently, Betés became CEO of Dide.org, an edtech tool with the mission of becoming a global leader in educational inclusion. The tool detects a child’s strengths and weaknesses, allowing learning problems to be identified in a holistic way and facilitating actions that can be taken according to individual needs.

All these objectives and concerns are shared by IESE, which has developed a wide range of courses and activities through the Women Win platform to support women like Betés in their personal and professional development and aspirations to lead.

The post Elena Betés. From dreaming of a different culture to founding Rastreator. Success stories appeared first on IESE Standout.

Doctors in the MBA. Success stories.

IESE Standout — Wed, 18 Jan 2023 14:44:28 +0000

Sabina Zus, Tiwatayo Lasebikan and Ankit Chawla are channeling their passion for medicine into future management roles for healthier societies around the world.

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It’s the boast of many a proud parent: “My kid is a doctor.” Whether in India, Nigeria or Romania, becoming a doctor is a major achievement, representing years of hard work and regarded as not just a job but a noble vocation.

Among IESE’s MBA Class of 2024 are three doctors who have decided that part of their Hippocratic oath to serve others should include a management degree to expand their positive social impact. To help them on this path, they each received IESE scholarship funds, which are dedicated to supporting a mission-driven vision of leadership and preparing the leaders of tomorrow.

Ankit Chawla, a doctor in the Indian Air Force, is a specialist in sports medicine. Tiwatayo Lasebikan is the ninth in a long line of doctors in his family who also run three hospitals in Nigeria, two of them psychiatric hospitals, and he himself is a psychiatrist. Sabina Zus has worked in obstetrics and gynecology not only in her native Romania but also in Ireland.

None of them plans to abandon medicine. As Lasebikan points out, being a doctor is an all-consuming passion: “In fact, if you’re not consumed by it, you can’t give the best to your patients.” Indeed, they see the MBA as supporting their passion, enabling them to give back even more to the medical field after graduation.

Bridging the trust gap

Chawla admits he was inspired to become a doctor by his grandfather’s advice to pursue a career that wasn’t just about earning money. “But in my previous work,” he says, “I felt my impact was limited. In the army, I was sent to areas where I was the only doctor for 200 km. With all the will in the world, I couldn’t serve that many people. However, if I can push for a hospital to be installed there, I can be a real force for good.” In a healthcare management role, he feels he could accomplish more than in a one-to-one capacity.

Zus agrees: “As a doctor, you might see 20 to 30 patients in a day, but the choices a hospital manager makes affect everybody. During the COVID-19 pandemic, we realized how much we needed to change the way hospitals were run, including more digitization and keeping people out of the hospital if they didn’t really need to be there. We need to create new systems and come up with new solutions.”

All three doctors perceive a trust gap between management and doctors in most modern healthcare systems, as managers try to balance the books and doctors fundamentally distrust cost-cutting measures. Managers, in turn, often don’t have medical backgrounds; they may have a master’s degree in public health but no experience dealing directly with patients. When forced to step into a new role, these different pressures become glaring.

Lasebikan remembers times when he had wanted to prescribe particular brand-name medications, but upon seeing the accounts, he decided to evaluate which generic drugs were the most effective to still provide quality care while keeping costs down. Often, in their countries, there isn’t the same abundance as in Western hospitals, forcing medical professionals to be creative, which can also result in less waste.

The pandemic brought many of these tensions to the fore. While Zus worked in Ireland amid a relative abundance of PPE, her counterparts in Romania were wearing the same masks for hours or even days on end. That situation was clearly less than ideal for both doctors and patients, but Chawla tells the story from the opposite perspective. He was the COVID coordinator in his hospital and was trying to conserve and ration PPE. “There was so much mistrust because the doctors think you’re trying to cut corners, but from the management side, they simply don’t have the resources.”

Chawla believes this issue goes deeper than periodic crises about resources: “It leads to big barriers to innovation. I think that’s where the three of us come in.”

A prescription for purpose

Lasebikan is relishing the chance to learn the business side of medicine, thanks to the funding he received through IESE’s scholarship program. “There is no way I could have done this MBA otherwise.”

He plans to help build a better healthcare industry in Nigeria, with a particular interest in increasing access to mental health services. (The World Health Organization calculates there are fewer than two mental health workers for every 100,000 people in Africa.) He would also like to pursue innovation in areas such as pharma, biotech and medtech.

Thanks to her scholarship, “I’ll be able to choose a job based more on purpose than just going for the highest salary in order to pay back loans,” says Zus, who hopes to continue working in women’s health. “I’m a person who really needs my job to be a force for good. It’s hard for me to give up being a doctor – something I’m good at, something I’ve worked hard to achieve. And there are still so many ways we can improve care for women.”

Now, as the doctors dig into new subject areas like financial management and accounting, is there anything they miss? “I miss surgery,” says Zus. “I really loved it.” But thanks to MBA friends with a sense of humor, she can keep practicing, as they gifted their classmate with her very own game of Operation. “They said, ‘You’ll always be our doctor.’”

For his part, Chawla has also found the scholarship validating: “It convinced me that my idea to go into the management side was a good one. Somebody believing in your purpose – that is huge.”

For more information about IESE’s scholarship fund, or if you would like to help support more talents like those featured here, please go to Giving IESE.

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Karim Adaimi, giving back with generosity. Success stories

IESE Standout — Tue, 13 Sep 2022 14:54:37 +0000

Karim Adaimi admires the resilience of the Lebanese people. Here he explains how to face life’s challenges with action and positivity.

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On August 4, 2020, Karim Adaimi was excited to be embarking on a new adventure as he flew from his home in Lebanon to Barcelona to begin his MBA at IESE. He landed to dozens of messages waiting for him from concerned friends and family all over the world. While he had been airborne, ammonium nitrate stored in the Port of Beirut had detonated, causing one of the largest explosions in history, killing more than 200 people and leaving 300,000 homeless.

“Imagine your hometown, your special places, all gone,” he says. “Whole neighborhoods, beautiful parts of the city, three hospitals, were lost.”

He felt torn, having literally just arrived in Barcelona to commence a two-year program, yet immediately wanting to be home alongside his compatriots, helping to clean the streets and pick up the pieces after one of the most devastating days in his country’s history.

Two years later, Adaimi is a proud advocate for “the beautiful country of Lebanon,” so much so that in March 2022 he gave a TEDxIESEBarcelona talk titled “Beirut will rise again” on how “the strong and resilient people of Lebanon will work together to overcome the trauma of the port explosion.” Throughout his time at IESE, he took positive steps both to provide practical help and to introduce his fellow students to the unique character of his homeland.

Rising from the ashes

Things were not easy for Lebanon even before the 2020 explosion. The Lebanese pound had lost 95% of its value since 2019, and inflation surpassed that of Venezuela at one point. People lacked access to basic resources like healthcare and electricity, with power cuts a frequent occurrence. There was little faith in the government; indeed, it was years of government mismanagement that was blamed for allowing such a dangerous quantity of explosive chemicals to be stored at the port in the first place. The arrival of COVID-19 only exacerbated these economic and political hardships.

While not downplaying the problems, Adaimi sees much to be hopeful about in how society tries to overcome them. A born optimist, he has participated in the Scouts for most of his life, which has affirmed his belief in the small community unit banding together to get things done.

“Take the explosion,” he says. “The next day, there were 500,000 people out cleaning the streets. My mother, who works in a hospital, wasn’t working that day but rushed straight to work anyway. She was in such a hurry to help that she forgot to contact me to say she was okay! Most of those helping went as part of small groups: neighborhood associations, my Scouts group, the Red Cross, Caritas. You can start small and still make an impact.”

Regarding the power cuts, people are working on creative solutions. Typically, the government provides a certain number of hours of electricity a day and community generators make up the difference. However, as the number of government-provided hours has dwindled to fewer than six, the community generators can’t keep up. Imagine, fridges and air conditioners no longer working in the stifling heat, as well as the things you least expect. The Lebanese writer Charif Majdalani described his distress at “the impossibility of raising the electric blinds on the windows … like a symbol of the dark pit in which we are now all trapped.”

But necessity is the mother of invention. So, people got hold of batteries to store electricity from what was provided daily for sharing later, while others installed solar panels. “To be clear,” Adaimi says, “none of this is ideal, but it’s a start.”

Adaimi organized some community-level contributions of his own. Twice during the MBA, he spread the word among his classmates to donate their excess medicines, which were collected and sent to Lebanon in partnership with the charity Medonations. “I told everyone that even if they had just one tablet left in a box, it all helped.” Their second medicine drive was not quite as big as their first – but that was because they had less time to prepare. “We were in a hurry because we were all going to Lebanon!”

No place like home

There was never any official IESE trip to Lebanon planned. Instead, Adaimi had been hoping to take a few friends to his country but kept putting it off. “It wasn’t the right time,” he recalls, “but then I figured it would never be the right time and we should just go.”

Initially, seven people from his MBA team were interested. “I asked the other Lebanese students if they wanted to come and invite their friends, too. The next thing I knew, there were 80 people signed up!” Adaimi and four Lebanese classmates – Garine Arabian, Ali Moghnieh, Jessica Saade and Jennifer Zouein – got busy planning the trip.

Adaimi describes himself as someone who enjoys creating order out of chaos, but for this trip he had his work cut out for him. “Two days before we left, the government declared bankruptcy and said credit card payments would no longer be accepted. Cash only.”

Quickly, they organized cash and bank transfers for 80 people, as well as transportation and meals. “Obviously, just going to eat is logistics, not just because of the numbers but with the electricity cuts, you don’t want anyone getting food poisoning.”

But such travel adventures make the best stories, and the trip was a success. Adaimi was able to introduce his friends to the natural beauty and cultural heritage of the ancient Mediterranean land. He likes to think he was doing his bit for the economy as well. “Eighty people, from all over the world. We were even on the news.”

Making it, Beirut-style

In the face of all these challenges, what does Adaimi believe helps people stay resilient and strong? “Instead of dwelling in despair, you need to seek alternatives. Look for the quickest way to change things and find a way out of the immediate crisis.”

“Then, unite with others. Take charge of the changes you can manage. It might not transform the world, but it’s a start. Mobilize your circle and give back with generosity.”

“Finally, laughter is the best medicine. The Lebanese are known for their resilience, but I think it’s because we love to live. We never stop enjoying life. Even when your own life seems to be all deadlines and being busy, remember that working hard, though important, isn’t the whole answer. You also need to know how to enjoy the process.”

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What is the return on investment of an MBA or Executive Education Program?

IESE Standout — Tue, 19 Oct 2021 10:37:36 +0000

There’s no need for us to remind you that today’s environment is ever changing, volatile, complex… There are more than enough adjectives to describe how your career is not a straight path without obstacles. You also know that at this point in your career, you need to renew yourself, face new challenges, learn about trends or network and get training in an area you’re unfamiliar with.

However, you are asking yourself:

Why do I “have” to do it?
What will I get out of it?
Will I recover the time and money invested… which is by no means small?

For many people, the cost of higher education programs is a deterrent. If you’re wondering about ROI (Return on Investment), don’t miss the explanation on how to measure the ROI of a business school education program. But we’ll tell you in advance that this is not just about money.

The ROI of an MBA or executive education program: beyond the numbers

The return on investment of business school education programs cannot be measured solely in financial terms. The benefits are not exclusively limited to the professional sphere, but also encompass personal growth and development.

It goes without saying that knowing when you’ll recover the investment or how your position will improve are aspects you’ll have to consider, but they’re not the only ones. So, what are the other aspects?

Better professional qualifications

The content of an executive education program revolves around business case studies to improve decision making. This immersion in the real world of business significantly increases students’ professional training.

Improved employability

Doing an MBA or management program at a top school delivers a differential value that opens doors to employability and professional stability. MBA profiles are among the most sought-after by organizations, which is why their unemployment rate is very low.

Higher compensation

Financial compensation grows in parallel with the level of training. Professionals who have an MBA degree hold more senior roles in companies, which is why they earn a higher salary. Did you know that, according to some studies, this salary increase is around 30%?

Soft skills

Theoretical and practical knowledge are cornerstones of an MBA program, but the soft skills that are acquired—making you a better leader—are no less so. These skills train students to lead teams, make strategic decisions, drive organizational change and enhance commitment to achieving objectives.

High-value networking

Networking is another reason, particularly if you’re a recent graduate or job seeker. Over the course of the program, you’ll interact with people with different professional profiles and management positions, which may give rise to business opportunities or career moves.

Entrepreneurship training

If it’s your intention to start a business, an MBA will provide you with solid theoretical and practical knowledge that will help you succeed. What’s more, you’ll get to meet other people with whom you can share experiences and business ideas.

ROC: Return on Career

What you really need to measure is the ROC (Return on Career) when considering executive education. This the advice given by Jordi Utgés, Executive Director of National Executive Programs at IESE Business School.

The reason? Every step of your career should be geared towards adapting to change. In the current economic environment, the ability to reinvent yourself is absolutely essential.

After a few years, the financial investment will be forgotten, but the impact on your professional career will remain forever. The better your flexibility, training and ability to anticipate, the greater your chances of success are in the professional world.

The best thing to do is to take a broad view of things and assess how executive education will have an impact on your career in the long term. Think about it: in 10 or 12 years’ time, you’ll no longer remember the investment you made in your MBA, but you’ll definitely be aware of the benefits it has had and continues to have on your professional career.

In short: although you also need to assess it, the most important thing is not the ROI, but the ROC.

Studying for an MBA at IESE is a tool for achieving professional success and improving the skills that will help you achieve your life goals.

The IESE executive education programs offer this long-term perspective, a multidisciplinary education and content of the highest quality. It’s the best choice if you want to boost your professional career, and not only to earn a higher salary.

Read the article Why get an MBA today?

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Marta Durany. Being a new mom while doing an MBA. Success Stories

IESE Standout — Fri, 28 May 2021 13:55:31 +0000

Marta Durany became a mom just months before she started her MBA. Dealing with two huge life changes in a short period of time, while in a fast-paced environment, was both exciting and challenging.

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What led you to decide to pursue an MBA?

As I was starting my third year at Amazon, working in my third Amazon Fulfillment Center, having worked weekdays and weekends, on both day and night shifts, in three cities and two countries, I realized that I had already seen many of the things that happen on daily basis at huge plants. I had worked in different processes, led large teams, and spearheaded several projects. However, as an engineer and having previously worked in the big data consulting sector, I also realized that I had a knowledge gap. There were several subjects that I needed to learn — such as finance, marketing and entrepreneurship — to become a more well-rounded and effective manager.

What’s it like being a new mother in a full-time MBA program?

It is equally demanding and exciting. I am enjoying the challenge. Demanding because I have the same amount of class work as my peers, but less time to complete it. I also need to take more decisions every day. For example, if I go to a certain MBA event, how can I still ensure that I spend enough time with my son, Pepe? With whom will he stay if I get home an hour later? My personal responsibilities didn’t shrink because I became an MBA student; on the contrary, those responsibilities dramatically expanded just months before enrolling in the program with the birth of my son. Dealing with two huge life changes in a short period of time, while in a fast-paced environment, is challenging at the end of the day.

However, it is super exciting to be a mom and student at the same time. I am surrounded by exceptional teammates and peers who see the world from different perspectives. Additionally, being a mom has changed and complemented the way I perceive the world. My priorities, time allocation, interests, concerns, etc., all changed from the minute I knew I was pregnant. I suddenly saw the world in a different way. The diversity that I find myself surrounded by at the IESE MBA helps me to continuously challenge myself and be the best version of myself, both at home and in professional settings.

Any advice for parents (or soon-to-be parents) considering an MBA?

Know that this is not solely the dad’s or the mom’s MBA, this is the couple’s MBA. You both need to have it very clear from the start that this is a project for both parents regardless of who is enrolled in the MBA program.

I always say that when I graduate, my MBA diploma should have both my husband Marcos’ name as well as mine on it. I could not be successfully completing the MBA without his generous and endless support. From going to work early in the morning, to returning home early from work, to allowing me to spend a few more hours in the library, to taking care of most of the household chores, he has freed up time for me to spend on academics, class bonding and my job search, ensuring that I get the most out of the program. This is not about each of us giving 50%, instead it’s about both of us constantly giving 100% on whatever we have decided together that we need to do. It is also about giving a helping hand when you see that the other is tired, rather than tallying how many tasks each has done or failed to do. It’s about giving from both sides rather than asking.

For the parents out there that are thinking of doing an MBA, know that it won’t be easy. You will need military-like discipline, endure little sleep and have no time to relax during the first 12 months. At some point, tensions will rise, and when they do, it is important that you both have a very clear sense of why you are doing the MBA, and, above all, that you remember that you are an unbreakable team.

How do you stay social or connected with your classmates? Do you allocate specific time for that?

I’ll never be thankful enough for the amazing team I had during my first year. A2 has been one of the best IESE experiences. I knew from the very beginning that the social part of the MBA would be the one that I would miss the most, as academics and networking were fundamental priorities for me. At the same time, I had very clear that spending at least a few hours every day with Marcos and Pepe was a must. It was incredible how Alex, Andrés, Antonio, Diana, Kazuya, Lapa, Mayank and Maren were supportive from the first day and throughout the year. I tried not to miss any team get-together – this was my social priority. I also tried to go to section dinners. Other than those two, I didn’t prioritize other events. If there was an event that suited our family agenda and budget, we would go; if not, we would skip it. I have great memories of the Section A Japanese dinner, the Section A calçotada, a last-minute Section A Mexican dinner that I could join, and the Diwali party in which the entire Section A cheered on our classmates during the dance competition.

Any regrets? What would you do differently in your MBA journey as a mom or as a student?

If I could talk to myself a year ago, I would tell myself to stress less during first term. Going straight from maternity leave to my first day in the MBA program was a shock. I had the sensation that my brain was asleep. I remember breastfeeding Pepe during early mornings and late evenings while reading the first few cases and having to re-read them all over again later to truly understand them.

Being surrounded by such smart people with my brain still in maternity leave mode was a hit to my self-esteem. It was only after Christmas break when I had my first-term grades in one hand and the internship offer that I wanted in the other, that I realized I wasn’t doing that badly and maybe I should stop being so tough on myself.

What helped you to balance the life of a full-time student along with the recruiting process during lockdown?

Thankfully, I signed my internship offer before we went into the spring’s COVID-19 lockdown. Throughout it, my parents’ and Marcos’ support were key to me getting through the stress of the lockdown and the third term. Also, the fact that my son, Pepe, eats and sleeps very well helped.

Would you do it all over again?

Yes, I would. And I think that is the beauty of it. Marcos and I have grown and learned a lot as a couple, the experience has strengthened our marriage and we have seen our little baby become a little boy. All the while I have been able to learn every day from peers, professors, cases and projects; to enjoy lively conversations during lunch or dinners; and to play paddle games on Tuesday evenings with my new friends. It has indeed been the journey of a lifetime, equally demanding and exciting.

What made you choose IESE?

I chose IESE Business School for many reasons, but the main drivers were two quite personal ones: the first is legacy and tradition. I am the third generation in my family studying at IESE. My grandfather was part of one of the first IESE cohorts. Later, my father finished IESE when I was two years old. In fact, I have a picture of my dad studying during a late evening and my sisters and I wearing our pyjamas, playing by his side. The second driver is that as a local Barcelonian beginning the MBA with a four-month-old son, being in my hometown gave me greater comfort and access to family support.

IESE has developed a wide range of courses and activities through the Women Win platform to support women like Marta in their personal and professional development and aspirations to lead.

Tips on how to be parents during an MBA

The MBA is a project for both parents regardless of who is enrolled in the MBA.

You will need a military-like discipline.

When tensions rise, it is important that you both have a very clear sense of why you are doing the MBA.

You are an unbreakable team.

The post Marta Durany. Being a new mom while doing an MBA. Success Stories appeared first on IESE Standout.