Tag: #MIPexperience

An enlightening project work experience at TECNO

Posted on | by Veronica Rafaniello | Leave a Comment on An enlightening project work experience at TECNO

 

After finishing the MBA courses, the time arrived to put into practice all the newly acquired skills learnt during the lessons, by developing a real project for a company. Before enrolling in the International MBA at MIP, I specialized in the production of audiovisual online content for advertising. My strong passion for leadership and organization inspired me to expand my career path towards the business areas, so as to become a strong team leader. My aim was to find a project work experience where I could lead the development of a project where I would be accountable for the design, execution and results.

I chose to pursue the 3-month social media marketing consultancy project offered by TECNO, an Italian organization that promotes the development of electronic companies and is currently undergoing a digital transformation program. The challenge was to design and develop the social media marketing plan for the LUMI project, a fair and editorial project focusing on building automation, innovation and green energy resources https://lumiexpo.com/.

The advantage of working for a small organization is that you have the possibility of creating a project from scratch, in a small amount of time. I had already had some background working with social media content in my previous jobs. Nevertheless, the lessons from the marketing, strategy and project management courses at MIP gave me solid foundations for leading the project in a methodical manner, to complement my ability for content development and production.
Social media marketing has become a key element in digital communication for a business. The advantage of social media platforms is that they give a company presence within large networks and the opportunity of being found easily by customers around the world. It is also the fastest way of establishing direct contact with a potential customer quickly, effectively and seamlessly.

During my experience I was able to interact with the management, the journalists in charge of the editorial project, an SEO analyst, a copywriter and a team of consultants in charge of the digital transformation process. By holding continuous discussions with them, I envisaged a plan for increasing the number of acquired users of the LUMI4INNOVATION blog https://www.lumi4innovation.it/ while raising LUMI’s brand awareness in line with the brand’s values, revolving around the concepts of exploration and wisdom.

Three months is a very short time to develop LUMI brand awareness thoroughly from scratch on social media. Nevertheless, it’s enough for increasing website traffic and the number of followers on each social media platform, while identifying the main topics of interest for the audiences on each channel and for suggesting a workflow for digital communication in preparation for the LUMI EXPO in November 2019.  Achieving the goals of this project gave me the confidence and reassurance to pursue an opportunity in digital marketing for an international company after my graduation.

Stay tuned for my next and final chapter, when I will tell you how my life has changed during this past year…

 

About the author
 Roberto Niño Betancourt

Roberto is a student of the International full time MBA. He is a Colombian filmmaker and new media artist based in Milan.
He has collaborated as a post producer for MTV Latin America, as well as many European production companies. He is very passionate about international cross-cultural collaborations, craftsmanship and the sustainable conservation of natural resources.

 

 

A day at the Accenture Customer Innovation Network

Posted on | by Veronica Rafaniello | Leave a Comment on A day at the Accenture Customer Innovation Network

 

In addition to traditional lessons, the International Part-time MBA training program includes in-company classes held at the most advanced and innovative companies. Thanks to this format, we have the extraordinary opportunity to get in touch directly with managers and executives of leading multinational companies and learn from their experience.

On Friday the 17th of May, we attended an interesting in-company class at the Accenture Customer Innovation Network, an interactive environment where it is possible to imagine, explore, discover and develop the frontier of new digital services.

Luigi Solbiati, Accenture’s Managing Director, welcomed us students, and – together with Alessandro Cisco, Technology Strategy Managing Director – introduced us to the innovative concepts of the platform economy and market dynamics. The platform economy is a new business model that uses technology to connect people, organizations and resources in an interactive ecosystem, in which incredible amounts of value can be created and exchanged.

Subsequently, Alessio Oriolo, Management Consultant, explained the role of innovation in global business and the relationship between innovation and competition.
Finally, we were able to understand how companies use the famous new design thinking approach, agile methods and data analytics, to drive innovation in projects and value for customers.

After the preliminary presentations, we had the opportunity – taking both the consultant’s and the client’s point of view – to explore the spaces of the new innovation center, where the great challenges awaiting companies are solved, and where current business models and the consumer experience are reinvented.

In the Connected Home, we were free to interact with an environment that reproduces a typical day in the life of a consumer. The smart mirror recognizes facial traits and gathers a series of information on our state of health, so as to enable the virtual assistant to elaborate ad hoc personal care suggestions.
The fridge is equipped with a digital wall that reminds you of which products to buy and suggests meals depending on the food it contains, while the oven, through a screen, provides cooking suggestions.
All the functionalities of the house are linked together and managed by artificial intelligence, with the scope to provide personalized services and satisfy our needs in advance.

In the Smart Boutique, we understood how the shopping experience is personalized around the consumer, through the systematic collection of information. Data and information processing of consumer information takes the lead role in the purchasing experience, administered by Customer Relationship Management systems.

The Envision Room is dedicated to the automotive sector and to the personalization of the treatment reserved for the customer when visiting a vehicle manufacturer’s website or a physical dealer.

In the White Room, we immersed ourselves in an experience in the world of Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality and Mixed Reality. Some of us even had the chance to wear a headset and enjoy the experience of a virtual supermarket.
Finally, Alessandra Solazzi, Accenture’s Talent Acquisition Director, introduced us to the recruiting strategy, and the way in which Accenture connects talents to great innovation opportunities. If you think about it, this may also be a way for – why not? – being noticed by a potential employer. So my personal suggestion is to keep your resume constantly updated with the advanced tools offered by MIP and to be fully prepared for these events!

 

 

 

About the author
 Andrea De Donatis

I am Andrea De Donatis, a student of the international part-time MBA at MIP Politecnico di Milano. I Graduated in energy engineering and I am currently working in technical sales for a leading multinational electronics company based in Milan.
I am very passionate about technology, IT and digital marketing. I strongly believe that disruptive innovation is vital to create new value.

 

 

These MBA Grads Merged Their Contrasting Skills To Build A Company Together

Posted on | by Veronica Rafaniello | Leave a Comment on These MBA Grads Merged Their Contrasting Skills To Build A Company Together

Virginia and Barbara graduated from MIP Politecnico di Milano School of Management with not only an MBA, but a friendship and startup

 

As the saying goes, two heads are better than one.

For Italian-born lawyer, Virginia Soana and logistics manager, Barbara Manni, this phrase rings true.

The pair are MIP Politecnico di Milano School of Management (MIP) international part-time MBA graduates, and not only did they develop their skillset on their MBA, but they also built up a close friendship during the 20-month program.

Now, over a year later, Virginia and Barbara are developing their own social startup, Neogenes. Here’s how it all unfolded.

“I understood that I was missing something”

Virginia had around six years of experience in export, marketing, and international sales before starting her MBA at MIP, and she spent most of that time working abroad in Australia and the US.

Once she came back to Italy, she worked for luxury sports apparel manufacturer, Sigoa, leading a team of 10, managing global export opportunities, and designing annual strategic, marketing, and sales plans.

“I understood that I was missing something, because a lot of the activities and tasks related to business were something that I couldn’t manage,” says Virginia.

It was after this realization that she found MIP, but she knew that she didn’t want to leave the working field for a year to study—the part-time MBA seemed like the perfect solution.

As for Barbara, she had worked in logistics services for eight years and was beginning to seek better job prospects.

She was already familiar with MIP, having studied a management and engineering bachelor’s degree there in 2004, and wanted to stay in her city of Milan. Like Virginia, she was looking to expand her skillset.

“I had a lot of confidence in terms of organization and logistics, but there was something that was missing in terms of knowledge,” she says.

“[With the MBA], I could maintain my job, maintain my salary, and invest in my future as well.”

How an MBA led to a joint startup

General management lessons taught on the international part-time MBA at MIP are held on one weekend a month, during which students get the chance to network with companies while attending classes on their premises.

Both Virginia and Barbara value the soft skills they acquired during these sessions, particularly teamwork.

At the end of the program, each student puts their work into a final project.

Although Virginia and Barbara were split into different groups for their projects, they decided to also develop their own company, Neogenes.

Neogenes is a rental service company that periodically provides a customized kit of clothes for babies and toddlers, in line with their development.

The idea for the company came about casually last year, when Virginia was speaking to a pregnant friend who brought up how expensive clothes for babies are, considering how little time they last.

“Neogenes was initially just a game for us,” says Virginia. “But, when working on our final project, we followed the same path and applied the same rules to the organization.”

After some research, Virginia received an email from Innovits, a business development service in Italy, calling for ideas for social startups.

She told Barbara about the idea and together they put Neogenes forward for consideration.

Now, they’re ready to take their company to the next level, leaving their full-time jobs behind.

“To launch something as a startup requires a little bit of madness,” says Virginia.

“When you know exactly what you want to do, you can overcome all the anxiety and problems.”

Teamwork makes the dream work

The goal for Virginia and Barbara is to enter Milan and Lombardy in July, and then spread Neogenes across the whole of Italy by January 2020.

They aim to branch out into a second country by 2021 and become the ‘Amazon’ of rental baby products.

“Being an entrepreneur alone is very hard,” says Barbara. “It’s not impossible to do business alone, yet if you have the right partner, you can definitely make better choices and support one another.”

“We were lucky because we found each other during the MBA—it was definitely very important for me. Otherwise, I don’t think I could be an entrepreneur.”

As business partners, the pair bounce off each other, and they credit the MBA with the strong synergy they have built between them.

The program allowed them to test out working under pressure, which ultimately defined their relationship.

“We are two halves of the same apple,” says Virginia. “We have very opposite skills, not only in terms of knowledge but in terms of personality and attitude.”

“The strength of Neogenes is made by us, but not because we are ‘us’, but because we really can work together, merge what we know, and [each] acquire what we don’t know from the other.”

 

Originally published on

Study while working: tips and tricks from a part-time student

Posted on | by Veronica Rafaniello | Leave a Comment on Study while working: tips and tricks from a part-time student

 

 

In September 2018 I started the great adventure of doing an MBA as a part-time student while working. I understand now that I was not really aware of what type of challenge I was going to be taking on…
It is no secret that studying as a working professional is not easy but experiencing it, especially for a long period of time, is another story and I can tell you that it is tough. Anyway, this situation also has some advantages if you decide to approach it positively: you organize your time better, you can compare notes and apply what you are studying in your work and you leverage the time spent with your classmates as best you can.

Indeed, the first tip – something I have understood from day one – is not to procrastinate: do what you can do today! There are many notions that you must absorb during lessons and that can help you to develop your assignments correctly, so it is crucial to listen carefully, ask questions, take notes of the key points… in synthesis, you must make the most of the lesson hours. A very useful trick is to read or watch the mandatory documents and videos sent to us prior to lessons; I know that often it seems as if you do not have time for anything but work, but find a way of getting prepared for every meeting or piece of groupwork because it will make your life much easier. You will understand the issues better, ask the right questions, develop your work faster and at a higher level of quality. The same counts for the in-company lessons: if you want to be noticed, you must arrive prepared to say the “right things” and absorb the most important takeaways.

The other, and in my opinion, most valuable advantage of studying while working is the more concrete approach and learning that derives from it. I personally studied Political Science and ended up in the purchasing department of a fashion apparel company and I did not have much idea of economic and financial matters, or the chance of acquiring this knowledge. The courses to date have opened my mind to a new world and truly helped me to understand key connections and links in my everyday work. Now I know how to read a balance sheet and discern the real meaning of things among the lines. A great tip for me was to act right away, when the contents of the lessons were still fresh in my mind, to apply what I have learnt to my work.

There is also a human side in this situation: you have less time for everything and obviously this is reflected in the way you approach the other participants. It is curious that when your time shrinks you are naturally led to use it wisely, when the context is difficult you are more willing to hear the most important news in life vs talking about futilities, when you only see each other a few times (but share a lot!) you are involved in more engaging conversations. I am making some true friends and developing an international network of diverse and interesting people who I am sure would help me in the future.

 

About the author
 Pietro Cavallo

My name is Pietro and I grew up in Milan, where I am currently living. I work in Switzerland, in the Supply Chain division of a clothing multinational. I am the husband of an incredible wife and father of 2 crazy kids.

 

 

Gabriela Galati: a manager in the art world

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As I’m about to finish my MBA journey at MIP soon, I wanted to share an interview focused on the Italian cultural scene, where I would like to continue working after graduating. I would like to introduce Gabriela Galati, a very special friend and colleague who came to Italy from Argentina twelve years ago and is currently Director of the Milanese art gallery aA29 Project Room. We had the opportunity to discuss the role of the curator as a manager, the art market in Milan, as well as the impact of digital technologies on the commercialization of artworks.

What is the job of a curator?

The job of the curator varies, depending on where you work. In a contemporary art gallery, the director is usually the one who curates the shows. This means looking for artists for the gallery, as well as working with the artists who already collaborate with the gallery. Curating a solo show means accompanying the artist in the process, deciding which works will be featured and defining the central topic of the exhibition. For a group show, on the other hand, you pick the artists and the works that are most coherent with your idea. In smaller shows and commercial galleries, the independent or invited curator often acts more as an advisor or PR. Being a curator in a museum is very different, as you have to deal a bit more with bureaucracy. Exhibitions usually have bigger budgets and spaces and, in general, more research is involved. A curator in a museum is probably a scholar, who researches and works on a show for a year or even two, depending on the complexity of the exhibition. When you are bringing works from abroad you also deal with permits and shipping. You also write texts, curate catalogues and liaise with other institutions, as well as the press.

What does Milan mean to you?

Now it’s home for me. I really like living and working here and how things work. It’s a great place for managing a gallery and teaching as well. Even though it is a small city, a great share of the main cultural manifestations in Europe and around the world arrive here and it has evolved a lot in the last couple of years. There are many private institutions and patrons like Fondazione Prada and Hangar Bicocca bringing first class international art shows to Milan. However, the main complaint from the galleries since I’ve been here is the fact that there is no real Contemporary Art Museum in Milan. This means that there is no institutional commissioning for buying works of art from a museum, compared to other European capitals. Hopefully, this will change in the future.

Tell me about your work at aA29 Project Room and the role of this gallery in the Italian art scene?

This gallery is relatively new, having been open for only three years. Its role is to promote young and mid-career artists. This is a very good niche to avoid competing with large established galleries, to present young, emerging and experimental talents. Our roster of artists deals with different media and aesthetics. The central topic of their work is socially relevant issues like the environment, biocentric matters or antispecism, for example, according to which the gallery works. Most of our collectors are from the Italian market and some are quite young, actually. We also have medium-specific clients from the Americas who collect photography. Regarding our exhibitions, we are ending this summer season with an exhibition by the Italian artist, Matilde Sambo. In the fall we will have an exhibition by Kyle Thompson from the USA, in January Liu Yi from China and for spring 2020, Ivan Grubanov from Serbia.

What do you think has been the impact of social media and e-commerce on the art market?

Many small galleries that are struggling economically have decided to go virtual. I don’t think it is a bad model, depending on the price range for the commercialized artworks. Personally, I don´t look for artists on Instagram, but I have heard social media channels are becoming popular, especially for younger artists to promote and sell their work. For high price ranges, however, I don’t think it works, as you don’t buy expensive art online. In the visual art market, for example, what happened with music has never transpired. Platforms like Amazon and Yoox have tried selling art but for limited editions or low-priced works. Selling online has not even turned out well for Artsy, which showcases works of art from very important galleries. Nobody spends a million Euros to buy a work of art online unless they already know the work of an artist who is probably on the other side of the world. No-one who really knows how the contemporary art world works is going to put a tag with a price in the gallery or buy a piece of art with a price tag on Instagram. Most people need to see what they want to buy in real life, as they are making an important investment. Shopping for art in a physical space will still be a unique and relevant experience in the future.

Stay tuned for my next chapter, where I will tell you all about my Project Work experience.

 

About the author
 Roberto Niño Betancourt

Roberto is a student of the International full time MBA. He is a Colombian filmmaker and new media artist based in Milan.
He has collaborated as a post producer for MTV Latin America, as well as many European production companies. He is very passionate about international cross-cultural collaborations, craftsmanship and the sustainable conservation of natural resources.

 

 

Silicon Valley Experience

Posted on | by Veronica Rafaniello | Leave a Comment on Silicon Valley Experience

Technology entered my life the day I built my first AM radio together with my father, to look after my baby brother. That was just the beginning and from there on, my interest just grew exponentially. Vacuum tube music amplifiers, machines or any other devices to design, repair or program became my playground, leading to the point at which my passion was converted into discovering and learning new technologies, so into my profession. So you can easily imagine that the opportunity to go where it all started was something I would not let pass by.

I want to start by saying that going on either vacation or even business to the Bay Area will not be assimilated in any way with what The Silicon Valley Experience means. I have been to Silicon Valley repeatedly on business and for holidays, managed relationships with suppliers and customers in this area and even worked with teams in my company which were located in the Bay Area, but what this program provides is nothing comparable.

Let’s begin with the environment. The University of Santa Clara takes you on a journey which, if you have never studied previously in the States, you will find overwhelming. The campus creates the perfect ecosystem for setting your motivation at the highest level. But without any doubt, the best is to come.

As a customer, partner or supplier, I have often asked myself about the mechanisms that drive Silicon Valley. You can read articles, watch videos or spend a reasonable amount of time interacting with Bay Area firms and not figure it out. Here is a case where meeting a selective group of key players in this environment will change your perception forever.

First, you can get the inside story from major Venture Capital investors and hear what makes companies successful, how many who start with such a process carry it through, how each financing round will have its own challenges and will be crucial for achieving the overall goal and, even more importantly, what is the mindset at both ends of the table, entrepreneurs and investors.
Second, reviewing the financial and marketing strategies applied in this unique ecosystem is instructive. This inside information will come from key members of academia and industry, plus there are invaluable contributions such as that by Prof. Hersh Shefrin.

The last part of this journey was completed by visiting some of the most successful companies in Silicon Valley and sharing time with some of their renowned executives. At these visits, I realized another unique factor surrounding the valley, and this is how top executives will spend their valuable time discussing with a group of MBA students rather than focusing on other aspects of their lives ̶ giving back part of their success to society, transferring knowledge to others. During these sessions, they shared their life’s achievements and failures, the process that brought them to this point and the unique socioeconomic factors that allow Silicon Valley to be what it is.

So the message I learned during this journey is clear, as much as you might learn about finance, social economics and investment anywhere else, nothing would be comparable to an experience such as the one provided by the MIP Silicon Valley Experience. As already mentioned, it is extremely hard to find those things that will take you to a higher level, and without any doubt, this program is one of them.

I hope you have enjoyed this article. In the next one, I will focus on how my perception of the day-to-day in a public company changed drastically during my MBA program and will discuss how to increase your value and engagement using all the tools provided during the MBA journey.

 

About the author
 Pedro López Estepa
I am Pedro López Estepa, an International Part-Time MBA student at MIP Politecnico di Milano. I received a Master in Telecommunication Engineering from Granada University in 2010, spending the last year, including the Master Thesis, at the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne.

My career has been focused on high-tech corporations, initially as part of their R&D departments and during the last few years, the focus has been on developing long-term strategic partnerships in different sectors, including IoT, Automotive, Robotics and Medical.

Being part of u-blox strategy team allows me to working with international cross-functional teams inside and outside the organization, key partners, investors and at the same time that contributing to worldwide projects as business opportunities arise.

 

 

Smart parking as an efficient customer value proposition for smart drivers

Posted on | by Veronica Rafaniello | Leave a Comment on Smart parking as an efficient customer value proposition for smart drivers

Time goes by so fast! I can’t believe it was 2 years ago when I decided to start this distance learning program at MIP Politecnico di Milano, and today we are nearing the end. Behind the difficulties and challenges faced when working and studying simultaneously, needless to say, I will miss this great experience when it’s over. As Henry Ford said in one of his statements, “Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. The greatest thing in life is to keep the mind young.”

Now it’s time to connect the dots. The ultimate goal of this study program is to inspire and empower students to think big, even when facing minor customer needs. The final project work is organized as teamwork, requiring us to prepare a genuine business plan for a new business concept or start-up. We were asked to create individual project ideas to be presented at a sales pitch event, in front of all our classmates, with the scope to “sell” the most attractive ideas and thereafter to form working groups, based on individual preferences and backgrounds suitable for each project proposal. I was in doubt as to whether to choose a topic in banking and finance, which is my area of expertise or to get out of my comfort zone. I decided on the second option. I had this opportunity to enlarge my knowledge about the ‘smart city’. Despite being a buzzword, the topic has attracted me a lot recently, because of the wide variety of new opportunities it represents for individuals and businesses.

Increasingly, cities are acting on smart digital information and communication technologies to meet many urban challenges such as the environment, good governance, mobility, prosperity and growing population, by several means of collaborating, innovating, saving, integrating, participating and simplifying. Within this huge field of study, I chose to focus my project work on the smart parking platform, part of the city’s smart mobility. Two other classmates volunteered to join the project and together we are still working on the technicalities to define the most appropriate customer value proposition.

Fast emerging technologies such as GPS, IoT, cloud software, wireless sensor networks, radio frequency identification and digital cameras, combined with the wide use of Smartphones, allow for the development of easy wayfinding applications by generating real-time data on the occupancy of parking places. This data can be used by drivers through a mobile application to easily navigate to the nearest available space. On the other hand, this information might be used by the municipality to further optimize the city’s traffic and parking pricing policies. Designing the right value proposition and generating a new business model that fits with the ecosystem are key success factors for entrepreneurs around the world.
When studying the industry and existing technologies, we came across plenty of innovative projects, systems and applications developed to address this topic, but unfortunately, it seems that most of them have not yet been successfully implemented. It seems that very few drivers can really benefit from smart parking around the world. The reason behind this is the fact that each city is different and develops its own smart city vision to meet specific needs and challenges. San Francisco (SFpark) and Los Angeles (LA Express Park) are reported as being two of the most famous successful stories (Lin, Rivano, Le Mouël 2017).

To make a concrete business proposal, we are studying the city of Tirana, the capital of Albania. Although the reported number of vehicles per inhabitant is the lowest in the region, Tirana has the highest population density per square kilometre or five times the average of the country. As there are no or few direct profits linked to the service of smart parking in available parking spaces, our main focus is to reduce capital investments in the choice of smart parking technologies. The main objective of this project work will be to improve and facilitate the driver’s experience when parking in public spaces by using information gathered by users, with the scope to reduce investment cost. Among other technologies, we are assessing some emerging parking information dissemination systems, such as crowdsensing, peer-to-peer communication, multi-agent systems, parking meter networks, etc.

The new term ‘crowdsensing’ has emerged to present those smart parking applications, which are using crowdsourcing as a tool to gather parking information from Smartphone users. The accuracy of the information will rely on the drivers’ participation. Further, some algorithms like fuzzy logic and time series might be used to predict parking occupancy information based on historical or sample data, to improve the accuracy of information provided to participating users. The capital investment, in this case, is very minimal as there is no need for hardware installations or maintenance. But the challenge is how to motivate drivers and persuade them to participate, to update occupancy details of parking spaces every time they park their vehicle, by designing and proposing the most valuable and efficient value proposition to the city’s smart drivers.

 

About the author
 Elivar Golemi

Elivar Golemi is an Albanian candidate at MIP International Flex EMBA. She is working as an Executive Director in the dairy industry, after a long experience in the banking system. Skilled in Financial Analyses, Risk Management and Internal Audit. Nature lover, passionate photographer and mountain climber.

 

 

What makes us different? The importance of working on our Soft Skills

Posted on | by Veronica Rafaniello | Leave a Comment on What makes us different? The importance of working on our Soft Skills

Around a couple of years ago, on several occasions, I found myself having to justify to friends, family and co-workers the reasons that were leading me to soon start my International Part-Time MBA at MIP. I believe this is something MBA students often face prior to, during and after completing their course. Why are you spending this amount of time, effort and money on an MBA program?

To be honest, at that time the answer was quite simple ̶ I wanted to increase my knowledge and complement my curriculum. As an engineer who had been working in the same industry since the beginning of my career, I felt that I could benefit from gaining certain competencies in fields such as finance, marketing and business law. What I would find out during my MBA journey was that those reasons, even if important, were not the main value that I would acquire during my time at MIP. In this set of articles, I will reveal the way that I would answer that question today, “Which are the greatest tools with which the International Part-Time MBA at MIP provided me for my personal and professional life?”

Learning theory is important, but most likely it will not make you any different from your peers. With this statement, I do not intend to underrate the importance of the main theoretical courses, but in today’s highly competitive ecosystem of work, it has become more important than ever to explore those skills that will take you to a level above pure theoretical knowledge.

Let’s start from the beginning! Since most of the students work full time, the journey of the International Part-Time MBA is a tricky path on which the amount of time that one can dedicate to a certain task varies over the course of the two years that the program lasts. So in a certain way, it is “easy” to fall into an automaton mode. As unpopular as it might sound, it is a defence mechanism to continue with work and lessons in parallel during certain periods of the program. This is unless you cross paths with Prof. Passerini.

It took me one minute to understand that the course that I would receive over the following two days would be everything except orthodox. I was arriving directly from a business trip to China, so I must admit that I had not reviewed Prof. Passerini’s profile in detail prior to the “Soft Skills” course. During the first break, most of the class members were on their computers reviewing his outstanding curriculum, which will tell you the impact that he had on the audience.

Prof. Passerini is, in my personal view, all that you could wish an MBA professor to be; first, he has an extensive and successful career record, holding several executive roles in firms such as P&G, including CIO and President of the company’s Global Business Services division. Second and even more important, is his great sense of communication and the care he takes over the different topics which are handled during his course. No questions are avoided, deviations are taken as opportunities to explore new learning scenarios and make an audience eager to go further down the learning path.

When an executive with his record explains to you concepts such as Leadership, Contextual Intelligence, Listening and Communication Skills, you know that this is not contained in any book. All this knowledge comes from a lifetime of experience and the willingness to share it and communicate it with others. Coming back to my initial statement, theory can be learned but the skills that you can acquire on a course like this will be what will make you different.

In a personal dimension, Prof. Passerini has coached me for several public speeches that I have faced over recent months. He provided me with feedback in great detail that positively impacted my performance, which, knowing his position, makes me feel extremely lucky and grateful. These are tools that I will need to exercise and which will help me differentiate myself from others. Without my MBA at MIP, this would not have been possible.

The MBA program includes a deep learning phase but I am convinced that it is the experiences such as the one provided by Prof. Passerini, which are those that will impact your professional and personal future in the greatest way.

Following this path of reasoning, my next article will be focused on how the MIP Silicon Valley Experience provided me with a set of insights that will be extremely helpful in my professional future. This is another topic that you will not learn in any book! Hope you enjoy it!

 

About the author
 Pedro López Estepa

I am Pedro López Estepa, an International Part-Time MBA student at MIP Politecnico di Milano. I received a Master in Telecommunication Engineering from Granada University in 2010, spending the last year, including the Master Thesis, at the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne.

My career has been focused on high-tech corporations, initially as part of their R&D departments and during the last few years, the focus has been on developing long-term strategic partnerships in different sectors, including IoT, Automotive, Robotics and Medical.

Being part of u-blox strategy team allows me to working with international cross-functional teams inside and outside the organization, key partners, investors and at the same time that contributing to worldwide projects as business opportunities arise.

 

 

How studying an MBA abroad can change your career

Posted on | by Veronica Rafaniello | Leave a Comment on How studying an MBA abroad can change your career

Ernesto Ibarra moved thousands of miles, from Mexico to Milan, to pursue an MBA and he hasn’t looked back since

From international trade to business development, Ernesto Ibarra’s career was thriving in his Northern Mexican hometown of Monterrey.
He worked in Mexico for almost four years, doing market data analysis for brands and promoting his region’s manufacturing industry. His earnings were good. With a business and marketing degree under his belt, he was focused on his country’s development and comfortable with his career growth.
However, he soon realized that he wanted more.
In 2009, after turning down an offer to study an MBA in France, he began a 6,000-mile journey across the Atlantic to Italy and MIP Politecnico di Milano School of Management (MIP), the same year it joined the rankings of the Financial Times’ best European Business Schools. It’s now ranked 42nd in Europe.
Ernesto says his MBA experience helped him develop into a global business leader.

Settling into a new lifestyle

The most challenging part of Ernesto’s MBA journey was being so far from his family.
While his peers were able to easily catch a train to Rome or Naples for the Christmas holiday, Ernesto initially found it difficult detaching himself from his life in Mexico—there simply wasn’t a budget available for him to travel back and forth.
However, he recounts how attentive MIP Politecnico di Milano School of Management was to the international students struggling to settle in, both socially and professionally.
“They know very well, from their experience, what people have more trouble in,” he says. “They really build a very safe and comfortable path for new students to cope.
“They [also] know the landscape in terms of business, companies and connections, to be able to give project work opportunities to the students in the different areas of expertise, or new areas students were trying to move into.”
During the MIP MBA, students are given the chance to work on a full-time project for three months inside one of the official partner companies of the school. Companies include Amazon, Gucci, Ernst & Young, Microsoft, Ferrero Group, and Vodafone.
Ernesto worked as a business consultant at IT firm EnginSoft on a project that used prediction model software to forecast financial KPIs.
He says he developed soft skills during this experience—networking, interaction, and learning about working cultures—which have helped him in his career since graduating.
“In Mexico, most of the business is done between Mexico and the US,” he explains. “It’s a very different way of doing business, so I think this international exposure helped me a lot to interact and work together with people from all over South America, Asia and Europe.”
International students can also attend courses abroad due to MIP’s International Exchange Program. Partner schools include EMLYON Business School in France, MIT Sloan in Boston, USA, IPADE Business School in Mexico, and Beijing University School of Economics and Management in China.

“I wanted to do something that was more drastic”

Ernesto started his MBA during the financial crisis. Finding a post-MBA job was tricky. After his MBA, Ernesto took a bold step, relocating to a city he knew absolutely nothing about: Bangalore, India.
“I wanted to do something that was more drastic,” he recalls. “In that moment, I was very hungry to know more about other places—that was the main motivation.”
Although Ernesto says he now loves India, his year as a marketing and economics lecturer working in Bangalore was the most difficult part of his career journey so far. He recalls having a hard time blending into Indian culture for the first six months, but his experiences at MIP Politecnico di Milano School of Management stood him in good stead.
He says his initial move from Mexico to MIP prepared him for working abroad, not only by allowing him to open his mind to professional possibilities he hadn’t previously thought of, but also by teaching him to make assured decisions and remove areas of uncertainty from his life.
“Moving abroad is a huge bet in many ways, especially financially,” he says. “This experience helped me over the years to be more exhaustive in foreseeing anything that can go differently as planned, to have a Plan B and to respond to changes.”
After India, Ernesto moved back to Italy, this time to Rome to work in the mobile entertainment industry. He was then promoted and transferred to Madrid for a few years, before leaving and finally settling in Madrid in 2018 to help launch an influencer marketing agency.
Over the 10 years Ernesto has been away from Monterrey, the main lesson he has taken away is to always have a good understanding of your objectives when studying abroad.
“When you’re best prepared for the outcome, you’re going to have fewer surprises,” he says.

Originally published on

Three inspiring films that reflect my MBA journey

Posted on | by Veronica Rafaniello | Leave a Comment on Three inspiring films that reflect my MBA journey

It is time for my listicle article. As I’m a filmmaker, I am going to share with you 3 films that expose different views of the world: just like in the International MBA program at MIP, and also related to some of the courses I have experienced throughout the year. These movies are probably not the best known, but their stories contain valuable business lessons that could come in useful for developing our professional careers.

Margin Call (2011) – Directed by J.C. Chandor – USA
Understanding the implications that led to the 2008 financial crisis can be complex. I discovered this film prior to starting my MBA journey, thanks to my father’s recommendation. The story is set in New York City in 2008. The fictional head of a Wall Street investment bank, John Tuld, is told that the firm is drowning in toxic mortgage-backed securities. Tuld orders his traders to rid the firm’s balance sheet of the junk by dumping it on unsuspecting counterparties and customers in less than 24 hours. Even though he knows his decision will have a negative impact on how his bank will be perceived, he chooses this path to defend his interests and avoid major damage on the firm. Most of the film is about discussing solutions for preventing major damage during an imminent economic crisis at a global scale, due to negligence on behalf of the bank employees at some point in time. Now that the chaos is unfolding, extreme measures are meticulously taken, for the bomb to produce fewer casualties when it explodes. This is a masterclass in human behavior for detecting and preventing risks before it is too late, that is in line with the valuable lessons from the Organizational Behavior and Leadership course.

Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989) – Directed by Hayao Miyazaki – Japan
This one is for all the family. The mastermind of Japanese anime films takes us to the magical universe of Kiki, a 13-year-old apprentice witch who starts her own business. This film highlights the innovation of flying as a means of improving a service, as well as the creation of a lean-startup venture. Even though Kiki has magical powers, she struggles to find her true calling to be useful to society and differentiate herself from other witches. Her willingness to help others is her secret weapon and she eventually discovers she can cause disruption, by creating a swift delivery service for a bakery, cruising on her broomstick across the skies. Business seems to be going great until Kiki’s magical powers start to fade and she is unable to fly. She will be forced to find the way to restore her powers using her wit and social charm, to save her witch status and her delivery business. During the process, Kiki learns how to price her services and be patient and resourceful when weather conditions disturb her operations. The film is also a metaphor for the continuous transformation of the world as technologies evolve and how we should be prepared to adapt to these changes.

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind (2019) – Directed by Chiwetel Ejiofor – UK/Malawi
This is a Netflix hit, closely related to the Innovation and Sustainability courses. It is based on the true story of William Kamkwamba, a curious teenager from Malawi who is expelled from school because his parents cannot afford to pay the tuition fees. He is forced to work with his father in the fields preparing the crops but a storm floods the country, causing a drought and social unrest. William is fascinated by science and sneaks into his school’s library to read books and try to come up with a solution to end the famine. By using old batteries and materials from the junkyard, he tests his ideas for producing electricity by building a windmill. When he finally completes a working prototype, the adults in his village help him build the first windmill to generate electricity and pump water from the ground. The main take from this film: a lack of economic resources is no excuse for not creating solutions that could positively impact a whole nation or even the world. Creative reasoning and perseverance are the keys for success and sustainable energy resources should be our primal concern for securing the future of our planet.

Stay tuned for my next chapter, where I will interview a manager in the art world.

 

About the author
 Roberto Niño Betancourt

Roberto is a student of the International full time MBA. He is a Colombian filmmaker and new media artist based in Milan.
He has collaborated as a post producer for MTV Latin America, as well as many European production companies. He is very passionate about international cross-cultural collaborations, craftsmanship and the sustainable conservation of natural resources.