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