After spending 10 years working within the power manufacturing and Synthetic Intelligence of Issues (AIoT) industries throughout the Center East, Chinese language nationwide Litong Zhang felt it was time for a change.

Having efficiently managed and closed multimillion-dollar challenge pipelines whereas constructing robust enterprise relationships with multi-stakeholders, he had already acquired management abilities in various cultural and enterprise environments together with China, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates. Working intently with senior executives throughout industries additionally afforded him the chance to study totally different management kinds in aggressive dynamics and unsure eventualities.

Nonetheless, in 2021, Zhang – identified to his associates as Brad – determined it was time for a profession change and that the easiest way to determine on the following step in his journey can be to pursue an MBA. Unsurprisingly, as somebody whose profession highlights embody streamlining enterprise improvement technique and managing a big consumer base, he did his analysis.

He says, “I learn and watched lots about IMD and its MBA program and was very impressed with IMD’s imaginative and prescient and the immense influence IMD alumni have had. Every day it grew to become clearer to me that I wished to be part of IMD.”

IMD alumni additionally proved extraordinarily useful in his due diligence: “To know extra about this system, I linked with a number of MBA alumni and candidates. All of them generously responded and shared their transformative experiences authentically, which offered additional references for my resolution to use for IMD.”

Amongst all of the packages he researched, Zhang says the IMD MBA stood out as essentially the most enticing for its “energy in management improvement, very worldwide and tight-knit cohort, world-renowned college and its experiential and evolving nature,” which “make it the perfect MBA program for me.”

That stated, and regardless of realizing that, on the age of 33 and at a degree in his life when he was able to discover new life and profession prospects following the COVID-19 pandemic, he was “not absolutely financially ready” for the MBA program – one thing that made him “actually grateful” for the scholarship that noticed him graduate in December 2022.  

For this reason he believes scholarships for govt and persevering with training are so essential: “They’re essential for fostering inclusive engagements by supporting these with management potential and ambitions to have an effect however who in any other case wouldn’t be capable of undertake steady training and studying at the perfect time of their lives.” 

“The largest takeaway from the MBA was the onerous and mushy management abilities we developed at IMD that may allow us to remodel organizations and contribute to having constructive impacts.”

Profound affect

The MBA served to complement Zhang’s views on management. “We have now lived by means of a extreme international pandemic that disrupted companies and lives so profoundly, sophisticated by ongoing wars, geopolitical tensions, and local weather crises which might be posing vital challenges for a lot of,” he says. “Enterprise leaders play important roles in collectively addressing these challenges, not solely in navigating companies amid chaos and uncertainty, but additionally in taking duty as company residents to foster a extra sustainable and inclusive world. For me, the most important takeaway from the MBA was the onerous and mushy management abilities we developed to remodel organizations and contribute to constructive impacts.” 

Elaborating on this theme, he believes that the sheer magnitude of at the moment’s challenges requires “visionary and future-proof management” which, whereas it will not be basically totally different in model from conventional approaches, is underscored by “a transparent ethical compass that envisions and guides organizations to attain enterprise and societal targets in direction of a extra inclusive and sustainable future.”  

Which means leaders want to think about the entire enterprise ecosystem when enterprise initiatives and initiatives: “A core component is find out how to lead a company that may sustainably succeed not solely in enterprise metrics alongside the worth chain, but additionally in balancing the pursuits of varied stakeholders for constructive social influence. The management abilities we acquired at IMD ready us nicely to contribute to such a future.” 

Zhang additionally discovered nice motivation from his peer group at IMD away from the classroom. The standout second, he remembers, was crossing the end line of the Lausanne Marathon, regardless of by no means having beforehand run greater than a distance of 5 kilometers – an achievement that crammed him with enormous satisfaction and a way of accomplishment, and which he attributes to “the boldness and resilience constructed in the course of the MBA program and the nice help from my fellow colleagues in encouraging and serving to me practice.” 

Empowering sustainable enterprise development

A really intrepid traveler – he has backpacked 15 international locations on three continents – the MBA additionally made it clear to him that he wished to pursue a global profession during which he may lead sustainable enterprise development and, he says, empower the [culture of] variety and inclusion for which IMD stands. 

That epiphany, mixed together with his deeper understanding of worldwide enterprise challenges and alternatives, motivated him to return to Beijing in February 2023 to undertake a task as New Champions Lead for Asia Pacific on the World Financial Discussion board. Right here, he says, he leveraged his MBA learnings to foster multi-stakeholder engagements with a deal with bridging modern entrepreneurs and enterprise leaders who’re championing the way forward for the economic system, society, and the surroundings to a world stage. 

Regardless of the geographical constraints, it’s clearly essential to Zhang to remain in contact together with his IMD classmates. He says, “We share attention-grabbing experiences and memorable moments from our cohort in our WhatsApp group. Principally, I make Zoom calls and observe everybody’s Instagram to know their updates.” Along with different colleagues primarily based in China, he has additionally been delighted to obtain alumni associates visiting – and is “eagerly wanting ahead to receiving extra associates once they journey to China.”