How an EMBA can help accelerate your career

Among the many reasons that a person chooses to enroll in a Business School including: boosting knowledge and skills; building a strong professional network, and accelerating your career,all rank highly.However, pursuing a full-time MBA is typically a 12 month time consuming process and requires a person to leave work and lose their salary whilst studying. For this reason, an Executive MBA (EMBA)has emerged as a viable option to help gain the same quality of education, within 18 months part-time.

For those already considering an EMBA, it is important to note that you will already most likely be some years advanced in your professional career. Therefore, an EMBA enables you to study alongside like-minded professionals, and within this process gain knowledge, skills and capability amongst many different business contexts. Here are just some of the key reasons how an EMBA can help to accelerate your career.

Schedule – fitting-in with

your busy work schedule

An EMBA is typically scheduled during Weekends. Consequently, there are no probable clashes with your weekdays busy work schedule. Choosing to study via Online increases study flexibility through enabling you to access studies at work, home or whilst travelling. A flipped classroom approach where study materials are available before the course starts subsequently enables more debate, analysis and personal application during the classroom.

Faculty – learning from

state-of-the-art practitioners

Typically, Faculty teaching on an EMBA bring many years of work experience into the classroom. This has been attained working full-time in the Public or Private Sectors or through undertaking consulting.

Therefore, the real world of business is brought into the class and is looked at through the 'lenses' of models, frameworks and theory.

Applying what you learn immediately

Doing an EMBA enables you to apply what you learn in class immediately, on the very next day back at work. There is no need to wait until the Course is finished for you to do this. Consequently, this has the beneficial impact of bringing forward your career plans.

Transitioning to a generalist

An EMBA is a generalist management degree. It helps you to analyze business problems and come up with creative solutions from many different perspectives. For example, from: Accounting; Finance; HR; Marketing; Strategy and other perspectives. Students learn to take a holistic viewpoint within the context they are managing.

Managers to leaders

The ultimate goal of undertaking an EMBA is to help you to transition from being a manager to becoming an effective leader. This includes helping to build essential leadership competencies such as strategic thinking and business acumen which in turn helps you to cope with the ambiguity and complexity that managerial jobs frequently contain. EMBAs are also increasingly focusing upon the softer skills from listening more effectively, emotional intelligence to making a high quality sales pitch. All these things are crucially important for the leaders of tomorrow.

A Professional Network for Life

Doing an EMBA is an ideal way of building your professional network with your student peers and Alumni.

As is often commented: 'It is not what you know but who you know that counts'for career progression. The best EMBA Courses offer many opportunities for you to network whether inside or outside of the classroom.

It is often said that: 'Doing an EMBA is the best strategic investment decision that you will ever make.' Why don't you do one and find out for yourself?! The author is Dean EMBA and Professor Strategy at S P Jain School of Global Management. He has designed, directed and taught on EMBA Courses across several countries including the UK, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and latterly the UAE.

- The author is Dean, EMBA and Professor Strategy, S P Jain School of Global Management