Andrea Gets Schooled

What a whirlwind – the last 11 months have been intense, and despite my best intentions, I wasn’t able to blog about the experience in real time (…it’s not the first time I’ve overcommitted myself).

With year one all wrapped up, we have a breather where I’m taking time to reflect and integrate much of the recent learning – so out-of-order posts about the first year in the EMBA program are on the way.

As the year was progressing, it was hard to appreciate how much I was learning – some days I wondered if I was any different. But in thinking about my skills as a leader, and my perspectives on my business and the world as a whole, I can clearly see the leap I’ve made compared to where I stood only one year ago. It’s actually hard for me to believe that I made it as far as I did without some of the fundamentals in business (I suppose naivety can indeed be bliss?).

We’re transitioning to the second year where we our cohort separates into two streams: the local one stays on the bi-weekly rhythm of Vancouver-based lectures, and the other group (which I’m in!) begins the Americas stream, where lectures take place at 4 sister schools across North and Latin America – more on this later.

The benefit of undergoing the rollercoaster of relentless readings, back-to-back deliverables, frustrating and inspiring professors, and overall having such an intense year is that “we jelled and became levelled-up bestest friends like 5 years faster than normal”, as my wise buddy Andrew would say.

My body is out of shape, my brain is tired, but my heart is so full.