From an early age, I wanted to start my own business. With a background in electronic engineering, my primary objective in studying for an MBA was to develop a deeper business awareness. I was keen to broaden my understanding, as well as my leadership capabilities, but I was also excited to explore the entrepreneurship modules, which promised to fuel my own startup ambitions.

Investing in further study might seem like a big ask, especially if you have a young family at home, but in my experience, it’s worth every penny. In 2006, I decided to take the plunge and pay for the programme myself. It’s the best investment I’ve ever made, enabling me to accelerate and diversify my career into other areas.

When I applied to study for an MBA in 2008, I was working for Dell, managing a vast factory project in Poland. My background is in Mechanical engineering, was put to good use as I varied my career from Process Engineering, Project management, Operations management before finally working in Health & Safety. I found the technical side of my career very rewarding.

Everyone wants an interesting job that is both challenging and satisfying. In my experience, achieving this sometimes means you have to change direction or pursue new opportunities, but with an MBA behind you, you’re not limited to one type of role or one business area. It’s a great way to progress your career and explore new avenues, or to discover where your interests lie.

Anyone looking at my CV will see that my career path has not been entirely straightforward. I originally started out as an Audio Engineer, yet today I’m a Market Analysis and Risk Manager. It’s quite a transformation – changing industries and roles – but it’s a switch I worked hard to pursue and one that I’m pleased to say has allowed me to fast-track my ambition.

With a background in physics, I’m a technical person by nature and my career was previously focused in this area. As a Director in a variety of specialist telecommunications companies, most of my time was spent resolving technical issues, but as my role expanded, I realized I needed a better understanding of how businesses operated. An MBA seemed like the perfect approach to expand my knowledge and I opted to study at UL.

It’s been over twenty years since I graduated from UL, however the skills I learnt during my MBA have been with me throughout, powering my career and giving me the confidence to make strategic choices along the way. In that time, I’ve changed companies, changed roles, and embraced new technologies, ultimately forging a path to a role as a Global Solutions Manager with a multi-national organisation. Of course, I still have my eye on new opportunities, but it’s been an exciting journey so far, with the MBA giving me the tools and insight to progress.

Tom Brennan and Patsy Carney were working at pharma company, IVAX, when they took the decision to study for an MBA. Both had considerable experience in the pharmaceutical industry, but with a broader, all-round knowledge, they were sure they could progress further in their respective careers. The two certainly achieved their goal, going on to establish a hugely successful business on the back of a plan they hatched during the entrepreneurship module in the UL MBA.

Being promoted to Managing Director and helping the business break into the UK market is all thanks to the learning I absorbed during the MBA. With the appearance of COVID-19, there have certainly been some challenges. Fortunately, I was well prepared as the MBA had honed my resilience and critical decision-making skills. The course taught me how to map out consequences before taking key decisions and how to weigh up risks effectively. With insight into the implications of my leadership, I felt equipped to tackle the turbulence caused by the pandemic.

The single most important thing I learned during my time studying for the MBA was to step back and take a bird’s eye view; to work on improving the business, not just firefighting problems; this has proved valuable even at the peak of the COVID pandemic. The MBA taught me to take the time to reflect on what has happened and how I might improve things. Since doing the MBA I always question, ‘how can we do better?’. Thanks to the critical-thinking and scenario planning skills developed, I am now actively forward planning and working out strategically where I want the company to be and how we are going to get there.

I had been working in Analog Devices for close to 10 years when I decided to pursue an MBA. Although I loved the work I was doing as a Wireless Architect which was a deep technical engineering role, I had a keen interesting in marketing, strategy and in leading a team. I wanted a seat at the strategy table and wanted to advance my career in that direction while keeping one foot in the technical realm. After speaking with my supervisor about these goals they suggested undertaking an MBA programme to gain the leadership skills and breadth of knowledge required for a senior role. Many leaders at Analog had completed an MBA before progressing into leadership roles, as the company is keen to facilitate educating and promoting technical staff to senior positions. This was the perfect opportunity to gain the skills that I required, and I knew that it would open all the right doors for me.

After six years as a stay at home mum with two kids, I was energised and ready to return to work. Unfortunately, I soon realised that in many instances, this would involve taking a pay cut compared to others who had not left the workforce – something I was not prepared to accept.

After moving to Stryker from Dell in 2011, I began to think about my professional future and realised I wanted to move up to senior leadership roles from my position as Senior Project Manager. I soon discovered that the skills and knowledge I had gained, both from professional experience and a Master’s from UL in Project Management, were too focused and technical for me to move into a senior business leadership role. I didn’t have the depth and breadth of business expertise that many of the senior managers possessed and I wasn’t confident enough to apply for the jobs I wanted.

As Head of Strategy for UL Hospitals, I have had to make some difficult decisions over the past year. My critical decision making skills have certainly been tested as the hospitals’ organization has been repeatedly restructured to match the changing demands that COVID places on healthcare. Yet the skills I learned during the MBA enabled me to adapt in real time; to be the strategic, agile, and resilient leader that UL Hospitals and my team needed.

The sudden death of my husband and being a mum to five young children brought challenges to our world and I decided to set up my own veterinary regulatory affairs consultancy to do my best to combine career with family life. Two years later I decided to study for an MBA at UL which opened a new chapter and gave me the all-round business knowledge for senior business roles. The MBA also provided a network of new, stimulating and diverse classmates and class discussions and groupwork opened up new perspectives and learning.