How did the MBA help you, professionally and personally?
The MBA was a life and mind-set changing ex perience for me. I was already a confident person before, but the MBA helped me to connect the dots, doubt the given and challenge the status quo. Awareness on sustainability, on the necessity of business innovation and on benefits of change can only happen once in a lifetime and for me it happened during the MBA.
From a professional perspective, having a background in corporate finance in the banking sector, the Pforzheim MBA gave me the leverage to turn the switch to product management in the internet industry. The business acumen acquired during the MBA time allowed me to assess busi ness situations with ease, analyze trends and create business cases, while keeping an eye on industry developments. I do this on a daily basis at work and the MBA helped me expand my financial perspective on business to a more global overview. We do not live in a bubble.Everything is interconnected. The MBA made me understand that.

What is the most memorable experience from your MBA times?
The company project: I was a member of a team of four defining a new incentive scheme for the executives of a global corporation with its headquarters located near to Heidelberg with the purpose of increasing sales. The sleepless nights to research and fundament the scheme structure payed off in full on presentation day. Human Resources and the top management of the company were amazed by our solution and included it partially in their strategic planning, as they would later acknowledge. Words like “overwhelming” and “outstanding” used in the letter of recommendation addressed to “The Team” were our reward and recognition. This was achieved
because we worked as a team.

Are you still in touch with your classmates or other students from Pforzheim?
I made some great friends during the MBA. I also found a best friend, Liva. I worked with her in most of my projects and we encountered successes and failures together. Therefore, we ended up creating a very special bond. In addition, during the MBA I found really good friends in the teammates of the management simulation project. We call ourselves “Paramount Team”. We care about each other almost as if we were family, and that says it all.

What advice would you like to give to our current MBA students?
Do not save your time and effort for later. Work, work, work. Study, study, study. Do not count sleepless nights. Because if you decide to do a full time MBA after several years of work experience, you just want to make the most out of it. Moreover, do not spare professors. They care. Take advantage of the time they allocate to you. In addition, something very important: allow them to change you, while still doubting and challeng ing them. I know I did and that rewired my brain. It made it sharper.

Thank you very much, Adriana!