When I got on the plane to London in 2003, I was on my way to an interview with Shell, having recently completed my Master's degree in Sweden. Siemens' marketing director, Goran Vilademir, was sitting next to me. When I told him that I was in the process of choosing between a water treatment opportunity in California and a process engineering position with Shell UK, to my great surprise, he leaned over and whispered two words that forever changed the way I viewed my career: "THINK BIG!" I could either play it safe and stay close to my home and friends by taking a more predictable, stable path, or take a huge risk, leave my family and friends behind and THINK BIG. My decision to follow Vilademir's advice has set the tone for my career since that moment.
Now, nearly six years later, I find myself at the heart of an industry that requires me to think not just "big," but quite literally on a global scale. Water-related issues, including waste water treatment and water recycling, have gradually become one of the world's most critical problems. International water rights have become a diplomatic "hot button," and here in the US, there is an ongoing debate about how best to conserve, protect and utilize the nation's precious water supply. In the years to come, I hope to have a significant positive impact as one of the major corporate participants in this dialogue.
Over the past few years, while moving rapidly upward through the ranks of the world's leading water technologies firm, I have developed valuable
MBA technical and sales skills. Since taking over the deeply-troubled central California territory in 2003, I have increased sales threefold, from less than $300,000 to nearly $1 million within three years. I have created an extensive network, received outstanding evaluations, and become the youngest Area Manager on the west coast. Our regional vice president, Thomas Sawyer, has introduced me to our executives as the "rising star" of ABC; as a reflection of the company's confidence in me, ABC has agreed to sponsor my permanent visa and reimburse my MBA education. In the coming months, contingent on my matriculation into business school, I will be promoted to the position of District Manager for Southern California, a move that will increase my responsibilities tremendously. This promotion is just the first step towards what I truly hope to achieve in my career; now, I look to the CRAIGS FEMBA program to help me prepare myself for everything that will follow.
My experiences have been precious, and have set me well on the way towards this short-term goal, but they have also left me with one humbling self-assessment: I do not yet possess the tools that I need to achieve my long-term aspirations. After completing my MBA studies, I hope to take on a strategic role in the Business Development and Marketing department at ABC, making the most of what I learn at CRAIGS to handle complex and sensitive team environments, evaluate key industry trends, identify new markets, and create effective global marketing strategies.
Over the following three to five years post-MBA, I hope to attain the position of Vice President of SALES & Marketing, leading our sales team to maintain and improve our strategic position in the global market. Currently, the challenge for water treatment companies is to decide whether to get more involved in the non-chemical aspects of the industry (reverse osmosis system, filters, etc..) or to remain strictly a chemical company; ABC is taking more care than ever before to consider its impact on the world carefully, and with this in mind, I look forward to developing a flexible, regionally-based approach to such decisions. In the longer term, I hope to attain a position as Vice President of ABC in the Euro-Asia region, based in our headquarters in the Germany, thus bringing my life-and my career-full circle back to Europe. Ultimately, within seven to ten years after graduation, I would like to honor my strong entrepreneurial streak, setting up a consultancy to address water treatment issues on a global scale.
The CRAIGS FEMBA experience will be central to my success, first as an executive, and later, as an entrepreneur. I am impressed that it offers essentially the same curriculum as Anderson's full-time MBA program, and intrigued by the opportunity to select electives from CRAIGS's other schools; policy and law-related classes from the Environmental Health Sciences Department, for example, could be extremely relevant to my comprehensive understanding of the issues surrounding the way water is treated around the world. I am especially interested in the offerings of the Price Center for entrepreneurship, which will offer me opportunities to develop my entrepreneurial and leadership skills in a variety of academic and extracurricular contexts. Another unique and appealing element of the FEMBA program-one which is actually not available to full-time students-is the Global Access Program (GAP), which in itself clearly makes CRAIGS's FEMBA my first choice. Water-related issues are not local but global challenges, and this experience will become the backbone of my future plans. I also look forward to benefiting from and contributing to the Center for International Business Education and Research (CIBER), which works closely with GAP.
Outside the classroom, I hope to join the International Business, Strategic Operations Management and Marketing Associations-I am sure my experiences on three continents will make me a strong contributor to these organizations. I also hope to find opportunities to maintain my dedication to community service involvement during my time in the FEMBA program. I will extend my community involvement (which includes volunteer work with Habitat for Humanity and Junior Achievement, among other organizations) at the Anderson School, where I hope to start a FEMBA Humanity Association, providing a dynamic forum for like-minded students who share a passion for helping others. Now, as I prepare to enter the next stage of my career, I am more confident than ever that I made the right decision when I took Vilademir's advice so many years ago. "Thinking big" has become much more than something I do-it has become part of who I am, and I look forward to further developing my ability to turn these thoughts and dreams into real achievements, working alongside my classmates and future colleagues at Craigs.
