Taking the next step

Fiona Regan, a current Executive MBA participant, reflects on her journey with WBS and her plans for the future as she nears the end of her studies.

In September 2017 I couldn’t have imagined how significant an impact starting my Executive MBA at Warwick Business School would have been. Reflecting with some of my fellow students at the end of our last module on campus, we all agreed that the decision had been one of the best of our lives. We still feel the mountain of work we must climb to finish our dissertations and remaining assignments but that sense of being in it together has made it so much easier.

A chance to reflect

I found that the time at Warwick gave me the chance to truly be myself and as a result learn more about what I really want. Life gets busy and you fit into the roles that you create, I am a mother, a friend, sister, daughter and have been a Human Resources Director for ten years now. In these roles I feel you can often work to the expectations that come with the titles. Doing the Executive MBA, I found I was simply me and enjoyed being able to step away from the normality of life and learn so many new things. I remember the sense of liberation many of my new classmates seemed to have after that first week at Warwick when we started great friendships that I think we will have for life. We were absolutely exhausted after six days, with our induction and first module combined but similarly, we had walked away so excited to return. We had a great time and I have already been on two holidays with two of my first syndicate group!  

Practical application

The context of the programme was totally relevant to the experiences I was having at work and will help me in my future. I thoroughly enjoyed the whole process of really learning again. I was managing a challenging few years at work alongside the Executive MBA and studying helped me to reflect on what was happening and take so many more learnings from it than I ever could have done without my modules. The variety of people that I have worked with has been brilliant and enabled me to just listen to others to see things differently. The programme enables you to work with such a diverse group of people with such interesting lives. I have a renewed sense of excitement about how many opportunities there are for my future career.

What's next?

To that end, the Executive MBA has given me the confidence to resign from my job as I felt that after just over four years in my role and having nearly completed my studies, I wanted to take a few months out to build on the things I have learned. I will be heading off for my final MBA module in Vancouver the day I finish at work! I am using the careers service and the extra resources and network you get as part of the programme to look much wider than I could have ever done before to make sure the next role I have is what I want and not just what becomes available.  

Find out more about our Executive MBA options, available to study in either Warwick or London here.