Stronger Than Ever, Thanks to the EMBA
30 subjects, 29 students, including managing directors, entrepreneurs and project managers, and 20 months of intense study to complete the best academic degree for entrance into the club of future business leaders: the Executive Master in Business Administration at the SDA Bocconi School of Management.
This marathon towards excellence ended with graduation on 10 November, and resulted in the creation of Più Grande di Prima, a book that tells the stories, excitement and successes of the group that attended the 15th edition of the Master. "We wanted to give our experience a tangible shape," says Andrea Burnelli, the creator of the project and, along with Nicoletta Centofanti, one of the book's curators. "More than a book, it's the testimony of what we experienced over those months: a chorus in which each student contributed with their own thoughts. On one hand, we wanted to cement that spirit of sharing and humanity that emerged in our class group during the EMBA; on the other, we wanted to provide a tool that can support and help anyone getting ready to start the program."
Edited by EGEA, the book is available online and on the shelves of the Bocconi bookshop. It also aims to support social sustainability: "The proceeds will be allocated to La Gotita Onlus, an association involved in treating children in need: two of the founders of this non-profit are Gabriele Troilo and Paolo Guenzi, who were both professors of ours," adds Nicoletta. "We made a pact in the classroom to look towards the future with the goal of doing business ethically, and this book is the first concrete example of that."
Più Grande di Prima is a polyphonic book in which each student contributed their dreams and discoveries, ambition and effort, concerns and successes, which all led to a personal and professional metamorphosis. "We used the word 'transformation' in the subtitle, which I think is the best way to describe our experience, in part motivated by an exchange of expertise among students. The best part of the Executive MBA is its class group: everyone is a high quality professional who shares their expertise with their classmates. It is an enriching course that really makes you grow and transforms you," continues Nicoletta.
The life stories of some of the students prove this point, including the book's two curators, who have since advanced their careers. "I enrolled in the EMBA not because I wanted to change jobs, but to add something to my academic and professional knowledge. Over these long months, almost through osmosis, I started applying the ways of thinking that emerged in class, including in the workplace: this all led my company to trust my ideas more and give me more leeway, assigning me a role with more responsibility. I think that the perception of growth is one of the elements for human happiness," says Andrea. Continues Nicoletta: "I am an environmental engineer and I realized that in order to work on strategic projects I needed to consolidate my economic skills. The EMBA was the training ground that allowed me to become a part of the staff of the managing director at my company." For both of them and for the other 27 EMBA students, it was not simply a course of study, but also a life experience, in which the human factor played a very important role: "And this is why we really wanted to write this book," says Andrea. He says he "learned how to engage people to work towards a goal: the greatest challenge is being a collaborator, in the classroom, in the workplace, but also when creating a book like this one." The way the EMBA is structured, students must learn to collaborate and "at first this might seem disorienting, because you suddenly find out that you are working with people who are much smarter than you. Over time, you realize that this is all an extraordinary source of growth and a unique opportunity for exploration," adds Nicoletta.
Like in a puzzle, the book shows the many aspects that have characterized the life of the students who attended this Master: one had to argue with their family in order to take the program, another rediscovered the value of time, another student learned the strength of teams and another learned to dive into life. For all of them, it was a unique opportunity to learn from outstanding professors. "The EMBA at Bocconi was an excellent choice in part because it opens doors to a series of people, including professors and coaches, with whom a special relationship is established. And these relationships can also lead to post graduation collaborations," says Nicoletta.