Not many people can claim to fully understand Amazon’s recent decision to buy Whole Foods, a supermarket chain. And who foresaw that Google would move into the automobile business?
The only certainty in the world these days is change.
Tomorrow’s executives and startuppers will have to decide whether they want to lead it, in whichever direction they believe it is headed, or be swept away by unstoppable forces. IE University’s BBA is the best possible start for a career destined to play out on the crest of the wave of change. IEU’s international dimension, hands-on approach, emphasis on entrepreneurial thinking and well-rounded academic core that includes broader knowledge through the humanities mean its graduates are as well prepared as possible to walk across the shifting ground that awaits us all.
IEU also knows that there is no point instilling business instincts in graduates if they are not familiar with a shifting technological environment in which ideas will either gain traction or fall off the radar.
Through IEU’s innovative mix of participative learning and inclusion of technology, internships, Labs and club activities, contact with industry experts and inspiring diversity that all students experience, graduates acquire the knowledge and the soft skills to achieve resilience and look forward to sustainable careers.
For Andrea Castillo, a 2016 BBA graduate who is now working for consulting firm AT Kearney, the key quality she gained from the diverse set of academic and practical experiences she had at IEU was to become “proactive and not reactive”.
“Instead of waiting for opportunities, I have been able to go out and seek them,” Castillo says.
“Instead of waiting for opportunities, I have been able to go out and seek them” – Andrea Castillo, BBA graduate
On arrival at IEU from her family home in Bogotá, Colombia, Castillo admits that she found the hands-on nature of IEU’s classes a real challenge as she had always been more observant than participative.
“Every class included projects to be done in teams. What struck me was how multinational these teams were, so you really had to open your mind before communicating your ideas. I think getting used to this was so important because in today’s world you find yourself in multicultural teams throughout your professional life and travels. It was also vital for me because, of course, performance is important in the workplace, but so is communication – more and more so.”
From a slightly shy new student in Segovia and later Madrid, Castillo became an active member of IEU’s vibrant extracurricular scene as a founding member of the Latin American Club and a member of the Humanitarian Club, where she developed her interest in “making a social impact”.
But perhaps the biggest key to the Colombian’s transformation into a versatile and fully-rounded professional was the sheer variety of her experiences in exchanges, work placements and IEU’s Labs. From year one, Castillo spent time facing real-world challenges, both on and off campus, in Canada, Syracuse University and working in the university’s own marketing department. Castillo also developed her interest in communication with the world’s leading ad agency network, McCann, where she worked on the firm’s Ikea account.
“One day we could be making a television commercial, the next a radio spot or something for Ikea’s social network channels. As an intermediary, I talked to the company’s communication and marketing people and the creatives, who would have their vision but not always the one the company wanted.”
“One day we could be making a television commercial, the next a radio spot or something for Ikea’s social network channels” – Andrea Castillo, BBA graduate
Castillo ended up starting out on a different path at AT Kearney in Madrid, but she feels stronger for having other strings – communication and marketing – to her bow in an unpredictable world. “I’m very happy to have seen those areas and gained that experience. The great thing about this BBA is that you can adapt it to the focus you need for your professional career; you can build your path.”