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Can an MBA degree change your life? In my opinion, the answer is a resounding “yes” . I’ve heard countless stories over the years from former students who attest to the tremendous impact that the MBA (Master in Business Administration) had on their lives. It’s a profound and lasting impact that they remember fondly as a personal and professional turning point.

MBA candidates have a variety of reasons for investing two years of their lives to do a master’s degree at IESE. Many seek a rigorous knowledge base, tools that will enable them to someday run their own businesses, skills to lead teams, a holistic vision of business, contacts, employability…By the time they finish the program, students have clearly made great strides in all of these areas, but strangely enough, these milestones aren’t the ones that they are the most proud of on graduation day.

I’m not going to fool you. IESE’s MBA is an intense and demanding program where stellar students compete in an all-consuming race . Through immeasurable hours of individual study, teamwork, and class time, they deepen their understanding of economy, finance and key business areas. But above all, they acquire the essential building blocks to become great leaders: insights on their personal limits; the security of knowing what they’re capable of and how to achieve their goals; the validation of their unique strengths, and perhaps the discovery of weaknesses and areas for personal improvement.

At IESE, this journey of discovery also implies an intense immersion in cultural diversity that mirrors today’s global marketplace. Case in point: last year, students from 56 nationalities graduated from IESE’s MBA program. This means that they listened, exchanged ideas, worked together, shared viewpoints, and argued and debated with classmates from very diverse cultures. In order to graduate, they analyzed around 600 case studies based on real-life business scenarios and shared myriad experiences that shaped them as leaders.

These efforts make IESE’s MBA program an authentic high-performance leadership center. Moreover, students learn to base their decisions on the impact they will have on those around them : their team members, clients, suppliers…Our general management approach is built around a humanistic vision of leaderships that makes our students especially attuned to responsible decision making. That’s why when companies approach IESE for talent, they know that they’ll find young people with a strong work ethic, young people capable of managing global projects, young people prepared to learn to lead teams.

In short, they find young people who have a high potential of becoming outstanding leaders at the helm of global organizations who leave an indelible mark and instill a spirit of service through their work. That’s why an MBA can change your life.