Back in 2015, Thomas Gagne (MBA 2020) was posted by Airbus to Singapore to work on a joint venture with Singapore Airlines.
After spending four years establishing the business operations arm of the project, he felt it was time to explore something new in his career journey. “I decided to leave my comfort zone and challenge myself,” he said.
From his work, Thomas recognised the region’s economic prospects for the commercial aviation industry. He believed that Asia will be the centre of the world and a programme that brought together the best of East and West would benefit him.
“In my mind, doing an MBA would enable me to evolve and transform,” he said. With The NUS MBA, it was an opportunity to engage classmates from different industries and cultures, and to learn in an Asian context.
Insights and career opportunities
With fellow candidates from China, India, Japan, Maldives, Mongolia and even South America, Thomas got exactly what he wanted. They brought with them experience from a wide variety of sectors including Finance, Technology and Government. The insights that he gleaned from every class was something he might not have experienced in the workplace.
Thomas’ international cohort of classmates who hail from Colombia, Maldives and Mongolia have varied experiences that range from entrepreneurship to non-profit.
“I learned from my entrepreneurial classmates how to improve public speaking and business presentations. I’ve also been inspired by a fellow MBA candidate who set up a micro lending initiative to help the less fortunate from his home country,” Thomas shared.
Thomas (second from right) with classmates
Thomas also got a chance to learn more about leadership, in particular, soft skills at the Launch Your Transformation course, a five-day workshop that uses role-playing scenarios to hone NUS MBA candidates’ ability to build relationships. It introduces the concept of “High Challenge, High Support”, which trains participants to communicate in a conscious manner and encourages leaders to always challenge themselves. This session taught him many critical lessons that he would remember for his career journey.
“The session gave me the tools to better interact with multiple teammates by learning to see from different perspectives. I put these skills to good use when I joined the Google Ad Grants Online Marketing Challenge. I raised AUS$63,000 in a fundraising campaign for an Australia-based NGO through Google Ads. I was able to understand the stakeholders’ point of view and bring everyone together,” said Thomas.
Thomas believed the technology and consulting sectors will be the new growth drivers in Asia. Thanks to the School’s BIZCareers team, he was able to further explore these avenues during his internships with Grab where he worked on business development, on-demand optimisation and marketing projects. For his capstone module, MBA Consulting Project, he worked as a project consultant for PwC covering the blockchain market in Southeast Asia.
“It’s also great exposure for me as I would like to venture into these two sectors in the future,” said Thomas.
An amazing lesson
It is not all study and work for Thomas at NUS. He participated in the MBA Olympics, which sees MBA candidates from Singapore-based business schools compete against one another.
“I was part of the football team that won the silver medal. It was a great experience as I got to meet new friends. Training and practicing together before the competition fostered a strong sense of belonging to NUS MBA.”
“It was an amazing experience of teamwork and friendship. Events like these help the MBA candidates forge closer bonds. And of course, winning the tournament was the cherry on top,” said Thomas.
Looking back at this two-year journey, Thomas was glad that he took the leap of faith and returned to school. “I wanted to do something different from my previous life.”
As it turns out, he got what he wanted.
Cover photo by MBA candidate Julia Kozina
