Benjamin Prince, 33, left France last year with his partner to settle in Quebec and complete an intensive MBA at HEC Montreal. While he previously worked in finance, project management and politics, in the MBA he learned to team up with people active in completely different sectors of activity, in addition to having different origins and backgrounds. varied cultures.
“In the MBA, my brain learned to adapt to diversity,” he says. I understood that if a person thinks one way and another another, it is not because one is wrong and the other is right, but because the two have different points of view. »
The diversity of the MBA cohorts is striking for Kevin Johnson, director of the MBA program at HEC Montréal.
“The MBA attracts a very different socio-demographic and professional clientele compared to what it was before,” he says. Students have an average age of 30 and seven years of professional experience, so that’s quite a classroom background. These people also have different ambitions and interests. It is also a challenge for the teaching staff, who must always adapt. »
Jordan Lebel, MBA marketing professor at Concordia University, also notes that we must adapt to the curiosity and information level of these students.
“Recently, after the first class of the session, one of them came to tell me about a video of a Harvard professor that he had seen on YouTube,” he says. I knew this luminary, so I was able to have a discussion with the student, but the following week, he came to talk to me about another video. I wondered if he was going to do this every week! It’s certain that in moments like this, we wonder what our role as teachers is. »
This was precisely one of the questions at the heart of the recent overhaul of Concordia’s MBA program. “We adopted the role of coach,” explains Jordan Lebel. Beyond sharing our knowledge, we are more interested in seeing how we can coach students so that they navigate in this universe and can achieve their goals. »
So, there is not one model of leader, but several.
“They must avoid being seduced along the way by other models,” he continues. Because what is good for others is not necessarily good for them. This kind of discourse particularly resonates with millennials. »
To develop your own leadership model, you need to know yourself well. Admitting himself to be very curious, Benjamin Prince participated in a host of initiatives offered in the MBA or on the sidelines, such as university competitions, the Creative Destruction Lab-Montreal, where he supported a young start-up in its development, in addition to being the president of the HEC Montréal MBA Student Association.
“Exploration and discovery were values present in me, but the MBA reinforced them,” says the man who aspires to run a company. “I want to create a healthy work environment, which encourages curiosity, taking initiative, and where it’s okay to make mistakes, as long as you learn from them and correct them. shooting afterwards. »
Kevin Johnson also notes that MBA students are eager to acquire very broad skills.
“They don’t seem to be constrained by what must be done, but are interested in what can be done,” he says. For example, a foundation in finance is essential for a business to function, but we can go much further, particularly by integrating the principles of sustainable finance. »
Moreover, ESG (environmental, social and governance) issues are of great interest to this generation. Those enrolled in the McGill-HEC Montréal EMBA, of which millennials represent 45% of the cohort this year, participate in a survey before entering the program. Faced with increased concern about ESG issues, the program, which already has a module devoted to it, now integrates reflection on these issues in all its modules.
“The new generation has hope, ambition and also the capacity to have an impact on the companies in which they operate, but also on the world around them,” notes Kevin Johnson. The MBA guides her in these aspirations. »