IE Master in Management || Interview with Aleksandra

Aleksandra, current student of the Master in International Management, talks about her experiences during the Master.

Hi Aleksandra! Start off by telling us about yourself…
Hello! My name is Aleksandra! I’m a girl from Cleveland, USA, with Serbian blood, heart, and soul. I did my Bachelor degree in International Business at the University of Akron, USA, and now I am in beautiful Madrid pursuing my passion in international business and management. I first fell in love with Spain when I lived for a summer in Sevilla (southern Spain, in Andalusia). Having that daily magical influence of exquisite Arab architecture, centuries upon centuries of Roman, Jewish, and Moorish history at every step, and the daily siesta coma that apparently comes with the arrival stamp in your passport, the Spanish summer heat just ignited my passion for this land. Did I mention that I also love the culture, language, and zeal for life here in Spain?!

Great stuff, do you have an interesting fact or story to share with us?
I started learning Arabic during my last semester of university! I loved it… but haven’t done it since. It’s such a beautiful language to write!

What are the kinds of things you admire in a person?
I admire people who “dare to be themselves in the face of adversity. Choosing right over wrong, ethics over convenience, and truth over popularity….. Since these are the choices that measure your life” (author unknown).

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Upcoming IE event on Neuro-Entrepreneurship

Can  studies of the mind tells us about dynamic and successful venturing? In the upcoming IE MasterClasses in Tokyo and Seoul we will provide an insight on research for improving their entrepreneurial abilities and help them understand their own mental patterns important for entrepreneurship:      Tokyo, October 8, 2011 12noon (local time) – Register      Seoul, October…

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The 360º teaching experience

Who tells that the class room cannot be a circle? Prof. David Bach teaches in a new learning environment. Last July, Professor David Bach, Professor of Strategy and Economic Environment and Dean of Programs, taught an optional Business Government and Society class under a new learning environment. The “Open Space” room, at Maria de Molina…

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IE International Executive MBA is going GLOBAL

The IE International Executive MBA includes two new academic partners and offers now 3 1-week residential periods in the US (Brown University), Brazil (Insper)  and China (Fudan University). In keeping with IE Business School’s commitment to educating globally-oriented, entrepreneurial leaders, we have forged ties with leading academic institutions in the United States and Brazil. Our…

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Do you need solid knowledge of Finance?

Here is the dilemma: you need more acumen of Finance but either your family or your professional environment does not allow you to step out for one year to gain that knowledge. Sounds familiar? Now. Here is the solution: IE launches this fall the Global Master in Finance, a 14 month blended Master Degree 100%…

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Who wants to be an Entrepreneur?

Tomorrow is an exciting day for Entrepreneurs and Investors in Singapore. IE Business Schools and Angels Den jointly organized the first IE – Angels Den Seminar on Entrepreneurship. Here are the details: When? Wednesday, May 25 from 18:00 to 20.45 Where? Pan-Pacific Hotel, Level 1, 7 Raffles Boulevard, Marina Square Registration: IE Event Page As…

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IE University || 12 inspiring young minds

2 years ago IE University has created a Junior Advisory Board which serves to provide a worldly and youthful perspective to IE University. IE’s Junior Advisory Board is considered as a part of the IE community, and shows a commitment to excellence and innovation. Board members, though still in High School, are outstanding members of their community and serve as joint representatives of their communities to IE, and also of IE in their communities. Here are the impressions from the 2011 annual board meeting:

This year´s committee comprised of twelve pre-university students, all with an international profile and aged between 15 and 19. They met in Madrid and Segovia to debate the challenges facing university education. The members of the International Junior Advisory Board were selected using IE’s network of 23 international offices in 20 countries, and are from the Czech Republic,  Colombia, India, Jordan, Peru, Romania, Spain, Lesotho and the US.

The talented young members of the Board speak several different languages, are entrepreneurial and top-tier students in a range of disciplines. They are committed to humanistic values and social responsibility. They are international, practical, ambitious and above all they represent a generation which, thanks to its commitment to excellence, innovation, human values and ethics, will not only bring improvements to IE University, but will also serve as leaders in tomorrow’s world.

In their 2011 meeting, the Junior Advisory Board members were asked to think if entrepreneurship can be learnt and what is the role of universities in fostering an entrepreneurial culture. They also discussed how universities can promote diversity and how it can equip students with the tools and skills they need to function in an increasingly competitive global and cosmopolitan market. In an open forum they debated if Social Entrepreneurship has to be a part of a business education and how university sector can engage students in social issues.

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IE Entrepreneurs || José María Castillejo: Entertainment motivates

José María Castillejo, IE graduate, is the president of Zinkia Entertainment, a world reference in children’s entertainment, thanks to the extraordinary international success of the happy character Pocoyó, a small boy dressed in blue. Pocoyo, protagonist of a television series, has become a global, multi-platform entertainment brand.

Zinkia was created in 2001 as an audiovisual content producer for TV. Whatare main characteristics today?
Actually, Zinkia wasn’t created as an audiovisual contents producer for TV: Zinkia was created with the idea of being able to create contents that would help change our lives for the better and, in particular, help change our children’s lives for the better; children who were only babies when we created Zinkia.

Your company has become a world reference in children’s entertainment thanks to the extraordinary international success of Pocoyo, a small boy dressed in blue. What are the key factors behind that success, especially bearing in mind the huge number of competitors on the market?
I think that one of the key factors has been staying focused: trying to change our children’s lives, helping them to enjoy themselves and, while they do so, to learn that there are certain values that make human beings different from other living beings and that when we assume those values, they help us to be happy: friendship, loyalty, sincerity, hard work… And all while they are discovering new things about the world. The world that opens itself up to them and that they look at under a light of never-ending curiosity. I have no doubts that keeping our focus on that has helped us to be successful. Then ther e is also the talent of the people w e have worked with, the quality of the designs, contents and technological developments that have been made to represent the world of Pocoyo as we wanted.

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IE Business School – a great place for Entrepreneurs

IE Business School has recently been considered one of the best schools in the World for Entrepreneurship by BusinessBecause.com.  Venture Lab, at IE Business School, is highlighted as a great opportunity to turn disruptive and innovative ideas real by creating very strong feasible business plans. In Venture Day business plans are presented to Venture Capitalists in…

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IE Event || Marketing the Subconscious

“The Art of Seduction ― Marketing the Subconscious” will explore the history and theory of appealing emotionally to potential clients and customers, and discuss ways to do so.  The seminar, hosted by Seoul Global Center, will feature a guest talk from Prof. William Davila, Associate Professor of marketing at Madrid’s IE Business School, which specializes in entrepreneurship,…

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Innovation and Hope

IE Focus | By Salvador Aragon, Professor at IE Business School

Wanting to create a better future is what makes for the best ideas. And we need good ideas more than ever now, as leveraging new opportunities becomes increasingly important.The current economic situation has brought about a drastic change in how people perceive innovation. Only two or three years ago, our society looked on innovation as an important economic and business phenomenon, albeit one that was on the fringe. Innovation was the responsibility of enigmatic R&D departments or, at most, creative individuals who were accepted to a lesser or greater extent in traditional organisations.

Today, innovation is the process in which we place much of our hope. Hope in innovation can be seen in messages like “innovation is of key importance for economic growth” or “a business that does not innovate disappears”. However, this focus may be wrong and may be holding back the development of innovative skills.

From old Europe, the perception of Chile in recent months has been dominated by the rescue of the Atacama miners. The emotions we witnessed at camp “esperanza (hope)” showed a society that was ready to fight for a goal and that remained fully convinced of its own possibilities.

Hope alone, based on a profound belief in one´s own possibilities and in the fact that the future is full of opportunities that are there for the taking, makes innovation possible. Only by facing the future with confidence, despite an adverse present, will human beings, enterprises and societies be capable of generating new ideas, new businesses and new projects that allow them to move forward. Imagine how different the result of the rescue would have been if hope had been lost during the 17 days before the first contact was made with the miners. 

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