Mandy Deimel, Managing Director of DNA Synthesis Business at Eurofins Genomics Europe, managed her Executive MBA degree while working full-time and caring for her family and two kids. She is convinced that, with an open mind and interest in the world, leadership should take various aspects of culture, experience and backgrounds into account to benefit at all levels.
Mandy Deimel had a clear vision on what to gain through the Executive MBA program at TUM: personal development, improved leadership skills and building an extensive business network having more insight into current innovation. She was looking for a career change, from quality management into a General Management position, while maintaining a work-life-balance and exploring different approaches to management and the market itself.
For her, learning and leading is a likewise matter of being able to interact with people valuing and benefitting from their individual views, backgrounds and experiences. “I had a unique multicultural learning experience interacting with people of different backgrounds and had the chance to absorb their insights and share mine. I appreciated being able to spend a large amount of time examining and changing habits and, for example, experimenting and adopting servant leadership behaviors.”
The decision to join the Executive MBA at TUM was largely based on the flexibility the program offered her in terms of time planability, variety of module topics and unique experiences like the study trip to Tsinghua University. Especially as a full-time working mother of two she relied on a flexible time schedule like the module structure of the Executive MBA program. That allowed her to fully concentrate on her studies and get full benefit from the input: “I was able to focus all of my attention on the module topics: The lectures and interactions with classmates, professors, and speakers. The modular blocks allowed my family to plan for and handle the time when I was not available. Between modules, the flexibility meant that I was able to cope and manage my time at work.”
Deimel’s interest in getting to know different perspectives is not limited to interpersonal skills or leadership styles, but also includes cultural aspects in economic principles and the matter of a modern market in a globalized world. “I was especially interested to gain more insight into Chinese culture. To find out more about Asian industry, the market and better understand the political situation excited me a lot. There is a big difference between a planned economy like in China and the market-driven economy we have in Europe. It was very interesting to experience cultural differences in leadership too. We looked at how in respect of the world’s digitization and entrepreneurial development a planned economy may have to adjust its leadership behavior and approach to meet the new demands of Industry 4.0.”
Mandy Deimel shows us that learning and life don’t have to be contradictory – if the frame fits. She casts a spotlight on the frequently overlooked influence of socio-cultural aspects on economic principles, which become more and more important in a globalized world market.
Like Mandy Deimel, take the first step into your intercultural economic journey and learn more about the Executive MBA today.
