7 key leadership lessons I learned during my online MBA

Like many who choose to study the generalist degree, Jean-Marie wanted to gain a holistic business education, expanding on his technical knowledge and building his management and leadership expertise.

“At some point, I realized that I wanted to move from an operational role to a more strategic one,” he says.

Based in Mexico, Jean-Marie prioritized a flexible experience, searching for a program he could study online alongside his career at French logistics firm, BSM Forwarding. He eventually settled on the Online MBA at EGADE Business School, one of the 1% of business schools worldwide that boast triple-accreditation.

The degree ultimately helped him elevate from a technical career in supply chain into his current position of chief financial officer (CFO), a shift he feels shows the “direct” impact of the MBA.

Here are some of the key lessons he learned during his studies.

1. Gaining a strategic mindset

Before his MBA, Jean-Marie’s work largely focused on ensuring operations ran smoothly. He says the EGADE program, which covers key themes such as business fundamentals and driving transformative change, gave him the tools to move into making more impactful business decisions.

The degree validated and built upon the skills he had accumulated over 20 years in different industries as an industrial engineer. “The MBA helped me move from an operational mindset to a strategic one,” he explains, “now I focus on long‑term impact, risk and value creation.”

2. Driving sustainable, data‑driven business

Studying modules in innovation, future thinking, and value creation helped Jean-Marie gain a new strategic lens, which he quickly translated into concrete initiatives at BSM Forwarding.

Aiming to increase the company’s positive impact, he launched a new sustainability initiative. He did this alongside driving BSM Forwarding to become more data-oriented by implementing business intelligence and business analytics tools and processes.

3. Developing global perspectives through collaboration

In choosing EGADE, Jean-Marie was attracted to the school’s international reputation, particularly within Latin America. Keen to continue his career in Mexico, he wanted a program that reflected the global nature of modern business while balancing a focus on the region.

“One of the main highlights was the diversity of the group,” he recalls. “There were people from North, Central, and South America, as well as from Europe, and they came from many different industries and positions.”

Working with professionals hailing from diverse countries and sectors helped him look at familiar challenges from new angles. Moreover, he says, the program’s practical approach meant these exchanges were applicable, so he could take ideas from class, test them with his team at BSM Forwarding, and bring them back into the virtual classroom.

4. Considering leadership as a lifelong learning process

Several of the most important lessons Jean-Marie says he learned during the Online MBA were regarding leadership. The program’s key pillars of innovation and strategic thinking helped him fundamentally shift his approach to being a leader at work.

“Leadership is a continuous learning process,” he says, “and leaders must remain adaptable, curious, and open to new ideas if they want to stay relevant.”

For Jean-Marie, EGADE provided not only tools and frameworks around innovation and organizational change, but also the mindset to drive and lead change, rather than simply reacting to it.

5. Mastering remote leadership

Learning online during a period of rapid digital transformation, Jean-Marie feels he developed many of the leadership capabilities required today. He was aided by being able to apply his new leadership skills while remaining active in his career during his studies.

“Today, it’s part of leadership to communicate and lead remotely using digital tools,” he says.

Though, balancing full‑time work, family, and study wasn’t easy, he admits. However, regular team meetings, project work, and virtual collaboration helped him build and test his ability to motivate and coordinate people at a distance, skills he believes are essential for modern leaders.

6. Bridging theory and practice

Jean-Marie credits several modules─especially those in strategy, finance, leadership, innovation, sustainability and digital transformation─with transforming how he approaches business challenges.

“To set and manage strategy, you need clear frameworks and tools,” he says. Strategy courses helped him think long-term and weigh risk and value creation; finance deepened his understanding of business decisions and prepared him to lead a financial team; while digital transformation gave him a modern view of how the world operates and the tools required to navigate it.

Digital transformation and sustainability, macro‑trends that every business needs to consider and actively develop, were also influential. “Those subjects were among the strongest parts of the MBA but leadership and innovation were equally important,” Jean-Marie adds, helping him connect high‑level frameworks to day‑to‑day decisions.

7. Understanding the value of lifelong learning

For Jean-Marie, EGADE’s Online MBA provided a transformation. It reinforced his existing skills, gave him new frameworks he could apply across industries, and provided the confidence to step into a CFO role and lead a financial team.

Crucially, the experience also showed him the value of lifelong learning: “I could see all the changes that have taken place since I did my industrial engineering degree,” he says. “With a difference of about 15 years, I think all the tools and frameworks that I learned in the MBA were new tools, less than 10 or 15 years old.

“It’s really important to know the frameworks used in different industries and to reinforce your leadership and innovation skills."