Bogdan Nițulescu has graduated from the EMBA at Tiffin University and currently leads the department in charge of SMEs at Microsoft Romania.

I studied at the Faculty of Management of the Bucharest University of Economic Studies. I have 20 years of experience in IT&C, during which time I formed and led sales and marketing teams in IT&C distribution, which deals with a variety of sales channels at B2B level, aimed at small and medium enterprises.

The decision to study at a business school took shape gradually. As new business challenges arose, I realized that I needed structure in the way I led my teams. I also needed to improve and polish certain abilities and competences. I could clearly see that some bricks were missing from the construction I was toiling on; I required the kind of systematic approach that only school can provide. However, isolated courses which last a few weeks are not enough to attain excellence in leadership, nor to perfect strategic leadership. That can only be done through a program which would enable me to apply what I have learned in business, as well as to look back and draw conclusions, thus resuming the learning process.

I looked for a school in Romania with proven prestige, which offered a modular, flexible study program. For two years, I checked media reports, rankings, the diversity of the students’ professional backgrounds, etc. It was also relevant that Tiffin University offers a diverse, multicultural academic experience. At the same time, I opted for a curriculum that was rooted in present-day reality (trends such as digital marketing, cloud computing, business innovation being reflected in the case studies under analysis), which encourages teamwork.

Last, but not least, it was the only business school which I perceived as genuinely interested in attracting me as a student, thus going beyond the traditional e-mail message and interview for politeness’s sake.

In these past two years or more since I started the program, I managed to accomplish my business objectives by making much better structured decisions, communicating more efficiently with my team, as well as with other business divisions at Microsoft Romania, and by a much more careful balance between local efforts and the requests received by the team I lead from a regional level. At the same time, I managed to outline a much clearer direction for my future professional evolution towards a regional position.

I realized I could be a better manager by consulting my team members when making decisions and I drew inspiration from the times I collaborated with my school colleagues on projects. The knowledge and skills acquired during the Finance and Accounting for Managers modules allowed me to change the way I carried out dialogues with my clients and business partners.

I think that balancing the time allotted to business, family and study was one of my biggest challenges. I managed to explain to my sons that we could study together, they for school and I for the MBA.

It was also interesting how I and my colleagues attained harmony in our collaboration, given that we have different personalities. The fact that we remained a unified group is to me one of the greatest achievements of this study period.

Article published in Ghid MBA magazine.