Each week, JWMI profiles students and alumni in its new featured series “Winning Voices.” Learn about our diverse community and what sets our program apart from those who have experienced it. For more great “Winning Voices” content, click here.
Robert Uriarte
Senior Infrastructure Manager
Demant
Program/Concentration: Jack Welch MBA
TELL US ABOUT YOUR JOB RESPONSIBILITIES AT Demant.
As Senior Infrastructure Manager for Demant, I manage, coordinate, and report its IT infrastructure activities. I’m responsible for providing IT Infrastructure Solutions and maintaining Operations to Demant companies throughout the Americas, and I lead local and remote teams throughout the Americas.
Why were you looking to get an MBA?
I wanted to learn business administration at a graduate-level from a quality institution, taught by professors with practical and significant experience across various industries. I also hope to move up the corporate ladder and apply the Jack Welch MBA program’s teachings to better my current employer and my family-owned business, Happy Pets Veterinary Hospital, Inc, located in Central NJ.
HOW HAS THE JWMI CURRICULUM HELPED YOU IN YOUR CAREER
The JWMI curriculum has provided me with a wealth of useful, relevant, practical, and readily usable knowledge. I was promoted to Senior IT Manager and expect to be promoted to Director level in the next three to four months. I’m looking forward to having my role and responsibilities elevated and look forward to taking on the new challenges that will come with the promotion.
DID YOU FIND THE CURRICULUM WAS IMMEDIATELY APPLICABLE? PLEASE EXPLAIN.:
Yes, I found the curriculum was immediately applicable. Besides achieving more effective communication through candor, I found the learnings from Financial Management 1 readily useful. For example, I was able to identify my organization’s current budgeting and forecasting practices and develop improvement ideas that are now under consideration. Most of my career at Demant has been focused on IT; it was worthwhile to get a refresher and learn new finance and accounting concepts.
LOOKING BACK AT WHAT YOU THOUGHT ABOUT AN ONLINE PROGRAM WHEN YOU FIRST EMBARKED, WHAT WAS YOUR OVERALL IMPRESSION NOW? DID IT MEET YOUR EXPECTATIONS VIA DQ BOARDS, EOP VIDEOS, FACULTY ETC?:
Truly the Jack Welch MBA program delivered and met all my expectations. I believe for an online MBA program to be successful, it needs three key elements:
- Three keys to maintaining a successful business are customer service, employee engagement, and cash flow.
- Promote a culture of continuous self-improvement, as a leader exhibit this behavior, so others will follow it and reward it publicly when possible.
- In business, regardless of your success level, don’t ever get complacent.
The Jack Welch MBA program delivers on all three key elements.
HOW DID YOU NAVIGATE JOB, FAMILY, AND WORK? WHAT STRATEGIES DID YOU IMPLEMENT TO GET IT DONE?:
I developed a disciplined methodology for balancing my time between job, family, and work. This methodology required prioritizing and managing my time. In general, when it came to school work, I tried to keep it high on the daily priority list and work on it as early as possible to give myself enough time to complete the required work and deliver it with quality.
WAS THERE A PARTICULAR PROFESSOR OR MEMBER OF THE STAFF THAT YOU FELT HELPED YOU TO EXCEL? PLEASE ELABORATE.
Over my two and a half years at JWMI, I found all my professors helpful and accomodating to my overall success in the MBA program. I find it very difficult for me to single out one professor among the rest, as they all contributed to my overall success. However, Professor Smith, who led me in Business Analytics & Capstone, did a fantastic job mentoring me along the way. This class is unique, as it allowed us, the students, to act as CEO, with Professor Smith assuming the Chairman of the Board’s role. Professor Smith’s teaching method and insightful comments within the discussion questions, papers, and lectures were critical in pulling all the topics together from the prior courses. This allowed me to better utilize the “CEO mindset” and see the challenges and opportunities facing my selected company.
WHAT’S BEEN YOUR MOST REWARDING EXPERIENCE IN THE PROGRAM?
The program’s most rewarding aspect is the ability to put into practice the learnings from the program immediately. For example, after I started changing my communication method and started speaking with more candor, I noticed more clarity in expectations, trust, and understanding among my team, resulting in a spike in productivity.
For me, the big takeaways from the program are:
- Three keys to maintaining a successful business are customer service, employee engagement, and cash flow.
- Promote a culture of continuous self-improvement, as a leader exhibit this behavior, so others will follow it and reward it publicly when possible.
- In business, regardless of your success level, don’t ever get complacent.
- Always remember Jack 4E + P framework, Energy, Energize, Edge, Execute, and Passion.
- Speak with data and make data-driven decisions absent of personal bias
- Be professional and but speak with candor; it’s more efficient and straightforward.
- Get every brain into the game.
- Remember the 20/70/10 Differentiation rule. For the bottom, 10% be transparent with them, give them a chance, but don’t feel guilty or delay when you know it’s time to let them go.
- Know your competition; it is imperative to business survival.
Please share any advice for new students embarking on the MBA journey.
Firstly choose an MBA program that you’ll be proud to be affiliated with, such as why I decided on JWMI. Secondly, develop a disciplined methodology for balancing your school responsibilities versus all your other obligations (e.g., family, work). Try your best to consistently keep to it but also be willing to modify your methodology as needed. If you can develop a method that works for you, it will minimize the pressure and stress caused by a busy schedule and a perceived lack of time.
Connect with Robert Uriarte on Linkedin
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