2024 was an eventful year for me. Apart from walking with the lions at the Casela in Mauritius without getting killed, and hiking the Machu Pichu in Peru, one highlight of my year would be the Oxford Executive Leadership and Management Programme.
I work for a telecom company. My role looks after quality assurance of complex deliveries, solutions and programmes to our high-value enterprise customers - banks, mission critical networks, data centres and government agencies. As part of my role, I have an internal team of engineers and external partners, vendors, customers, and other stakeholders to manage.
In the last three-years I have achieved good feedback and recognition at work, including 4 Star Awards, and remain motivated with the provision of my employer. This has given me much confidence in my current role and the want to further develop my leadership skills. I wanted to understand better how to influence people, manage conflicts and build relationships and best to drive change and transformation in an ever-changing market environment.
I remember the exact words of my manager appreciating my work in one of my 1:1s – ‘You will get enough smart people in the room to solve complex technical problems but there are very few good managers/leaders out there’. His words resonated with me, and this was another reason why I wanted to understand what it really takes to be a good leader. I was fortunate to get a 100% sponsorship from work and committed to personal growth, I was happy to utilize the evenings and the weekends to work on the assignments and ensure that there is no impact on my day job.
The assignments were to test my understanding of the subject. I have received some great feedback on my style of leadership and learned a lot about effective leadership and the importance of having a vision that can serve as a motivator, how to deal with difficult conversation and communicate in a compelling way, how to build a high performing team and manage organisational complexity, the models of change management for future proofing an organisation - something I can definitely apply in the different initiatives within my organization.
The programme also educates us on how having a strong sense of personal purpose aligned with that of the organisation is the key and as important as being authentic and adaptable.
Later in the year, elumni of all online programmes attended the elumni reunion at the School. This was a fantastic opportunity to personally connect with inspiring industry leaders and like-minded ambitious professionals from various backgrounds and from many countries. The energy, insights and the thought-provoking lectures left me more motivated than ever.

It was an honour to have met in person the Dean of Saïd Business School, University of Oxford Dr. Soumitra Dutta and Professor Steve Mostyn. I had only seen him in the video recordings or on video calls for group discussions. Seated for the reunion dinner at the prestigious Keble College was an incredible experience. Harry Potter was filmed there!
I personally enjoy being a part of this exciting network and this community that we have created. Post the alumni meet, a few of us met up in London a few times. We have book clubs and other coffee meets. We had a little Christmas get together. We also have a WhatsApp group where we discuss almost anything and everything starting from about how we are applying what we have learned to the market trends to AI revolution and how it can benefit everyone, and the list is long.
When it comes to application and my key takeaways from the programme and how I have benefitted from it, I would say that the learning definitely helped me get a ‘Top Talent’ recognition from work and a recommendation to apply for Level 7 Senior Leader Apprenticeship from Henley School of Business. It was a lengthy process of submission of achievements, CV, credentials and personal statement and I can proudly say that I got an offer from Henley Business School, University of Reading competing with applicants from 29 functions across the organization. I am currently pursuing the Level 7 Senior Leader Apprenticeship which is a work-based route towards developing professionally competent senior managers and future leaders. Upon successful completion of the apprenticeship programme, I will be awarded a postgraduate Diploma in Management for Future Leaders, a Chartered Management Institute (CMI) Level 7 Award in Strategic Management and Leadership Practice, and Chartered Manager status.
I am also excited to share that I have been recruited by Girl Talk Corporation, a charity organisation as a part of their ‘Step Up’ initiative to mentor final year female university students and help them achieve STEM career dreams. This I believe is my way of giving back to society.
All I can say is a big ‘Thank You’ to all who helped me in my learning journey and to the amazing community. I highly recommend these Oxford Saïd executive learning programmes. I still refer to my notes when I come across any difficult situation at work so my advice would be - please keep your notes handy.