Finding and following the problems that fascinated me the most
I first left undergraduate quite unsure about what I wanted to do, and eventually interviewed for a global strategy consulting firm - Kearney, and was enthralled by the kinds of work we did, and how we tackled the cases that were done in the case study interviews. I knew this would be a valuable skill, and that consulting would expose me to a wide range of problems and allow me to discover what most interested me.
Through a broad range of projects, I knew I wanted to work in sustainable development in some way - and was interested in economic development, education and food consumption systems - very broadly.
After 2 years in consulting, I eventually got approached by a recruiter at RMIT University (one of Australia's largest Universities - about $1.4bn in revenue), to start a new "strategy office" (Internal consulting team). The offer was too good to refuse, and I helped build this team for another 2-3 years. Through this time, I did a really broad range of projects - largely long-term strategy, but also some really interesting analytical projects around student attrition and support.
Eventually, because Universities do so much work that is "good for the world" - I discovered the concepts of circular and doughnut economics - and found my new passion. I followed this, learning as much as I could, while I was shifted into a new team to develop RMIT University's whole of group 10-year strategy. At the end of this project, I was allowed to choose where in the organisation I wanted to work, and fortunately, we'd recently won a huge sum of money (hundreds of millions) to do some innovation and social/environmental impact research.
Together with some of the leaders I really loved working with, we created a new team to oversee and maximise the effectiveness of this multi-million program of work, and I took on a position as a special advisor of the circular economy research lab as well.
However, after some time in this position, I found that most of my time was being spent on doing very vague work - largely, stakeholder management, project management, and high-level direction setting, and I began to realise that I missed working with tangible data and input, and creating tangible solutions for the causes I was passionate about.
So, I started applying to Masters Programs to build a specialisation in this area, while working in another consulting job to make some money to come to France to study!
An overview of almost all key aspects of sustainability in business
The MMS does three key things
1) It "unschools" you from traditional business school thinking - challenging linear thinking methods and traditional understandings of corporate strategy.
2) It helps you understand the problems we are facing - with solid introductory units to climate change, waste, etc. so we know what we are solving for and why
3) It introduces you to tools and fields in which we are tackling these challenges - ranging from responsible supply chains, to sustainable finance and impact investment.
The chance to explore so many fields, and become clear on my next step
With such a broad range of units in the program, we have the privelege of being exposed to many different fields, companies and ideas.
This has given me ample time to think about, consider and explore different ways of solving the problems I'm really interested in.
Halfway through the progam, I was already very clear about what I wanted to focus on next.
Stay optimistic and do it for love!
You don't need alot of pre-req knowledge before coming in, as the course is well structured for an introductory level.
However, it's a tough, demanding masters, and it can also be hard to keep studying how drastic the challenge is for the environment right now.
Without an optimistic nature, and some hope for the world, and alot of love for the planet / cause you support - it can be very very tough.
