To move his business forward, Oscar Onyema wants new ideas to keep flowing. By attending the Advanced Management Program (AMP) at Harvard Business School, he not only updated his knowledge of strategy and best practices, but he also gained a global, cross-industry perspective that is helping him see his business—and his continent—with new eyes.
Why did you decide to attend AMP?
I'll never stop learning. Everyone needs to continually improve themselves and keep knowledge up-to-date. Best practices from 15 years ago are not necessarily on the cutting edge of business today.
I knew it was the right time to immerse myself in the latest thinking on business issues—and learn some new tricks. I chose Harvard Business School because of its reputation for excellence in teaching and research across the business spectrum. It took about two years to arrange everything so I could leave the office for eight weeks to attend AMP. This presented an opportunity to test out my organization's out-of-office policy and succession plans, and to see how well my colleagues could handle the challenge.
How did AMP help revitalize your thinking?
AMP humbles you. You come in and you think you're a rock star. Then you meet 160 other people who think they are rock stars too. As the program progresses, you find you did not know as much as you thought you did.
AMP pushes you to think critically about business issues. After 15 or 20 years in a career, it's easy to become complacent and think, "I've done it before—even on different continents. How hard can it be?" But something as simple as deciding to cut costs by 10 percent might have unintended consequences that most senior managers wouldn't think through properly. The consequences may not surface in the next one or two years, but rather five years down the road. AMP brings you back to reality, forcing you to do the necessary analysis and to think about a problem from many angles.
AMP allowed me to look inward, develop my emotional intelligence, broaden my thinking—and consider how decisions I make will impact all of the various stakeholders.
How did the other AMP participants enhance the learning?
AMP brought together amazing leaders from all over the world, put us in a pot, and stirred us up! We were all looking at the same cases, but people brought different perspectives, which put many ideas on the table.
Similarly, the living-group structure united people from different parts of the world and prompted us to expose our strengths and weaknesses and our experience in order to collaborate effectively.
What was it like to study an HBS case?
The cases are a very effective way of learning because you are immersed in the process as you put yourself in the position of the protagonist in a real business situation and try to find solutions to the problem.
You start a case by thinking about it individually, and then you discuss it in the living group. One or two people in our living group were appointed to dig deeper into each case and make a presentation to the group. When you get into the classroom to discuss the case, it's a different ballgame—people were coming up with all kinds of ideas that no one in our living group had thought of.
How did AMP expand your knowledge of other countries?
My business is a very global one. We run a market that is roughly $110 billion—across equities, exchange-traded funds, and fixed income products. It's a good mix of companies and the trade is international. That's why it was so helpful to learn about so many different countries—their economies and business approaches—in AMP.
For example, when we started studying the case on South Africa, I thought I knew Africa well—I had been to South Africa many times on business. But the case showed an entirely different side of the country. I realized that it's impossible to decouple today's reality from the country's history. By looking at South Africa in detail—the inflation numbers, consumption, investments, savings, culture, and all of that—and then hearing the perspective of the South Africans in the room, I developed a much greater appreciation for the complexities of the country. My company has been trying to evolve our relationship with the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, and I'll now be able to approach this relationship with a much greater understanding of the challenges faced in South Africa.
Which faculty members or program topics stood out?
While the faculty had very different styles, they were all great. Ranjay Gulati, the head of the program, was like an anchor. He took a very measured approach and imparted great insights on leadership. I particularly enjoyed Das Narayandas's energy and enthusiasm. You have to go into his class well prepared, because he's the master of the cold call.
My favorite program topic was strategy. I take a broad corporate view, and I'm always thinking about strategy and execution. I learned a lot by looking at my business from the perspective of the five forces model presented in AMP and trying to position myself to create value, today and in the future.
How has AMP changed the way you look at your business?
I learned in strategy class that people who have implemented a successful idea have a hard time evolving that idea. We've had a lot of success, but AMP has pushed me to question every aspect of what we're doing and think about how we can continue to improve the organization. It's not a task I want to undertake by myself—I want my colleagues to participate, too. We need to be the best that we can be in every aspect of our business.
I expect to send at least one person annually to AMP or the General Management Program or maybe to other programs because it takes more than one person to maximize the impact—to really infuse the organization with new information and processes. In addition, educating more people will put more diverse ideas on the table and enrich the organization.
How would you summarize the program's value?
The reason Harvard has such a good reputation as an international center of learning is the quality of the professors, the method of teaching—the case method—the quality of the people who are participating, and finally, the setting. Mixing all of that together produces something very special.
For any CEO looking to build and fine-tune leadership skills and understand different industries, cultures, and countries, I would highly recommend AMP. It gives you an opportunity to take a step back from the organization, to learn and think intensively about business. As a result, you see your organization through a new pair of eyes when you return.
AMP's closing sessions were very, very emotional for me. The faculty really put a lot of their skills, their hearts, and their minds into imparting amazing knowledge to us. Bringing all of that to a close was difficult. They taught us not just to be good managers and good leaders, but also to be good people. They taught us that we must have a sense of purpose in life, and that we must positively impact the communities in which we live and work.