A Team Approach to Learning and Leadership
Cristian Stanciu is director of sales for Master Electronics, a privately held corporation that takes both teamwork and continuing education very seriously. He has attended the Aligning Strategy and Sales program at Harvard Business School (HBS) Executive Education but most recently returned for the Strategy: Building and Sustaining Competitive Advantage program. Here he talks about his company's investment in executive education and the benefits of learning from multiple viewpoints.
What lasting impact have you seen from programs you've attended?
For Aligning Strategy and Sales, we were all tasked to look for ideas that we could implement within Master Electronics. We've started several initiatives as a result. One of them, customer segmentation, came directly from Aligning Strategy and Sales. We've been analyzing that information to better understand customer behavior. We put our customers in tiers and, depending on where they may fall within a certain tier, we've been able to improve their experience and, as a result, sell more. We actually do our own case studies with our leadership in our corporate quarterly business reviews.
What were you hoping to accomplish by returning to HBS?
The Aligning Strategy and Sales program was perfectly structured for what we were trying to accomplish at that time. The idea was to come back and enrich our leadership and add more skills. We had some validation—we're doing well and noticed that the things we are doing within Master are the same as those being done at other companies and align with what is being taught at HBS as well. But where do we go next? How do we maintain that? What's going to be our next edge in our industry? This was what was intriguing about this course, and I'm excited to take what I've learned back to our corporation.
Has it been helpful to have colleagues here at the program with you?
Yes, definitely. I have a colleague here now taking Strategy: Building and Sustaining Competitive Advantage as well. And two weeks ago, two other colleagues—who had already taken this program—attended another of HBS's leadership programs. We take a very team-based approach at Master Electronics. After Aligning Strategy and Sales, we were developing a presentation for our leadership on potential initiatives. We found that our ideas and takeaways from the program were similar, but we all brought something a little different to the table based on our own learning and backgrounds.
Have any of the case studies really resonated with you?
Several, actually. Going in, a case might seem like it's not particularly relevant. For example, we studied a Disney case, and at first I thought, how could that apply to a wholesale distribution company like ours? But the ideas of corporate strategy and how to align different business units do apply within many different industries. Another of my favorites was Netflix, which had to do with inventory and cost, which are familiar issues in our business.
Do you have any advice for someone attending a program for the first time?
The first time around, I didn't take preparation as seriously as I did the second time. I would say, really immerse yourself in the content that's provided. Do your homework, do your reading, and understand the questions presented, because it does pay off to be prepared and able to contribute. And really take advantage of everything that's offered here, all the resources, all the material.
When I'm on campus, I keep a separate notepad for ideas. It could be one or two words, a sentence, a buzzword, or something someone says. I write them down so that I can think about them further when I return to Master. I keep these notes separate and revisit them specifically.
A lot of people worry about stepping away from work to come and immerse themselves here on campus. Many people at your organization have done this and continue to attend programs. Could you talk about the support you receive from your organization?
Yes, our CEO has attended the Owner/President Management program, so this direction comes right down from the top. We have great leaders in our company who can support our teams without us being there. During the program, it's important to focus on why you're here and take time to really reflect on what you're learning. You're here to learn from your business, about your business, but more importantly to learn from other businesses and understand how you can apply that to your own. It's very important to disconnect and not worry about that email you haven't responded to or that fire you need to put out.