Kristine Ileto, COO of Alger-Triton International and Studio AT, Inc., wanted to improve her decision-making and negotiating skills as well as examine her own leadership style. Having previously attended the High Potentials Leadership Program at Harvard Business School (HBS) Executive Education, she chose Behavioral Economics: Understanding and Shaping Customer and Employee Behavior as her next step towards completing the Certificate of Management Excellence. Looking back on her learning experiences, she describes how they have shaped her approach to leadership.
The Behavioral Economics program appealed to me because I deal with many client and employee issues in my day-to-day, and I thought it would be the perfect next step towards earning HBS's Certificate of Management Excellence. I decided to pursue this certification as a commitment to learning and elevating myself.
There were two main takeaways for me: avoiding bias when making decisions and learning how to positively influence others. I plan to apply what I learned by changing myself first and then implementing those methods of thinking and decision-making in my interactions with others.
I definitely learned that my leadership style is to lead by example. I can attest that I am now a much better leader because of what I learned and experienced in that program. It gave me a much-needed boost in confidence as a leader and a much more polished tool set for achieving success.
My favorite part was interacting with other participants and faculty. Group activities are a great way to learn, and there are multiple activities in and out of the classroom that allow many opportunities for you to share your ideas and express your individual opinions. Because you are no longer in your own "work bubble" and are exposed to others' professional experiences, you learn from another dimension that you do not normally see in your day-to-day. These interactions eventually allow you develop bonds with your co-participants that go beyond the classroom. I continue to touch base with my friends from HBS, and we act as each other’s mentors, professional advisors, and sounding boards. These interactions are what I value most.
I have been telling potential HBS program attendees that they will take away as much as they invest. The more they apply themselves, the more they will learn. My takeaways came from the classroom half of the time, but the other half came from interactions with peers, insights that I was able to develop on my own, and simply the experience of being there. That, for me, summarizes the HBS experience.
