When Luca Fiorentino left his job as a pilot, he decided to expand his employment prospects beyond the aviation industry. AGSM @ UNSW Business School’s Full-Time MBA gave him the platform he needed to take his career to new heights.
“I’m someone who always wants to challenge themselves and learn something new. I want to choose my challenge, and I want plenty to choose from. So, I enrolled in the MBA,” Luca says.
The AGSM MBA program gave Luca the opportunity to develop a strong sense of his professional identity – something that can be difficult to find early on in your career. He describes the program as a transformative experience, one that opened many doors for his next chapter.
“As a junior professional, you’re often busy being who you think you’re supposed to be, as opposed to offering your unique perspective,” Luca says.
“During my MBA, I had a chance to learn who I am in my work. It offered me the freedom to push my boundaries and find out that I offer a higher level of unique value when I’m busy being myself.”
Agile thinking to take on new challenges
On top of this personal growth, the course provided Luca with a high-level generalist skillset, meaning he could apply this newfound value in a professional context.
“Structured problem solving, process thinking, leadership & communication skills and a broader situational awareness. Once you’ve found your unique value, you need this generalist skillset to unlock and apply it,” he says.
“They are immensely powerful tools – not just in business, but in many aspects of life. They allow you to think flexibly, so as the subject matter changes, your ability to succeed need not. The MBA gives you a strong start with that skillset.”
With AGSM’s globally-ranked MBA program also comes valuable industry connections, bolstered by the graduate school’s exceptional reputation. Luca experienced this first-hand, seizing the opportunities that became available.
“My work experience prior to the MBA was as a pilot and as a flight operations analyst. During the MBA, I was booking coffees with Directors of Strategy at major banks. I think this illustrates the unique opportunities available through AGSM’s partnerships.”
“People who can open doors started giving me the time of day. That took me from believing that I could do the job to believing that I’ll get the job,” Luca said.
A transformational opportunity
After completing the program and briefly dipping back into the aviation industry, Luca connected with the Career Accelerator @ AGSM team to tap into other industry networks that could lead to future opportunities. That led him to his new role as a Senior Consultant with ADAPTOVATE.
Two out of the three founders of ADAPTOVATE are AGSM Alumni. Their willingness to hire AGSM graduates demonstrates the business school’s reputation and dedication to maintaining strong industry relationships.
“When I was finally ready to make the switch out of aviation, I let the AGSM careers team know and worked with them to really understand what I wanted in my next role. Based on this conversation, they recommended ADAPTOVATE, and I’m very grateful that they did. They booked an initial interview for me. After passing the interview process, I was hired as a Senior Consultant, trained, and started working with major clients. The rest is history.”
ADAPTOVATE helps organisations transform at scale to meet changing market conditions and increasingly sophisticated customer demands. Consultants partner with clients to embed new ways of working supported by cultural change, delivering transformation in large organisations, individual business units, and start-ups.
“Everything changes so fast these days. Across most industries, business leaders are asking “How can we, not just keep up, but keep ahead?”
ADAPTOVATE helps organisations to learn and adapt faster. This allows them deliver new value to customers quicker and therefore thrive in a fast-paced, modern market.
In practice, the transformation requires, not just procedural adjustments, but a change in mindset. A new idea about what is important. A new, nimble way to make decisions and to think about risk and failure, learning and success.”
The immersive nature of AGSM’s Full-Time MBA program helped Luca see the potential of transformative change, for those who are open to it.
“There’s a difference between simply learning the course content and opening up to a whole new way of thinking. If you’re looking for a transformational experience, you may need to immerse yourself in a transformational space. And from my experience, AGSM’s MBA program is that kind of space,” Luca says.
