Raza Padhani
Nationality: American
Age: 34
Job title: software engineering manager at Wolt, soon-to-be entrepreneur
Previous studies: BSc in mechanical engineering at University of Florida
1. Why did you choose to go back to school for an MBA?
“My parents are entrepreneurs, and I saw them lead different parts of their small business. I’ve been working in engineering at large companies, but now I crave for more knowledge in other sectors like finance and marketing to be an entrepreneur someday. An MBA offers this. RSM overdelivers value – the programme is much better than I expected – and the diversity is excellent: Taiwanese, Chilean and Italian people all bring their experiences which enrich and provide global perspective. The Dutch students also help with networking opportunities and local business culture. There’s never a better time for an MBA – it gets harder as you age. The EMBA allows me to balance school, work and family.”
2. What is the RSM MBA culture like?
“Many of my classmates work in sustainability or other fields I didn’t know much about. We learn from people’s experiences, and how we can collaborate to make the world a better place. I’m an extravert, and relatively new to the Netherlands. I love the group projects and personal networking, also outside of school. It’s very friendly, and also serious when it comes to education and the diverse topics. We started as strangers, but the RSM community now feels like family, even the faculty and staff members.”
3. What has been the most challenging assignment or course so far?
“I love math, but finance is more than that. I took ‘entrepreneurship finance’ as an elective, plus the required ‘management finance’ class. It’s challenging because my work experience hasn’t provided me with the fundamentals of financial. The courses are taught from a top-down perspectives, and I needed reinforcement to fill this gap so I can use it in my projects.”
4. How have you applied new knowledge and skills in your current role?
“I was managing several projects at the same time. I used frameworks from the ‘leading people’ course to directly get value from one-on-one conversations. When trying to get buy-in from leaders, I also had frameworks and tools to better communicate and advocate for my teams, and extract value from what we deliver. We became more data-driven and connected that to outputs of our projects. Now all our projects have a data-driven output.” ing this, but it makes me feel grounded and gives me clarity. Leadership isn’t just about leading others, but also about understanding ourselves. People, including me at first, didn’t realise how powerful this journey is.”
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5. What impact does the Personal Leadership Development (PLD) component of the programme have on you?
“I would not have done many of these exercises on my own. It drives value when looking internally and looking for root cases of why people do things. The self-reflection assignment became the longest paper I’ve ever written. It clarified what I’m looking for in my career and family life, and why those things are important. I even ended up leaving my job!”
6. How do you plan to contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals?
“In my pursuit to entrepreneurship, I noticed younger generations look for sustainability initiatives. I actively think about how my idea can shaped towards a sustainability solution, for example from a finance, software or energy efficient point of view. I’m thrilled there’s an official RSM alumni network where I can be active and give back, and stay connected to the larger community to see what else comes out of this.”
7. How is an MBA from RSM setting you apart from your colleagues and peers?
“RSM’s MBA offers diversity and European perspectives in ways of doing business instead of a single way of doing business like in the USA. The class size is really important too. It’s amazing to come to school and see around 80 good friends. Top programmes in the USA can have more than 800 people, it’s hard to know everyone and hard to build deep relationships.”
8. Has your MBA journey changed your outlook on your career?
“RSM’s MBA has reinforced my entrepreneurial dreams, and given me the motivation to take big steps, like leaving a good job to do something bigger for myself. I’m confident that my entrepreneurial journey will work out, which is why I freed up time to take advantage of RSM’s elective ‘Entrepreneurship through acquisition’ and getting to know the processes, peers and the professors in this course. I definitely like being in the Netherlands, it’s a great place to build a family and a business.”