Most of us have a brand we like. It might be a clothing firm, a manufacturer of computers or a maker of fine perfume and cosmetics. Whatever it is, your brand of choice will combine certain distinctive qualities, expertise, accomplishments and attributes. You go back to this brand again and again because it consistently meets or exceeds your expectations. It has the ability to inspire and surprise you. It is a brand you can trust.  

Human beings also have their own brand or personal image. A cursory Google search can usually reveal plenty about you – whether you want it to or not. Your LinkedIn or Facebook profile, posts, tweets and comments all form a comprehensive social snapshot – your own personal brand image – presented to the world, enabling other people to forge those all-important first impressions about who you are and what you stand for. 

And it matters – more perhaps than you might think.  Because having a strong personal brand is absolutely critical to your ability to influence, be it within an organisation, an industry or society at large. So the question is: are you happy to allow Brand You to evolve without your agency; or is it wiser to take some kind of control over your image? 

Personal branding has become a hot topic with the advent of social media and instantly available information. Increasingly, shrewd executives are enacting thoughtful measures to proactively craft and shape their own personal brand, in order to extend the reach of their influence and leadership within their organisation and beyond.  

There are many techniques and tactics that you can use to help define and optimise your personal brand. Here are some. 

1. Understand you 

What do you value? What motivates you and what do you seek to accomplish? What defines your brand identity and meanings? To strengthen your personal brand, you need to truly understand yourself, and that means making time for a little introspection and reflection. The goal is to identify the key personal elements that you can leverage to elicit positive responses in others, and that allow you to build an authentic personal brand that engenders trust and loyalty. And remember that even the strongest corporate brands can change and evolve over time, so try not to be too rigid or restrictive in your analysis, and do look ahead and around you. Self-reflection is an ongoing and iterative process – it can include feedback from trusted colleagues, friends and family.  

2. Shape your narrative 

We all come from a journey, and we all have a story to tell. Dedicate the time and work on your communication skills, and craft a narrative that encapsulates your expertise and your vision in a way that will resonate with your audience(s) – be they colleagues, team members, external stakeholders or the C-suite. Your narrative should do multiple jobs. It has to be a kind of elevator pitch for you and your values, capabilities and experiences; at the same time, it has to convey a vision for the future – your future, your company’s or industry’s future – that speaks to key stakeholders in a way that is both emotionally and cognitively engaging. And it has to be clear, understandable and relevant. Why not look again at your LinkedIn profile or curriculum and develop a narrative that you feel best reflects the best of you? And try to think proactively about the rational and emotional responses you would like to elicit in others. Remember, you can and should adapt your narrative to different audiences with different needs and expectations. 

3. Be consistent 

Among the values people appreciate in leaders are authenticity, integrity and transparency. If you have done the work of self-analysis and crafted a narrative that truly reflects who you are, stick to it. And remember that your physical demeanour, your body language, the way you speak to others, even the clothes you wear all form a part of your personal brand. Great brands are built by delivering a consistent message across all touchpoints. What are your key touchpoints and how can you ensure they are all creating a cohesive and consistent experience? Be mindful that even small discrepancies or inconsistencies can detract from the image you want to build and share, and lead to brand dilution. Also, in today’s world where the boundaries between home and working life are increasingly blurred, be prepared for your actual lifestyle and your brand to be the same thing. Because of this, your personal brand should be much more than the sum of your professional accomplishments or job titles.  

4. Be inspired

If there is someone whose personal brand inspires you, take note of what they do and how they do it. What is the secret to their success? And how can you adapt this and make it applicable to you without compromising your authenticity? Former First Lady, Michelle Obama is hugely adept at utilising more informal media or platforms to extend her reach – and simultaneously convey the message that she is authentic and accessible. She has used Snapchat to speak to younger people, appeared on chat shows and let her hair down, singing and dancing in front of the camera while still in the White House. Think about what your brand icon stands for, does or says and search for the takeaways for yourself.  

5. Stand for something

Define that thing that you would like to be remembered for and make it your North Star. Whether it’s a concrete outcome or actions, a personal approach or modus operandi, whether it’s a statement or a set of instantly recognisable values, decide what you want your legacy to be, and strive towards making it a reality. 

There is no one size fits all in building your personal brand. And as we said earlier, your own brand will evolve and change over the course of time. But being conscious of the benefits of carefully crafting your personal brand and image will help you gain the recognition and respect in your field to advance in your career and life. 

“What important truth about how brands grow do very few people agree with you on?”

If you know the answer to this question then your brand should be in great shape. It will give you a competitive edge and will free you from the weight of competition.

Most of the answers we get to this question are unimportant, untruthful, are already in the public domain, or all three. If you have insights that are both important and truthful that’s great, but there is no competitive advantage if everyone agrees with you on it.

If you know what everyone else knows – and nearly all corporate strategy and brand strategy documents look alike  - then don’t expect to transform your brand’s performance.

I’ve worked in partnership with Imperial College Business School to offer a unique open course that focuses on driving brand growth and meets three simple but crucial criteria:

1. It is important. Everything you learn relates to achieving growth and doing so at a lower cost to the business – no exceptions.
2. It is truthful. The content strongly correlates with growth to a near-perfect level (almost 90% correlation across over eighty categories and thousands of brands).
3. Few people agree with it. We’ve surveyed over 16,000 business leaders and marketing experts and they get most of the answers to our quiz about how to drive profitable brand growth wrong!

The business literature is littered with cases of big and many famous brands that have invested tens of $millions in reaching out to their target audiences, only to see sales and revenue fall off a cliff. Why does that happen?

Basically, it's due to failures on two fronts; first there has been an absence of evidence of what's worked (and what hasn't) until now, and second, if aware of the evidence, brands have been unable to adjust their growth strategies and tactics accordingly. 

Here are three examples of brands that failed to keep up with these developments:

1. JC Penney launched a new “Fair and Square” pricing strategy which saw prices drop by an average of 40%. Within a few months, store traffic and sales had tanked by 20%. By 2014, the retailer had lost $6bn in annual revenue.  
2. Burger King had also invested vast sums in Marketing and R&D over the years, but revenue plummeted from $2.5bn in 2010 to $1.1bn by 2015 and is very slowly recovering.  
3. Proctor & Gamble wrote down the value of its iconic Gillette brand by $8bn in 2019.

If you know what everyone else knows – and nearly all corporate strategy and brand strategy documents look alike  - then don’t expect to transform your brand’s performance.

In the last 12 years, we have worked with over two hundred brands to understand the dynamics and the true drivers of profitable business growth. The most important discovery was to find there were discrepancies between what businesses thought and what customers thought, felt and did, and how to influence their buying behaviour.

Not only were these brands missing out on opportunities to grow, but they were spending much more on marketing than they needed to as they later found out.

In 2021, we have woven all of these insights and understanding into a new programme for business leaders and marketers who are 100% committed to seeing their brands start to fly or fly again and 100% open-minded about how to do that.

The Strategic Brand Transformation Imperial Virtual Programme is an intense three-day programme on transformational thinking about brands.

1. It will challenge you. Growth is hard but it’s easier when you know the truth about how to do it. And even more likely if you know things that are true that your competitors don’t.
2. It reveals little-known content. Knowing about the strengths and limitations of the brain; how customers make their buying decisions and getting deeper insights into customers buying behaviour are the foundations of the program and the foundations of any transformation strategy.
3. It uses our award-winning online learning Hub. We will deliver live, interactive sessions, hands-on, break-out group activities, case study analysis, problem-solving, peer discussion and personalised self-assessment.

Led by myself and Imperial’s Dr Omar Merlo, an expert in strategic marketing and customer engagement, the programme will bring together a diverse range of professionals who hold responsibility for innovation and growth: business leaders, C-suite executives, strategy leaders, marketing and brand managers and customer experience managers who will combine and challenge your thinking, ideas and understanding.

What can you expect to learn from the programme?

By knowing more about the brain, how customers make buying decisions, what behaviour to influence and how to influence them, your thinking can only be more robust and more effective. Through this way of thinking you can engineer real change in your organisation, at a time of unprecedented change, uncertainty and untested economic conditions.

In the past few months, I have advised candidates on their application and the interview process. The experience often reminds me of when I was an anxious applicant. I feel that a few things would be super beneficial for prospective students to know before they start applying.

Read the  ‘Admissions’ section of the website thoroughly

The MSc Management programme's admissions section has very detailed and useful information regarding application progress every step of the way. I remember over a year ago I was reading Imperial's website carefully and that helped to answer almost all my generic questions regarding entry requirements and the process.

Doing so gave me a clear direction and plan of how I should proceed and how to organise my material and made me aware of what I might miss and where I might need help. I can't stress enough that you should go through the admissions pages before reaching out to staff and students of the programme.

Dig out insider information

When applicants come to me with questions which are already answered on the website, they will likely get very similar answers because I often refer to the website when typing in my responses. To create meaningful interactions with people in the Business School, I strongly suggest that applicants ask questions that can only be answered by 'insiders'.

For example, which modules are interesting, which clubs are fun and active and what services Careers provide. Such first-hand information assists you in demonstrating genuine interest in the School in your personal statement. Additionally, it helps you to further understand if the School fits your academic or career goals.

Set up a positive mindset

Applying for a prestigious institute like Imperial College Business School is daunting and stressful. It is crucial to have a healthy mindset so that you can benefit from the application process no matter what the final result is. When I was applying for a Master's, I found the process itself to be rewarding.

Figuring out which programme to study and how best to present myself to the Admissions team offered me a valuable opportunity to reflect on my personal and professional life, which I should have done a long time ago.

In hindsight, reaching out to Student Ambassadors also helps candidates to build meaningful relationships with the alumni early on, which is beneficial to future studying and job hunting.

Back in 2019, the Bank of England made a prediction. The future for financial services, it said, would be built to a very great extent around machine learning. And this stands to reason.

We are living in an era where artificial intelligence is increasingly integrated into every aspect of life. Across industries, the transformative potential of these technologies is becoming abundantly clear – from the significant savings in costs, time and human error to leveraging data for insights to drive decision-making and competitive edge, when it comes to AI, the sky it seems is the limit. For banking alone, a 2020 McKinsey report suggests that AI technologies could amount to a whopping $1 trillion of additional annual value globally.

What then is holding some financial services players back from fully exploiting the promise of machine? Why are so many firms still struggling to implement machine learning models at scale?

Partly there’s fear; fear of the new, of change, of the unknown. This era, dubbed The Fourth Industrial Revolution, is characterised by extraordinary technology-driven transformations; so-called cyber-physical systems that are reshaping the way we live and work. And an unstoppable digitisation of everything from onboarding to compliance and fraud detection, to loans and investments.

Beyond fear, there’s a lack of clarity about how to use AI – where to deploy it, and where not to; and how to build the right strategies to integrate and fully leverage it across the organisation.

Many firms today still grapple with inflexible core technology systems – outmoded or under-invested systems that fail to function as a single, centralised data backbone. Data assets are often fragmented across business and technology silos, while legacy operating models make collaboration between these teams difficult if not impossible.

Meanwhile the pace of change continues to quicken unabated. The Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated many of the big trends in digital engagement and digitisation globally - so much so that for financial executives the choice has become very simple: understand AI or risk being left behind.

Here are a few things that you need to know if you want get ahead of the curve, compete successfully and thrive in the new normal.

1. AI should be the foundation for new value propositions and distinctive customer experiences.

Remember, AI technologies can help your firm:

• Lower costs through the efficiencies created by optimal resource allocation, automation of time-heavy processes and reduced error rates.
• Increase revenues by enabling the personalisation of services offered to customers.
• Boost innovation and identify new opportunities by processing huge amounts of data for critical information and game-changing insights.

2. AI helps you cut through the noise, and make better decisions

In financial services, the pain is real. Sifting noisy and complex data sets with endless potential scenarios is not only very hard for human beings, but it also comes with a huge risk of making mistakes – and expensive ones. Machine learning algorithms can perform these tasks at a fraction of the time. They can distinguish between significant patterns and anomalous ones in nano-seconds. And they can be used to help analysts distil hundreds of potential indicators for future investment returns into a few robust measures. This is a technology that can synthesise massive amounts of data and make fresh insights – so you can make well-informed decisions.

3. AI can help personalise your customer services

There is a growing appetite among customers for the personalisation of services and products that extends to financial services. A 2019 survey by Accenture found that one in two banking customers were open to things like personal conversations and targeted product marketing. AI-powered data sifting and social listening can provide a wealth of data and insights about customer preferences, needs, interests and pain points – insights that can be deployed to drive engagement, improve the customer experience and increase retention while reducing costly turnover rates.

4. AI can help you find new customers

Lead generation is both labour and time-intensive. But AI can take the pain out of the process by parsing multiple factors – individual characteristics, profitability, costs, potential for growth – to create an ideal customer profile. It can also be used to find the ideal customer in external data sources and identify the best tactics for approaching individuals. And it can do all this fast.

5. AI brings its own challenges too

AI is a whizz at seeing patterns and extracting them for decision-making. But when those patterns connect to historic data points that in turn tie to bias, the risk of customer dissatisfaction and bad publicity are all too real. Recent headlines have trumpeted around the world about poor mortgage lending to minorities and credit loans to women – all generated by “black box” AI applications. A solid rule of thumb is this: algorithms are only as good as the data they use.

The future for financial services is inexorably tied to the future of technology.

To fully exploit the promise of machine learning, executives need to be knowledgeable about AI, and that means understanding the (huge) benefits it represents, while being able to navigate the risks. Ignoring its promise means being left behind and rendered obsolete. Astute firms are making the investment in building a rock-solid foundation in AI and machine learning, exploring the future of innovation in financial services and developing practical techniques that can be implemented today.  

Programmes like the Imperial College Business School online AI & Machine Learning in Financial Services are here to educate leaders about these AI applications in their industry and are vitally important for leaders in understanding the realm of the possible – and the potential risks that exist along the way.

My heart skips a beat. I have been accepted to my top programme of choice, MSc Management at Imperial College Business School. But how did I get there? Well it was quite the long journey.

The beginning

A few years ago, I finished my Bachelor’s degree. Having finished my studies in the UK and fallen in love with London, I was faced with a dilemma. Either start a Master’s degree straight away or work for a bit before doing a Master’s degree afterwards. I accepted a job with a technology company with the idea in mind of working there one to two years and then going back to full time study. 

The decision

A little more than a year later, I had just gotten promoted, but I still yearned to learn more and get a Master’s. I decided to look into different Master’s programmes in December to be on time to apply to any Master’s programme I might want. After looking into different Master’s programmes, MSc Management caught my eye, due to modules like Innovation Management and Marketing Decisions, and the unique opportunities the programme offers, such as exchanges in foreign countries and a great network.

To make sure I was making the right decision, I reached out to different people who have studied at Imperial College Business School, in particular the programme that I was interested in. All I got were stellar reviews, with people telling me how much they enjoyed their time at Imperial and the learnings they got there. 

I watched some videos of students who did the programme and made my final decision. MSc Management was my top choice, a programme that will help me reach new heights, whether in startups, multinational companies or even my own business one day.

The hard work begins

While working a full-time job, I needed to do the full process of applying to Imperial, starting with getting my transcripts translated then sending them back to my school. I also needed to write cover letters, explaining why I wanted to join the MSc Management programme and Imperial College London. Although intensive, the application process is straightforward and after completing my interview, all that was left for me was to wait. 

Three weeks after completing my interview for the programme, I got THE email; I’d been accepted to Imperial! I felt excited and relieved, knowing that the next year would be spent meeting tremendous people and learning new skills that will last me a lifetime!

Why not do it too?

If you’re reading this blog, you’re probably thinking of applying, you’re starting to apply or you have already applied. If you’re in the same situation as I was, it might be difficult to write cover letters, do video interviews, contact your previous professors for reference letters and work full-time on the side, but with motivation, you can do it all and get the Master’s programme of your dreams! 

In my experience, it is best to set aside time to do your research before choosing a Master’s programme and a school — you’ll be investing a whole year here, so make sure it is what you want. 

Start this search early on so you then have time to apply for your chosen programme without any stress. Speak to current or former students, we’ll always be available to help you out! 

Also, practice before your interview — make sure you have read the programme thoroughly and you know why you are applying and what excites you about the programme. 

Most importantly, remember that through the late nights writing cover letters, you can and will do it! Good luck to you on your journey to Imperial.

I am currently studying MSc Business Analytics (online delivery, part-time) at Imperial College Business School. This blog talks about the factors to consider when choosing a part-time Master’s and my experience while studying at Imperial.

Most students who pursue a part-time Master’s do it for different reasons than full-time students. From my experience, most part-time students study for a Master’s after working for some time and have family and work commitments while studying. Most people studying part-time also work full-time in similar fields to what they are studying. So if you are looking for a part-time programme, the factors that influence what programme you choose would vary, but not be entirely different.

Some common factors are as follows:

A well-connected, intelligent cohort

The importance of networking cannot be overstated. The most significant advantage of studying part-time is that the students studying with you have significant experience and are potentially working in important positions in your field of interest. The diversity of knowledge that these peers provide in class discussions, group projects and regular conversations is beneficial and unparalleled.

At Imperial, these benefits are augmented with the focus on group assignments, and on-campus connects.

Flexibility

Students studying part-time programmes often have to juggle studying, a full-time job and family obligations. Additionally, in online programmes, the time zone differences can cause problems during live classes and interactions with peers.

In my modules, every live class is taken twice at different times on the same day with the same content to accommodate students from different time-zones. Sufficient time is provided for coursework, assignments and submissions. For example, every week there is a half hour test which can be started anytime during the weekend.

A programme rooted in reality

Part-time students are experts in their field. One of the main reasons a student might pursue a part-time Master’s is to understand how concepts are applied across different domains and industries. 

For example, in data science, the same regression and classification principles are used across various fields from finance to supply chains for solving different types of problems. There is an emphasis on real-world case studies, and industry exposure on the MSc Business Analytics programme.

Relevant and useful programme content

Most part-time students pursue higher education to gain a better understanding of the basics of their profession, looking for a more fundamental understanding of the concepts. Students also look out for broadly useful topics that they are unfamiliar with.  

For example, my programme core modules starts with the basics in technology (Data Structures) and maths (Maths and Statistics Foundations for Analytics) and builds on these foundations. I have worked on machine learning, but I have never worked on deep learning or unsupervised learning which I am studying in the Machine Learning module. Even with machine learning, I know the practical aspects and implementation, and I am learning the nuts and bolts in this programme.

Is Executive Education worth it?

When you’re making an investment in anything, you need to be sure about the return. Executive Education is no exception.

Whether you are an individual looking to accelerate your career development or an organisation with strategic development goals for leaders and employees, investing in management training implies time, effort and money. And in moments of acute uncertainty and complexity, when the future feels anything but secure, it’s natural to wonder if that time, effort and money mightn’t be better spent addressing the immediate challenges of the here and now.

Why then do so many business leaders and organisations prioritise executive training precisely when times are toughest or most complex? What’s in it for them? What makes Executive Education worth it, especially when the chips are down?

We consulted our programme participants, programme directors and faculty here at Imperial to understand how they see the value of Executive Education.

Here’s what they told us.

1. Address actual, real-world dilemmas

Executive Education programmes look at the real problems that businesses and leaders face today. At Imperial, our programmes for executives are expertly calibrated to the most relevant issues, challenges and trends impacting leadership development, strategy, sustainability and innovation. They address the live issues that decision-makers need to grapple with, by integrating the very latest thinking and technological insights from Imperial faculty with action-based, focused learning experiences that build practical, applicable skills. From digital transformation to design thinking, from risk management to machine learning for decision-making, our Executive programmes equip you to tackle the things you face today, and tomorrow.

2. Address your specific challenges

Executive programmes are firmly rooted in the real-world and relevant – and that includes those specific areas of focus that you and your organisation need to address. Imperial Executive programmes look at topics as specific and diverse as strategic brand transformation or AI and machine learning in the financial services space. Organisations also have the option of a custom programme – a bespoke learning experience 100% tailored to the individual needs of the business.

3. Tap into world-class expertise

Executive Education programmes are designed and delivered by the foremost business thinkers and practitioners. At Imperial, our faculty are world-renowned, with academic expertise that spans innovation and entrepreneurship, quantitative finance and healthcare management. As advisors and researchers, Imperial faculty maintain the closest ties to industry, commerce and government – a rich and privileged network of excellence that fully informs your learning experience.

4. Rethink the big issues

Business never stops. Yet it’s important for decision-makers to take the time to pause, to reflect and to rethink their challenges, solutions and approaches. Executive Education affords leaders a safe, secure and honest space to look at the critical issues afresh; to experiment, to learn, to unlearn, and to try out new ideas. It provides a unique opportunity to innovate and to find different ways to drive growth.

5. Broaden perspectives

When you are navigating complexity, you’re going to want to see the biggest picture possible. You will want to see problems in all of their dimensions, and to leverage a diversity of views as you find solutions. The Executive Education classroom – whether it’s on-campus, online or virtual – exposes you a breadth of perspectives; peer insights and expertise that spans multiple sectors and geographies. You quite literally learn to see the same problem from a host of different angles.

6. Network, network, network

The Executive Education experience doesn’t end when the programme concludes. At Imperial, the ties and bonds you build in the classroom endure for years. Completing an Executive programme entitles you to membership of the prestigious Imperial College Business School Alumni network; a 19,450-strong cohort of business leaders from a diversity of sectors spanning more than 140 countries. And each year, we deliver a full range of dynamic events, services and resources to keep you connected to each other and to ongoing opportunities to learn and to build new skills.

7. Strengthen alignment

For organisations, investing in Executive programmes for individuals is an investment in strategic talent. It signals to your top people that you are invested in their professional development and their capabilities as trusted decision-makers. It is a means of securing engagement, commitment and loyalty where it matters most. Similarly, custom programmes empower business organisations to build critical awareness, buy-in and alignment around strategic goals – and drive better results through cohesion and collaboration between and across your teams.

8. Accelerate performance

Executive Education is about solving concrete problems and delivering concrete results. At Imperial, learning is actionable – that means that the individuals and organisations that come to our programmes leave with knowledge, insights and frameworks that can be applied for immediate and lasting impact. Whether it’s building leadership capabilities, developing new products, ventures or even markets or improving operations for sustainable growth, our Executive programmes accelerate performance exponentially – giving you and your organisation the resilience and the competitive edge to thrive under pressure, and to navigate the uncertainty ahead with certainty and confidence.

There has arguably never been less certainty in our world than there is right now.

The Covid-19 pandemic caught countries, markets, industries and sectors of every description completely off guard at the start of 2020. Within the first three months of the new year, economy after economy had shut down; the impact of stay-at-home measures and social distancing constituting a financial shock unparalleled in modern times – far greater in scale and scope than the Great Recession of 2008. Businesses, organisations and institutions around the globe have had to adapt, and fast. Some have fared better than others, some have pivoted their business model to respond and even thrive in the so-called new normal. Others have shut up shop indefinitely.

If the global health crisis has shaken the world to its core – laying bare the vulnerabilities and weaknesses in our systems and structures and exposing geopolitical tensions that risk international trade and cohesion – it has also delivered critical lessons.

The most important lesson of all, perhaps, is the need to be prepared; to put into place the organisational resilience, the resources, the capabilities and the learning capacity to emerge safely from this crisis and to build towards a more robust, more sustainable future.

And this is the promise of Executive Education.

Building a sustainable future for you, and your organisation

So what is Executive Education? Put very simply, it is a portfolio of training and development programmes designed by business scholars and industry experts; learning experiences that empower business leaders and decision-makers to navigate the uncertainty ahead, with clarity, certainty and confidence.

Executive programmes are finely calibrated to address the most critical challenges and problems facing managers and their organisations. From developing the kinds of next-generation leadership competencies that businesses need in order to thrive in complexity, to building specific knowledge and skills to position you at the vanguard of digital transformation and beyond, executive education is intense, immersive and transformational learning experience – experience that delivers impact that is simultaneously immediate and enduring.

At Imperial, our suite of Executive Education programmes fully leverage the expertise, research and knowledge of our distinguished faculty –  world-renowned business scholars and practitioners who continuously identify and explore the emerging problems and the shifting megatrends that shape and reshape the global economy.

Our programmes give executives a unique opportunity to truly investigate the real issues they face as professionals, and those that face their organisation. And they give you an opportunity to do this within the safety of a learning environment geared to open and honest discussion and debate.

Our programmes also represent a unique opportunity to share and exchange insights with other leaders from diverse backgrounds – to broaden your perspective and mindset, and expand your professional and personal networks as you learn.

You choose the format, you choose the focus

Executive programmes are delivered a variety of formats at Imperial.

We offer on-campus programmes, online programmes via our state-of-the-art EdTech platform which integrate live, interactive sessions with faculty and peers.

The virtual format in particular has ensured that business leaders have been able to continue investing in their development despite the restrictions imposed by the pandemic. Meanwhile, online learning delivers the advantage of anywhere, anytime: participants can mark their own pace and tempo, without the need for travel or other types of disruption. On-campus programmes are delivered at Imperial’s stunning South Kensington campus close to the heart of London.

As part of our Executive Education promise, we offer a breadth of programmes both for individuals and for companies. Programmes for companies are called custom programmes, because they are customised and tailored to the precise and unique challenges facing a specific organisation. These are bespoke learning solutions that accelerate the development of your future leaders.

Our Executive Education offering is divided into four primary disciplines or areas of focus: Management and Leadership, Technology and Innovation, Sustainability and Health, and Finance and Strategy.

Every programme within each of these disciplines integrates the latest technological thinking and research in leadership, strategy and innovation with sector-specific deep dives in topics such as entrepreneurship, healthcare, cyber security or risk management.

Each programme also delivers hands-on, applied experiences and real-world project work, so that you have the chance to translate theory into practice into impact as you absorb exciting new ideas.

The choice is yours.

You decide the format and the focus that best meets your needs and objectives.

Because there’s never been a greater need

Whatever Executive Education is, it is, in part a solution to a problem.

There has never been a moment of greater uncertainty in our world.

To navigate the path ahead and capitalise on the promise of a better future, it is now incumbent on businesses, managers, decision-makers and the next generation of leaders to seize the opportunity to learn; to reflect on those areas of strength and those of vulnerability, to determine the capabilities necessary to thrive in this new normal – and to build those capabilities from the top-down, bottom-up, and across the entirety of your leadership, and your organisation. 

There has never been a greater need to think strategically about your future.

Nor has there been a better opportunity to do so.

Imperial College Business School offers significant scholarship funding to outstanding applicants to the Full-Time MBA.

A wide range of scholarships are available, and all self-funded candidates are automatically considered for all scholarship for which they meet the eligibility criteria and application deadlines.

Below, we find out more about some of last year's scholarship recipients, including the benefits of receiving a scholarship and their advice to applicants and future students.

Our scholarships recognise students for academic excellence and community engagement, as well as diversity-oriented scholarships for students from specific regions, LGBTQ+ students and those coming from disadvantaged background and/or have overcome adversity.

Advice to prospective students:

My advice would be to do your research. Know your goals and what you want to achieve after the MBA and plan for them to happen. Leverage the resources at Imperial as much as possible, which includes taking up leadership roles, expanding alumni networks, and committing to the Personal Leadership Journey to better understand yourself. Secondly, talk to people and ASK! Nothing is more valuable than listening to others sharing their own experiences. Build your connections even before the start of the programme, which includes getting familiar with incoming and previous cohorts as early as possible. Finally, trust that you are making the right decision and be ready to ‘unlearn and relearn’. As MBA students we often come to the programme with lots of industry knowledge, but you should still be open-minded enough to learn from new experiences that can potentially shape the future.

Advice to prospective students:

1. Aim high. Go for the best schools. You will often find that you have what it takes to get in.  
2. Don’t think about funding at the beginning. Somehow, these things have a way of sorting themselves out eventually. 
3. Be open-minded. You will find yourself changing your mind about a lot of things several times over and that is okay. 
4. Network even before you start. Talk to current students and alumni. They are incredible resources to leverage during the application process.

Advice to prospective students:

My top tips to anyone thinking of applying to the Full-Time MBA:

• Embrace the change! Be open-minded and accepting towards the new way of life
• Build meaningful bonds and friendships
• Get involved in activities outside the MBA and connect with the wider Imperial community - take advantage of all that it has to offer
• Be open to learning
• Time management is key!
• Participate in all the networking opportunities provided by the School
• Don’t take yourself too seriously and enjoy the experience!

Scholarships available for entry to the Full-Time MBA September 2022 intake include:

• Advisory Board Scholarship
• Africa Regional Scholarship
• Black Future Leader Award
• Dean’s Impact Scholarship
• Forté Fellowships for women
• Imperial Excellence Scholarship
• LATAM Regional Scholarship
• Reaching Out MBA (ROMBA Fellowship)
• Riley Family Scholarship
• Sainsbury Management Fellows’ Award