{"id":3300,"date":"2023-06-17T18:31:17","date_gmt":"2023-06-17T16:31:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newmediacreative.co.za\/afrocentric\/?p=3300"},"modified":"2023-06-20T15:05:33","modified_gmt":"2023-06-20T13:05:33","slug":"making-learning-a-priority","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newmediacreative.co.za\/afrocentric\/archives\/3300","title":{"rendered":"Making learning a priority\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Renado Campbell, Lead: Health Administration Training, has just completed his MBA, an incredible accomplishment that will propel his career well into the future. Well done!<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

What did you study?<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Master of Business Administration (MBA) with a Digital Transformation Lens. I received the top student award \u2013 second place. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How long was the course? <\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I completed this programme within 24 months, including both module work and the Capstone Consulting Project. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where did you study?<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I studied at the Johannesburg Business School, a division of the University of Johannesburg. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What sparked your interest in this course?<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Obtaining an MBA has been a lifelong dream of mine \u2013 but I never thought it would be possible. From when I was a child, learning has always been the driving force behind everything I do. We live in a dynamic economic and social climate where business remains crucial to how we live our lives. Therefore, business studies is of growing importance in our society, as we transition into a very different political and business world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As someone who has a deep interest in the role of business and the impact it has on people, I firmly believe that completing my MBA will give me the best foundation for building a career in various fields. It\u2019s the perfect blend of improving one\u2019s knowledge of business management while ensuring skills development and personal growth. It\u2019s all about pushing towards my limits and becoming the best version of myself.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now that you\u2019ve completed the course, what\u2019s next?<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Studying such a practical, real-world programme, I have been applying the concepts I have learned from subject to subject in real time. At this stage, I am pushing myself to test some of the ideas I have been cultivating to showcase my skills in the workplace and position myself for advancement; not to forget applying my soft skills to prove that I am self-driven and excellent at time management, communication and problem-solving. Those are highly transferable skills that make me valuable within our business and outside.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What challenges, if any, did you experience during your studies?<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was faced with a plethora of challenges including lack of motivation, lack of sleep, lack of resolution and order for writing assignments, and stress due to the uncertainty of whether I would have rewarding job opportunities on graduation. But I had to remind myself that the specialised training provided in this programme would help me tackle such challenges head-on. This is what makes one stand out from the crowd.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Secondly, the right attitude and mindset were important for making the most of my time. I started off my MBA journey during Covid-19 in 2021 and it was rocky right from the selection process up to starting lectures. I initially applied for contact learning sessions, which were scheduled to take place on a Saturday. Due to the increase in new cases, we had to switch to virtual lectures, which affected all my educational activities including on-site group discussions, building networks, and so on.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What was truly a challenge for me was the ability to balance work and studies, as too much attention to one resulted in slacking my responsibilities on the other. My study schedule alone was full of classes, home reading, assignments, networking activities, syndicate work and projects for real clients, to name a few things. I still had a list of business objectives to achieve at the same time. I was pushed out of my daily routine and my comfort zone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What did you enjoy most about the course?<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I had put a lot of thought into pursuing my MBA and I did not take the process lightly. What I enjoyed most is that I learned a lot of new skills and improved the way I apply myself. I can\u2019t say there is something I didn’t enjoy about a course, but I think it would have been even better if my first year hadn\u2019t been online.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I later had the opportunity to connect with my cohort members who have different work experiences and perspectives on the topics we discussed, and built relationships beyond the classroom. I was given access to respected professionals I may not have otherwise had the chance to connect with. I had the opportunity to have one of our Executive Directors, Andrew Wright, as a mentor while completing my Capstone Consulting Project. He guided me in thinking of new ways to improve our digital standpoint within the organisation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lastly, I enjoyed pushing myself to develop new ways of thinking, managing, and just allowing myself to be me \u2013 and I will continue to work on it. This was all new and I thought it would be difficult. It was challenging but fun. Above all, it was very educational.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What does this mean for your career and personal growth?<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While people often say that an MBA is excellent for career and personal growth, there is no method taught to candidates that helps them substantiate this. However, what the MBA did teach me is how to use strategy and creative thinking in innovating solutions to solve problems and potential crisis situations. This quality of strategic thinking can help a person not only in their professional life but also when facing tough situations on the personal front.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was able to increase my knowledge, which I\u2019m using within the area I work. It might open new doors for me. I look forward to continuing leading a team of learning professionals as I share my new ways of applying our skills and knowledge and encourage excitement through innovation. I am more confident to apply myself and lead team projects, strategic sessions, and so on. I use a wide variety of hard and soft transferable skills in our area of business.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Renado Campbell, Lead: Health Administration Training, has just completed his MBA, an incredible accomplishment that will propel his career well into the future. Well done! What did you study?  Master of Business Administration (MBA) with a Digital Transformation Lens. I received the top student award \u2013 second place.  How long was the course?   I completed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3301,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[195],"tags":[199],"class_list":["post-3300","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-our-people-afrocentric-06","tag-afrocentric06"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newmediacreative.co.za\/afrocentric\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3300","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newmediacreative.co.za\/afrocentric\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newmediacreative.co.za\/afrocentric\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newmediacreative.co.za\/afrocentric\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newmediacreative.co.za\/afrocentric\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3300"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/newmediacreative.co.za\/afrocentric\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3300\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3572,"href":"https:\/\/newmediacreative.co.za\/afrocentric\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3300\/revisions\/3572"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newmediacreative.co.za\/afrocentric\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3301"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newmediacreative.co.za\/afrocentric\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newmediacreative.co.za\/afrocentric\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newmediacreative.co.za\/afrocentric\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}