After coming to Arizona State University’s W.P Carey School of Business to get an MBA and pivot from a career in the Insurance Industry to a career in Supply Chain Management, Eshani Sharma (WP Carey, ‘20) used her time outside the classroom in business school at ASU to take on leadership roles in clubs and organizations. In our interview, Sharma shares about how her involvement in student activities has helped her evolve her leadership skillset, and prepared her for returning to the workforce.
MBASchooled: Prior to business school, what did you do, and why did you choose to go to business school?
Before coming to business school I worked in commercial insurance managing claims and policies for commercial clients. Collectively, my team managed a variety of policies ranging in size and product type. With so many different product types, I quickly recognized that we had to have some pretty solid processes in place so I got to spend a lot of my time looking at the process problems our organization faced and figuring out how to make them better.
This is what led me to go back to business school and pursue my MBA in supply chain: I realized I liked being able to look at problems within an organization to help our business units work smarter, and I wanted to learn more about how supply chain could help me look at a problem from multiple perspectives and providing solutions that would optimize our processes for the most desirable outcome for the business and the customer.
MBASchooled: What was the most important lesson you learned in business school so far?
I think one of the most important things I have learned is how to deal with and manage ambiguity. The things we work on in class are very much pulled from real world, and sometimes there isn’t always a clear-cut, “right” answer. Coming to business school has opened my eyes on how to work through ambiguity, and given me the confidence on how to manage ambiguous situations.
MBASchooled: What part of you has undergone the most transformation as a result of business school?
I’m probably a more confident leader now. Prior to business school I think I felt that leaders always had to have the answers to every little thing under the sun, but I’ve since revised that definition to embrace what I don’t know, and adapting this new mindset has made me a leader that is open to learning from others. Having the confidence to admit I don’t know something is actually pretty freeing, and I’ve found that people are super willing to help, you just have to ask.
MBASchooled: You are very active in student leadership activities, such as serving as the Co-Director of the MBA Ambassador Program, and VP of Women’s Leadership Association. Why did you choose to get involved, and what have you learned from these experiences?
For me, getting involved on campus was a way to give back to the ASU community. I feel so privileged to have the opportunities that I’ve been afforded while at the W. P. Carey School of Business, and taking on student leadership roles has helped me find a way to make sure that I’m leaving a positive footprint on campus once I graduate, and both these leadership roles let me partake in creating a really great experience for current and prospective students.
In addition to this, being involved in student leadership has helped me put into practice what I’ve learned in the classroom and has helped me develop skills that will be helpful once I’m back in the workforce.
MBASchooled: As VP of Women’s Leadership Association (WLA), what do you focus on to empower your female classmates in their MBA experience?
Representation matters, so we try to focus our events on showing our classmates that no matter what field they go into, they have a chance at success. We do this by holding executive speaker panels, collaborations with other clubs on campus, and our exclusive mentoring program. However, at the WLA, we also try to gear our events towards the empowerment of women and allies of the school community. We really want our club to be as inclusive as possible and we want to ensure that our events help foster discussion and collaboration that will help all our students become better leaders.
We’ve done this by establishing a Men as Allies program and a conversation series called Why it Matters–both of these aim at opening up discussion and creating a shared learning experience so that students can walk away feeling empowered on how to embrace the diversities in the workplace.
MBASchooled: During your involvement in these roles, what was a challenge that you faced, how did you work through it, and what did you learn?
Being a part of these roles means that my team and I have to adapt to change at a moment’s notice, so a lot of my challenges are based around adapting to change. Sometimes, due to changing requirements or sudden things that just pop up, we might have to rearrange our events, or our schedules or maybe even redo some of our processes; but this is probably one of the most meaningful skills I’ve learned because learning how to deal with change really teaches you how to work with your team and trust that your team is the best suited group of people to work through this with.
MBASchooled: As you re-enter the workforce, how do you see what you’ve learned as a result of these leadership positions helping you as you navigate your career?
These roles have provided me with a lot of insight on the type of leader I want to be. I think that as I move through my career, being able to go back to the basics I’ve learned while being involved on campus will help dictate how I handle the challenging situations that the real world has to offer.
MBASchooled: What advice do you have for other students on how they can make the most of their MBA Experience?
Grades and classes are obviously very important, but so is building a community and relationship with your classmates! So don’t forget to find something outside of class you are passionate about because so many beautiful friendships are created over shared interests.