Growth in the U . S . market had already stopped , and business schools were increasingly looking at international students . I assumed more schools would open one-year degree programs as they realized that Europeans typically don ’ t want to commit to two years of study . In fact , there has been less of that than I expected , but as a team , we agreed that if we didn ’ t offer something else on top of our one-year program , what was relatively unique could quickly become a commodity .
The inspiration for taking students around the world actually came from a student named Jeffrey Egerstrom . During my first year at Hult , he took a whole bunch of students to China between what would now be Module C and D ( May – August ). Probably half of the class , 30-odd students , went on a self-organized study tour to China . Based on the trip ’ s success and the obvious customer interest in the scheme , we decided to set up a formal rotation to China in 2007 . For the first two classes , we literally said that if the class votes in favor of the proposal , we will move six weeks of electives to Shanghai and will pay for hotels and flights ; 98 % of the class opted in .
Q : What was the rationale behind choosing Shanghai as the first location for rotation ?
As the location chosen by the first class , there was something nostalgic about it , but the main reason was that everywhere you looked , big companies were choosing to do business in China . It was also helped by the fact that I was living in Hong Kong at the time , and EF Education First ( EF ) had lots of schools in Shanghai that were empty during the day . We decided to run electives in EF schools and shift the professors who were going to teach in Boston over to Shanghai . That ’ s how we started the rotation program .
When we saw half of our classes voluntarily going to Shanghai during their two-week breaks , we knew there was a demand to study elsewhere at some point during the course ’ s duration . We decided that six weeks was long enough for students to get to know the city and get used to commuting around it , but wasn ’ t so long that , if you ended up hating Shanghai for whatever reason , it would massively dilute your Boston experience .
After we launched the rotation program in China , we started to seriously consider opening up other physical campuses . That is how we took ourselves to Dubai , London , and San Francisco .
Q : Going back to you , how would you describe your leadership style ?
Where do I start ? Honestly , I think I would describe myself as someone who sets aggressive goals . The way that we approach each year at Hult is based on what we expect to achieve within that year . My background in building startups has helped me fine-tune this mentality . For instance , if you and I were starting a company tomorrow , we wouldn ’ t spend loads of time trying to predict what will be happening in ten years ’ time . Instead , we would focus on what we need to tangibly achieve in the next three , six , and twelve months so the company grows successfully . That sort of approach is how you want to begin , and that is very much the culture that informs all of Hult ’ s decision-making .
I guess my leadership style is to try to push people to the limit of what they think is achievable . It ’ s okay to make mistakes
— ultimately mistakes are inevitable when you are trying to do something complex — but I don ’ t have a lot of time for people who constantly make excuses . Once you ’ ve signed up to work under this style , I guess I can be quite tough , but I do always try to do it with a sense of humor .
9