After 9/11, Kathy Redmond—like countless other Americans—fell victim to the struggling economy and was laid off from her position at a leading office furnishings manufacturer. A few years ago she was re-hired and now, in difficult economic times, the company is again facing the need to let people go. This time, Kathy sees herself in a much stronger position as a strategic, essential contributor to the business.Her story serves as an example of how a Capella education positions you to meet the challenges of today’s job market.
“My involvement in the Capella MBA program—which is well known to management at my company—is a huge asset for me right now,” Kathy says. “At a time when they’re evaluating their entire employee base, they can see that I have drive and can prove myself.”
Kathy is currently earning her MBA online with Capella University while managing client relationships from Southern Louisiana to the Florida Panhandle.
“I find practical value in a lot of the things I learn in my courses,” Kathy says. “And I’ve successfully implemented these strategies in my life and my work. It’s really amazing the level of talent that you touch with everybody in your courses.”
Kathy’s MBA program also gives her a competitive edge in her day-to-day work. She says her coaching skills—an essential part of her job—have greatly improved as a result of her courses and Capella’s Professional Effectiveness CoachingSM process, an innovative coaching program that is part of all Capella MBA specializations. Her confidence is at an all-time high, and an operations improvement plan she developed for one of her Capella courses was adopted by her company’s leadership and is now being implemented.
“They were struck by the plan I came up with because as a neutral observer, I noted some details that they had been missing—they live in that world every day,” Kathy says. “I was able to take a step back and look critically at a solution that would start at the top and trickle down throughout the organization.”
Eventually, Kathy would love to move into a role where she could work with executive-level leadership of her company’s clients.
“My Capella MBA will really help me work with executives on their level because I have a clear understanding of things that are important to them,” she says.
Comments?
How is your Capella experience helping your prospects professionally?
This entry was posted on Monday, March 23rd, 2009 at 9:54 am and is filed under Alumni, Learners. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
