Tech Director Earns Executive Certificates to Stay Ahead of the Curve

Santha Prabu Jeyaseelan recently earned a Certificate of Distinguished Leadership and Business Administration from Carlson Executive Education in an effort to stay current with leadership best practices and enhance his skill set. 

"I come from a technology background [but] most of my work involves managing people. So every year I do some kind of learning. Things are changing and you need to keep up, so I make it a point that I do some kind of training each year, be it technical or management."

It is this forward-thinking mindset that has led to Santha to earn his Certificate of General Management Excellence, and then his Certificate of Distinguished Leadership and Business Administration. That, and the environment at Carlson Executive Education.

"I like that the way the professors make it interactive," he says of the five courses he has taken, including MBA Essentials, Finance for Non-Financial Managers, and Leading Business Analytics. "I always see so many people from different types of work and different industries with different levels of experience. There’s the right mix of industry in the classes. I like how problems are the same across industries and we try to solve them in different ways."

This problem-solving environment serves Santha well back at the office. "The value really comes when you apply what you learned in the program to your job," says Santha. "It's very practical. Each time I take a course, I always have at least two or three key points that I can take back to my work. People can see the difference -- that you're doing things differently. Carlson has shaped my leadership."

Is Santha going to keep coming back to Carlson Executive Education, or perhaps reach for a third certificate? While the coursework is useful and practical, the experience seals the deal for Santha. He says passionately, "Carlson Executive Education courses are more open, informal, and interactive, and everybody gets engaged in that. I’ve never been in a course where there’s a passive crowd. That’s what keeps me coming back.”