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Victoria McClurg (ILF2016)

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Institution: Stanford Graduate School of Business (USA)
Course: Executive Program for Growing Companies

This incredible opportunity to attend an executive leadership program would certainly never have eventuated without the persistence of Geoff Vogt. His encouragement to seek out education that can be brought back to grow the South Australian economy, gave me incentive to reach for a course that I would otherwise have perceived to be unattainable.

I was fortunate enough to attend the Executive Program for Growing Companies at Stanford University in July 2017. The university is world renowned for high level programs that have had educated some of the top entrepreneurs across the globe. The campus is located in the heart of Silicon Valley and boasts not only the university but its world renowned medical school.

The 12 day course was attended by 75 participants from over 25 countries. The days were certainly packed with information from strategic planning and growth strategy, to story-telling and design thinking. The plethora of knowledge from the presenters was extremely diverse and offered constant opportunity to discuss and challenge individual ways of thinking. Each presenter used a variety of business case studies (pre-course reading) as the foundation for analysing decision making and growth plans from a variety of perspectives including human resources, brand relationships, global markets and efficiencies.

The most significant impact on my skill set was the ability to network with other participants. The diverse range of attendees, from billion dollar companies to start-ups, provided insight and perspective that I’ve never before experienced. The group were all dynamic and open to discussing a wide range of challenges within their business and to share the knowledge they had gathered through their years of experience. This exchange of information and ability to utilise each other as sounding boards has continued since the course which encourages me to think big and challenge our way of thinking.

Studying at this level has sparked my drive to continue to grow not only in business but in my personal development.