From the Classroom to the Client Call: How an Executive MBA Is Changing My Approach to PR
When I began an Executive MBA alongside my role in public relations, I expected it to help me develop a broader understanding of business. What I did not fully anticipate was how quickly the lessons from the classroom would begin influencing the way I approached my everyday work.
I am currently completing an Executive MBA at PES University through Great Learning. The programme is delivered in a weekend classroom format for working professionals, which has allowed me to continue developing my career while studying subjects covering finance, marketing, economics, operations, statistics and data science.
After completing two semesters, I have realised that the greatest value of the programme is not simply learning new terminology or preparing for examinations. It is learning to look at businesses, industries and decisions from several different perspectives.
Understanding the business behind the story
Working in PR means becoming familiar with a client’s business, often within highly technical industries such as energy, industrial automation, manufacturing and artificial intelligence.
Our role goes beyond issuing press releases and communicating company announcements. We must understand why these developments matter, who they affect and how they fit into the broader direction of the industry.
My MBA studies have made me more curious about the business reasoning behind every story.
When a company invests in automation, for example, I now think more deeply about the operational challenge it may be addressing. Is the organisation seeking greater production capacity? Is it trying to improve quality, reduce downtime, manage labour shortages or strengthen its supply chain?
When a business introduces an AI solution, I look beyond the technology itself. I consider the quality of the data supporting it, the problem it is intended to solve, the return the organisation expects and the people who will be responsible for implementing it.
This broader perspective helps turn a technical development into a meaningful business story.
Marketing management has been an eye-opener
Of all the subjects I have studied so far, marketing management has had one of the clearest connections to my work in PR.
Learning about segmentation, targeting and positioning has reinforced the importance of tailoring communication to the audience. The same announcement may need to be presented differently to a manufacturing editor, an energy journalist, a cybersecurity publication or a general business audience.
Studying product lifecycles has also helped me understand why communication strategies need to evolve over time. A newly introduced product may require awareness and education, while a mature product may need differentiation, fresh applications or evidence of continued value.
Branding has been another particularly interesting area. A brand is not built through one campaign, one announcement or one strong media placement. It develops through consistent experiences, messages and associations over time. PR plays an important role in shaping those associations by helping organisations communicate their expertise and values credibly.
The course has therefore helped me see PR not as a separate activity, but as part of a wider marketing and business strategy.
Becoming more comfortable with data and decisions
Statistics and fundamental data science initially felt further removed from the creative and relationship-led elements of PR. However, they have encouraged me to ask better questions about evidence.
What does a number actually demonstrate? How large was the sample? Is a percentage meaningful without context? Are we identifying a genuine trend or drawing a conclusion from limited information?
These questions are valuable when working with industry surveys, research reports and data-led media stories.
Financial management and management accounting have had a similar effect. I may not be making corporate investment decisions in my PR role, but understanding concepts such as costs, returns, risk, working capital and investment evaluation provides useful context.
Businesses do not adopt technology simply because it is innovative. They invest because they expect it to improve performance, manage risk, reduce costs, create capacity or support long-term growth. Understanding this makes it easier to communicate with greater commercial awareness.
Operations management made technical stories more relatable
Operations management has also been especially relevant to the industries represented by BCM.
Ideas such as capacity planning, inventory management, location decisions, quality management, process improvement and the theory of constraints appear regularly in the challenges our clients help solve.
Before studying the subject, I might have viewed an automation story primarily through the product or technology involved. I now think more carefully about the process surrounding it: where the bottleneck exists, how the technology changes the workflow and what measurable difference it makes to the wider operation.
That understanding helps me identify the human and commercial relevance within a highly technical case study.
Learning while working and raising a toddler
Completing an Executive MBA while working full-time and raising a three-and-a-half-year-old is certainly busy.
Weekdays are shaped by client work, media outreach, reports and deadlines. Weekends often involve lectures, assignments and revision, alongside family life. There are moments when balancing everything is challenging, but the overall experience has been extremely rewarding.
Rather than making life feel overwhelmingly busy, the combination has made it feel purposeful and productive. Each part of my life develops a different kind of skill: work builds professional judgement, studying develops structured thinking, and parenthood teaches patience, adaptability and perspective.
I achieved an SGPA of 8.21 in my first semester and am now awaiting my second-semester results. While grades are important to me, the most meaningful result has been recognising how much my thinking has already evolved.
I feel more confident analysing business decisions, more comfortable asking commercial questions and better able to see the connections between communication, strategy, operations and financial performance.
PR is also a form of continuous learning
PR professionals frequently move between industries, technologies and markets. One day may involve researching industrial cybersecurity; another may focus on energy infrastructure, manufacturing efficiency or artificial intelligence.
To communicate these subjects effectively, we must remain willing to learn.
My Executive MBA has reminded me that professional development does not always produce one dramatic transformation. Often, it appears through small changes: asking a more insightful question, recognising the strategy behind an announcement, interpreting data more carefully or explaining a complex development more clearly.
I am only two semesters into the programme, with much more still to learn. However, I can already see that the classroom and the workplace are not separate worlds. Each strengthens the other and together, they are helping me become a more commercially aware and thoughtful PR professional.