Jeremias Garcia Seoane

IE Business School

“Generalist engineer specialized in “making things happen” driving enduring impact both in society and business.”

Hometown: Buenos Aires, Argentina

Fun Fact About Yourself: Passionate fan of Rosario Central soccer club.

Undergraduate School and Major: Industrial Engineer at Universidad Católica Argentina

Most Recent Employer and Job Title: Business Developer in Techint Group

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: During the past four years, I have led many projects and teams not only at work, but also in my free time, in both soccer and voluntary teams. I have always focused my energy on achieving the goals of each team I have been part of, but what I am most proud of is having led the Improvement Process of an important business unit in the company. This has allowed me to create a lasting impact within an important company by applying most of the leadership skills that characterize me.

In my first years, I developed and periodically monitored the KPI of the different telecommunications projects of the company. This job helped me detect various flaws that, once fixed, resulted in a considerable improvement of the projects’ performance.

I noticed several gaps in terms of communication, environment, service quality, logistics and information management. The members of each project knew neither the function of the other members nor the goals of the project. The relationship between the white-collar and blue-collar employees was unbearable, and this contributed to a general lack of motivation and an unpleasant work environment. Furthermore, the projects did not have accurate planning, the information was not centralized and easily accessible, and the amount of rework was incredibly large.

Given this situation, I met with many of the members of the business unit, devised a plan to close these gaps, and presented it to the management team. They resolved that I should lead the implementation of the proposed plan, which included 4 main pillars, namely: (1) Development of an online platform: the members of each project could manage information of the sites from any device. (2) Planning meetings: the members of each project would meet twice a week to discuss the provision of supplies and plan the construction of the sites. This planning would be shared with the whole team. (3) Feedback meetings: twice a month, the PM would communicate the frequent flaws to the blue-collar employees and explain how to avoid them. (4) Social events: the members of each project would meet once a month outside the office. These meetings would include a presentation of the project status and goals for the future, as well as different bonding activities.

This plan was implemented, and it proved to be successful. All the employees involved in the process committed to the plan and the results were amazing: costs were reduced by 18% in just six months! I am especially proud of having been recognized as a motivational, proactive and team-building leader able to involve all the stakeholders and to manage teams with people more experienced than me.

What quality best describes the MBA classmates you’ve met so far and why? Just one word comes to my mind: Family. Before beginning the MBA, I knew I was joining an incredible global community, but I didn´t expect to make such incredible long-lasting friends from all over the world. I am amazed of the diversity and fellowship of my classmates: always willing to help and share their international experiences and knowledge from diversified backgrounds.

Aside from your classmates, what was the key factor that led you to choose this program for your full-time MBA and why was it so important to you?  I am looking forward to occupying leadership roles in business development projects. Therefore, IE is undoubtedly the perfect school for my IMBA experience: learning in a collaborative environment, immersed in an international culture with an entrepreneurship mindset, engaging with a broad network of incredible people and taking amazing classes that will help me think “out of the box”.

What club or activity are you looking most forward to in business school? I am looking forward to becoming an Ambassador of IE representing IE in the Global Network for Advanced Management as well as meeting with international candidates interested in the iMBA.

What led you to pursue an MBA at this point in your career?

I believe that this is the perfect time for me to pursue an MBA for three reasons:

• Inflexion point: I have grown in Techint working in different roles. Although I feel comfortable in this role and my performance evaluations have been high, I think I have arrived an inflexion point in my carrier. I have maximized my learning opportunities in my roles so far, and now I need to jump from implementer and problem-solver position to the real strategist.
• My future roles will require more complex skills that by doing an MBA I will acquire.
• I have the experience enough to be a valuable contributor to the program.

How did you decide if an MBA was worth the investment? Doing an MBA in a top-ranked Business School based in such a lively city as Madrid is the best investment I could have done not only for my professional but also for my personal growth.

What other MBA programs did you apply to? Babson College, USC Marshall School of Business, Harvard Business School, London Business School, Kellogg School of Management

How did you determine your fit at various schools? Considering my post-MBA goals of becoming a global business developer in a multinational company, I prioritized four main factors:

• International prestige in rankings and companies
• The diversity of students and professors
• The program’s specific contents
• The possibility for exchanges or international trips

During the past two years, I have done a very deep research to evaluate the infinite number of business schools by looking on internet, analyzing each program, and consulting alumni from each institution.

What was your defining moment and how did it shape who you are? My defining moment was in December 2017, while volunteering in TECHO’s entrepreneurship program.

After one year of helping Gisella, a humble entrepreneur from Agustoni shanty town develop her own kiosk, we succeeded in making her business sustainably profitable by teaching her management and marketing techniques, as well as explaining her how to follow the business sales and costs.

In that moment I realized that we can have lasting impact on society by providing needed people with the skills required to develop sustainable businesses. I believe that it is the best way to fight poverty and what shaped me as a person.

What do you plan to do after you graduate? My post-MBA goal is becoming a global business developer in a multinational company.

Where do you see yourself in five years? In five years, I can picture myself running a Consulting company specialized in developing businesses of diverse industries.