Ela Kurowska

Rotterdam School of Management at Erasmus University

Hometown: Warsaw, Poland

Fun Fact About Yourself: I am interested in airplane crashes and aviation safety

Undergraduate School and Major: BSc in Urban Planning from Warsaw University of Technology + Msc in Information Management from Tilburg University.

Most Recent Employer and Job Title: Management Consultant at Simon-Kucher & Partners

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: I feel my greatest achievements are yet to come.

What quality best describes the MBA classmates you’ve met so far and why? Our cohort is very diverse in terms of nationalities, almost 40 different ones!

Aside from your classmates, what was the key factor that led you to choose this programme for your full-time MBA and why was it so important to you? I shortlisted top MBAs based on following criteria: Top European School according to international rankings, 1-year programme, relatively cheap cost of living, country where not-speaking native language is not an obstacle in day-to day life, and being tuition fee. In the past, I lived in many European countries so I had a good sample of how I felt in various places. The Netherlands is an incredibly expat-friendly place and there is not much that can go wrong. RSM MBA had also the best value for money of all the schools I considered and its Personal Leadership Programme was in line with my post-MBA plans.

What club or activity are you looking most forward to in business school? I am already engaged in the Consulting Club activities: preparing case cracking sessions and organising company visits and networking events. The skills that consulting require – problem-solving, structuring skills, hypothesis driven approach – are essential for most professions. Our goal as a club is to target not only future consultants but all classmates. I believe the skillset you can acquire by participating in the club activities are essential for shaping a comprehensive approach to any business. My goal is not only to encourage my MBA friends to consider consulting career, but also to understand and recognise the value of these skills no matter what career choice they decide to pursue.

What led you to pursue an MBA at this point in your career? I have worked as a management consultant for a few years. While I am becoming more and more fluent in actual consulting tasks, I also notice a big need for strong leaders in this industry. Consulting as we know will need to adapt to new generations of so-called millennials, who have different needs and attitudes than consultants from previous generations. People are less driven by money and require the space and time for their personal development. I am pursuing my MBA now so I can become a new leader for them – a strong and driven individual who does understand and share their needs and desires.

How did you decide if an MBA was worth the investment?  It depends on your personal goal and motivation for the MBA. Some of my classmates wanted to relocate, change industry, or increase salary. Others were looking for a break. The value of MBA really depends on why you decided to pursue this degree in the first place. For me, it was mostly about developing my leadership skills, getting out of my comfort zone, developing my soft skills, and overcoming my insecurities. If I manage to achieve it thanks to the program – it will be worth it. That doesn’t mean it will be worthless otherwise – It is an important once in a lifetime experience, just a very expensive one.

What other MBA programmes did you apply to? Cambridge Judge. Once accepted at RSM, I did not pursue my application there. I also considered ESADE.

What was your defining moment and how did it shape who you are? The funny thing about defining moments is that you often realise they were defining you only a long time after they happened. For me, such moment was my first scholarship abroad. I thought I was just going to Germany for 5 months – I came back after 5 years. Why was it defining? I learned how amazing an independent life is and how travelling enriches you even in the toughest moments. I studied, I worked, I fried fries and prepared kebabs, I was sometimes lonely and sometimes hungry. In five years, I lived in six countries. I got to live six lives – and now it’s my seventh. Stories I carry could feed memories of a few people and I am not even 30 yet.

What do you plan to do after you graduate? I plan to go back to consulting, either to my current firm where I would like to develop towards opening a new office in Eastern Europe (or somewhere else depending on the expansion strategy) or I would go to another consulting company where I would have the opportunity of working on a wider spectrum of projects.

Where do you see yourself in five years? I plan to stick to consulting for at least a few years after my graduation. I find that job inspiring and challenging and wouldn’t want to give that up. I do not have specific plan on a place or position I plan to achieve by then; this really depends on the company where I will be employed. The one thing I am certain about is that I want to be involved in the internal development of the industry. That means learning about the mechanisms it follows, the needs of clients and consultants, and the changing consulting landscape. I am devoted to improvements – this is what I do for my client and this is what I want to do for my firm and my industry.