Stanislas Sebag

HEC Paris

“Family is my true constant the remaining must evolve preferably for the better.”

Hometown: Pontault-Combault, France

Fun Fact About: During middle school, I played in French movies.

Undergraduate School and Major: Master of engineering, Embedded Systems, ESIEE Paris, Noisy-le-Grand, France

Most Recent Employer and Job Title: Captive Flight Leader, MBDA, Le Plessis Robinson, France

Aside from your classmates, what was the key part of the school’s MBA programming that led you to choose this business school and why was it so important to you? HEC Paris attracted me the most because of its proximity to European Business and Innovation Hubs. I have the ambition to pursue the development of the European space industry and contribute to “the New Space era”. HEC is one of the few business schools that could give me enough leverage to help me achieved my endeavors.

What club or activity excites you most at this school? I am looking forward to the Energy Club and the Industry Club. Humanity’s need for energy never ceases to increase. Tackling these difficult questions, while ensuring a sustainable future for our children, is a key challenge. In my quest of contributing to “the New Space era”, I would like to learn more about the energy industry.

What makes you most excited about getting your MBA at HEC Paris? What makes you most nervous about starting business school? I am impatient to leave my comfort zone, learn new skills, and be challenged. Even more, I am eager to be a member of the HEC community.

The MBA will be a challenging time for me but also for my family. I hope that I will be able to preserve them from my stress and answer to their needs.

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: Through my professional career, I realized one of my childhood dreams. I had the opportunity to work with the best pilots and aerospace engineers in the world to build a new missile. During the missile development phase, firing trials are conducted. During these trials, I had the responsibility to authorize the firing. To give the “green light” to fire a missile was for me a real-life achievement. Years of working with more than 300 people are summarized in just a few seconds. To be entrusted with such a responsibility was very rewarding.

What led you to pursue an MBA at this point in your career? Since university, my career goal has been to develop the European space industry. One year after receiving my engineering degree, I decided to do an MBA. As an engineer, I am only incrementally improving the current position of the aerospace industry. I came to the realization that an MBA program would provide me the leverage to do more. Thus, I started preparing myself to apply to an MBA program.

Working in the last five years as an aerospace engineer have given me the opportunity to experience nearly all the development phases of a missile. Today, I feel that I am at a crossroad in my career. My accumulated experience gives me the confidence that I can be a valuable member of an MBA cohort group. I would be able to share my unique experience as a captive flight engineer and learn from my peers. In addition, the MBA program will strengthen my knowledge from a business perspective. Hence, it seems to me the right moment to apply to the HEC MBA Program.

What other MBA programs did you apply to? I also applied to Cambridge-Judge, Oxford-Said, and SDA Bocconi.

What was the most challenging question you were asked during the admissions process? All the questions that I have been asked were equally challenging. Questions make up a whole and are related to each other. Fully understanding the questions and answering them properly were hard work and time consuming. However, whether your application is successful or not, the time spent to do it is not lost. Though the admission team’s goal is to choose future MBA students, the HEC application process helped me to verbalize my career objectives. When I submitted it, I had a clearer view of what I wanted to do and how to do it.

What was your defining moment and how did it prepare you for business school? Four years ago, I broke my leg during rugby training. After that dreadful event, I had to stay at home during a mouth. I took this time to reflect on what I wanted to do with my career and how to do it. An MBA seemed to be a good way to unlock new opportunities. From there, I started my MBA journey by preparing the GMAT.

What have you been doing to prepare yourself for business school? Mostly, I read recommended books by MBA professors, learned a new language, and followed some online classes.

What is your favorite company and what could business students learn from them? I admire space agencies, in particular CNES, NASA and ESA. One of the human characteristics I value the most is exploration. I believe these organizations incarnated it. We have a lot to learn from the men and women who made these agencies what they are today. What one could learn from them will depend on what he or she brings.

DON’T MISS: MEET THE HEC PARIS MBA CLASS OF 2022