What 20 Years of EMMS Taught Me about Perspective

Last week, the EMMS program celebrated its 20th anniversary.

Seeing the reunion photos sent me down memory lane, back to a chapter of my life that shaped me in ways I probably didn't appreciate at the time.

In February 2017, I landed in Milan for the first module of the Executive Master in Marketing & Sales (EMMS), jointly run by SDA Bocconi and Esade Business School.

A few weeks before that trip, my wife and I had found out we were expecting our first child. So while I was trying to understand marketing strategy, consumer behavior, and sales management, I was also trying to wrap my head around the fact that I was about to become a father.

Looking back now, it's remarkable how much life changed during those 18 months. When the program started, I was an expecting parent. By the time it ended, I had a son.

What I remember most, though, isn't a particular lecture, case study, or exam. It's the people.

EMMS brought together a truly unique group from around the world — Japanese, Italian, Spanish, Swiss, Colombian, Canadian, German, Pakistani, and many more. What made it fascinating wasn't just where people came from — it was the variety of experiences they brought with them. In one classroom, you could find people from humanitarian organizations, automotive, media, academia, manufacturing, consumer goods, technology, sports, chemicals, luxury industries, entrepreneurship, and countless other fields. We could all look at the same case study and see completely different things.

At the time, I thought I was there to learn marketing and sales. Looking back, I was really there to learn perspective, and that's probably the lesson that has stayed with me the longest.

Since then, I've been fortunate to travel and work with people from many different backgrounds. What EMMS taught me was to stay curious, to listen a little longer, to appreciate that every culture, industry, and community has its own way of seeing the world. The local foods people insist you try. The stories they tell about their cities. The habits they don't even realize are unique. The pride they take in where they come from. Those small things often teach you as much as any textbook ever could.

Some of my favorite memories happened outside the classroom — team-building activities in Barcelona, making pasta in Italy, long dinners after class, airport conversations, debates that continued late into the night, and friendships that have lasted far longer than the program itself.

Congratulations to everyone celebrating 20 years of EMMS. Looking through these photos reminded me how fortunate we were to be part of that journey.