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"I was feeling somewhat stagnated. Then I applied for a scholarship at London Business School, and it completely changed my perspective.”

Davinia Ogila

Global VP | Client Delivery & Operations at General Assembly

After years of rising through the ranks in the finance world as a Chartered Management Accountant, Davinia Ogila found herself at a career crossroads. She’d been made a Global Vice President at an international company. But, as a busy parent, it was getting harder for her to keep finding the drive and hunger she needed to grow professionally.

On our Accelerated Development Programme, Davinia found more than just knowledge. She found reserves of energy and motivation that would be life changing.

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My father has always been an inspiration to me. He was the first in our family to go to university and he consistently talks about the transformative power of education, something that he and his siblings had experienced firsthand. He’d long admired London Business School and recommended to me undertaking an executive course there. So, when I was feeling a stuck in my career and needed fresh inspiration, I knew exactly where to go.

I’d worked my way up in the finance industry. I started as an management accountant at Capita and progressed over 25 years to becoming a Global Vice President at General Assembly, via some great brands like Pearson and the Financial Times, having moved from Finance into Operations. Latterly, however I felt like being a busy parent to young children had slowed my pace of growth professionally. Splitting all my energy between two worlds. I had less time for activities like networking and career development and I had felt like I was beginning to stagnate. I knew I needed something to make a shift in my career.

That’s when I heard about the Accelerated Development Programme at LBS. With a lot of encouragement from my husband and father, of course, I applied for a scholarship for women. And it turned out to be a life changing decision.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"The programme at LBS wasn’t just academic. The learnings were brought to life through the real experiences of world-renowned leaders.”



"What got you here won’t get you there."

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From the very first day of the programme, I knew it was something special. I participated in our inaugural ADP session delivered by Herminia Ibarra, author of ‘Act like a leader, think like a leader’. I’d just read Herminia’s book as part of the course pre-work and now here she was standing right in front of me, it was a great moment. When I studied as an undergraduate, and even for my master's degree years ago, it all felt very academic. But the programme at LBS was brought to life through the real experiences of world-renowned leaders, a much more fulfilling experience.

Herminia’s words resonated with me. She spoke about how you can work hard to become an expert middle manager in a particular field or function, but to progress to a broader, more senior executive role, you must increasingly focus on matters from a cross-functional and external perspective, you need to change your approach and not just do more of the same thing. ‘What got you here won’t get you there’ as she put it, and it is so true. Going back to my father’s thoughts and how there is so much value in education, learning new things, challenging yourself, widening your perspective and growing your network is so valuable and propels you even further.

Another memorable session was with renowned author and business philosopher Rik Vera where  he spoke about the need for businesses to focus on tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow – instead of just looking at today. A tsunami of change could be coming next year, or in 5, or in 10 years, and just competing for today’s customer won’t guard you against the change or disruption that lies ahead. To emphasise this point we heard from Dr Annick Desmecht, Nokia’s former Head of Marketing for Western Europe in 2008, the year after the iPhone was launched. It was staggering to hear how complacent Nokia was at the time – its engineers even stated Apple’s new touchscreen feature was a gimmick that no-one would think important. It was impactful to see a real-life example of how important it is to make sure you are focusing on the correct challenges with a strategic thought process, otherwise it can deeply affect an organisation negatively.

I learned such valuable lessons that are applicable for my role at General Assembly. I’ve taken them back to my team and run exercises on how we can stay ahead of the curve. Embedded within the Adecco Group, General Assembly partners with large financial and professional service companies, governments and FMCGs to provide upskilling to existing employees and new talent in disciplines such as Gen AI, modern engineering, software engineering, data analytics and UX – it’s a fast-moving market so avoiding complacency is absolutely vital. We have renewed our focus and strategic thinking.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"London Business School will give you the best toolkit there is to solve career challenges.”



"The cohort was from all around the world. There were 30 of us, and at least 21 different nationalities and 15 different industries were represented."

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Staying near the London campus with the rest of my cohort meant I could really get to know everyone. My cohort was made up of 30 people, 21 different nationalities and 15 different industries. It was great to hear the many different perspectives, work challenges, outlooks and solutions; all that enriched the conversations and programme experience.

One of the biggest changes I’ve noticed in myself is my confidence has increased remarkably. I’m more comfortable giving direction and standing my ground when I need to. During the course there were a number of opportunities to receive feedback from peers and professionals to support self-reflection including on body language and voice projection, something that becomes more important with senior positions.

My ambition and drive have been reignited; the hunger is back. I can now see more opportunities for growth. I’m pushing myself forward again, I network more freely, I own my space and am so much more confident. Ultimately, it’s great news for my children too. The prouder I am about things I accomplish and the more I share these with my children, the more I can become the role model I want to be for them, just as my Dad was to me. My experience at London Business School on the Accelerated Development Programme has made a profound impact on me, supporting my quest to be a more impactful and transformative leader

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"My ambition and drive have been reignited; the hunger is back.”

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