The Dean's List Interview - November, 2010
Achim Burgardt is a Wood Technologies Engineer by trade with more than 20 years of experience in engineering-, operations- and sales-management in furniture manufacturing companies in Europe, USA and Asia. A German national - born in Lippstadt, North-Rhine Westphalia, in the heart of Europe's furniture manufacturing hub - he relocated to Switzerland in 1996 and immigrated into the United States in 2000. Currently he lives north of Minneapolis and works as General Manager for a wood products manufacturing company. Achim is a proud father of two adorable children (Nikolai Gregory, 8 years old and Natasha Alaine, 3 years old) and husband to his supportive and loving wife, Christine.
After an extensive phase of research into available and suitable MBA programs, Achim decided to sign on with the University of Wales at Robert Kennedy College in 2006. He finalized all coursework at the end of 2009 and submitted his dissertation with a topic about the Chinese luxury consumer market in September of 2010.
Congratulations! How does it feel to be on the Dean's List?
It is such a great honor to be nominated for the Dean's list and I have to admit it comes totally unexpected! I am also extremely proud of being alongside the other outstanding students or alumni on the list, some of which I have had the pleasure to share courses with or meet in person. It is certainly very special to be amongst the first ten students to be listed in the last three years of several thousand that have made it through the program or are still working on the MBA degree.
Looking back, what do you feel is the value of an online MBA?
I thought that doing an online MBA would be a tough choice for me. Initially I was not certain whether the online method would give me enough guidance in getting the program done on time. At the start I was not sure whether I would have the required discipline for the long haul. Nonetheless, options that I considered before choosing UoW/RKC were domestic (USA) based MBA programs, such as offered by Kellogg School of Management or University of Phoenix, which were much shorter but required more schedule commitment in frequent intervals to be on their campus. The lack of a real-time classroom environment, be it online classroom or physical classroom, had me concerned at the beginning. In retrospect, the online method has been rewarding and the mostly self paced study experience with deadlines for case assignments and term papers has been just the right method for a busy work schedule and family commitments. The preparatory courses ('Self Motivation' and 'Induction-Power Learning for Managers') certainly helped bridge the gap at the beginning and I referred to the content several times throughout the last four years. After all, I changed physical location of my residence twice through the course of the MBA program, which would have been very challenging with the alternative programs I was considering.
What especially stands out for you about this course at RKC?
The connections and some friendships - hopefully long lasting - that I was able to make are amazing. Which other program allows you to work with fellow students from all continents of the world, from probably more than 50 countries at any given time? Talk about an international program: The mix of cultures is different in every course you take and with that you not only gain cultural awareness but also build a network of professionals throughout the world.
Tell us something about your residency-experience.
The Investment Management residency allowed me to travel back to Switzerland - a country I used to live in and a country I want to live in again at some point in time. I enjoyed the visit to the Swiss Exchange in Zürich, the group assignments, the discussions and of course the extra-curricular activities. It is amazing how the group work allows you to create tangible results. To this date I draw from what I have learned during that one week of Investment Management. It also was amazing to meet Dean Professor Costa, Professor Roy Damary and Professor David Duffill in person. All of them are truly outstanding professionals and educators. Meeting and interacting with fellow students gave you the personal connection that is missing in an online forum at times. I made quite a few connections during that time and thanks to social media (Skype, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter - did I mention Foursquare?), we are still in frequent contact. On one side, I wish that there would have been more residencies; on the other side, the nature of an almost 100% online program is certainly to provide the flexibility for the student to learn whenever and where ever they want and can. I was considering a second residency for a while but then soon was focused on the dissertation. Doing it over again I'd find a way to get to Switzerland for a second residency.
What role did the college forums play in your learning process?
I would have to be fair in saying that I have not been the 'extreme' communicator in the forums. I paid great attention to only contribute in those cases in which I found that my contribution added to the value of the discussion. Especially in earlier years, where forum contribution was graded, many students fell into the trap of quantity over quality. Some of my fellows may remember repetitious posts and content which actually made it very hard to follow a discussion at times. Forum contribution is not graded anymore, but the quality of the education still lives and dies with the quality of the students' participation in discussions. If any, I would give the advice to new students to make your discussion contributions count, not in number but in content.
That said, I want to specifically take nothing away from those fellows that have made thousands of forum posts in the honorable task of educating new students, putting their minds at ease, or guiding them along the way of entry into the RKC program!
Could you say something about how this MBA would further your career? Expand its scope?
I enrolled in the MBA program not so much for the title (though it'll feel good to finally have it); my primary goal was more so the experience I expected to gain by adding a formal business education to my engineering degree in wood technologies and the now more than 20 years of management experience in wood consumer products industries. I expect that the knowledge (and okay, the degree) will allow me to advance into higher level management positions. Often I find that MBA has become a standard requirement for C-Level or below positions, especially in the US market. A secondary goal of a MBA degree would most definitely be to make myself 'eligible' for positions beyond the industry I am familiar with. Time will tell if either goal can be accomplished.
Would you say that the courses you did at RKC led you towards the areas you have chosen to work on for your dissertation?
Absolutely. Every single aspect of my dissertation has drawn from experiences gained during the course work. My dissertation dealt with a rather contemporary issue, in that I researched how Urbanization in China creates wealth amongst their people and how that increased wealth in turn creates opportunities for my industry sector to export high end luxury product into this market. I was able to draw especially from content of Entrepreneurship, Marketing, Financial Management and Strategic Management courses. Porter and his Five Forces have become my friend, Marketing Mix and SWOT were used as well.. In addition the 16 prior term papers during coursework sharpen the saw for correct quoting and bibliography - so I hope!
An online distance college like RKC means learning from home - how do you manage to study and devote time to family?
Learning from home required me to set fixed study schedules, mostly during weekends. I was rarely able to work in the evenings during weekdays. I travelled quite a bit internationally during some of the past four years. While it sounds simple to use airplane or hotel time to study or catch up, I found myself oftentimes with little focus during those periods. I had to schedule times during the weekends in order to make the assignments on time and still balance family life. Thankfully I am a night owl, so I was able to use some of my families' sleeping time to get things done. At times I also took vacation time to accomplish case studies or finish term papers. Needless to say, the family is glad that I submitted my dissertation last month and that a long four years have come to an end.
I have to add that I chose to not take more than one course per trimester to keep some level of sanity and I added a short hiatus after the first three courses.
Tell us more about your family. What do they think of RKC?!
I am very thankful for the support my family has given me during the past four years. Without their support - especially that of my wife Christine - it would have been much harder to finish this program. How do I know? Due to a job related relocation in 2009, my family and I were separated for almost a year. You may think: 'What a great position to get even more studying done'. Well, it didn't work like that for me. Without the presence and frequent sanity checks (from my wife) I found myself procrastinating too often and my choices of office environment (coffee house, dungeon- like interim bachelor pad, or more time yet at the plant) didn't quite do it for me. This has certainly affected the time I spent on my dissertation, which by the time it was finished took almost one year to complete. My kids are too young to tell (8 and 3 years old) but my wife Christine certainly appreciates the package that RKC had to offer (reasonable cost, study from home) and she certainly also appreciates that I have now more time for her and the kids again.
What other pursuits, activities, hobbies fill your leisure-time?
Studying has certainly taken over my private life for much of the past four years. Some of the other interests are architecture and furniture design and I am determined to find some time to be creative again. I build and ride fixed gear bicycles and I am interested in all kinds of gear and gadgets. I love Blues and classical music and take every reasonable opportunity to see both of them in live performances.
Your future plans?
Well, I was kidding my wife, that I would pursue a law degree next, which almost drove her up the wall. It would be ambitious and interesting, but certainly not the right avenue for me given all aspects of my career or personal development. I will probably seek to attend some certification programs. In specific I'd like to attend a program that would allow me to pursue an avenue of global sourcing and global supply chain. I may also attend a "Finance for non-financial Managers" class. Finance Management was one of my weaker courses and I certainly feel I could benefit from continued education in that area. I believe it is important for me to learn another language and I have Chinese in mind. Chinese is already the most spoken language in the world and with China becoming a superpower and the largest consumer market, I am convinced that speaking the language at least in a basic fashion will be a good move in the long run.
A vision for my career would be that I can leverage my cross cultural and especially German-American experiences in my profession.
Why would you recommend RKC?
RKC provides a high quality education in a format that is affordable and provides flexibility for busy professionals at the same time. It was the right fit for me, since I was anticipating changing my residence at least once during the MBA studies which means that I needed a program that would allow me to study as much online as possible. The MBA program is certainly not the fastest program in the market and the fact that you are writing two term papers each course and a very substantial dissertation at the end makes it in my opinion stand apart from other programs. It requires commitment and endurance and I certainly accomplished more and gained more knowledge in the past four years than I could have ever accomplished in a 6 month or 1 year $60'000 executive MBA program at any of the alternative schools I looked at.
