Emily is the Head of Office at Anthony Collins incorporating Jobling Gowler Solicitors. She graduated with distinction from The Manchester Met MBA in 2019.

What were your motivations for undertaking an MBA programme?

To provide me with the theory to underpin experiential knowledge and gut instinct, giving increased confidence and credibility to my management practice. I wanted my knowledge, skills and capabilities to be seen as credible and for colleagues to respect my opinion; there is a lot of trust and respect towards holding an MBA qualification.  Academic qualifications continue to the foundation to respect within professional service firms.

Looking back, why did you choose Manchester Met for your MBA?

I’m quite people driven. And I was really impressed by the relational nature of the course, but also of the tutors and the lecturers. I’d gone to a master class as an introduction, one evening.  I had an opportunity to speak to a couple of the lecturers. They demonstrated that the culture was was based on ‘people first’ at Manchester Met, and that really matters to me.

The programme itself suited me in terms of what I was wanting to get out of it. There was a residential and the global experience trip. They offered these opportunities, that would not have had an alternative way of accessing as part of my day to day job.

I have three boys so life is busy. The structure of the MBA was phased and staged at a pace that I felt I could sustain with my family life.

Locality wise, the programme had a network of individuals, organisations, and businesses with whom  they have relationships in the northwest. There was this opportunity to go and visit different businesses and I wanted to make sure that even though I worked in the legal sector, I have an awareness of business overall.

I was primarily self-funding so the fact that the course was such value for money was appealing. I’ve got my money back and then some!

Please tell us about your professional journey since graduating from the MBA?

The MBA was fantastic for my career. At the same time as starting the MBA, I became a partner in a law firm. There was a huge amount of change at that time. During the MBA, I took over the managing partner role, which meant that I was leading the strategic direction and operational direction of the firm. That was a big shift which was absolutely aided by the MBA, particularly the network I developed and the support framework of peers on the programme. My university colleagues have also gone and done great things, but we’ve continued our support network since completing the MBA, which is fantastic.

How have the skills you developed during your MBA supported you to get to this point in your career?

The academic framework built my confidence in what I was doing in practice.  At the time of my career change, we were going through the pandemic which was a really difficult time to lead a law firm. However, we continued to be commercially successful, despite of the challenges. I attribute a lot of the strength of the business strategy, for that period, to the knowledge gained as part of doing the MBA.

I learned so much as a result of doing the course, but lessons that I rely on as I continue to develop my career in senior management is the importance of consciously implementing a strategy for change management, the importance of cash flow, and the recognition that whilst there must be a focus on finances and client satisfaction, the simultaneous need to focus on culture is paramount.  Without your people, the business will dive, regardless of how cutting edge your financial strategy is!

I’d given myself five years to grow the business. We were a small Cheshire based law firm, with just 4 partners.  Having undertaken several organic growth strategies with measured success, we decided that to make a material jump in size, we needed to take a more radical approach.

In 2022, we merged with top 200, Social Purpose law firm, Anthony Collins. A much larger firm, with over 40 partners, we dramatically changed the nature and size of our business. I would not have had the confidence to discuss my business case with the partners, negotiate with the lawyers and accountants without the knowledge I built from the MBA. The result has been greater career opportunities for my team, increased breadth of services for our clients and greater return on investment for the partners.

The MBA has been pivotal in all those key career decisions.

Do you have any standout memories from your time at Manchester Met that you’d like to share?

The cohort I was in went to China and that was a wonderful life experience. It was great to see inside some businesses that I wouldn’t have otherwise had seen. But it was really the residential where I learnt so much about myself. The experience deepened relationships with my peers and helped me to grow as a person as well as a business professional.

I used to come into Manchester for a few days for each unit, which was intense, but fun! The energy that came from the learning and being stimulated by the lectures, was then embedded by the students flowing out and going to the pub to reflect on the theory at the end of the day! So much learning came from that reflective process.

If you were to give any advice to somebody that’s thinking or considering doing an MBA at Manchester Met, what advice would you give them?

Jump in with both feet, give it everything. It’s a huge commitment, but it’s an opportunity that you’ll not regret.

Embrace the journey.