Written By, Joshua Marienfeld, MiM2024
At LBS, the Global Experience (GE) courses are designed to help students apply their academic learning in diverse, real-world contexts. These immersive week-long courses enable participants to broaden their global perspectives and expand their professional networks.
Students from Graduate Masters, MBA, and Leadership programmes travel to dynamic cities like Johannesburg, Lima, New York, and Paris. Each GE delves into a specific topical theme and provides an in-depth exploration of a country’s unique business culture. Participants engage meaningfully with local business leaders, faculty, alumni, fellow students, and other members of the LBS global community.
Selecting Your Global Experience
Although the GE module is mandatory, choosing your specific GE is like selecting any other elective at LBS. The variety of options allow you to tailor your GE based on personal interests, career goals, and your appetite for travel. The LBS bidding system, however, means that more popular modules require a higher proportion of your credits to secure a spot. So, keep this in mind as you decide which GE to bid for.
A Closer Look at the Stockholm GE Week
The theme for the Stockholm GE was ‘sustainability’. While sustainability is often associated with environmental issues, throughout the week we explored all aspects of ‘ESG’ (Environmental, Social, and Governance) and the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The week in Stockholm included over 15 company and university visits, along with experiential activities such as a private evening at the Nobel Prize Museum. Each activity provided invaluable insights into the future of sustainability and showcased how leaders in the field are driving change. The schedule was intense, with little downtime between events during the day, as we moved from one engagement to the next, meeting various business and charity leaders. Although there was some time to explore the city, including a cycle tour and a boat trip through the archipelago, most of our time was dedicated to experiential learning. Therefore, it’s crucial to choose a GE that truly aligns with your interests, as it will demand significant time and energy!
Highlights and Takeaways
As the end of the third and final term approached, my schedule was packed with deadlines, and the impending Stockholm GE felt like an added pressure rather than an opportunity. However, it took just one day to realise how mistaken I was.
The Stockholm GE has profoundly impacted my worldview, career aspirations, and future potential. Reviewing the notebook that accompanied me during each guest lecture and visit, I am struck by the depth and breadth of knowledge gained in such a short time. These experiences are invaluable, and only after completing a GE can you truly appreciate their integral role in the LBS journey!
Trip Highlight: One of the standout moments of the GE was the end-of-week deliverable: a debate. Tasked with defending a challenging, mandated viewpoint, the debate was not only fun and filled with rhetoric, but also served as an opportunity to challenge and integrate our learnings from the busy informative week!