'EMBA exceeded expectations': How to transform your career and make a global impact

When Weili Zang hit a career "bottleneck," she made a decision that would reshape her career – and life: enrolling in the Kellogg-WHU Executive MBA.

The timing seemed far from ideal: Zang, who grew up in Shanghai and lives in Regensburg in southern Germany, was working full-time with an 18-month-old daughter at home. But as Zang would later reflect, there's never a perfect moment.

Today, Zang serves as Vice President and Global Head of Human Rights at Schaeffler – a role she believes the two-year part-time course prepared her for.

"What motivated me to sign up for the EMBA was the desire to better understand the broader business structure, not just individual functions, but how an organisation really works as a whole," says the 38-year-old, who recently graduated. 

The programme is jointly delivered by the Kellogg School of Management and WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management, with core modules based in Vallendar and Düsseldorf in Germany. International modules are delivered across the Kellogg Global Network, including Chicago, Miami, Toronto, Hong Kong and Beijing.

Learn more about Kellogg-WHU’s Executive MBA programme

Zang realised immediately that the EMBA "requires a very high level of commitment and a high quality of the background of the candidates".

But the investment pays off. According to WHU, around 75 percent of EMBA graduates receive a promotion during or shortly after completing the programme, while average salary increases reach around 70 percent.

Understanding the bigger picture

For Zang, who has worked across engineering, auditing and sustainability leadership, the timing proved particularly valuable. She enrolled while her company was navigating major changes. 

"I started my EMBA while I was in a business merger situation,” she says. “However, after the core study module in the first year and both international electives, I could much better understand the business decisions.

"Things happening in the corporate world make more sense to me now."

The workload was intense but Zang immersed herself fully in the experience. Modules cover finance, accounting, strategy, operations, governance and leadership, as well as AI.

Zang was particularly impressed at how leadership development was "seamlessly" woven into every aspect of the curriculum, rather than treated as a standalone subject.

She also found herself drawn to unexpected areas when choosing her international electives. 

"I realised that the topics that challenged me the most, especially finance-related subjects, were also the ones that attracted me the most," she says. "Through that process, I discovered a new side of myself and expanded how I think about my future career options."

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Building trust and connection

When Zang considered applying for her current role, she turned to her peers and Kellogg-WHU career coach for guidance. The encouraging response helped her build confidence. 

"After the peer coaching, my classmates had given me so much motivation and support, and emotional support, that I finally decided I want to try (for the role)," she says. 

That trust continues well beyond graduation. "The friendships we built and the shared spirit of 'high impact, low ego' are truly lasting," says Zang.

"We always pick up the phone, exchange ideas and life status in our group chat and support each other. That level of trust and connection is rare."

'After the EMBA, I received two job offers’

Zang is not alone. Around 1,300 senior professionals have graduated from the Kellogg-WHU EMBA since it launched in 1997, many of them using the programme as a springboard for career change.

Become global business leader-ready with this Executive MBA programme

Among them is Sasaenia Paul Oluwabunmi, a 35-year-old Nigerian professional now based in Dallas, USA, who pivoted from leading global infrastructure projects to a senior leadership role in investment banking. He credits the EMBA, which he completed in 2021, with helping him achieve a "triple jump" – a change in job, industry and location.

Oluwabunmi joined the EMBA while working in Vienna, Austria, where he was employed at a public-sector-focused impact fund.

His goals were clear. "I signed up because I was looking at broadening my network, learning more about finance and developing marketable skills to transition out of my current role into investment banking," he says.

And results were swift. "I wanted three things out of it: global networking, technical finance skills and a career change. I achieved all three," says Oluwabunmi. "After the EMBA, I received two job offers, one in the United Kingdom and another in the United States of America."

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Now Senior Vice President for Markets Tech Architecture and Data for Citigroup USA, Oluwabunmi credits the programme's international scope as transformative.

"Apart from Germany, I had the privilege of attending classes in Chicago in the USA, Tel Aviv in Israel, Madeira in Portugal and Tokyo in Japan," he says. "I met highly experienced professionals across multiple industries in these countries."

The entrepreneurship modules proved particularly valuable: Oluwabunmi wrote a business plan for his startup as his Master's thesis.

"What has stayed with me from the EMBA is the importance of having a structured framework to make complex decisions," he says, adding that this approach helped him secure a promotion in a record time of just 13 months.

"It completely changed my career trajectory," Oluwabunmi adds.

'Never forget what you want to achieve'

The Kellogg-WHU EMBA typically brings together groups of 40 to 50 participants, with an average age of around 40.

Roughly half of the participants are Germany-based, with the rest coming from all over the world. Industry backgrounds range from manufacturing, pharmaceuticals and automotive to healthcare, technology, media and nonprofits.

The education continues through lifelong learning modules, an option Zang is looking forward to. "Every year they send out the lifelong learning list, give you the date, the topic, the classes and the professor and you can choose to attend," she says.

Alumni join a network of more than 70,000 globally – connections both graduates say are invaluable.

For Zang, whose childhood dream was to save the planet, the EMBA provided the business knowledge – and the confidence – to step into a role where she could make that difference, improving workers' lives globally.

"I think the ROI (return on investment) of the EMBA is on your whole life because it gives you so much add-on to your career, and even after you retire," she says. "The EMBA not only met my expectations, it exceeded them."

Oluwabunmi agrees. "I look back and I realise this was one of the best decisions I made in my life," he says.

For professionals considering the leap, Zang offers direct advice: stay connected to your motivation and dreams, especially when the workload intensifies.

"It's very easy for people to stay in their comfort zone because it's a huge change," she says. "So keep your original motivation, never forget what you want to achieve.

"So I still remember, I want to save the planet. And remember, there is never a perfect timing. If you want to do it, then do it."