Brand is a highly specialist and niche area of marketing. It’s a discipline where you need to dive deep into detail that can seem obscure to some – and where you need to be able to speak to subject matter experts across a business.
This is why, in his professional life before his MBA, Gancho Rusev was as likely to be found on a drinks production line, learning exactly how products were bottled and prepared for market, as he was deep in conversation about ingredients – or poring over data in spreadsheets.
As a senior brand manager, he built up deep areas of knowledge about the products he managed and fostered relationships with stakeholders across his company.
But he began to think he was missing critical skills – and opportunities to connect all the knowledge he had amassed through his career. He says: “I love marketing. It’s never boring – and no two days are ever the same. You become deeply immersed in your specialist areas.”
Working for the leading wine and spirits producer in his home country of Bulgaria, Gancho took every opportunity to learn as much as he could about the business. “I became a certified taster of drinks,” he says, “And I helped colleagues from the different departments to truly understand the process. I had deep knowledge about some areas – but not enough in others, like finance, accounting, supply chain management and business strategy.
“Brand is basically the intersection between the different stakeholders within a company. I interact with all areas to really understand what they’re saying and where they’re coming from. For example, when a CFO wants to feed into a project, I need to know what his priorities are to be able to speak his language.
“I reached the point where I realised that if I wanted to grow and develop myself as a marketing professional, I needed to expand my management expertise.”
So Gancho started looking at an MBA as his next step. He says: “I chose Vlerick because it’s among the top business schools in Europe. Also, Brussels is an international city that’s like a big village. It’s a very diverse place – there are people from so many different nationalities living there.
“I come from a society that’s fairly homogenic – so it was exciting and important to me to be in a multicultural environment. Vlerick is very diverse – which is beautiful and valuable. There were more than 20 nationalities in our class. Of course, it really helps you to understand different perspectives. But you also learn very practical things from your classmates. For example, I learned different ways to show respect to people from different cultural backgrounds. This one small thing has helped me to connect more than if I did not know it.
“The sectors that my classmates came from were also diverse. In our class, there was only one other marketer – the rest were from hard professions like finance and engineering. I already had a lot of experience working with stakeholders from different backgrounds, but it was interesting experiencing their perspectives.”
Gancho describes his experience at Vlerick as “life-changing”. His MBA has opened doors to his current role as a Brand Executive. And just as importantly, he says, it has made him think about himself and his capabilities differently.
“I gained two main things from my MBA,” he says. “One was the hard skills – finance, accounting, business modelling, business strategy and consultancy. These are taught brilliantly. The professors manage to take very difficult, complex areas and make them completely accessible and understandable. It’s an amazing ability – and it allows you to get into a subject really quickly.
“The second is more subtle, but nonetheless, life-changing. At Vlerick you go through a process of deconstructing yourself. For years I have been gaining a lot of knowledge through experiences and courses. I had this vast knowledge and I never managed to use it all or bring it all together.
“What Vlerick did – through a mixture of experiences and interactions – was open me up and help me make connections. The whole Vlerick experience operationalised my knowledge and gave me the concentration and focus to become a better, more efficient professional.
“I allowed myself to be vulnerable. It helped me to take the best of myself and recognise my strengths. I was in the middle of the Dunning Kruger scale on the slope to enlightenment!”
One of the highlights of the full-time MBA programme for Gancho was learning that empathetic leadership is highly effective.
He says: “At Vlerick I truly learned about leadership. I had of course read about empathetic leadership, but I didn’t really believe it was possible. It didn’t line up with the businesspeople you see in the media. These are people who are confrontational – and that seemed to be the only way to lead successfully. It also didn’t really seem to be me.
Then at Vlerick, I learned that successful leaders empower their teams – they put themselves in their shoes and they know how to identify strengths and weaknesses. You learn tools to negotiate and reach a point where differing positions can align. You learn the amazing power of feedback – and that being present and listening is game-changing. I now feel more confident in myself as a leader – and my ability to have an impact on others.”
Networking was another aspect of the MBA that Gancho seized with both hands. He says: “I’m the co-organiser of our ‘The First Friday’ event – which is for everyone from my class who’s in Brussels, either permanently or visiting. In normal times, we meet up – and through the pandemic, we have kept in touch on Zoom.
“Socially, it’s good to keep in touch – but it’s professionally useful also. Outside of my classmates, I’ve been in contact with marketing professionals who are Vlerick alumni. This can help enormously with country or field-specific knowledge and information.”
To anyone thinking of taking a full-time MBA at Vlerick, Gancho’s advice is, don’t hesitate. “I was pleasantly surprised – amazed, in fact – by the quality and level of Vlerick Business School,” he says. “I thought it was going to be a typical Flemish university – good, traditional, maybe a little impersonal. However, the professionalism and personal contact you have with the team are outstanding. They really want to help you. They know who you are and what your interests are – and they identify and support your personal path throughout your MBA journey.”
“The way everything is structured is really intelligent. You don’t realise it, but it’s all building your capability. Then you face a complex challenge – and realise you have the capability to address it built into you.”
Gancho Rusev graduated in 2018.
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