When Karin Kersten applied for MIT Sloan Executive Education’s Advanced Management Program (AMP), a five-week in-person experience that is designed to help seasoned executives deepen their ability to manage systemic changes within their companies and throughout the community-at-large, it was 2019 and she was Managing Director of Trade and Commodity Finance at ABN AMRO Bank in Amsterdam. As she waited for her acceptance, the world shut down due to the Covid pandemic. This forced MIT Sloan Executive Education to put a two-year pause on the AMP. When it finally resumed in May of 2022, Kersten was given the opportunity to participate with more than 40 other executives. But now, she is the Amsterdam-based CEO of ASA International, one of the world’s largest international microfinance institutions that provides small loans to low-income, mostly female entrepreneurs across Asia and Africa. And while her career shifted, she found the program to be just as relevant as she thought it would be nearly three years ago.
“In both jobs, a major component has been the development of a digital strategy,” Kersten explains. For example, in her previous position in corporate finance, she was charged with developing a new Blockchain-based finance system and creating a digital channel for communicating and collaborating with clients. Today, at ASA International, she says, “I am still on a digital path. We are not only developing a digital channel here as well, but we also are establishing a digital marketplace for female entrepreneurs; it will be a platform they can use to connect with customers on one side and suppliers on the other.”
The Advanced Management Program focuses on such pertinent topics as digital transformation, innovation, change management, entrepreneurship, and information management, making it just as fitting—if not even more applicable—for Kersten in her new role. The chance to travel to Cambridge gave her an unexpected opportunity to step back and truly consider the challenges that lie ahead for her, particularly since she is a member of the executive board of ASA International.
A Chance to Reflect
“Leaders in the corporate world don’t often stop to recharge their batteries,” Kersten notes. “But taking a step back is like giving a present to yourself. It’s really good to reflect on the direction of your company while you’re in a learning environment free of work politics. There’s no competition; it’s just about learning.”
“MIT’s focus on innovation and technology is so important, but I also was drawn to its mantra of mens et manus. MIT takes technology and theory and allows you to apply it to your specific company situation. That is key."
Although Kersten continued to hold down her ASA International responsibilities from Cambridge, often working in the early morning hours to take advantage of the time difference back home, she had the chance to fully focus on key leadership and transformation concepts during the hours she spent in class with her fellow participants and faculty like AMP Director and Senior Lecturer Court Chilton. And she took away some truly constructive lessons.
“One of the key takeaways from the digitization class was the idea that digital transformation is not so much an IT change, but much more a leadership or business transformation,” she says. “I was given so many tools that are helping me take our team through a workshop type of experience to figure out our digital leadership readiness. It’s been so valuable.”
Additionally, the AMP classes concentrating on entrepreneurship and platform strategy have been particularly beneficial for Kersten as she and her team continue to work to develop the digital marketplace for ASA International’s entrepreneur clients. She states, “I learned about finding the right business model for your platform, as well as transaction, cost, and search benefits, and I have been able to test our platform against these criteria. It has been very helpful.”
AMP in Action
Since returning to the Netherlands, Kersten reaches out to ASA International’s leadership team on a biweekly basis to share theories, concepts, and frameworks that she learned from the Advanced Management Program so they can implement those into the work being done. She also has arranged several digitization sessions and workshops with CEOs and leaders from the countries in which the company operates to further the digital transformation strategy. And she recently shared the platform with an AMP classmate, a technology executive who lives and works in India, so she could test the platform and gather insights about its effectiveness in that region of the world. For her, it all ties into one of the main reasons she wanted to participate in the program in the first place.
“MIT’s focus on innovation and technology is so important, but I also was drawn to its mantra of mens et manus [mind and hand]. MIT takes technology and theory and allows you to apply it to your specific company situation. That is key,” she concludes. “While I regretted not being able to participate in the program back in 2020, I do think that it was meant to happen in this way. When you’re working at a high leadership level, it’s not so much about doing things right—it’s about doing the right things. I’m able to take the theories and the frameworks and apply it to the work I’m doing now. I’m very happy that it worked out this way.”
Learn more about the Advanced Management Program.