How an Executive MBA helped one finance leader drive global growth
How an Executive MBA helped one finance leader drive global growth
For many professionals, an MBA represents a step toward bigger responsibilities, new sectors or entrepreneurial ambitions. For Harry Young, the decision to join the Executive MBA at Bayes Business School was inseparable from a much larger goal: helping steer his company through a phase of global expansion.
“Seeing the impact of my MBA on the business has been really satisfying,” he says. His experience reflects how closely his learning became integrated with real strategic decisions at Squint/Opera, the London-based creative agency where he has progressed from Group Financial Controller to Global Finance Director.
Linking learning to leadership
Harry began his career as an accountant at Deloitte, working with organisations of all sizes. His exposure to smaller, fast-moving companies revealed an environment where finance professionals could influence far more than balance sheets. That appetite for broader responsibility eventually led him to Squint/Opera in 2019, where he helped prepare the business for private-equity ownership.
By 2022, he was ready to develop the wider strategic toolkit required to support the company’s international ambitions. The Bayes Executive MBA offered the breadth he was seeking, as well as a structure that enabled him to study intensively while maintaining a senior role and adjusting to life as a new parent.
“It was harder than I thought it would be, it’s the cadence of it,” he reflects on balancing work, life and study. Yet the programme format pushed him to work more strategically, closely integrating assignments with real business priorities. “I tried as much as possible to make my MBA assignments directly applicable to the business.”
Direct impact on growth strategy
Some modules immediately shaped Squint/Opera’s decision making. Harry highlights Corporate Strategy, Operations Management and Marketing as useful, but says one elective stood out.
“The core modules on Operations Management and Principles of Marketing were both useful too, but the module with most impact was the elective on Mergers & Acquisitions.”
As the company explored acquisition opportunities, Harry’s Business Project became an applied piece of consultancy work. Guided by Professor Scott Moeller, Director of the M&A Research Centre, he shaped an approach to identifying suitable targets.
“He was really good at helping me break down my ideas and be really targeted,” Harry says. The clarity and focus he gained allowed him to present recommendations that earned swift buy in from founders, private equity owners and senior leaders across the firm’s investor network.
“They had already seen the value in it, so they were quite open and receptive to the recommendations in my Business Project,” he explains.
A global perspective with local application
The Executive MBA also immersed Harry in international innovation ecosystems. Electives in Vietnam and in Israel and Palestine were standout experiences that provided new insight into how talent clusters, universities and industry networks fuel growth.
“What I took away from the start-ups and organisations we visited, was the power of ecosystems and how you can have these hubs of similar businesses… That really is what can turbocharge economic growth,” he says. For a creative agency in London, another global hub, the parallels were immediate.
Personal transformation beyond professional growth
While the MBA sharpened his strategic thinking and contributed directly to company performance, Harry is clear that the experience changed him on a deeper level.
“The MBA broadened my horizons and the way I look at the world,” he says. The intensity of balancing work, study and parenthood also shifted his perspective on what he wants from his career in the long term.
“I don’t want to go back to just doing enough to get by. I want to help my company be successful and then have a story to tell at the end.”
Advice for future candidates
For those considering the Executive MBA, his guidance is pragmatic and rooted in his own approach. Break work into manageable pieces, start assignments early, prioritise quality, create focused study windows and invest in health to maintain resilience.
To learn more about the Executive MBA at Bayes and explore whether it’s the right fit for you, visit our Executive MBA programme page.