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Gaining a new management toolkit

30 May 2019

The article at a glance

When Lt Col Frank Brooks, Commander in the US Air Force, was looking for an Executive Education experience, he was keen to …

Category: News Programme news

When Lt Col Frank Brooks, Commander in the US Air Force, was looking for an Executive Education experience, he was keen to gain new perspectives on management and develop his skills, whilst meeting his own diverse career goals. That’s when the General Management Certificate of Achievement (GMCA) came in to play.

Dr Kishore Sengupta teaching on an Executive Education programme.
Lt Col Frank Brooks
Lt Col Frank Brooks

“I was in a senior management position and chose the GMCA because I felt I needed to refresh my understanding of management with the latest theories and discussions. I knew I wanted to take a structured programme, but I also knew that I didn’t want to re-hash old management discussions that weren’t interesting to me or didn’t apply to me – so the flexible nature of the programme was a big draw. I also wanted to learn from a highly credible institution, and Cambridge fit the bill in that respect.

“Another appeal of the GMCA was the range of programmes that I was able to pull from. I realised I could develop a programme that would answer my own specific needs, as opposed to me taking courses that weren’t relevant to what I wanted to learn.

In-class discussions were so amazingly rich with wide-ranging perspectives and ideas, which kept you engaged.

“Without a doubt, the greatest benefit of taking the GMCA was the diversity of students that I was able to learn with. My classes were always very diverse, with people from different professional backgrounds, with respect to both industry and position. I also had classmates from all parts of the world. The professors were great and brought a lot of expertise to the discussions, but they were best at facilitating the discussions and letting the students talk through the issue or case at hand. This is where the diversity of the class came into play; in-class discussions were so amazingly rich with wide-ranging perspectives and ideas, which kept you engaged and made the time seem to fly by. There were times we wanted more time to continue the discussion, but just had to move on!

“What would I say to someone considering the GMCA? If you’re looking to looking to update your management ‘toolkit’ but aren’t looking to sit through lectures or case studies that don’t apply to you or aren’t relevant to your business, then you should consider it. You can build your own personalised learning experience that’s focused on your own objectives, with the breadth of programmes you can select from.”


The comments of Lt Col Brooks reflect his opinion and are not an endorsement by the US government.