Lead­er­shift: in­spir­ing a fresh dir­ec­tion in lead­er­ship

By the time Catherine Dorfman enrolled on the CBS Executive MBA, it’s fair to say that she had little left to prove with her career. With more than two decades in the pharmaceutical industry behind her, she had progressed from sales representative to General Manager, and was leading MSD Animal Health's Nordic business. Originally from Georgia, Catherine moved to Israel before settling in Denmark, building her career through experience, tenacity and a willingness to embrace new challenges.

So for Catherine, an EMBA was as much about personal growth as it was career growth. Rather than using it to unlock a promotion, she saw it as an opportunity to become a more effective leader; developing areas where experience alone could only take her so far.

"I felt that there were some knowledge gaps that I had," she explains. "For example, strengthening my financial expertise. A lot of my financial knowledge came from my day-to-day working life and I needed a deeper understanding."

Learning with immediate impact

As she explored different programmes, Catherine was looking for something practical and rooted in reality. She wanted a programme that reflected the nuances of modern business, one that would allow her to apply what she was learning to her (demanding) leadership role.  The CBS Executive MBA stood out.

That approach shaped Catherine's experience from the outset. Rather than viewing assignments as academic exercises, she used them to explore real business challenges, test new ideas and strengthen her understanding of the organisation she was at the helm of.

A broader perspective on leadership

The programme also encouraged Catherine to look beyond the shifting demands of running a business and to consider the bigger picture. Having spent years on the front line of business development, she found herself taking a broader view of strategy, finance, leadership and organisational change, connecting ideas that she had previously only considered at a distance.

She was particularly struck by the programme's willingness to evolve alongside the fast-changing business environment. As generative AI emerged during her studies, the CBS encouraged her cohort to learn how use it responsibly and transparently. For Catherine, it demonstrated that the programme was preparing executives for the challenges they were facing today and tomorrow, not the ones that organisations faced a decade ago.

She also used concepts from the leadership modules to develop a leadership programme for her own Nordic management team, introducing principles such as authentic leadership, humble inquiry and growth mindset. Those ideas gradually became embedded within her leadership style and continue to influence her today.

A transformational ISP

If one part of the CBS programme defined Catherine's development, it was the Integrated Strategy Project (ISP).

For context, the animal health company she was working had acquired a technology company several years earlier, creating an organisation that combined biopharmaceutical expertise with digital technology. Catherine became fascinated by the challenge of bringing those two worlds together, not just from a commercial perspective, but also culturally, organisationally and strategically.

"Pretty much immediately I knew that I wanted to do this ISP on technology solutions," she says. "It's a very interesting challenge."

As her project progressed, Catherine realised she was becoming just as interested the potential for the future as the analysis itself. And the more she explored the opportunities and challenges of bringing together technology and biopharma, the clearer it became that this was where she wanted to take her own career.

"Basically, the ISP made me realise that this is what I want to do in my company next," she says. "I was on the commercial path and I could stay there... but it was clear to me that this was the direction I wanted to take.” The project gave her clarity. And around 18 months later, following an organisational restructure, the opportunity arose to move into a global technology solutions role.

"Definitely I see that the EMBA helped crystallise for me what would be my next career path," she says.