Founded in Paris in 1830, the Christofle company – named after its founder – has made a name for itself in tableware thanks to its elegant silver cutlery.
At 37, Émilie Metge Viargues was appointed head of the prestigious company a few months ago.
The leader had started her career at the very bottom of the ladder.
"I started out as an assistant to the assistant to the assistant
," she jokes.
Her rise accelerated during training at HEC Paris, where she completed an Executive MBA between 2017 and 2019.
"I gained self-confidence, I felt my wings growing
," she recalls. on this subject.
HEC students
Less known than the Grande Ecole and the MBA, the HEC Paris Executive MBA is aimed at more experienced professionals than these two other programs, with an average age of 37.
Many come from technical backgrounds – engineers, doctors or bankers – and wish to develop their leadership skills.
Some want to move up the hierarchy, others change sectors, still others create their own company.
Everyone takes the opportunity to take stock of their professional situation.
In general, participants resume studies in parallel with their job.
They immerse themselves in books and work on case studies.
“I didn't know anything about marketing.
I had to absorb in six days a phenomenal quantity of presentations, videos and books on the subject”
, testifies Patrick Aisenberg, the founder of the SaaS software Linkbynet.
Devoid of an academic background, he had created his company with his brother in 2000. Following his EMBA, he transformed it and then sold it to the consulting giant Accenture.
The teaching of the EMBA is not limited to the technical aspects of the management of a company.
Interventions also focus on leadership, values and adaptation to different personality types, for example through the MBTI test.
"One of our professors encouraged us to aim higher than the next position
," says Arnaud Naudan, who became CEO of BDO France in January 2021 as a result of the vote of the firm's 120 partners.
HEC HEC students
The ripple effect plays out, as the students are hand-picked.
Doctoral students, serial entrepreneurs, specialists in financial products...
"It put me under pressure to rub shoulders with such brilliant people, it was very uncomfortable but it allowed me to learn a lot
," says Konstantin Artyukhov, who sits on the board of directors of the startup Bestplace.
Integrating the HEC network offers the possibility, in passing, of joining a community of 68,000 graduates from all programs.
So many potential contacts to enrich your address book.