Don't get typecast: broaden your horizons with an EMBA

Senior managers and executive leaders who not only want to develop greater resilience in the workplace, but to find new purpose and fulfilment in their roles, would do well to consider the Executive Master of Business Administration (EMBA) offered by the University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business (UCT GSB).

This two-year programme is designed for those “who consciously want to enhance their ability to conceptualise, rather than their proficiency in functional management”. It offers a transformative learning experience that allows one to not only grow professionally, but personally — as Satish Antony, actuarial & group strategy executive at Medscheme Holdings, can attest.

Here, the UCT GSB alumnus reflects on how the EMBA programme broadened his horizons, challenged his assumptions and proved the importance of self-awareness for effective leadership.

Tell us a little bit more about yourself and your career path leading up to the EMBA you attained in 2022.

I’m a qualified actuary, and started off in health care at Old Mutual, providing actuarial consulting services to medical aid schemes in SA. I was in the healthcare industry for two or three years, travelling between Cape Town and Johannesburg. Then I became interested in short-term insurance and joined Santam in 2009. 

Santam then bought into a short-term insurer in India. So in 2011, I was seconded to Jaipur in Rajasthan, to start up an actuarial department at Shriram Insurance. I was there for two-and-a-half years and it was an amazing experience. 

My family still has very close connections with our family in South India and we’d visit them every two or three years. So culturally, I thought [the transition would] be quite easy. But within two weeks I realised, no, not at all — culturally, I’m South African through and through. So there was quite a disconnect there, but I grew to appreciate the differences in our cultures.

[We complain a lot about SA, but it's only when you leave that you realise what we actually have and how blessed we are here, so I came back in 2013.] 

At Sanlam, I was in the emerging markets space, so I provided actuarial services to a variety of countries across the continent. We were present in 33 countries, so I've travelled quite a lot.

It was during that time that I felt as being boxed-in or typecast as an actuary. I wanted to broaden my horizons, but whatever role I applied for, they always saw me as strictly just an actuary. And that was what I'd hoped — at least from a CV perspective — that an EMBA would [change].

In what ways has the EMBA changed your personal and professional outlook?

Actuaries are seen as black boxes. Never questioned in terms of the numbers. And over the years, that almost became a part of my psyche, if I can call it that. It became directly tied to how I see myself, my self-worth, my social status. So if ever I was questioned on anything, I lacked that awareness to separate it from a personal question, to not take it personally.

Other than the workload, did the EMBA affect your personal relationships at all?

My wife, Sharon, would engage me on this [propensity to take things personally], and say: let me just try to understand it better. I sometimes would humour her — or put up a wall. But during the EMBA I started seeing an executive coach, and that really helped to bring down that wall. I realised that it was OK to be wrong, to rely on others for direction. That doesn’t make you any less of a person, if anything it lifts you up because you have so much more of a support structure. I know it's corporate focus, but a lot of that filters into your personal life as well.

So while the career growth has been amazing, it has done wonders for me in my relationships, not just with my wife, but also with my friends. Being aware of the insecurities that I've got, and knowing that it's OK to have those insecurities. How do I show up if one of those insecurities comes to the fore? I’ve realised that if I'm challenged on something, I’m now able to take a step back. The trick is to know how to think about thinking, to take a bird's-eye view and understand: this is how I'm reacting to that situation. And because I've got that awareness, I can choose to react. Or not react, exactly, but respond. Take the emotion out of it. And I guess, be more positive in that situation. And that has been quite an eye-opening experience.

Tell us a bit more about the EMBA programme itself. Were you challenged or surprised in any way by the curriculum?

I didn't expect the extent of leadership growth focus that there was. I just expected it to be the standard, by-the-books, economics, design-thinking topics that you could get with, say, an online course. But there was a lot of emphasis on philosophy, on the growth that needs to happen for you to be a leader rather than a manager. I only got a proper appreciation of it maybe by the end of the first year. But if I look back on it now, I can clearly see that golden thread coming through. 

Of course at the start there was the accounting, the economics, but gradually there were more requests to reflect on how we react and how we want to respond. And then by the start of the second year it really started coming together. And that is very much by design. So I really think that it was an amazing experience. And anyone who has ambitions of growth, of going up the corporate ladder ... I think it's a key fundamental ingredient that's needed. Because as leaders, we need to have a greater awareness of our behaviours, our world views and our values.

How has attaining your EMBA affected your career?

I think it has opened a lot of a lot of doors. When I came into the programme, in 2020, I was a senior manager, I'm now on a group executive team. Last year Sanlam bought a 60% stake in a company called AfroCentric [part of Medscheme Holdings], and they asked me to move across to take care of actuarial data and strategy. 

How much of it can be attributed to the EMBA programme? It’s hard to tell. I think that a significant portion can be. But not just the fact that it looks good on my CV; it’s how I show up in situations and help people. And the confidence I've received from this programme ... is essentially the confidence I've created for myself to let go of a lot of the negative aspects of my personality and how I show up. That's been quite a metamorphosis. 

You show up as a more positive person in a lot of situations rather than being insecure and focusing on self-preservation. You learn to take care of the collective, if I could call it that. And that then positions you as someone for the future, someone who can help [your organisation] in a difficult situation, who's not just looking out for his own self-interest, but for the greater good. 

What would you say to anyone who is considering an EMBA at the UCT GSB?

It’s not only CEOs and group executives that should be part of it. Anyone who wants to have a mirror held up to them to say: these are your world views, this is why you behave the way you do in certain situations. Once that mirror has been held up and you have that awareness, you are empowered to behave differently. And I think that's very powerful.

This article was sponsored by the UCT GSB.