When Sana Khan, AMBA '21, joined Ivey Accelerated MBA, she was looking to broaden her experience and sharpen her leadership skills – but in the process, her journey evolved into switching industries and discovering the type of leader she truly wanted to be.

“There's a lot of reflection in MBA programs, and that was important because it helped me consciously define my leadership values and understand what kind of impact I wanted to create with the people I was working with,” says Khan, Associate with McKinsey & Company.

“Leadership isn’t just managing people. You can be a leader with your clients, with your colleagues; regardless of formal authority, it doesn't have to be with people reporting to you.”

It was a way of thinking that helped Khan become a more authentic leader – one whose actions and behaviour aren’t rooted in preconceived notions of what a leader “should” be but rather in embracing who she is and what she wants to bring into her work.

“The impact of genuine connections is huge! When we lead authentically, we create environments where everyone feels comfortable and the quality of work improves significantly,” says Khan, who switched to her consulting role after finishing the program.

“It's game-changing especially when you're working with different people often, and I think some of those core values that I had been able to consciously define helped me thrive in a high-performance, fast-paced environment, rather than burnout.”

The switch to consulting wasn’t initially in Khan’s plans, since she had embarked on the AMBA to further her career in the consumer-packaged goods industry. But as she engaged with diverse perspectives, new opportunities emerged, and McKinsey reached out to her.

“That opportunity seemed like a great way to supercharge my learning and growth with a different client every few months, and working all across North America,” she says, highlighting how her authentic leadership style made her a perfect fit for consulting.

Khan says the work she’d done through Ivey’s Case Method provided her with the critical analysis skills she needed for the McKinsey interview process.

Courses like Impact and Influence, as well as those on negotiations, operations and finance helped her further accelerate her professional development and growth journey, she adds.

“All the assignments were relevant to my day job which made it a continuous and practical process,” she says.

“With the discussion forums, we were able to bounce ideas off of other students from different industries and functions.”

For anyone thinking about embarking on an AMBA, Khan’s advice is to think about your “why.”

“It's a very versatile program and you need to know why you want to do it and what skills you want to develop,” she says.

“The Ivey team and advisors are always happy to talk to prospective students. They offer a range of MBA options tailored to different learning experiences. You can reach out to them, and they can help you figure out which program is the right fit for your goals – and it’s all backed by the Ivey brand, the network, and all the opportunities associated with it.”