Marie-Hélène Bourduas
(EMBA 2020)

Integration Leader for Mergers & Acquisitions, Human Resources
Dassault Systèmes

To be a good leader, you need to know yourself: your strengths but also your blind spots. Knowing yourself allows to connect and work with people that are different from you to help mitigate some of those blind spots.

 

Where are you currently working? Describe your current job in a sentence or two.

I work at Dassault Systemes, a multinational software company headquartered in France, as the Human Resources M&A Project Manager for North America. As we acquire companies, my role is to manage the integration from a people and talents perspective and also from HR policies, procedures, HRIS, etc. My main focus is communications and change management for the newly acquired company.

 

What was your favorite EMBA course and what was the biggest insight you gained about business from it?

Definitely the Reflective Mindset. To be a good leader, you need to know yourself: your strengths but also your blind spots. Knowing yourself allows to connect and work with people that are different from you to help mitigate some of those blind spots.

 

Why did you choose the McGill-HEC Montréal executive MBA program?

The reputation of the program was a factor, but most importantly, the way it is structured and designed (2 universities, bilingual, 18-month program) is unique. Learning from the points of view of 2 different cultures provided me with a special environment, confronting ways I think about things and expanding my knowledge.

 

What did you enjoy most about the EMBA experience in general?

The opportunities to learn from all the members of my cohort. The diversity of people in terms of backgrounds, industries, companies is quite astounding. This diversity allowed me to confront my thoughts and views on things. You learn from teachers and experts from the field, and I learned even more from my peers. There is a lot of room to engage and connect with the rest of your cohort, but also all the cohorts before yours. I find it interesting that I could get insights from a company completely different from mine.

 

What is the biggest lesson you gained during your EMBA and how did you apply it at work?

Emotions and being empathic could be strengths, not weaknesses. They enable you to put yourself into someone else’s shoes, learn their perspective and get a richer insight than you would from just one perspective. This enables better decisions and innovative solutions to sometimes complex problems.

 

What advice would you give to a student looking to enter an executive MBA program?

To dive right in, head-on. It is a safe space to learn and some of my biggest learnings are through my peers. Seek different perspectives from your peers, even if they are contrary to your views. It will help you generate new, disruptive ideas that you could implement in your organization.