Joe Schmidt inspires Smurfit MBA candidates with Leadership Talk on ‘Managing High Performing Teams’

Joe Schmidt - Photo Credit - Jason Clarke
Joe Schmidt – Photo Credit – Jason Clarke

Last Thursday, Joe Schmidt, the double Six Nations winning Irish rugby coach, talked to Smurfit MBA candidates on ‘Managing High Performing Teams’ at the St. Stephen’s Green Hibernian Club.

He chip-kicked the event by praising his team for being natural athletes who work hard and give their everything to the sport. As a coach, he believes in giving players the freedom to evolve and self-lead themselves. In a team, individuals need to do their job right to win the team’s trust.

Joe Schmidt & David Cashman. Photo Credit - Jason Clarke
Joe Schmidt & David Cashman. Photo Credit – Jason Clarke

Executive MBA candidate and MC for the evening David Cashman steered the talk by discussing Schmidt’s extensive experience in leadership as a coach and strategies for glorious back-to-back Six Nations wins.

Schmidt emphasized the importance of investing in the people that these players are by the route of giving constant feedback. Team members feel assured that they are being noticed and that the leader is invested in them that yields better dividend.

He also spoke about his recruitment style; Besides observing a player’s game, Schmidt studies the player’s attitude too. He said that a player’s game can be improved by the right training but a player’s attitude or DNA cannot be changed. It is not about provinces, it is not about red or white jerseys – he says his foremost task is to pick the 15 best Irishmen who should represent ‘the green jersey’.

Photo Credit - Jason Clarke
Photo Credit – Jason Clarke

He highlighted that a player can lead his team by being emotionally intelligent and unselfish enough to drive younger players – qualities that Paul O’Connell possessed which is why it will be difficult to find his replacement.

Schmidt anecdotally mentioned that many young coaches seek tips from him to be professional coaches. He chuckled and said that they don’t know how tough his job is. And on a serious note, he added that it all depends on the way we invest in our people.

Schmidt delivered an inspiring talk on leadership that had the audience on its feet, clapping most of the time, whistling and roaring in approval.  His address was candid and replete with humour making this event one of the most popular leadership talks of the year.

Joe Schmidt and Dean Ciaran O’hÓgartaigh with MBA Thought Leadership Club committee members – Vincent Cooney, Pooja Dey, David Cashman, John O’Brien, Paul Murphy & Aileen Butler. Photo Credit - Jason Clarke
Joe Schmidt and Dean Ciaran O’hÓgartaigh with MBA Thought Leadership Club committee members – Vincent Cooney, Pooja Dey, David Cashman, John O’Brien, Paul Murphy & Aileen Butler. Photo Credit – Jason Clarke

The event was curated by the MBA Thought Leadership Club, Smurfit School, UCD. There are a few people we would like to thank without whom this event would not have been of this magnitude – Dean Ciaran O’hÓgartaigh for supporting the event, Yvonne Harding from the MBA office for providing guidance and advice, Executive MBA candidate Conor Drudy for helping to set up Joe Schmidt for this leadership talk.

We wish the Irish Rugby Team the very best in chasing the three in a row!

Pooja Dey ~ Full-Time MBA

Widen your horizons

When I took the decision to leave a stable and secure job, to devote one full year to my MBA journey at Smurfit Business School, I never thought that it would have such a life-changing impact. I think all my classmates would be echoing the same feelings.

Though we used to have quite a versatile work profile during our jobs; however, now I realize what actually versatility means in practice. Life is much bigger and there is lot to do and achieve. All the components of MBA right from Classroom Lectures (they are not just lectures but a completely participative experience especially during lots of Case Studies and class discussions), Individual and Group Assignments, Literature Reviews (I never thought that there would be a component of PhD thesis also in the MBA, which would refine my literary and research skills and some day may even inspire me to write a book), simulation games (to have real world business experience), PowerPoint presentations, MBA Clubs, Speaker events (we had quite inspirational and entrepreneurial speakers to interact with us during last 3 months), Network immersion week (the week seemed to bring almost the entire world to a single Smurfit classroom), Coaching Sessions (which have helped us to define our objectives and aspirations more clearly), Career Sessions (which introduced us to wide range of career options, which we never could have explored during our regular jobs), Sessions on Leadership and Communication skills, and so on. Careers sell has always been guiding us for attending more and more Career events and to do a lot of Networking, which again has helped us to reach out to people from various industries, sectors and fields and keep on continuously expanding our network. So, our learning does not end in the Business School premises, it extends much beyond that.

As soon as I start wondering is there anything left to experience, we are presented with entirely  new event or a new dimension of Smurfit MBA program, which helps towards further expanding and widening our horizons and enable us to become not just a world class manager but also a complete human being.

I have always been inspired by the quote One cannot discover new oceans, unless one leaves the fear of losing sight of the shore”. Smurfit MBA reinforces my belief that one year taken out of work is well spent on exploring new opportunities, widening your horizons and finding a new meaning for your Career and Life.

Ashutosh Singla

Full-time MBA 2014-15

Coaching to the Finish Line

Coaching provides a safe space for MBA participants to explore challenges that may be causing interference by focusing on personal development in a programme that is by nature competitive and challenging. It allows space for thinking, reflection and exploring more of the emotional intelligence aspect of leadership.  Now in my second year of coaching MBA participants at UCD Smurfit, I have found the participants to be very smart people from a range of countries, backgrounds and industries.

All have a shared ambition to be the best that they can be and to reach their potential. There is a formula in coaching from The Inner Gameby Tim Gallwey which reads:

Performance = (potential – interference)

At the heart of the coaching work that I do is a conversation. This conversation is led by the coachee’s agenda and my primary role is to listen and understand the coachee’s story. That story can include career development, values, patterns in their working life, motivation, managing stress and managing opportunities.

For the coachee, the sessions provide time and space to talk out loud about what is top of mind for them, in other words what is their inner game. We all have an inner game, so exploring aspects of this with a coach allows the coachee to bring into focus what they are thinking about and how they can work on it.

There is always an inner game being played in your mind no matter what outer game you are playing. How you play this game usually makes the difference between success and failure.Tim Gallwey

Working with a coach, they explore reality, look at goals for the short term and longer, explore options for change and agree on actions for the future.

The beauty of the programme is that each coachee has access to three coaching sessions, which allows time for the coaching relationship to develop, for reflection, for actions to take place and be reviewed, and for themes to emerge.

Pamela Fay

As we start 2014 I am looking forward to my coaching sessions in the coming weeks with the MBA participants. I am excited about what actions they have taken since their last coaching session and what new challenges and opportunities we will be working on together over the coming months.

Pamela Fay is a business and executive coach. Pamela has run her own business for ten years and qualified in 2009 as a coach.

Welcome Second Leg of MBA

It’s a beautiful day outside. The sun is shining; the trees and grass are green with only a slight wind is blowing. It’s been more than two weeks since the start of a new semester for the full time MBA class. We’ve begun our option classes this semester, with only five core classes ongoing, including the overseas study trip due in March. The earliest class starts at 11 am this semester, good news for the owls among us.

We received our last semester’s results on Wednesday during the first week of class. I still feel a bit incredulous that I had actually completed studying seven subjects in three months. This semester, thus far, feels a lot less hectic compared to the last one.

A few of the class members mentioned that they felt like there was a lack in work/study-life balance last semester and wanted to re-prioritize their lives. Personally, I had occasional very high stress levels adjusting to the amount of work required last semester, along with my two young children and other domestic responsibilities. The ‘stress’ points were usually when the internet wasn’t working at home, had two or three assignments due and my beloved little ones were still running around the house when they should have had their morning bath.

I do feel that I was stretching myself a bit, and at some points wondered whether I would ever get to the end of the program! But I rationalized that it’s only for a short duration and I might as well juggle everything as best as I can. And it really depends on what we are looking for during this one year. Some of us may be using it as a stepping-stone, to network and get a better job while others may wish for academic excellence.

We all wrote down in our application essays what we wished to achieve during the MBA, though some people may have changed expectations and goals, but these objectives guide our decisions during the school term. For me, it has also meant forgoing taking any formal positions and attending most networking events because my aim is understanding with academic excellence while juggling a family, and bringing up and educating two future leaders (aka my children! ;)).

One of the great aspects of the MBA is that we get personal coaching which has helped us gain clarity into our own lives amidst the hectic MBA schedule. I’ve had two wonderful sessions with a first class Smurfit MBA alumnus. Coming out of the coaching session last Wednesday, I have asked myself a question that I felt I knew the answer, but perhaps I should ponder more on. I always have big dreams for my family and myself. But do I want to aim for eight things and only achieve 90%, or should I aim for only five things and achieve 100% on all of them? It’s a tough question. I would love to say I want to aim for eight things and achieve 100% but that would be stretching myself too thin and would definitely be bad for long-term health.

So to reach a middle ground, I will have to ask myself, out of those eight things that I want to achieve, which ones are the most important to me? What are my ‘key performance areas’ for this year? And for the long term? What are the strategic differentiators that I want to develop in myself? I know my priorities are my religion, my family and then only my career/ studies, but how much percentage do I devote to each of these, and how much do I have left for other things?

Deep breath.

Hard and tough questions to answer.


– Nur Zahirah M Sukran, FT MBA 2012/13

Coaching on the MBA

I had the privilege of coaching the leaders of tomorrow at UCD Smurfit and have been asked to reflect on the experience during the past year. The one-to one coaching experiences started a little earlier with the Exec (2-year) MBA students in November. As coaches we each met our coachees for this first coaching session at this stage. Most of them had a pretty clear idea of what they would like to achieve from the experience, although many were unsure of the process (as is the case for anyone who has not experienced coaching before).  The topics broadly related to specific business challenges, leadership style and career. This first session allowed us to gain a common understanding of the end goal as well as raising awareness of the challenge they faced. Most walked away with areas to reflect on before we would meet again.

By the time the 2nd coaching session came around (late January/ February), there had been a noticeable shift in perspectives. Due to the increased gap between the coaching sessions this year and the time available over the Christmas break, it was obvious that ample time had been available to the MBA students to consider their challenge. At the beginning of each coaching session I have a tendency to reflect back on where we left off so that the coachee can bring me up to date. At these coaching sessions I was invariably met with ‘Goodness at lot has changed since we last spoke’. At this point a path was emerging and during this coaching session we would continue to thrash out the situation and options that emerged.

Between session 2 and 3, my coachees went on their International Trip to either Brazil or China. They returned fulfilled by the trip albeit a little overwhelmed by virtue of the fact that so many things were now coming together. They were trying to keep the day job going, assignments were kicking in en-masse and the end of the MBA loomed. There was a mixture of relief (in terms of the juggling this necessitated) and also sadness at the prospect. These guys have juggled for two years now and many described the camaraderie in the class and the ‘hole’ they would feel in their lives which they wanted to fill with something else constructive.  We continued our coaching conversations reflecting back on the initial goals which were set. Broadly speaking we stayed very much on course and in the main, MBA students achieved what they had wanted from the process.

What strikes me from the experience is the concept of the coaching process being akin to stepping on ‘the balcony’. The Executive MBAs are endeavouring to juggle work, MBA programme and their personal lives for 2 years and the coaching process allows them a little time to step out of all this and reflect on a challenge which is important to them. For the coaches it is rewarding to see this journey and support them in the challenges which they face.

Eadine Hickey, Executive Coach on the UCD Smurfit MBA

Professional Business Coaching on my UCD EMBA

Coaching has been one of the most beneficial aspects of the UCD Smurfit MBA Personal Development Programme in my experience. It is something I was offered in the past, but did not take up at the time due to time pressures.

In Year 2 of the EMBA, there are three coaching sessions offered to every single EMBA student.  In these one-on-one sessions, I set out my goals and my plans for achieving them. In my case, this was my business plan. My coach acted as a sounding board and through the coach’s skilful questions, it challenged certain assumptions I held and encouraged me to tease out certain issues – challenges that I envisaged and how I planned to overcome them. The coach helped me pin down my preferences on the options that were before me.

Managers can sometimes get caught up in the day-to-day operational aspects of the business and neglect to come up for air and look at the big picture and where they should be heading.  Have the goalposts changed?  A few sessions with a professional business coach can help you to take stock and review your position and focus on getting to where you want to go next.

Kate Healy, EMBA 2010-12

A Coachee’s Perspective.

I was delighted to hear that we were being offered a chance to be coached as part of the UCD Smurfit EMBA programme as I had never experienced coaching before. Having spent my career to date working in a number of large multi-national organisations, coaching has always been considered very useful to do but unfortunately business priorities always seemed to get in the way.

I had heard very good feedback about coaching in general and so approached the sessions with a very open mind.   On the EMBA here at UCD Smurfit,, all students are offered the chance to participate in this Leadership Coaching Programme which is one of the final parts of our PPD Programme.  It takes place in the final semester for us, which is Year 2 Semester 2.  Those who sign up are assigned a top professionally trained business coach.

My initial session with my coach was more of a getting to know you session. This was important to do, so my coach could get a sense of where I am now and put some context around future sessions we would have.

My second session, when the coaching started proper, was a hugely positive experience with some very concrete actions resulting come the end of the session. It stimulated some very sound ideas on a specific topic that I had set out at the start of the session. The benefits of the sessions so far have been many.  

First and foremost it is a great opportunity to stand back and take stock. Too often we get caught up in my hustle and bustle of everyday life without having the chance to step back and take a look from the outside in. It was also a great opportunity to bounce ideas off my coach with a view to clearing a path to where I wanted to go with respect to a particular subject.

– Sinéad Bailey – EMBA 2009/2011  


UCD SMURFIT IN THE SPRING: A quick look back at TERM 3

At the time of writing my previous blog as a full time UCD Smurfit MBA, I was full of questions and thoughts. It was my reflection time.

So much has happened since then even though it has only been three weeks.

First of all, we have finished our exams for Term 3! Only someone who has had seven months of continuous challenges every day and every hour can imagine the relief I feel now.  As my coach, Eadine Hickey noticed, challenges are the best motivation for me. So when I say challenges I mean something tough, but exciting that makes you move, improve and develop.

In my opinion, Term 3, which is the first part of Semester 2, has been the most stressful one.  And, I’m not the only one who has observed this. Maybe it is because we are closer to finish line, which is sad and good at the same time. Maybe it is because there is a limit to a person’s energy and we are running out of it. Or maybe we had a busier schedule this term because of the Option Modules.

Nevertheless, I feel that I am on a different level this term thanks to the preparation from first two terms. I have enjoyed readings and discussions on different topics on strategy, HR, finance, negotiations, etc more than ever before. At the exams, I felt a little disappointed when questions did not cover some of the topics I was passionate about. So I tried to attach them to my answers even if it was not very relevant. And after exams, my classmates stopped me several times from talking about questions and answers saying that “this one is over now, switch to the next one”. Anyway, we have finished with exams, and still have couple of assignments to do to wrap up this term full of stress, learning and progress.

As for my choice of Option Modules, I should say that my decision to try to get a deeper understanding of different aspects of business was the right one. For example, I find Managing Sales Relations course very useful. Sales are everywhere, no matter what post you hold and what industry you are working in. And that class is special, because it considers Sales from a fresh perspective with reference to contemporary reality with its hypercompetition and incredible dynamics of markets. One of the guest speakers stated something that is applicable not only to sales people: in order to succeed you should admit the fact that in three out of four cases you will be rejected, and that’s absolutely normal.

Another interesting part of this term has been the “Mock” Interviews. I had interviews with two experienced recruiters Mark Burgess from Spirit Executive Fiona Tierney from Dalriada.  These training interviews bring you back to reality, and assess if you are ready to face ‘real world’.  All the grades and study will remain within the walls of your school. What those people outside college care about is if you are able to work hard, achieve goals, get on with people, etc. All the knowledge we acquired here can be useful only if we know how to apply it. That wasn’t news for me; whenever I heard any interesting theories I always tried to imagine how it would work in real life. The interviewers gave me valuable and insightful feedback, including advice on CV, main points for me to highlight during real interviews, some tips about career choices, etc.

And the last piece of news is about my Company Project. In my previous blogs, I confessed that even if my background and future career plans are all about finance; I would love to have a chance to do a project with a music company.  Although our MBA Careers Office provided us with a great choice of projects from which we could choose one for ourselves; I really wanted to find my own project in the music industry.

I should say that it is not easy to convince music people that an MBA project can be useful for them. Most of the companies I contacted did not even reply to my messages. It’s not surprising, because MBA and music seem to be two different worlds. However, luck was on my side and I eventually found a music company that expressed an interest. Moreover, it turned out that their idea for a project was very interesting and would allow me to apply my knowledge of strategy and marketing. But, I exchanged dozens of e-mails with the company before meeting them and coming to a consensus. Following the best traditions of adventure movies, everything was decided at the last moment, when I almost signed up for a different project. I would like to thank my coach, Eadine Hickey, and my classmate, Diarmuid O’Keeffe, who supported me in my in my idea of a project with a music company.

So here I am now, almost finished my assignments, looking forward to do my Company Project and heading towards our one-week International Study Trip to Brazil.

Oh, life is so beautiful!

–          Nargiza Kalmamatova, Full-time MBA 2010/2011



Photos: Spring in UCD Smurfit campus

A Coach’s Perspective

Eadine Hickey is a Coach on the Full-time and Executive MBA programmes in the UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School. She has previously worked as an Executive in the Financial Services industry and has worked in organisations such as GE and Accenture. Eadine has written a reflection on the coaching programme for the full-time MBA coaching programme.

Roller coster ridePhase 2 of the full-time MBA coaching programme is complete with Phase 3 to follow in June. As such, it is an interesting time to take a look at the progress of the coaching programme and see how it is supporting the MBA’s through this intensive year. As a Smurfit MBA alumnus, I am well aware how hectic the full-time Smurfit MBA programme is and it is amazing to get 3 snap-shots with each student during the year and see how their lives progress. Whilst each coaching session is intense and many different topics are covered, there is the sense from the coach’s perspective that these guys are on a roller-coaster ride and we join them on that ride at three intervals along the way.

Throughout the year there are high’s and low’s, some of these are predictable, and some less so. What we, as coaches, endeavour to provide however is the support to deal with the tough times and a challenging environment where they can bounce ideas and figure out how to navigate the rest of the journey through to employment, setting up their own business or whatever the future might hold for them.

Typical topics covered in coaching include:

  • Creation of a personal learning agenda for the MBA year (personal development as distinct from academic)
  • How to market themselves
  • Most suitable career
  • Self-confidence
  • Leadership style
  • Communication style
  • Reflection on individual and group psychometrics and what they mean.
  • The Smurfit MBA Programme is like a laboratory in many ways providing the students with the opportunity to experiment and try new behaviours and get feedback from class-mates in a safe environment. Whilst much of the focus of an MBA is inevitably on academic content, the coaching programme provides a valuable opportunity for the student’s to focus on themselves and their own development during the course of the year. This year’s class is an incredibly supportive group and I have found a huge willingness for them to seek help and feedback from within their group. It is a journey of self-development for all, so it is more than acceptable for individuals to seek assistance from their teams in order that they might further their learning agenda. By getting this feedback, many have dispelled concerns they might have had whilst others have received invaluable insights into behaviours they are choosing now to adapt in order to improve their effectiveness.

    It is testament to the MBA Coaching programme that of last year’s class 88% said they would seek coaching again in the future. In a time when people are looking for ‘quick solutions’ to problems, it is enlightening to see the value these students are seeing in reflecting on situations in order to come up with the best approach to dealing with challenges.

    An eminent figure in the field of practice and teaching of leadership, Ronald Heifetz, speaks of the value of ‘getting on the balcony’ in order to understand situations. This is in essence the opportunity that coaching provides the MBA students in the Michael Smurfit Graduate School of Business.




    Eadine Hickey
    Eadine Hickey




    Eadine Hickey

    Leadership Coaching on the Smurfit MBA

    “Confidence building. Talking though ideas. Generating new solutions to problems. More Positive attitude.”
    (MBA Student 2010)

    One of my tasks as PPD coordinator is to set up a Coaching Programme for our students.  We do this every year towards the end of a student’s programme as in many ways it is seen as a culmination of their PPD work up to this point.  We offer every single MBA student here at Smurfit a personalised coaching programme.  Our Coaches are some of the best Business Leadership Coaches around, some of whom have come through our very own Executive Education Coaching Diploma Programme.

    We have positioned this Coaching series towards the end of a student’s MBA so that students can tie up the final threads or address the final challenges currently facing them prior to exiting their MBA.  It also allows them to focus more clearly on their outputs from the MBA and ensure they have maximised all the opportunities available to them here at Smurfit.  It often helps them to step back and look at things from a higher level.

    One of my challenges is to ensure that students understand what coaching is.  To do this, we visit the many MBA streams individually and make a short presentation to each class.  We need to be very careful about this because our key message is that at the heart of good coaching is self-direction.  Coaching is not mentoring and this is the true value of coaching.  You are shown how to arrive at solutions yourself without being told or given the answer by someone else – a very valuable skill for any future leader.

    Looking back at the Smurfit MBA Coaching Programme’s evaluation from last year, (we evaluate everything!):

    –   94% of respondents recommended Coaching on the MBA to future Smurfit MBA students

    –   90% of the Coachees found it useful and again the same 90% found it enhanced their PPD programme overall.

    –   88% said they would consider undertaking Coaching again in the future post MBA as it was such a positive experience

    Some qualitative feedback:

    “I think the biggest thing I got from the process was the feeling of being supported at that level by a Coach. I knew that I could bring an issue to the table and work through it to find some way forward as opposed to endlessly searching in a thousand different places for an answer.”

    “understanding my professional expectations after the MBA. better understanding of how the MBA can be applied. general career planning. understanding my leadership style.”

    In the coming weeks, we hope to get impressions from a Coach and a Coachee to get the inside story!

    – Michael McDonnell, MBA Programme Manager