Marcial Elias Silva Santisteban
I am a very outgoing Peruvian that before this experience used to think that my life would be in Peru, but today after this second chance of living in another country I am more convinced that I want to be a global citizen, explore the world, and take the opportunities.
Talking about my professional background I have worked 5 years for different multinational companies like ManpowerGroup and Havas Media where I worked on Strategic Planning for Digital and Traditional Marketing, achieving great results by positioning the brand and increasing sales.
Now a days I am actively job-seeking, but also my entrepreneurial mindset led me to establish a Digital Consultancy in 2020. We have been working on projects for clients in real estate, insurance, retail and now after the Master we have integrated agile methodologies for our process of web design & development and Digital Consulting. I am very proactive, and this helped me to become the Marketing & Events Coordinator for the IE Football Club, where this 2023 we received the Best Sports & Well-Being Club award.
Since I am a very curious and people person, I am always asking a lot of questions and that has allowed me to meet great people. I am convinced that each individual has a great story to tell and from which we can learn. If I talk about my hobbies I would say are reading, which helps me to be in continuous learning and practicing both individual and team sports.
Probably in a year this text might be different because the only constant is change.
“Think in decades, plan in months, execute weekly and live daily.”
DEFINE YOUR EXPERIENCE IN Master in Customer Experience and Innovation IN ONE WORD.
Learnability.
IN WHAT WAYS DO YOU THINK THE PROGRAM HAS CHANGED YOUR LIFE PROFESSIONALLY AND PERSONALLY?
Professionally: The theoretical content was very comprehensive and up to date thanks to the professors we had. Most of them come from major industries, some are entrepreneurs, and they have a different mindset when teaching. Even though I have some knowledge because of books, videos and my previous work experience, the master made us to put hands on work through group projects, where we developed a solid understanding of the concepts and received constant feedback. My classmates, with different backgrounds, countries, and personalities also taught me a lot during this journey.
Personally: As we know, before moving away from your country, there are always mixed emotions for different reasons like missing your family, friends, or the uncertainty about what the future holds. Despite all of this, I must say that I have learned being with myself and it is something that today I enjoy a lot. I´ve realized that the real happiness comes from being at peace with oneself, and it does not depend on external influence. I´ve also learned to embrace change, understanding that people come and go, but the experiences we share with them and what we learn are what stay in our memories.
I enjoy meeting people and the master´s program has helped me to connect with an international community. I now have friends living all around the world thanks to the global reach that IE provides.
WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR FAVORITE MEMORY OF YOUR EXPERIENCE?
Networking. Beyond classes and classmates. Here I learned how to network with other people. How? By going to different events on my own, I think it is necessary to feel that pressure to start a conversation with strangers and of course practice makes you better. And as we know, through IE Connects there are always a lot of events where students and alumni can go.
WHY DID YOU CHOOSE TO STUDY THIS PROGRAM AT IE?
This is an interesting story because even before doing my undergraduate studies I always had the idea of studying an MBA because my father did it and he was my example. When I graduated, I worked in different multinational companies where I learned a lot about processes, structures, making marketing plans and more. But at the same time, I always had more than one entrepreneurship adventure where I learned how to create a business plan, some finance, leading teams, going on sales, resilience, minimum viable products, and more. Considering this experience, I decided to apply for a more focused and specialized master and that is why I chose Customer Experience & Innovation. Now I am more into Digital Consulting and into Service & Product Design. I knew that most of the theory can be found in books and videos, but it is completely different when you put it to work in teams with different backgrounds (careers, cultures, ages) and that is what IE gave us. As I mentioned before IE is an international school, with a solid prestige, an entrepreneurial mindset and excellent references.
And Madrid…I mean, who wouldn't like to live here? Best city in the World.
WHAT WERE SOME OF THE MAIN CHALLENGES THAT YOU ENCOUNTERED ON YOUR WAY? HOW DID YOUR MASTER PROGRAM AND IE HELP YOU THROUGH THESE CHALLENGES?
I prefer to call them opportunities to improve. I think that being in constant development of soft skills was very important. In the master's we used to work in groups of 7-8 people and sometimes making decisions or dividing tasks was tough, since I was used to working in smaller teams in my previous jobs. IE gave us 4 sessions with mentors for the whole term. These mentors are ex-students of the master that helped us to get more organized, create better presentations, and to focus on what is really important.
In the personal aspect, during classes I used to participate a lot and without the fear of making a mistake. I confirm IE is a School where there is this mindset of “Better to fail here and not outside”. In class there were no bad ideas or opinions, even with the stranger ideas you could get to very different solutions, so it was cool. Now I have developed this way of thinking of “fail fast, learn faster”.
WHAT IS NETWORKING LIKE IN the program?
It is very interesting to find in class people of almost 30 nationalities. All of us with different backgrounds, years of working experience and ways of thinking. This is something that IE Business School gives to the students to have a better experience.
The experience gets even better if you look for the opportunity to meet people from other masters because at the end, we are all part of the same IE Community. That was my case, I met as many people as possible in the hall, the gardens, walking down the streets, in the bus station, in events, in the football games, everywhere. It´s funny because at the end of the master -in the Master´s memory book- I was recognized as the “most likely to be networking” and that's something I worked on and really enjoyed.
My tip: Best moment to meet someone is now and anywhere, just trust the process.
