Sean seeking leadership development at AGSM
AUTHOR: Lachlan Colquhoun DATE: 06.04.06 ISSUE 1, 2006
Sean Coristine has come to Australia for two reasons – to be with his Australian fiancé and to study for an MBA at AGSM.The 26 year old Canadian is the recipient of the Broadleaf Capital International Scholarship at AGSM.
“I’ve always wanted to do an MBA and it’s worked out well as my fiancé and I have come back to her hometown of Sydney. It's a great chance for me to go back to school,” says Coristine.
| “When I knew we were coming to Sydney I wanted to make sure I went to a good school. It was clear that AGSM was the best place for me to study.” |
Although originally from Canada, Coristine completed an undergraduate degree at Bentley College in Boston before going to work for Wells Fargo Bank in the asset-based lending area.
He then moved back to Canada to a Montreal-based position for TD Bank as an Account Manager, and it was there that he realised he had some skills gaps which could best be filled by an MBA.
“I was relatively young to become an Account Manager, and I noticed that I was lacking in leadership skills,” says Coristine.
“I looked around the office and found that all the other teams seemed to be able to organise themselves without having to think too hard about it, whereas with my team I wasn’t always sure of what people were doing.”
“People were coming to me and I didn’t always have the answers or know the best way to do things. Although I got along very well with my team, I think I was a lacking experience, and that meant I didn’t know the best way to motivate people.” Although the academic year is only a few months old, Coristine is effusive about his AGSM experience.
"I'm getting a lot out of the courses like marketing, game theory and decision making".
“Everyone seems to have a really positive attitude and I’ve been enjoying myself tremendously. I’m getting a lot out of the courses like marketing, game theory and decision making.”
For the future, Coristine says he is still attracted to the finance industry, and that his contact with Broadleaf has kindled an interest in risk management, the firm’s speciality.