You’ll Find Me in Australia
Foster MBA Study Tour to Australia, December 2023
Written by: Sara J. Perkins, student contributor, Foster School of Business Evening MBA 2024
I have a new secret weapon against the gloomy Seattle winters. Whenever those 4 P.M. sunsets are getting me down or even when I’m just feeling a bit run down by my career ambitions, I close my eyes, and I take myself to Australia. Specifically, I take myself to 33°53'55.7"S, 151°16'23.2"E at 7:34 PM on Friday, December 22, 2023. I take myself to the moment when I watched the summer sun set over Mackenzies Bay, standing on the top of a cliff, wind twirling through my long summer dress, heart pumping to the Pride & Prejudice (2005) soundtrack, and mind reeling with memories of my Australian MBA Study Tour.
As I stood there, on the edge of the world in that perfect moment, I felt the irrevocable changes from my experience in Australia wash over me and solidify into my person. Those changes were born from the perfect recipe of extraordinary people, rich national identity, and profound lessons of leadership that were embedded in the 2023 Autumn Quarter Foster MBA Study Tour to Australia with the Foster School of Business.
People
The element that made studying abroad with the Foster School of Business more than just a fun international trip was being able to share the adventure with fellow Foster MBAs. First, the study tour created opportunities to bond with students from other cohorts at Foster. As a Foster Evening MBA student, I might never have met students from Foster’s Executive MBA and Technolgy Management MBA programs were it not for the Australia Study Tour. Further, I likely would not have grown close with so many students from the Foster Full-Time MBA if we had not traveled together. It was an excellent opportunity to not only expand my network but to make lifelong friends of whom — despite attending the same school — I can say, “We met in Australia.”
Another reason traveling abroad with other Foster MBAs was so special is because it combined common faces at home with common experiences while traveling to create unforgettable community adventures. In Australia, a typical post-class dinner on University Avenue was elevated into a foreign culinary expedition: hunting down the best Wagyu steak in Sydney, checking out that famous Instagram spot, or stumbling upon a hidden local gem. These memories were made all the better by the fact that we brought them home together, starring in each other’s social media posts and reminiscing in the halls of PACCAR for months to come.
Finally, traveling to Australia with my Foster classmates allowed me to experience the country through diverse perspectives. Both in our formal debrief sessions and in our casual evening hangouts, I had the opportunity to hear about the details of our trip that were standing out to the other students. My own experiences and takeaways were greatly enriched through our group discussions about company visits, cultural experiences, and free-time adventures. These conversations helped me to challenge my first impressions and deepen the connections with my personal experiences. In all, I found traveling abroad with the extraordinary people of the Foster MBA program to be a singular experience that I will cherish for a lifetime.
National Identity
One of the most enlightening things about my study tour to Australia was discovering how the reality of Australia differed from my expectations. Naturally, I could not help but observe it in the context of my own identity as an American. I have always taken pride in the United States being “The Nation of Immigrants.” While traveling in Australia, I realized that the U.S. is not alone in this identity. Further, both nations have a similarly difficult history with their native populations. We even had a chance to meet with the New South Wales Indigenous Chamber of Commerce, where they spoke to us about initiatives that echo the efforts being made to empower Indigenous populations back home.
Another piece of the Australian national identity that not only stood out to me but won my heart was their appreciation for nature. Surprisingly, I learned that Australia has nearly as much land area as the contiguous United States (2.9M miles2 vs. 3.1M miles2). Meanwhile, there are only about 26M people living there, which is about 8% of the population of the United States. Most of that population lives in cities on the coast, and those cities have the most extraordinary public parks and natural elements.
Besides the coastal walk between Congee and Bondi Beach, which I mentioned in the introduction to this article, I spent several of my evenings exploring botanical gardens in the cities of Melbourne and Sydney. The evening I spent wandering through Melbourne’s “Royal Botanic Gardens of Victoria” was most memorable. It was an especially pleasant summer evening, and I decided to search out all the landmarks that appeared in the park on Google Maps. These included statues and special landscaped areas, like the Floral Clock, the Fern Gully, the Queen Victoria Monument and many more.
In the end, I walked about nine miles that night, and I marveled at the beauty of so many people enjoying their evening outside in the park. There was one particularly peaceful scene that I stumbled upon and will never forget. This was in a section of the park called “Pioneer Women’s Memorial Garden,” which featured a small fountain and a large grassy area and was made to feel very private due to a surrounding brick wall. I remember seeing a group of women sitting on blankets in the shade there. All in pastel hijabs, they looked like a bouquet of flowers to me as they laughed and watched their toddlers and babies play together. Of all the peaceful moments I witnessed in the park that evening, this beautiful scene of community and safety was the epitome. Between what I learned about how much of Australia’s natural world remains untouched by civilization and the gorgeous natural escapes I found in their cities, I was deeply inspired by the nation’s celebration of nature.
Lessons in Leadership
The academic focus of the Australia MBA Study Tour was leadership. We had the opportunity to hear from people in various leadership positions, including the Lord Mayor of Melbourne, the Indigenous community leaders at New South Wales Indigenous Chamber of Commerce and Tribal Warriors, individuals with prominent leadership roles at big companies, and several entrepreneurs at various stages of business growth.
The key leadership characteristics that came to my attention through these company visits were sincerity, compassion, and resilience. The leaders who spoke to us with passionate sincerity showcased the power of having vision and of building a team of people who believe in their work as a critical element for success in of their respective organizations.
Regarding compassion, one of the most memorable lessons we had on this topic was at the Lord Mayor’s office. There they told us about how they bridge communication gaps between elected officials and citizens. This was an enlightening lesson about the importance of leaders being conscious of the impact their decisions have on the people they lead.
Finally, regarding the theme of resilience, this topic appeared repeatedly during our company visits due to the strict response to COVID-19 in Australia. For example, at the restaurant 400 Gradi, we learned how they expanded their brand into packaged foods in order to continue operations during the extended lockdown. Meanwhile, at the incubator Stone & Chalk, we heard the origin story of the company Pathways, which was deeply rooted in experiences caused by the pandemic. Because the lockdowns of the pandemic came up so frequently, I was left with the impression that businesses in Australia all have scars from the pandemic that either set their companies back or propelled them to grow in unexpected ways. My key takeaway from this was about the role of continuous innovation in the face of adversity.
The leadership lessons we had from the company visits were made more potent and memorable due to the expert facilitation of Professor Ken Myer. The discussions we had before and after each company visit, as well as our final reflection assignment, ensured that this study tour left a lasting impact on each of us. Bouncing my impressions off those of my classmates and the tour leaders helped me to formulate holistic takeaways.
The top three insights that continue to inform my personal identity are as follows: the story of Jodie Hampshire (Russell Investments), whose sincere enthusiasm was the cornerstone in her extraordinary career journey; the success of Johnny Di Francesco (Gradi Group founder) who continuously seeks and seizes growth opportunities, and the vision of James Lancaster (RenewIT CEO) whose bravery to prioritize instinct and social impact over profit paid off and set his start-up ahead of the industry trend toward sustainability. In all, the MBA Study Tour to Australia exposed us to a multitude of extraordinary people whose stories I hope to revisit throughout my career.
Conclusion
Running away to Australia in December is something I want to continue doing in the years to come. The stunning landscapes and sunny weather alone are enough to tempt any Seattleite. However, during my MBA study tour to Melbourne and Sydney with the Foster School of Business, I came to appreciate the nation more deeply due to the people and culture experienced along the way. The diversity and resilience of the population were truly inspiring, and the coffee and cuisine continue to haunt my memory. I’ll never be able to replicate the educational and interpersonal development I had while traveling with my MBA class, but those moments will live on in my character all my life. I do hope to return to Australia sometime soon, both to revisit my memories and to see what other discoveries wait for me there. Until then, if you catch me daydreaming on a rainy Seattle day, you know where to find me.
The Global Business Center at the Foster School of Business offers a variety of study abroad options for MBA students. Click here to learn more.
