“Do you think I can do that?”
That’s what Barbara Stöttinger asked when offered the role of Dean at WU Executive Academy. She had 48 hours to decide. No time for pros and cons lists. Just one weekend to choose between comfort and the unknown.
She said yes.
In our latest LearnShift episode, Barbara – now Dean of Executive Education at HEC Paris (#1 FT ranking) – shares what most people won’t tell you about career transformation:
✨ Why she left corporate product management for a PhD (and what that risk assessment really looked like)
✨ How she championed “Responsible Leadership” when students literally said, “What kind of nonsense is that?”
✨ Why Paris at 50+ felt like the right move, not a crazy one
✨ What AI means for leadership development (spoiler: it’s not about the technology)
✨ The one question that changes how you think about failure