Joel Grant

Based in Vancouver Canada, Joel has been working in digital services and technology for over 25 years and for 20 of those years he has led is own businesses. As a self-proclaimed Entrepreneur working his way back into corporate life, this husband and father of twin boys decided whilst he was brimming with experience, there was a knowledge gap he needed to fill to meet the strategic demands of corporate life.

At our first Graduate Gala in Canada, our CEO, Jo Thomas interviewed Joel personally to find out what led Joel to choosing AIB and how the experience overall is making a difference to his career progression.

Why did you choose AIB? 

I spent a lot of time looking to see if I could find a program that would fit for me. I knew that it had to be an online program, I wasn’t satisfied with taking on an online program that had just emerged into the space. You know, COVID has created a lot of new online universities,
I was really interested in an institution that had some heritage, had a pedagogy that was actually delivered online, it had faculty that knew how to deliver online and had a structure that was flexible enough for me to, to adapt to my environment, my my personal needs.

And the other part was cost. So it was really cost value decision at the end, I’m just looking for something that was reasonably priced for me, and would deliver the value that I was looking for. And then lastly, I think the one big item for me is that it had to be an accredited university and internationally recognised. And so those are the some of the key things, I look for it. And that’s why I arrived at the AIB.

How practical did you find the course?

More so in a tactical way, you know, I could learn something on Monday and it be applied on Tuesday. It’s happened quite a few times. From a practical point of view, the format of the courses, requires you to look at what you’re working on and apply theory to the problems you are facing. And that creates a lot of context, so from a practical point of view, it’s a 10/10 for me.

What was you favourite subject? 

Leadership. I’m sure that’s probably true for many, many students. One of the things that is missing in corporate life is that there’s an awful lot of managers. There’s very few leaders in corporations. It’s easy to try and manage a project, it’s quite different to lead a project. The same thing goes for departments of entire organisations. So it’s given me some new insight into the challenges that big corporations have trying to create culture and actually promote people and create value.

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