Leadership and self-discovery are intimately connected with career development | University of St.Gallen MBA

Leadership and self-discovery are intimately connected with career development

25 Apr 2022

Luca Allaria

 An interview with Luca Allaria, Career Advisor

A mini-blog series, by Daniel Cade

Luca came across as a gentle and very patient person. It’s a trait often seen in individuals, like him, with a background in combat sports. He credits his “discipline, focus and presence in the moment” to his days spent practising Kung Fu, wrestling, and Muay Thai!

These attributes are clearly very valuable companions in most walks of life. But to understand why Luca is so well suited to being a career advisor it’s important to know that in a ‘former life’ he was trained as a biomedical engineer in the med-tech industry to “support people with their physical transitions,” as he put it. Luca led teams on assignments across various locations in clinical research, training and education, and marketing and sales. Make no mistake, he has a wealth of experience to lean on.

Initially, Luca became a qualified coach to offer “something deeper” to allow his teams “to evolve”. This led to him setting up his own company to focus entirely on - you guessed it - “supporting people with their mental transitions!” Luca takes huge satisfaction now from “helping MBA students to discover themselves, design their career path, learn how to present themselves, and proactively approach the DACH job market.”

Luca will be collaborating with Sander, among others in the MBA team, to ensure a joined-up approach to personal and professional development. “As I’ve learned in my own career, these two elements come hand-in-hand,” he told me. “That’s why, in the new programme, leadership and self-discovery are intimately connected with career development,” he added.

Luca’s in-built wisdom and expertise will be bolstered by scientifically sound tools, such as the Hogan Assessment System. He explained, “We have everything in place here to support our students to increase their self-awareness as professionals while gaining a solid understanding of the market in an ever-changing world.”