Smith School Alum Talks Transformational Leadership 

Donna Blackman, EMBA ’10, manages people around the clock—at work she heads a team of 60 finance professionals. Back at home she’s a mother of two. Hard to say which is harder, but Blackman does not claim to have a secret recipe for work-life balance.

“You cannot have it all,” she said. “Not all the time.”

When she took up her Executive MBA program at the Robert Smith School of Business, Blackman added the third role of business student to the mix. To make it through the balancing act, she learned to rely on at least three guiding principles: Go all in, put people first and actively listen.

While Blackman understood the importance of numbers as a certified public accountant, but she learned quickly that putting people first makes the biggest difference. She also discovered how being surrounded by people means exposure to diverse viewpoints, which requires active listening to maximize the benefit.

“The human aspect really matters in business,” she said. “Surround yourself with the right people and the right resources to help you do the things that you need to do. If you are the person who speaks first all the time, you may lose out on some great ideas that someone else had— sometimes you have to be quiet and listen.”

Blackman took these lessons and earned her Smith EMBA in 2010. Since then she has continued to grow as a transformational leader, going on to become the Senior Vice President, Finance and Controller at BET Networks— a position she’s held since 2013.

“I want to have a seat at the table,” she said. “I want to be the person who is helping to shape the direction of the organization.”

Want to see more on other EMBA’s in the Washington DC Metro? Get our full list of top Executive MBA programs here.

regions: Baltimore / Washington, DC

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