Progressing into the new phase of the fellowship was always with a bit of excitement and trepidation, perhaps in equal measure. The Babson experience was a great learning experience, changing attitudes and mindset on every turn. However, moving on to the next phase, the Externship in a large multinational, meant moving on from the learning into the  execution. This is what is great about this Saltire Fellowship as compared to an MBA programme. You don't just get to learn, be it from case studies, seminars or lectures, but you will have to get your hands dirty, apply what you've learned and expand your horizons further.

Heading into a large company, on a marketing project in a new domain was a being taken out of the comfort zone big time! However, this anticipation of challenge brought with it excitement, optimism and will to surmount the challenge. The experience has been just that so far!  

Veolia Energy, has been a great experience so far. Working on a live project, that can contribute significantly to their growth, directly with the C-level management has been greatly rewarding. While Babson greatly pushed back the limits of what can be achieved and what not in terms of thinking, working at Veolia pushed back those limits even further. By helping these large companies and showing them perspectives that they haven't already considered, in a short space of time, is a great recipe to boost confidence. And boost it did. I am working on a market penetration project for Veolia's Cogeneration (CHP) product line in the US. This not only meant a steep learning curve to get head around all the engineering jargon, but also meant figuring out the stumbling blocks faced by them so far. This led to developing a whole new approach to addressing the project and selling it successfully to the management team. The work at the externship is far from over, but one thing is certain, stepping out of the comfort zone is not a hurdle any more.

The "can do it all" attitude that was learnt, has now been entrenched and will further be cemented in the next phase  - this is the fellows' mantra, this is the Saltire Programme.