“(Accidentally) social entrepreneur who loves to think about solving challenging problems and to ask even more challenging questions.”
Hometown: Prešov, Slovakia
Fun fact about yourself: In my early 20’s, I worked as a tennis coach as I was a competitive junior player before. I was responsible for coaching both competitive and recreational tennis players of different age categories from 4 to 65 years old.
Undergraduate School and Degree:
Aarhus University, Denmark
BA in Marketing and Management Communication
Where was the last place you worked before enrolling in business school? Zmudri.sk – Co-founder & Director
Where did you intern during the summer of 2023? Zmudri.sk – Co-founder & Director
Where will you be working after graduation? Will see what life brings.
Community Work and Leadership Roles in Business School: I saw a great need among MBA students to engage in deeper and cozier conversations rather than just saying “Hey how are ya” in the school corridors. Therefore, in my free time, I launched an “EngageMBA” program where students are assigned to the groups of 6 and they meet on a monthly basis for 3 hours to discuss pressing personal or work-related challenges in a structured and facilitated manner. More than 150 students signed up.
Hosting a number of sessions focused on impact and entrepreneurship with the aim to get other members of the cohort who are thinking of transitioning into impact roles more familiar with this area.
Captaining Trivia team which competes at HEC Paris MBAT tournament and organizing internal trivia competition and gatherings.
Which academic or extracurricular achievement are you most proud of during business school? After launching EngageMBA program, I noticed that many students who were previously afraid to connect with people outside of their bubble started getting more out of their comfort zone and made some meaningful connections. Every time I met someone, they shared their story of how impactful this programme is for them; I felt an incredible sense of fulfilment and achievement. This was the exact purpose of EngageMBA.
Also, I am incredibly proud that I received a fully funded Skoll Scholarship as I was able to join an inspiring community of social entrepreneurs.
What achievement are you most proud of in your professional career? As a co-founder of educational non-profit which grew from a free time project into professional and sustainable organisation with 15+ staff and nation-wide impact, I was privileged to be featured in many media interviews and receive awards. I am not going to lie, receiving these accomplishments felt very fulfilling and definitely boosted my ego.
However, all these awards and accomplishments don’t have a real meaning unless you have driven positive impact that improves people’s lives. Every positive feedback, message or story received from our students and teachers about how we helped them on their learning journey is my biggest achievement.
Another (more specific) achievement that I highly value in my career is when I found a dishwashing part-time job when studying in Denmark. It took months of walking from restaurant to restaurant, asking for dishwashing jobs only to hear the same reply over and over again: “We will call you back.” I personally handed in more than 200 CVs. That was more than 200 “no’s’” straight into my eyes. Nothing crushed my ego and self-confidence more than this experience. When things started to look really bleak, I finally got lucky and found a job in a local restaurant. However, this was just the beginning. Disillusioned, I realized that working as a dishwasher is extremely difficult in terms of communication skills, workflow optimization, and working under significant pressure. Frankly, if there was an award for the worst dishwasher, it would be named after me. Even though I did my very best, literally took no toilet breaks, and worked extra time for free, I was still unable to be sufficiently efficient. I hated every single moment of this job. Before every shift, I turned into my own personal coach: “C’mon Julian, you made a promise to yourself. Imagine what it is like not to bother your parents with paying your bills anymore!” That vision kept me going. Eventually this helped me to become financially independent at the age of 20.
Why did you choose this business school? Coming from non-profit and social impact background, I aimed to sign up for an MBA programme that has a strong focus on both for-profit as well as impact elements. Themes of impact and sustainability are embedded in the curriculum of almost all of our courses, as well as having many extra-curricular options in which to engage in such activities.
Also, it is just impossible to resist Oxford’s magic.
Who was your favourite MBA professor? Chris Moos for his ability to make our Organization Behaviour courses more engaging through games and interesting role play. Teaching leadership is incredibly difficult as the concepts often get “fluffy” and “obvious”. In my view, he handled the challenge very well.
What was your favorite course as an MBA? GOTO (Global Opportunities and Threats Oxford). This course emphasised the much-needed ability of systems thinking and understanding root causes of complex global or local issues. Learning by doing through a team project where we worked on a real-life case (in our case sustainability of food systems in India) is one of the best methods to learn and to also obtain the much-needed feedback on our thinking from the partner organization.
What was your favorite MBA event or tradition at your business school? As Said Business School is part of University of Oxford, it would be Matriculation Day, when we dressed up in sub fusc (dark formal clothing worn for formal occasions) in the beautiful Sheldonian Theatre Building. It was the experience I will tell my grandchildren about.
The magic of traditions in historical university such as Oxford is something many MBAs around the globe will not have a chance to experience.
Looking back over your MBA experience, what is the one thing you’d do differently and why? Honestly, probably nothing. I was looking so much for this experience that I promised myself that I will simply enjoy every day and make most out of it. So far, more or less everything is going according to the plan. If not, I just tell myself to calm, breathe, and enjoy this incredible privilege I have.
What is the biggest myth about your school? That the school is only for rich and spoiled “aristocratic” kids. Not going to lie, I met these types as well. But they are a very small minority. On the other hand, I met great number of incredibly talented, caring, and humble personalities with drive to change the world.
What did you love most about your business school’s town? Even though it is a small town, you always have at least four options of what you can do in your free time. The buffet of opportunities is simply endless. You can meet an Oscar Award winning actor, hear a talk from a Nobel-prize winner about recent scientific breakthrough, shake hands with the Prime Minister of a country in Africa, debate with the most talented debaters in the world, or listen to one of many college choirs sitting in the dark with burning candles.
What surprised you the most about business school? Diversity of the cohort. You keep hearing about this buzzword a lot, but you can truly understand the real meaning behind it once you experience it. The diversity of backgrounds, nationalities and viewpoints cultures is just staggering.
And free coffee. You would expect a business school to monetize on the constant need for caffeine, but thankfully that is not the case.
Which MBA classmate do you most admire? Hudson Baird. For his unique ability to listen and his endless kindness which he does not hesitate to share with the entire cohort. He hosted a countless number of dinners in his home and made sure we always feel warm and welcome.
But I have to say, naming one person in the answer was very hard. Our cohort is full of admirable people with extraordinary achievements.
What are the top two items on your professional bucket list? First: Learn how can AI be leveraged in education and building a next generation of responsible citizens.
Second: Writing a book. No clue about the topic yet, but this has been on my professional bucket list for a while.
What made Julian such an invaluable addition to the Class of 2024?
“In my role on the MBA Programme, I have the pleasure of meeting many MBA students over the course of the year. When I met Julian, I was struck by his drive to leave an impact on those that he came across and on the school. Julian’s impressive background co-founding a nonprofit education organisation led him to being selected as one of only 5 Skoll Scholars; reserved for those we believe will deliver a positive impact upon the world. Since joining the programme Julian has been an active member of the cohort, driving initiatives to promote collaboration outside of the activities available on the programme itself. It is clear that Julian is a huge asset to this programme and I’m in no doubt will go on to become an influential leader as he becomes one of our Alumni in the future.”
Tom Parnell
Associate Director
MBA Programme Delivery