For mid-career professionals in fast-moving industries, reaching senior management often brings an unspoken reckoning. The exact operational skills that earned you a seat near the top will rarely get you into the executive boardroom.

Janice Li, Deputy General Manager at Tamjai International and a veteran of Hong Kong’s Food and Beverage sector, knew this turning point intimately. Having built her career from Maxim’s to senior operational leadership at Tamjai, she approached with a clear realization: her upward trajectory had begun to flatten.

I felt myself entering a curve that was becoming flat, Janice recalls. I was stepping into a phase where I needed to influence executive leadership. That was when I realized what was missing. I needed a program that would teach me how to speak the language of the C-suite.

Trading Intuition for Boardroom Currency

In the daily grind of F&B operations, decisions are historically forged on the frontline. Managers learn to rely on customer traffic patterns, immediate problem-solving, and years of boots-on-the-ground instinct. As Janice discovered, however, instinct carries little weight when requesting capital from executive stakeholders.

Before HKUST, so much of my decision-making came down to gut feeling, Janice says. It is a natural habit in operations, but it is not persuasive when you are standing before senior management.

Entering the HKUST Part-time Weekly MBA, she set out to turn that operational instinct into concrete business cases. The curriculum reshaped her entire approach to strategic communication.

Now, the way I present is completely structured, she explains. I move clearly from defining the problem statement to presenting data-backed solutions, execution pathways, and risk-mitigation plans. Even in subjects outside my day-to-day work, such as Corporate Finance, the program built cross-functional fluency. I can now walk into meetings and speak the language of our CFO and CIO with total confidence.

Moving Beyond Daily KPIs

This analytical confidence opened the door to a deeper perspective. When leaders spend years managing daily P&L statements and store-level KPIs, strategic vision often gets crowded out by tactical firefighting.

Surrounded by faculty and peers from diverse corporate backgrounds, Janice found the headspace to step back and evaluate her career from a much wider angle.

The coursework shifts your focus, she says. It forces you to look past short-term targets and ask yourself a fundamental question: Am I simply succeeding, or am I truly fulfilled? It pushes you to consider what gives your life meaning, balancing professional ambitions with personal well-being.

An In-Person Executive Crucible

Janice’s choice of program format was deliberate. While global disruptions initially delayed her plans, she was determined not to settle for an isolated online degree. She wanted the accountability, debate, and kinetic energy of an in-person campus.

That commitment translated into the HKUST Part-time Weekly format, spending full-day sessions inside the classroom every Saturday from 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM.

It takes real dedication, she says. You spend the entire day in the classroom, debating case studies and testing ideas with your classmates. That shared intensity creates something far more valuable than a professional directory. It builds a genuine executive community.

When asked what advice she has for prospective students weighing the demands of the program, her answer is pragmatic and warm.

Sleep less, she laughs. You will have plenty of rigorous readings and case preparations, but you will also gain a tight circle of friends. Just last week, our cohort took off for a trip together.

Defining the Next Chapter

By replacing operational guesswork with structured frameworks, Janice bridged the gap between mid-level management and executive strategy. More importantly, she gained the perspective and the network needed to shape the next chapter of her leadership journey on her own terms.

For professionals who recognize their own growth curve beginning to stall, her experience offers a straightforward takeaway: moving into the C-suite does not come from doing more of the same. It requires stepping into an environment that systematically challenges how you think.

Accelerate Your Leadership Journey

Discover how the HKUST Part-time MBA Program can equip you with the strategic frameworks and executive network to take your next career step.