SpringIssue2018 JIBSUnitedMagazine

I
had the pleasure of sitting down with
Lisa Hedvall, 24, a Ph.D. candidate
and JIBS alumna, at Café Napoleon in
Jönköping city for a needed “fika” after
the end of a long exam-period. Having
spent the first four years of her life
in North Carolina where she was born,
Lisa’s family relocated to Sandviken,
Sweden where she grew up and graduated
high school.
Lisa made her way down to Jönköping
University when she received an admission
to Industrial Engineering and Management,
with a major in Logistics, a
bachelor program at JTH. Continuing at
Jönköping University, Lisa then entered
her one-year master’s program, Engineering
Management, at JIBS from 2015
to 2016 before deciding to continue on
to her Ph.D. studies.
When reflecting on her time at JIBS, and
asked about what courses prepared her
for her Ph.D. studies, Lisa responded;
“It was only one year, but I took entrepreneurship,
leadership, accounting and
finance, and so on. It was good to combine
engineering and economics to gain
perspective.”
Lisa also commented on some of the
most important things she learned
during her time at JIBS; “To see things
in a more generalist perspective,” because
of the specialized nature of her
engineering studies at JTH, Lisa expresses
the ability to gain a broader perspective
with a business and economics
view on how structures work in an organization.
She adds;
“And, I learned to pitch things. What,
why, and who cares about everything?
Just pitch it! Making ideas interesting
and understandable, to an audience,
quite early so that your message comes
forward.” This is a skill put to use well
when she is abroad attending conferences.
Lisa also reflects on her favorite part of
attending JIBS;
“
Just pitch it! Making
ideas interesting and
understandable, to an
audience, quite early
so that your message
comes forward.
“Culture; there were sixteen nationalities
in my master program at JIBS,
all with different perspectives on life
and culture, how they perceived different
things, and how they were raised.”
This proved to be a point we could both
connect on and talk about for many
minutes. When one walks the halls at
JIBS, it is instantly clear that you have
stepped into an international environment;
with different languages, always
in ear-shot, and maps of partner universities
all around the world posted in
the corridors.
There is one stand-out memory, however,
that stands out for Lisa came at the end of
her program at JIBS; graduation day.
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