When an MBA becomes a master's in balance

When Devaksha Christopher embarked on her  MBA journey at Henley Business School, she had no idea that the most important lesson to be learned wouldn’t come from a textbook or classroom. Instead, it would emerge from the daily challenge of managing what seemed like an impossible balancing act: a demanding corporate career, a new marriage, academic responsibilities, and the countless other demands of modern life.

‘The most profound discovery during the MBA was that I could juggle so many things,’ she says. ‘And that speaks to the flexibility at Henley. So many people refer to MBA degrees as “marriage breakup academies”, but that was not my experience. In fact, I met my husband shortly before enrolling, and we are still going strong!’

This revelation is about something deeper than mere time management. For Devaksha, the  MBA experience became a masterclass in personal transformation, teaching her that the boundaries she had previously accepted were largely self-imposed. ‘Before the MBA I was extremely risk averse. I had always dreamed of running my own business but as a single mother for so many years, I feared losing the security of a monthly pay cheque,’ she says.

Today, Devaksha is happily self-employed, running two businesses with confidence and a healthy sense of personal fulfilment. ‘The programme didn’t just challenge me intellectually; it fundamentally shifted my understanding of what I was capable of achieving.’

The MBA taught me that growth is a discipline

Devaksha’s journey wasn’t without its struggles, and she openly acknowledges the intensity of combining advanced academic study with the pressures of corporate life. Yet within this challenge lay the unexpected discovery that discipline and life balance aren’t mutually exclusive. Rather than forcing her to sacrifice relationships and personal fulfilment, the programme taught her how to create space for both professional growth and meaningful connections, something she attributes to the Personal Mastery component of the degree.

‘During my studies, I was still able to have a personal life and connect with individuals, including members of my cohort with whom I have forged strong bonds,’ she says, but this balance didn’t happen overnight. It required a fundamental shift in how she approached decision-making and boundary-setting – skills that would prove invaluable far beyond the classroom.

Perhaps nowhere is this transformation more evident than in Devaksha’s approach to people-pleasing. When asked what advice she would give her 20-year-old self, her response is immediate and powerful: ‘That “No” is a complete sentence.’

A self-confessed ‘people pleaser’, Devaksha had always struggled with setting boundaries. It was a pattern that extended to both her professional and personal lives. ‘I would just take on more and more and more, but it was ultimately unsustainable,’ she says. ‘I remember making different meals for my children depending on their wants: lamb curry for one, chicken curry for the other, until a colleague said I was creating problems for my son’s future wife,’ she admits.

This moment of clarity became a turning point. The realisation that her well-intentioned actions might actually be detrimental to her children’s development prompted a fundamental reassessment of her approach to both parenting and life. Today, her 24-year-old son cooks most days of the week – a testament to the power of setting healthy boundaries and managing expectations.

The wisdom of gratitude

Dale Carnegie’s book, How to Win Friends and Influence People, contained important learnings for Devaksha. One quote in particular stood out for her: ‘I stopped complaining about the shoes I didn’t have until I saw a man with no feet’.

This perspective on gratitude became a cornerstone of her approach to challenges in both business and life, teaching her to reframe difficulties within a broader context of abundance.

‘In my entrepreneurial journey, this mindset shift proved invaluable. Instead of focusing solely on immediate challenges – clients not paying, accounts receivable concerns – I learned to maintain perspective by acknowledging my fundamental security: I have a beautiful home, which is my sanctuary. There is fuel in my car, and food on the table.’

Considering an MBA? Just do it!

For those considering their own MBA journey, Devaksha’s advice is refreshingly direct: ‘Just sign up!’ She couples this encouragement with practical wisdom about tackling the MBA, based on her own experience.

‘Educate yourself and become disciplined in terms of managing your time,’ she advises. Most importantly, she encourages prospective students to view the MBA not just as an academic exercise, but as an opportunity for profound self-discovery, an opportunity to get to understand oneself, and one’s abilities, better.

‘I have learned that we are often capable of far more than we realise. The MBA didn’t give me superhuman abilities; it created the structured challenge necessary to discover capabilities – such as juggling multiple priorities – that were already present within myself,’ she says.

Devaksha’s journey from people-pleaser to boundary-setter, from overwhelmed professional to strategic thinker, demonstrates that sometimes the most surprising lessons are the ones that teach us who we really are – and who we can become.

‘The flexibility that Henley offered made space for my unique, complicated life circumstances. But more than that, it created a framework within which I could discover self-mastery and my true capacity for growth.’