Executive Master in Digital Innovation and Entrepreneurial Leadership (EMDIEL)
Meet the Alumni: Nicolai Brunner, Class of 2025
Motivated to expand his strategic and entrepreneurial capabilities while advancing in a fast-paced product career, Nicolai Brunner joined ESCP’s Executive Master in Digital Innovation and Entrepreneurial Leadership to strengthen how he leads and scales digital businesses. The programme gave him a structured space to rethink his approach, learn from international peers, and apply new frameworks directly to his work. Here, he reflects on what shaped his experience and the impact it continues to have on his professional path.
How did the programme structure support your learning while working?
The structure was designed for people who don’t want to hit pause on their careers. The modular format, intense but focused real experience sessions, and the clear separation between academic blocks and professional life meant I could apply new concepts almost immediately. Instead of theory roaming in isolation, everything I learned was tested in real business contexts. That tight loop between learning and execution was the real accelerator.
Can you share a project or assignment that significantly shaped your thinking?
One strategy module forced us to break apart an established industry and rebuild it from first principles. I chose a sector I already knew well, expecting an easy ride and was completely wrong. The assignment exposed blind spots in how I approached market dynamics and scalability. It pushed me from incremental thinking to genuinely transformational thinking. That shift stayed with me and changed how I operate as a product leader.
Did you form any lasting professional relationships through the programme?
Absolutely. The cohort wasn’t just diverse on paper it brought together people who had already built careers and were hungry for the next step. You end up testing ideas, debating late into the night, and supporting each other through real professional decisions. Those relationships didn’t end at graduation; they’ve become a genuine network of operators, and leaders I can call without hesitation.
What advice would you give someone starting the programme?
Don’t try to coast. The value isn’t in collecting credits, it’s in showing up with intent. Use the programme to challenge your own default ways of thinking. Bring real problems from your job into the classroom. Push your professors and your cohort. And most importantly, commit early to integrating what you learn into your day-to-day decisions. The people who grow the most aren’t the busiest or the smartest they’re the ones who treat the programme as a catalyst rather than a checkbox.
Campuses