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Management Acceleration Programme

Challenge yourself to discover who you are as a person and leader

Malen Chea

Bluebell Cambodia - Brand & Marketing Manager THE PEAK Phnom Penh, Cambodia

INSEAD Participant Interview

I am one of only very few Cambodian nationals to have passed through an INSEAD programme and it’s a huge privilege and a source of pride to me to have represented my home country within the cohort. Going to INSEAD, completing this programme and bringing the benefits of this kind of world-class learning back to my country—it feels like winning the lottery.

Malen Chea heads up marketing and communication efforts for Bluebell Cambodia’s new operations in Cambodia. It’s a role she’s held since 2021 when the luxury retail behemoth first announced the Cambodian launch, dubbed a “watershed moment” in the country’s economic growth and development. And for Malen, it represents a significant personal and professional challenge as challenging as it is exciting—being a core part of what is effectively a new company with serious growth ambitions to serve Cambodia’s emerging and aspiring middle class. It’s a role that also reflects a certain entrepreneurial spirit and a flexibility, she says.

“Starting something up, even if it’s on behalf of a hugely successful multinational like Bluebell, you really have to be prepared to roll your sleeves up and get your hands dirty doing whatever it takes to get things going,” says Malen. “Part of my trajectory in this role has been working cheek by jowl with our Managing Director to service all the needs that we have had along the way, from finance to operations.”

Shifting functions and stepping up to new challenges is very much part of Malen’s new role with Bluebell. Prior to this job, her career had been chiefly anchored in sales leadership within the hospitality space. Making such a significant functional and sectorial switch, and stepping up to the challenges of launching a new brand in a wholly new market, Malen felt she needed the input and support of a trusted learning partner; and a programme that would accelerate her cross-functional management skills. INSEAD and the Management Acceleration Programme fitted the bill perfectly, she says.

“INSEAD is well known for its excellence and the multicultural, multidimensional nature of its leadership programmes. So coming to INSEAD to really build those international leadership skills I needed was like a prize to me,” she says. “It was like a dream.”

But achieving dreams can, of course, be challenging. And from the word go, Malen’s INSEAD experience was all about getting out of her comfort zone. The programme divided and subdivided its cohort into different peer groups as the learning progressed week over week, she said, exposing her continuously to “new faces;” as well as new approaches, perspectives, points of view and experiences.

“The dynamic constantly changes. You join one group and get comfortable with these new connections, and then you’re moved on to a completely different group of people. So you’re challenged to manage human diversity while simultaneously opening yourself up to make authentic and meaningful connections.”

This opening up—the depth of the experience and the personal and psychological demands made upon her to do so—was a totally new type of learning and development for Malen. It is an element of the programme that makes it wholly unique, she says. Leading strategy, mastering the technical and functional skills to run a business are just one aspect of leadership; a deeper element is the ability to “control your emotions” when interacting with and influencing other people. That and managing personal stress.

The MAP really challenges you to reach deep inside yourself as a person and a leader. Through the one-on-one coaching you learn to manage yourself better as a leader in order to engage with others and join the dots in order to get better results for everyone.

The programme has not only enabled her to join the dots in terms of her interpersonal capabilities, however. It has also empowered her to see the “bigger picture” in terms of business functions: to appreciate how each area and functional division collaborate and interact to create joined up impact and benefit to the organisation as a whole.

“It’s really key in my role to understand the needs of marketing and communications. But I also need to understand the needs and priorities of colleagues in finance or in operations. Everything in the programme, from classroom activities to off-campus team-building sessions, is really geared to building the skills you need to negotiate and collaborate with different needs and areas of expertise, to meet the needs of the whole community.”

The learning experience, the challenges to dig deep, to open up to connect with others and in so doing, discover more about herself as a leader and as a person: all of this has equipped Malen not only with enhanced leadership capabilities, but with much greater confidence in her abilities. She is ambitious for her company and for the kind of impact and growth it can deliver in her native Cambodia. Leveraging all of the opportunities this new role and position can deliver will require self-belief and determination. And part of her newfound confidence stems from having successfully completed an INSEAD programme.

It’s INSEAD. This is a programme and a certification that comes from a school with a reputation and a quality that any international executive will know and understand. I am one of only very few Cambodian nationals to have passed through an INSEAD programme and it’s a huge privilege and a source of pride to me to have represented my home country within the cohort. Going to INSEAD, completing this programme and bringing the benefits of this kind of world-class learning back to my country—it feels like winning the lottery.

Malen’s INSEAD experience is a passport, she says. Completing the programme has given her access to the School’s international alumni network and a wealth of networking opportunities with organisations and business leaders that extends across the globe—privileged new connections that she is eager to leverage as she expands her reach and drives the growth of her business.

“I think the INSEAD experience is about thinking out of the box. It’s a challenge to grow, to learn and to keep on learning. And the network that you develop is so critical to that learning. You have the opportunity to connect with people all over the world and to work together to think bigger and more ambitiously than if you stay inside your own box.”

Malen is already collaborating with INSEAD contacts in Europe and elsewhere, working with trusted colleagues to put together new events and build brand awareness. “Everywhere I travel now I have friends,” she says, “in every continent, in every country.”

Interested in INSEAD's Management Acceleration Programme? Have a look at the webpage or download the brochure