As senior legal counsel at a financial technology company in Des Moines, Iowa, Brian Damman spends his time giving legal and strategic advice across several areas of the organization, such as marketing, sales, product, finance, and the executive team.

He realized that he provided the most useful advice when he better understood the areas that they focused on.

“So, I started looking for an MBA program that could help me be fluent or at least conversive with them so that I can give the most resonant legal advice,” Damman says. “The Iowa MBA program jumped out to me because it is so highly regarded, it’s in-state, and it offers flexibility with the online format.”

Along with his day job, Damman also has a busy home life with three children. He initially wondered if getting an MBA might be out of reach.

“When I knew I wanted to get my MBA, I looked for an MBA that was highly credible but also online, and it’s difficult to find one that’s both of those,” Damman says. “But the University of Iowa’s MBA is well regarded for instilling the business concepts that you need to understand, and it offers the flexibility that I needed. To be able to simply walk into my office, sit down and have class a couple nights a week, that was a luxury not afforded by an in-person environment.”

Damman says it’s remarkable how many times a topic that he just learned about in the MBA program would come up at work.

“I would think, ‘What are the odds that I just read about this?’” Damman says. “Accounting treatment of dividends, the sunk cost fallacy, the efficient portfolio frontier—concepts that a lawyer wouldn’t typically be exposed to, but now I can have a conversation with somebody and be able to create value where I otherwise wouldn’t have been able to.”

How have you found the online MBA degree experience?

My undergrad degree and my law school degree were both exclusively in person, so I arrived at the Iowa MBA program a bit skeptical of an online environment. But I was really impressed.

The prerecorded lectures allowed the professors to present their best teaching product with visual aids. And prerecorded lectures provide a lot of flexibility. You can choose when you’re going to watch the lecture. You can choose to watch it again or skip to the part that you did not completely understand. You can pause to take notes or cross-reference with your textbook. These are all benefits that I didn’t have in my undergrad or law school.

They also freed up class time to focus on the analysis, discussion, and group work to apply the concepts to real life.

Group work is a central aspect of the Iowa MBA, and the online nature actually lent itself very well because many of my classmates and colleagues work exclusively online. So, using Teams and Zoom to tackle problems very closely mimics what our day jobs look like.

I found the overall experience of an online education very valuable and very rewarding.

What was it like having class with students from a variety of professional backgrounds?

There was such a diverse array of careers and backgrounds. You had finance, engineering, doctors, and everything in between, all looking to further their business acumen. It offered unique perspectives that we got to learn from.

What has been your most valuable experience with the MBA program at Iowa?

It actually occurred outside the classroom. Every semester or two, I’d drive the two hours to Iowa City to meet with my professors in person. And the absolute joy of having a conversation with somebody where there’s no agenda, and no ulterior motive—you just get to see how much the professors care about the topic and how much they care about their students.

I was lucky enough to have conversations during meetings, coffees, dinners, and walks around campus. Then, when you have your next class with them, you’re learning from a friend, and you have even more buy-in about the topic.

I really value what I learned in the Iowa MBA program, and I especially appreciate those connections I made with those professors.

What advice would you give other professionals considering going back for an MBA?

If you were debating whether to go back to get your MBA, I wouldn’t do it just to add “MBA” to your email signature, but I would do it if you’re looking to gain knowledge beyond your current role. I think it’s important to be able to think differently, and across your organization there are people that are thinking differently than you. An MBA helps you understand their reasoning so that you can collectively achieve a better result.

If that’s something you’re interested in, looking beyond the subject matter expertise that you currently have and working together across an organization to achieve more success, an MBA would be a great decision for you.