Learning Together, Building Together — Stronger Together
The MBA module · Family firms
The table
The case
Subtitle: A fictional composite leadership case featuring four married couples for discussion.
At the end of the first module, they compared notes on the journey home.
They had listened to the same faculty, discussed the same case and spent the weekend with the same generation.
Their notebooks looked surprisingly different.
He had underlined the section on strategic choices.
She had filled a page with questions about people, motivation and the assumptions behind the financial model.
“I thought the main issue was obvious,” he said.
“So did I,” she replied.
They looked at each other and laughed.
It was the first of many conversations that would continue long after the classroom emptied.
Four Couples, Four Reasons to Begin
At a later COTRUGLI gathering, four married couples shared why they had chosen to undertake the MBA together.
Ana and Marko ran a growing family business. They wanted a stronger foundation for the decisions they were already making and a clearer understanding of how each could contribute.
Lea and Ivan worked in different organisations. They were both moving into broader leadership roles and liked the idea of sharing an important period of development.
Sara and Petar were exploring a new venture. They brought different professional backgrounds and wanted to examine their idea with better tools and a wider circle of people.
Mila and Tomislav had reached a stage in life when they wanted to invest in something meaningful together. Their careers were established. Their curiosity remained strong.
They had different ambitions.
All four couples were making room for learning inside an already full life.
Seeing a Different Side of Someone Familiar
Ana knew Marko as a decisive operator.
During an early group assignment, she watched him work patiently through a younger classmate’s proposal. He asked questions, helped clarify the idea and made sure the person had space to present it.
She mentioned it afterwards.
“You would be a very good mentor.”
He had never considered that part of his role seriously.
Ivan had a similar experience watching Lea lead a case discussion.
At home, he knew the effort she put into her work. In the classroom, he saw how other people responded to her judgement.
“I understood your job,” he told her. “I don’t think I had fully seen you doing it.”
The programme created new settings in which familiar people could become visible in new ways.
Each partner also had room to develop independently. They joined different working groups, formed their own friendships and contributed through their own strengths.
Coming together afterwards gave them more to share.
A Common Language with Different Answers
Sara and Petar began applying their learning to the venture they were considering.
They could now discuss customer segments, working capital, operating capacity and strategic choices with greater precision.
They still saw things differently.
Petar was drawn to the product and the possibility of building something distinctive. Sara focused on how customers would adopt it and what delivery would require.
Their shared learning helped them explore those differences.
Instead of repeating their preferred conclusions, they could examine assumptions together.
What did they actually know? What would they need to test? Which commitment made sense now? What could wait?
They decided to narrow the first offer and speak to prospective customers before making a larger investment.
Their progress came partly from learning concepts and partly from discovering how to think together more effectively.
AI Joined the Preparation
During one module, participants were asked to use AI to develop alternative approaches to a business problem.
The couples found different uses for it.
Ana and Marko compared scenarios for their company, checking the assumptions against what they knew from operations.
Lea used it to practise explaining a recommendation to a sceptical colleague. Ivan explored another perspective and brought questions to their discussion.
Sara and Petar used it to prepare customer interview guides, then revised them when they realised some questions encouraged the answers they hoped to hear.
Mila and Tomislav enjoyed asking for competing interpretations of the same case before developing their own position.
The technology made it easy to generate material.
The valuable conversation often began when they disagreed with it—or with each other’s interpretation.
They learned to arrive with their own view before asking AI to expand the discussion.
Making Space for the Journey
The practical arrangements mattered.
Module weekends, assignments and work commitments needed planning. Family responsibilities continued.
The couples found routines that suited them.
Some reserved one evening for study. Others worked separately and compared notes during a walk. They agreed when learning would be part of their time together and when books and laptops would close.
They also helped one another through demanding weeks.
An assignment became easier to begin because someone understood why it mattered. A difficult presentation could be rehearsed with a person who had seen the same material. A success had someone close enough to appreciate the effort behind it.
Support did not require them to contribute in identical ways.
Over time, they became better at asking what kind of help would be useful.
The Generation Became Part of Their Lives
The MBA experience extended into dinners, travel, celebrations and friendships.
The couples remembered moments that had little to do with formal assessment: a conversation after a difficult module, an unexpected friendship during a trip, a group that kept dancing after promising an early night.
They also remembered classmates who helped with a business question, made an introduction or simply checked in during a busy period.
The generation became a wider circle of people who knew them both as individuals and as a couple.
For Mila and Tomislav, that was one of the most rewarding parts.
“We came for something we could do together,” Mila said. “We also found people we wanted to keep in our lives.”
Their friendships crossed industries and generations. Conversations brought new ideas into their home, and their own experience became useful to others.
What They Built Afterwards
At the COTRUGLI gathering, each couple described something that had continued beyond the programme.
Ana and Marko had clarified responsibilities in their business and created more space for their managers to lead.
Lea and Ivan had developed a habit of helping one another prepare for important decisions without assuming they understood every detail of the other’s workplace.
Sara and Petar had tested a smaller version of their venture and learned enough to decide their next step together.
Mila and Tomislav had become active hosts within the alumni community, bringing people into conversations and experiences they valued.
None described the MBA as the source of every good thing that followed.
They described it as a shared investment that had strengthened their capabilities, widened their relationships and given them new experiences together.
An Invitation to the Next Couples
Before the evening ended, the four couples were asked what they would tell others considering the same journey.
Their advice was practical and warm.
Make room for it. Allow each other to have an individual experience. Stay curious about what your partner sees. Join the dinners and the trips. Get to know the generation. Find a way to use the learning in real life.
Then Ana added one more thought.
“Don’t assume that because you already know each other, you know everything you can still discover.”
The CDayZ Leadership Challenge
You are helping design the experience for married couples considering COTRUGLI.
Develop an invitation and a practical approach that celebrates shared learning while supporting each person’s independent growth.
Explain how the programme, the couple’s own routines and the wider tribe can contribute to a rewarding life-and-business journey.
Discussion Questions
The owner's "Eight Questions for the Room":
- What would make an MBA a meaningful shared investment for a couple?
- What might partners discover about each other in a learning environment?
- How can shared learning improve the way a couple thinks together?
- How would you preserve each person’s individual journey?
- What practical routines would make the experience sustainable?
- How could AI enrich their learning?
- What does the COTRUGLI tribe add to the couple’s experience?
- What would you hope to be building together a year after the programme?
Consider learning, career development, entrepreneurship, relationships and shared experience.
How can new roles, group work and peer feedback reveal strengths that everyday routines leave less visible?
Give an example of a business or life decision that could benefit from a common language and different perspectives.
Consider working groups, friendships, personal ambitions and freedom to reach different conclusions.
How could the couple organise study, work, family commitments and time to enjoy being together?
Propose uses that encourage preparation, exploration and thoughtful discussion while keeping each person actively involved.
Explore the value of friendships, dinners, travel, celebration, mutual help and relationships that continue after graduation.
Identify habits, projects or contributions to the community that could carry the learning forward.
A Lesson for the Next COTRUGLI Generation
Learning together can add a new dimension to a relationship that already contains years of shared experience.
Couples gain knowledge, discover strengths and develop more ways to support one another. The wider tribe brings friendships, fresh perspectives and memories that become part of their lives.
Their journeys remain individual and shared at the same time.
Learning together. Building together. Stronger together.
Your comment on this chapter
A question for the table, a disagreement, what you would have done. The case lead reads every comment; the ones the table takes up enter the chapter as questions from the room, with your name.