Running Toward Transformation: How Ronalds Vitols Found Leadership Lessons Between Paris and the EDHEC Executive MBA

On a cool spring morning in Paris, Ronalds Vitols crossed the finish line of the Schneider Electric Marathon de Paris after 42.195 demanding kilometers. It was his first Paris Marathon and the 18th marathon of his life. Yet this race felt different.

Not because it was easier—it was not. After 30 kilometers, his pace dropped sharply. He knew he had not trained as much as he should have. The final stretch became a battle of endurance, discipline, and mindset.

But somewhere between exhaustion and determination, Vitols recognized something familiar.

That philosophy captures both his approach to long-distance running and his experience in the EDHEC Executive MBA programme in Paris—a programme designed to help experienced professionals lead transformation in complex environments.  

For Vitols, the EMBA is not simply an academic credential. It is a strategic transition.

After more than 15 years working across law, public-sector enforcement, litigation, and complex international investigations, he reached a turning point. Legal expertise alone was no longer enough. Increasingly, the most important decisions in organizations were being shaped not only by legal frameworks, but by strategy, leadership, operational execution, and stakeholder alignment.

“At some point, understanding the broader architecture behind decisions became as important as interpreting the law itself,” he says.

 

His professional path reflects unusual breadth. He began working immediately after high school and developed through multiple demanding roles: judge’s assistant in regional court, legal representative of the Latvian State Revenue Service, investigator in the Tax Police focusing on international tax evasion and money laundering, and later Head of Legal for a municipality overseeing institutional decision-making and complex legal matters.

For the past five years, he has worked as Senior Associate and Project Manager at KPMG Law Latvia, combining litigation expertise with advisory work on cross-border and multi-stakeholder projects.

Yet despite professional success, he felt the need to evolve beyond legal precision into broader executive leadership.

At 35, he chose to pursue the EDHEC Executive MBA in Paris.

Why EDHEC? For Vitols, the decision was deliberate and analytical. He wanted an international environment while remaining connected to the European institutional and regulatory context he understood professionally. EDHEC stood out because of its global reputation, triple accreditation, strong Financial Times rankings, and highly ranked alumni network. The programme’s emphasis on leadership development, strategic execution, and international exposure aligned directly with his long-term goals.  

The structure of the programme also mattered. Designed as a 17–20 month part-time format in Paris, the EDHEC EMBA allows participants to continue working while applying concepts directly to real business challenges. The curriculum focuses on strategy, leadership, finance, innovation, AI, and transformation management.  

For someone coming from a legal background rooted in precedent and certainty, one shift proved especially valuable: learning how to operate under ambiguity.

That mindset became particularly visible during the programme’s global learning expeditions. EDHEC’s Executive MBA includes immersive international business trips designed to expose participants to different market systems and leadership cultures.  

For Vitols, visiting Hong Kong and China became one of the defining experiences of the programme.

A standout moment was the visit tonTencent, where participants explored the ecosystem behind WeChat—the “super app” integrating payments, messaging, services, and daily infrastructure into one platform.

“Seeing how ecosystem strategy operates at that scale challenged my European, regulation-first intuition about market boundaries,” he says.

The exposure reinforced one of the programme’s core lessons: leadership today requires understanding interconnected systems, not just isolated expertise.

Still, some of the most important lessons have happened much closer to home—in the cohort itself.

The Paris Marathon became a perfect example.

Three members of the EDHEC cohort—Vitols, Julien, and Thib—ran the race together, with Julien completing his first marathon. Other classmates supported them before, during, and after the event.

The collaborative dimension reflects one of the defining characteristics of the EDHEC Executive MBA experience. The programme intentionally builds diverse international cohorts where professionals from different industries solve real-world business challenges together.  

For Vitols, those interactions matter as much as the formal curriculum.

Most assignments involve practical simulations, strategic analysis, and collective decision-making under pressure. The process forces participants to debate, align, negotiate, and execute together—skills directly transferable to leadership roles in complex organizations.

Alongside the EMBA, Vitols continues his passion for endurance running, having completed marathons across Europe over the past six years. Running provides a deliberate counterbalance to the intensity of professional and academic life.

“Marathons are never easy,” he says. “But they give me a very realistic perspective on professional life.”

That perspective became especially real during the final kilometers in Paris.There was no sophisticated strategy left. No optimization. No analysis. Just movement.

“Step by step,” he says, “and you are crossing the finish line.”

After one year in the EDHEC Executive MBA, Vitols says the experience has already exceeded expectations—not as a demanding academic obligation, but as an intellectually engaging and transformative journey.

Much like a marathon itself, the value lies not only in reaching the finish line, but in the person you become along the way.