When Heidi Coldagelli returned to Capella for her MBA, she
was motivated to achieve a life milestone. “At first I wasn’t
looking for the MBA to be part of some larger plan. It’s a mark of
accomplishment in life and I wanted that,” she said.
Coldagelli earned her BS in Business from Capella in 2003 and
is currently pursuing her MBA at Capella with a specialization in
Finance. She is the manager of sales and service at U.S. Bank’s
branch in Virginia, MN, where her responsibilities range across
operations and customer service.
Seeing the opportunity to use her talents to the fullest
In pursuing her MBA, Coldagelli had a revelation—that a graduate
education is also about being able to use one’s talents to the fullest.
“I didn’t realize how much of an impact it would have on my
professional life,” she said. “When I started taking graduate-level
courses, I gained a whole different viewpoint on my organization
and my job.”
As a new manager, that viewpoint has made her more effective and
will propel her to greater organizational contributions in the future.
“In the future I will take the tools and apply them so I can make my
branch the best it can be.”
“The best it can be” also means continuous improvement in the
quality of work life for her team at work. She recently took a
coaching questionnaire from one of her courses and used it to
improve performance reviews and ongoing coaching.
“As I use more tools and techniques with the people who report
to me, they see how my ability to coach them improves and that
makes their work situation better,” she said.
Positive momentum in all facets of life
Her job is a big part of Coldagelli’s life. “Many of the courses I am
taking are about human interaction and how to improve it and that
can be applied anywhere—work, family, friends,” she said. “It’s
positive momentum that carries into the rest of your life.”