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JANUARY 2025

Faculty profile: Professor Sonia Marciano

Faculty profile
Professor Sonia Marciano
Academic Director, TRIUM

Sonia Marciano is an acclaimed educator and thought leader in the field of business strategy. She serves as the Academic Director for the TRIUM Global Executive MBA Program and a Clinical Professor of Management and Organizations at NYU Stern, where she has been a faculty member since 2007.

Before joining Stern, Marciano’s career has included positions at Harvard Business School, Wharton, Kellogg, Yale, and the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Her deep expertise in competitive strategy and global business—as well as a blend of technical knowledge with practical application—has made her a sought-after speaker and mentor for executives worldwide. As Academic Director, she curates an unparalleled learning experience, preparing leaders to excel in today’s fast-paced and unpredictable global economy.

In 2022, she was awarded the NYU Distinguished Teaching Award, which is conferred to up to six faculty selected from more than three thousand across the twenty-plus schools that comprise New York University.

She recently caught up with TRIUM about how she curates an evergreen curriculum that integrates real-time politics and developments in the business and tech world, what she considers to be the number-one value of TRIUM’s global program, and the themes of her course Strategy for Global Executives.

What is your role as Academic Director for TRIUM?

My role is essentially that of a general contractor. The dean (as the architect) sets the vision, while I oversee implementation—ensuring the curriculum is balanced and logistically sound across our global modules. My aim is to create an experience that is both impactful and digestible, especially as students juggle demanding travel and class schedules.

We aim to make the program worth the effort and investment, exposing students to diverse teaching styles, rich content, and unique cultural contexts. All the while we are nimble around real-time global events. It’s all about giving students a holistic and transformative educational experience.

TRIUM emphasizes navigating an uncertain world. How do you curate the curriculum to address global shifts in politics, technology, and business?

One of TRIUM’s taglines, “What the World Looks Like Now is Already Out of Date,” encapsulates our approach. We balance evergreen principles with timely topics. For example, courses on global trade focus on enduring frameworks—students learn to analyze tariff changes and trade-offs conceptually. On the other hand, emerging areas like AI require nuanced integration.

For rapidly evolving topics like AI, we bring in practitioners to provide real-world insights. In my module, for example, I’ve invited McKinsey consultants to discuss how AI has tangibly impacted their clients. This approach ensures that students gain both a conceptual understanding and practical tools to navigate change.

Ultimately, the focus is on teaching executives how to think critically and to adapt, rather than prescribing what to think. I hate the idea of indoctrination. Structured thinking, on the other hand, provides long-term value, especially in volatile times.

What themes define your Strategy for Global Executives course?

I think the word strategy is one of the most hackneyed, often misused and overused terms in business. In my course, we define it clearly: strategy as it relates to identifying underserved markets, aligning a company’s resources to dominate that space, and creating barriers for competitors. Most companies are preoccupied with—and often confuse the idea of strategy with—operational improvements, which are managerial obligations, not strategic moves.

The course emphasizes the structured thought process needed to uncover “white spaces” in the market. It’s about training students to think deeply and systematically about where and how to compete.

Why is now the right time to pursue a TRIUM EMBA?

TRIUM is ideal for those ready to take control of their career trajectories. Investing in an EMBA equips professionals with tools to evaluate where to deploy their talents. Human capital, like financial capital, needs strategic investment. An EMBA helps individuals assess company performance—qualitatively and quantitatively—before committing their time and skills.

To someone wondering if TRIUM is right for them, I would say this: Each school culls their best content appropriate for business students. You are getting the highlights of each school, and a subset of the classmates may be your lifelong friends and confidantes. These are incredible people you would never have met in another context. You won’t be friends with someone as culturally and geographically different from you in any other circumstance. TRIUM can be a potentially transformative experience.

TRIUM stands out among like programs for being the first truly global EMBA. Can you speak to the power of the immersive course modules in four continents over 18 months? What value, specifically, does the immersive Stern module in New York City add?

In my experience and opinion, the number one value of this format is that students are in a cohort of peers from more than thirty countries and from various backgrounds and industries. Over 18 months, they can form bonds and relationships that last a lifetime.

As for the modules, TRIUM is unique in combining the best of its partner schools. Students experience top-tier content in business, economics, and global strategy while immersing themselves in diverse cultures. If you organize yourself and your time well, you can get great value out of the location itself, whether it’s London, South Korea, Paris, Nairobi, Dubai or New York.

The New York module gives me opportunities to pull in faculty from various schools here at Stern and experts from the industry here in the city. Students interact with faculty from different disciplines, like the arts and law school, and gain diverse perspectives on leadership and problem-solving. For instance, beyond traditional business courses, we invite faculty from other NYU schools, such as Tisch School of the Arts, to introduce fresh perspectives.

Then, of course, you have the city itself for students to explore on a cultural level. I find myself planning fewer structured activities for the groups, as everyone has different tastes, culturally speaking, and I like to give them the time and space to explore on their own.

How does TRIUM prepare leaders for tomorrow?

TRIUM’s diversity and global reach are unparalleled. The program pushes students out of their comfort zones and helps them develop the skills needed to lead across cultures. Working on projects with classmates from twenty or thirty different countries teaches them to appreciate the strengths and challenges of diverse teams.

Leadership is about neutralizing weaknesses and amplifying strengths, and TRIUM helps students master that balance. By the end of the program, they’re not only better leaders but also more thoughtful and deliberate decision-makers.

What does the NYU Distinguished Teaching Award mean to you?

Receiving the award was a moment of reflection. It is easy to dwell on classes that don’t go as planned. The recognition reminded me to step back and appreciate the broader impact of my work. It affirmed the value of focusing on long-term growth rather than perfection in every interaction.

It also underscored for me that NYU’s culture of recognition is deeply meaningful. Working on the award submission even gave me new insights into my own teaching philosophy and the ways I can continue to serve students and colleagues.