CEO Magazine - Volume 11

Featured inside:

2013 Global MBA Rankings

The Wise Leader Achieving a Healthy Work/Life Balance

Are You a Star Peformer ?

The entrepreneur’s motivation: Not what you think...

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Lessons from life: Learning to make experience count

Considering an Advanced Business Degree ?

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CONTENTS

Table of Contents 8 14 16 18 21 23

MBA Review CEO Magazine

Considering an Advanced Business Degree?

AACSB International

The 60 Word Interview Francis Petit

If I could do my EMBA again EMBA Graduates

Wellness and the Executive MBA Francis Petit

Achieving a Healthy Work/Life Balance LA Fitness

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CONTENTS

39 28

32

Lessons from life: Learning to make experience count

Linda Ginzel

34 24

“Our students are never a means to an end; they are the end.”

Kim Burke

The entrepreneur’s motivation: Not what you think...

Alvin Lee

28

Are You a Star Performer?

Shellie Karabell talks to Manfred Kets de Vries

My Wharton Experience Through the Lens of Launching a Startup

Lisa Lovallo

Why Workplace Leadership is about to get its First Major Makeover in 100 Years

Mark C. Crowley

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39

32 2

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CONTENTS

51

48 41 42

To Specialise or not to Specialise?

Australian Institute of Business

How to Fit the AIB MBA into Your Life Joel Abraham

46 48 51 55

The 2013 Global Leadership Summit Alexandra Skinner

Taking You to New Heights Caron St. John

A Legacy of Life Sciences gets the Business Treatment Patricia Audet

How Non-traditional MBA Programs Foster an Inclusive Space Emad Rahim and Amine Ayad

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67 60

60 63

Hospitality and Lifestyle through a Business Lens Paris School of Business

A General Management MBA in the Rhein-Main Powerhouse Ralf Schellhase

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67 70 72

Risky Business: Experiential Learning in St. Lucia Joe Turek

The Wise Leader Alvin Lee

List of Contributors

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CONTENTS

Published by the International Graduate Forum: Head Office: Communications House, 26 York Street, London W1U 6PZ (UK) Telephone: Fax: Email: Web:

+44 (0) 870 067 2077 (UK) +44 (0) 870 067 2078 (UK) a.skinner@graduate-forum.com www.graduate-forum.com

Follow us on Twitter: @CEO_GradForum

© 2013 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the expressed approval of the copyright owner. Whilst every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information in this publication, the Publisher accepts no responsibility for errors or omissions.

The Publisher disclaims responsibility for the views and opinions expressed herein by the contributors. Furthermore, the Publisher does not give any warranty regarding the accuracy thereof.

CEO

Victor J. Callender

Group Editor-in-Chief

Alexandra Skinner

Designer

Matt Dettmar

Production

Will Dobson

Financial Controller

Anthony Gordon

Head of Production

Steven Whitaker

Head of New Media

Silvio Ferrero

For further information on annual subscription rates and benefits visit: www.graduate-forum.com Price per issue, including web access: £10.00 | €12.00 | $15.00

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MBA REVIEW

International Graduate Forum MBA Rankings Summer 2013 The International Graduate Forum’s (IGF) 2013 Summer MBA Rankings have been compiled based upon key performance indicators considered to be of interest and value to potential students. Thus, international diversity, class sizes, student work experience, faculty-to-student ratios, and faculty qualifications – both academic and professional – have been given considerable weight. With competition between business schools continuing to increase, it is important for schools to understand what students really want. Schools ranked highly by the IGF in CEO Magazine have been successful in this goal.

NORTH AMERICAN MBA RANKINGS

EUROPEAN MBA RANKINGS

Tier One

Tier One

Appalachian State University, Walker

Ashridge Business School

California State University, Northridge

Audencia Nantes

Colorado Technical University

Birmingham Business School

Columbia Business School

Brunel Business School

Fordham University, GSB

CEU Business School

Georgetown University, McDonough

Copenhagen Business School

Jacksonville University, Davis

Cranfield School of Management

kennesaw State University, Coles

Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences

Kent State University

EADA

La Salle University

EIPM

Le Moyne College, Madden

ENPC School of International Management

Lynchburg College

ESADE Business School

Millsaps College

ESMT

Niagara University

European University

Northwest Missouri State University

HHL Leipzig

Queens University of Charlotte, McColl

IE Business School

The University of Memphis

IESE

University of Alabama in Huntsville

International University of Monaco

University of California Irvine, Merage

ISCTE

University of Rochester, Simon

ISEG

University of the Sciences

Lancaster Management School

Wake Forest University

Lorange Institute of Business Zurich

Willamette University, Atkinson

Mannheim Business School

Tier Two

MIP Politecnico di Milano

Berry College, Campbell* Boston College, Carroll* Carnegie Mellon University, Tepper Georgia Southern University Grand Valley State University, Seidman McNeese State University Roosevelt University, Heller University of California San Diego, Rady University of Denver, Daniels

Paris School of Business Porto Business School Reims Management School Reykjavik University Rochester-Bern SBS Swiss Business School The Lisbon MBA (Nova and Católica-Lisbon)* University of Strathclyde Warsaw School of Economics

University of Texas at Austin, McCombs * University of Washington, Foster Washington University in St Louis, Olin*

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MBA REVIEW

AUSTRALIAN MBA RANKINGS Tier One 1

University of Wollongong Sydney Business School

2

Macquarie University Graduate School of Management

3

Australian Institute of Business

= 4 The University of Queensland Business School = 4 University of Sydney Business School = 4 Melbourne Business School 7

Australian Catholic University

8

The University of Adelaide

9

Queensland University of Technology Graduate School of Business

10

University of Ballarat

11

University of Western Australia Graduate School of Management

12

Swinburn University of Technology Australian Graduate School of Entrepreneurship

13

RMIT University Graduate School of Business and law

14

Monash University

15

Victoria University Graduate School of Business

16

University of Technology Sydney

17

Deakin University

18

University of Western Sydney

19

Murdoch University Business School

Tier Two

“The IGF’s aim is to strip away elements such assalary increases, career progression, international/gender diversity in academic boards, number of doctoral graduates from the school (and how many then return to teach at said school) and so on. We want to keep the IGF MBA Rankings simple and look atwhat is on offer to the student once they get to the business school of their choice.

Some ‘lesser-known’ schools, that would often otherwise be marginalised, are very well positioned to service postgraduates, and our aim is to highlight this level of quality and value for future students.”

Alexnadra Skinner, Group Editor-in-Chief, CEO Magazine

*Incomplete data CEO MAGAZINE

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MBA REVIEW

SUMMER 2013 GLOBAL EMBA RANKINGS Tier Two

Tier One Ashridge Business School

Europe

Australian Catholic University

Australia

Audencia Nantes School of Management

Europe

Carnegie Mellon, Tepper

North America

California State Univeristy, San Bernardo

North America

CEU Business School

Europe

CENTRUM Catolica

Peru

Columbia Business School*

North America

Cranfield School of Management

Europe

Concordia University, John Molson

Canada

EADA

Europe

EIPM

Europe

ENPC

Europe

ESMT

Europe

ESADE

Europe

European University

Europe

Euromed

Europe

Georgetown University, McDonough

North America

Fordham University, GSB

North America

IfM-Institut f端r Management

Europe

HHL Leipzig

Europe

ISCTE

Europe

ICN Business School

Europe

Kennesaw State University, Coles

North America

Jacksonville University, Davis

North America

Kent State University

North America

Lancaster University

Europe

Lorange Institute of Business Zurich

Europe

Millsaps College

North America

Mannheim Business School

Europe

Porto Business School

Europe

MIP Politecnico di Milano

Europe

Queens University of Charlotte, McColl

North America

Queensland University of Technology

Australia

Reykjavick University

Europe

Reims Management School

Europe

The University of Memphis

North America

RMIT

Australia

University of Rochester, Simon

North America

Saint Mary's University, Sobey

Canada

University of Strathclyde

Europe

University of California, Irvine

North America

University of Sydney

Australia

University of California, San Diego Rady

North America

University of Wollongong

Australia

University of Regina

Canada

Warsaw School of Economics

Europe

University of Texas at Austin, McCombs*

North America

University of Washington, Foster

North America

Washington University in St Louis, Olin*

North America

*Incomplete data

MBA Rankings KPIs criteria weighting

EMBA Rankings KPIs criteria weighting

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AACSB INTERNATIONAL

Considering an Advanced Business Degree?

Do your research and make the proper investment AACSB International

I

n today's professional world, junior and senior managers as well as C-suite executives must be able to converse at a high level on all aspects of business.

Successfully leading an organization, division, or initiative in the complex global economy, however, demands more than just talk. Lifelong learning is important for successful executives to stay on top of issues, deal with the changing needs of employees, adapt to technological advances, and cope with the newest economic challenges.

But executives from around the world want their continuing education and development to be rigorous enough to challenge them intellectually, and relevant enough to be useful in their work right now. They want programs and schools to advance their careers while extending their networks; and they expect to learn as much from their peers as their professors. These are high expectations from demanding professionals.

Just like the executives and businesses they serve, to deliver on these expectations in the competitive dynamics of today’s global economy, business schools must be forward-looking and innovative. This was a central point for AACSB International (AACSB), the most prestigious accrediting body for business schools worldwide, when its governing membership unanimously voted to pass new standards in April 2013.

Fostering Innovation Following more than two years of study and collaboration with the leadership of the global management education community and employer organizations, AACSB’s 2013 Standards recognize that business schools must be enabled and empowered to adapt as the pace of change in business accelerates. This recognition and acknowledgment now gives business schools the flexibility to innovate to meet the needs of the 14

employer and student markets, while still holding institutions to the highest standards of quality.

AACSB accredits many schools that are currently pushing the boundaries in the realm of EMBA, MBA, and Executive Education, offering high-quality programming around the world. Known and respected worldwide, AACSB accredits 681 schools in nearly 50 countries and territories, and connects a network of more than 1,350 educational institutions, businesses, and other entities devoted to advancing quality management education.

For many executives and their companies, educational investments can be an impactful and valuable strategy for growing overall human capital value, and this flexibility to innovate and provide new delivery methods could make pursuing an advanced business degree more attainable for those with limited time.

Connecting Theory to Practice Whether they lead to a degree, such as an EMBA, or not, the executive-level education programs of business schools play an important role in connecting academic theory and practice. Either face-to-face or virtual, executive classrooms bring together deep academic knowledge with practical experiences from diverse industries and functions. Building on this intersection is an important objective in AACSB’s new standards.

Similarly, the adoption of a new standard which pertains specifically to executive education has been designed to ensure that AACSBaccredited schools providing such programs have “appropriate processes to ensure high quality in meeting client expectations and continuous improvement in executive education programs.”1 This standard comes at an opportune time, as AACSB-accredited schools continue to expand their executive education offerings in response to growing demand within the industry.

Making a Difference AACSB has also found that today’s business leaders are not just interested in their own careers but also in making a difference in society through their work and organizations, realizing that their responsibilities are not limited to stewarding strong financial performance. To do so, business leaders require more than practical analytical tools in executive-level education programs, they also need to confront important ethical and societal issues. They expect nothing less from their business schools.

As AACSB’s President and CEO, John Fernandes said, “the world is expecting a lot from business and, accordingly, from business schools.

We must build a better world and business schools can lead the way.” The new standards for accreditation are designed to strengthen the contributions of business schools fostering sustainability and responsibility in business.

Finding the Best Fit Business professionals are returning to the classroom for a very good reason: according to a large-scale study of CEO performance conducted by the Harvard Business Review, CEOs with an MBA outperformed those without. The study analyzed 2,000 CEOs worldwide, and found that on average, CEOs with an MBA ranked 40 places higher than CEOs without an MBA.2 Now, more than ever, AACSB-accredited programs are offering flexible MBA opportunities with executive formats and online/distance delivery to fit the challenging scheduling demands of business leaders.

We should be careful to point out that every executive is unique – their career aspirations, personal circumstances, business needs, and even their location, combine to create a wide variety of needs. Leading in one of London’s houses of finance is very different from leading in Germany’s

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AACSB INTERNATIONAL

Lifelong learning is important for successful executives to stay on top of issues, deal with the changing needs of employees, adapt to technological advances, and cope with the newest economic challenges.

Mittelstand. The founder of a design firm in Barcelona might have difficulty managing a luxury brand in Paris or a government contractor in Brussels.

Leadership and management are contextual, yet when it comes to continuing education many people think every EMBA program and business school are the same. They are not. Executives should think carefully about the variety of programs and schools, and consider the best fit between both. AACSB’s studentfacing website (www.bestbizschools.com) offers search tools for identifying the school that is the best fit based upon a variety of different options, including program type, location, and even delivery model. This tool narrows down the undeniably extensive array of schooling options for an individual seeking to find that right fit.

The Proper Investment With a wider array of continuing education offerings than ever before, selecting the right executive education or graduate business program has become an increasingly complex task, with numerous new factors worth considering. Of course, traditional considerations such as the price, the duration, and the strength of the curriculum will likely continue to top the list in terms of importance.

But to all business professionals weighing their options, ensuring that the providing institution carries the appropriate accreditation should be one of the most important factors to consider when deciding upon where to study.

AACSB accreditation is, for many, the signal of high-quality management education around the world. Established in 1916, AACSB holds its accredited schools to stringent standards that ensure the schools have met internationally recognized thresholds for performance, quality, and continuous improvement.

AACSB offers global quality recognition through a rigorous application process for prospective schools, and a continual peer review for those schools already accredited.

In fact, less than 5 per cent of schools offering business degrees worldwide have earned the distinction of bearing the AACSB Accreditation seal, each offering unique and diverse approaches to management education.

When investing in your future by way of education, getting the most out of a degree should be at the forefront. But be wary if the school has not earned AACSB accreditation – whose main responsibility is to ensure that business schools deliver the educational outcomes they promise to students. With the 2013 Standards now in place, AACSB’s commitment to management education has never been more pronounced. Choosing a school with AACSB accreditation provides assurance that the program will be of high-quality, thus offering a superior opportunity for a favorable return on investment.

Biography Ø AACSB International is an association of more than 1,350 educational institutions, businesses, and organizations, across 84 countries, devoted to advancing quality management education worldwide.

Founded in 1916, by a consortium of the most prominent business schools, AACSB’s accreditation and membership represents a timeless tradition focused on excellence in management education. Recognized globally as the highest standard of achievement for business schools, AACSB has granted accreditation to 681 institutions in 45 countries.

1. http://www.aacsb.edu/accreditation/business/standards/2013/academic-and-professional-engagement/standard14.asp 2. http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2010/01/does_an_mba_make_you_a_better.html

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FORDHAM UNIVERSITY

The

Word

One journalist, one interviewee, one catch – each response must be answered in 60 words or less. In this issue, Alexandra Skinner speaks to Fordham University’s Dr Francis Petit.

Tell us about you: I am the Associate Dean for Executive

Study trips: valuable learning experiences or education vacations?

A higher education trend that you didn’t see coming is:

Programmes at Fordham University, the Jesuit

EMBA students will be dissatisfied if it is too

The increase in international prospective

University of New York. I am responsible for

academic as well as if it is too vacation-like.

students for EMBA programmes.

leading the Executive MBA programmes, as

I am a big fan of incorporating an academic

well as short executive programmes, both in

component, a cultural immersion, as well as a

One that you did is:

New York City and globally.

bit of free time to explore. Having the trip at the

The increase in international prospective

conclusion of a programme will make the entire

students, especially from China.

Describe your EMBA vision:

experience end in a crescendo.

The EMBA experience is all about the community. wonderful community of executives that will work

The biggest challenge facing Deans of EMBA programmes is:

hard, develop a love for learning, and represent

1. Convincing prospective students to pay more out

Our goal is to recruit, nurture and develop a

the University in exemplary fashion.

of pocket due to diminishing corporate funding; 2. Convincing University Administration to look

Specialisation vs. traditional programme: The MBA, by nature, is a generalist degree.

Careers can now go in many directions, and the

at the EMBA as more than a cash cow product; 3. Meeting the increased demands of EMBA students who are paying more out of pocket.

sustaining) in an entirely new way.

A business school’s top three responsibilities are: 1. Preparing students to create, deliver and

Focus on core business skills or nurture innovation and entrepreneurship?

sustain value in new and innovative ways

The development of core business skills is an

ethical commitment to all stakeholders;

expectation within all EMBA programmes.

level of emotional intelligence, which hurts their careers in the short and long-term. Most employees also do not see the “big picture” which negatively impacts their short-term decision-making. Also, employees can do a better job in understanding and relating

while maintaining product integrity and an 2. Preparing students to understand the big

Three ‘soft skills’ a business leader cannot do without are: 1. Understanding diverse personalities and their individual motivating value drivers; 2. Cross-cultural communication and negotiation skills;

Developing skills that can foster a culture for

picture beyond the quarterly dividend;

3. Aligning the right individuals for each

corporate innovation is now critical given that

3. Preparing students to think in an entirely

project in order to execute strategy.

most organisations lack such a culture.

new way, in terms of business development, opportunities and collaboration.

Online learning vs. on-campus learning:

Application or interview dos: Really know the particulars of a programme.

Show that you have researched a school and

will demand an online component for business

Business schools need to stimulate learning by:

education. However, there are items that must

Eliminating the grading structure. Intrinsically

class. Do your due diligence. Be enthusiastic.

be addressed with online education, including

motivating students to dive into a subject matter

course completion rates. Overall, I believe

that truly excites them. Take the pressure of

Application or interview don’ts:

the most powerful vehicle will be a blended

grades off the table and students will learn

Don’t be nervous. Don’t be arrogant.

hybrid approach.

more by developing a love for learning.

Sincerity is always best.

Trends with Generation Y and the Millenials

16

Most employees are smart but lack a high

to colleagues.

MBA will prepare you. Programmes must allow all to think about value (creating, delivering,

Three business skills that are missing from the market are:

that you really want to attend. Also, sit in on a

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FORDHAM UNIVERSITY

Take the pressure of grades off the table and students will learn more by developing a love for learning.”

The best thing about Fordham is: The culture is what differentiates Fordham.

We are the Jesuit EMBA programme of New York. A Jesuit education is about educating the entire individual as seen in our Professional and Personal Development Initiative. Our goal: a life changing experience in a collaborative, friendly, inviting and demanding environment.

And one improvement that you would like to make would be: All academic institutions, including Fordham, must be more flexible with some of their administrative processes with a changing EMBA landscape.

The future for Fordham’s Graduate School of Business will bring: Fordham’s Graduate School of Business Administration will continue to grow due to an increase in career-specific Master’s programmes, as well as executive programmes for students and participants around the globe.

Parting words for would-be EMBAs: Dive right in. Work hard. Do all the optional readings. Get the most out of it from an academic and social perspective.

Don’t obsess about the grades – that usually takes care of itself.

Biography Ø Alexandra Skinner is the Group Editor-inChief at the International Graduate Forum.

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IF I COULD DO MY EMBA AGAIN I WOULD...

“If I could do my EMBA again I would...”

An Executive MBA (EMBA) is a world-class qualification taken by working professionals from a variety of academic and industry backgrounds who want to further enhance their skill-sets, knowledge and, in many cases, careers. The value of the EMBA is widely known; personal and professional advancement, world-class faculty and professors, access to industry experts, a plethora of valuable new contacts, and many networking opportunities. However, CEO Magazine wanted to speak to EMBA graduates to find out what, if anything, they would do differently should they have their time again, and what advice they would give to those considering pursuing the qualification.

Twelve graduates from across Europe, North America and Australia share their thoughts with our Group Editor-in-Chief, Alexandra Skinner.

Jörg Wiemer

owner of my own company. Were a second

CEO, Treasury Intelligence Solutions GmbH

chance given I would still have founded my own company, but I would have taken better

Jeff Brown Senior Executive Vice President, Ally Financial Inc.

advantage of the network provided by my alma mater. I would have looked for another

“My choice in schools has never been in question;

“The ESSEC & Mannheim Executive MBA

Mannheimer to join our management team;

I would select the McColl School all over again –

has, to this date, not only provided me with

one with a marketing or sales background,

their focus on leadership development is unique

the necessary skills to succeed in today’s

as such expertise would have allowed us to

compared to what other schools offer. The McColl

competitive business world, but has enabled

grow much faster.”

School emphasizes Competence, Character,

me – together with two other ‘Mannheimers’

ESSEC & Mannheim Weekend

and Commitment to Community. Reflecting

- to take the leap in becoming the CEO and

EMBA graduate, Class of 2009.

back on my opportunity though, I should have taken advantage of the great leaders around me, including Hugh McColl Jr. himself. The McColl School is blessed with many local executives that

Cindy Jacoby Chief Engagement Officer BizHelp Consulting “My business school had the right mix of leadership development and traditional training in the core areas. However, next time I would take more personal risk by taking advantage of the leadership development opportunities offered sooner than I did. The EMBA program provides a safe environment in which to take leadership risks; there were opportunities at the project, team and classroom levels. When you have the courage to lead, it’s a no-lose situation. When mistakes are made, real budgets are not affected and jobs are not lost. It may cost a few points on an assignment and some embarrassment, but you have the opportunity to grow. If you are not challenging yourself, you are not growing- and isn’t that we signed up for?”

Kennesaw State University, Coles College of Business EMBA graduate, Class of 2006

want to share their insights into career success.

Willingness to network more is my lesson; I just wonder what more I could have learned from those leaders before me.”

Queens University of Charlotte, McColl School of Business EMBA graduate, Class of 2003

Máximo Alejandre Country Manager, Panasonic Iberia “If I could do my EMBA again I would share my experiences as Country Manager at Panasonic; participation in role plays and teamwork are a great step to empower one’s team and one’s own knowledge. The most important subjects in the EMBA at EADA are marketing, finance and personal development. I would focus on these areas in order to improve as much as possible, as these are topics where one always has room to learn a bit more.”

EADA EMBA graduate, Class of 2010

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IF I COULD DO MY EMBA AGAIN I WOULD...

Ioanna Exarchou Marketing and Admissions, European University

António Carlos Torrão

“I would invest more time to embrace every aspect of the EMBA and to walk through every door it opens. Time, or the lack thereof, is a crucial factor in our already overloaded schedules. An EMBA program though has so much to offer, from pure academic learning to experiential learning, guest lectures and networking opportunities, or just the chance to chat with professors who have endless stories to share. My advice to future EMBA students is to take a step back from their busy lives, dive into their EMBA program and make the most of it!”

European University, Geneva campus EMBA graduate, Class of 2012

Branch Manager, Banco BPI “The Porto Business School EMBA perfectly links the academic excellence with the management experience (strong corporate links) of its teachers, creating unique conditions for the development of technical and behavioral skills that potentiate professional and personal growth. A major characteristic of this school is its international dimension, bringing together students and teachers from several countries with different experiences and backgrounds. Going back, I would take much more from this massive networking opportunity. In addition, I would go further beyond the hard skills and focus more intently on the improvement of my soft skills. Fortunately, an EMBA is a never ending process. Mine is just beginning.”

Porto Business School EMBA graduate, Class of 2011

John Walker Adjunct Professor, Columbia Business School and the School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University “If I could do my EMBA again, I would

Luke Carrière

recognize the increased importance of social

Marketing Director, View B.I. Inc.

enterprise and entrepreneurship in today’s

Michelle Boland “If I could have done my EMBA again I would

career landscape. Since 2008, social enterprise

“If I could go back and do my EMBA again,

have made more of the careers advice and

has grown significantly in relevance to a business

I would be more confident in my choice to

opportunities available. During an EMBA it’s all

career and, in going back to school, I would make

pursue one. When I was deciding whether to

too easy to become consumed by your workload,

use of Columbia’s Social Enterprise Program and

go back to school after seven years away, I felt

whilst juggling career and family commitments.

Lang Entrepreneurship Center through its elective

the need to gain the approval of others, such as

But remember: You could be missing out on a

offerings, industry relationships, and unrivaled

my employer, parents, and girlfriend. Luckily,

host of opportunities! I worked with Cranfield’s

events. Finally, given the value I derived personally

most were supportive. But deciding to take on

wonderful Career Development Service at the

and professionally from the unique EMBA-Global

the challenge is a personal decision - one that I

very end of my EMBA and found the one-to-one

experience, I would unquestionably seek to attend

should not have felt the need to justify to others.

coaching helped me focus on changing industries

the original program or one of the new variants

To those considering an EMBA, my advice would

and utilising my digital experience. If I had my

that offers exposure to Asia and Latin America.”

be to be confident in your internal compass.”

time again I would certainly take a breath every

Columbia Business School EMBA-Global

Fordham University Graduate School of

so often and utilise all available support and

graduate, Class of 2008

Business EMBA graduate, Class of 2013

advice to ensure my post-EMBA plan was being

Vesna Misanovic

Marco Palminiello

Business Unit Manager at BeOne Group GmbH

Business Development, Optimist Al

“I would cut down on daily working tasks in

“If I could do my EMBA again

my company and focus more on my needs and

I would do it earlier in my

activities in relation to the EMBA. I would rely

career. I would also choose

more on the individual support and help of

to study part-time in an

“I worked my backside off doing 75 hours a

the excellent ESMT professors. My professor,

international class as it is

week of work in the minerals industry, ran a 50

Konstantiv Korotov, gave me the best advice ever

more flexible and I feel there

acre olive and cattle farm in the Hunter Valley,

in coaching. I now wonder why I didn’t involve

are many advantages of working in a team

lost my brother, had my second child and scored

him in some of the tough decisions that I had to

with greater diversity. I would absolutely

a few high distinctions. Put simply, what would

make. I would definitely use the excellent school

participate in extracurricular activities such

I do differently/again? The entire programme!

connections within German industry to foster

as sailing, because I met the founder of the

Not because I didn’t get enough time to do it,

my interests and strengths. In relation to my

company where I proudly work today, Optimist

or I didn’t get the benefit out of it, but because

classmates, I would not wait until graduation

Al, participating in a regatta through the MIP

every second I put into it I received 10 fold in

for them to become my best friends.”

MBA Sailing League.”

returns. I would do it again, just for kicks.”

ESMT European School of Management and

MIP Politecnico di Milano EMBA graduate,

University of Wollongong, Sydney Business

Technology EMBA graduate, Class of 2009

Class of 2011

School EMBA graduate, Class of 2012

implemented as soon as possible.”

Cranfield University EMBA graduate, Class of 2010

Logan Francis Technical Services Manager, Anglo American

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FORDHAM UNIVERSITY

and the Executive MBA Francis Petit

F

or the past fifteen years I have had the privilege of working in the Executive MBA (EMBA) and executive education industries for two major business schools in New York City. During this period, I have developed executive programs and modules for students and participants in North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East, and have done research in the executive development area. In addition, I have witnessed first-hand not only the changing trends of the EMBA industry, but also the emerging needs of students enrolled in these programs.

With this as a background, I strongly believe that wellness education, now more than ever, must be a major component within the EMBA experience.

It should be noted that corporate executives, by and large, travel similar paths. Many were traditional undergraduate students who gained post baccalaureate professional experience prior to obtaining the EMBA. Throughout business school these students studied the functional areas of business and learned all about mergers and acquisitions, leadership and teamwork, alongside participating in an international pedagogical experience.

Their learning continued, post EMBA, on the job. These EMBA graduates not only continued to develop in their professional roles, but were also, in many cases, sent to short executive courses for further training and development.

Relocation, international assignments, and industry moves in-line with market and career evolution were also part of this process.

What is interesting to note is that wellness education is not something that is proactively offered to executives throughout their development. What is also interesting to note is that the EMBA industry is changing and evolving. Statistics from the Executive MBA Council, the industry’s official international governing body, indicate the dwindling tuition reimbursement that is occurring industry-wide.

More specifically, according to the Executive MBA Council 2012 Membership Program Survey, only 25.9 per cent of students enrolled in EMBA programs received full financial sponsorship from their employer in 2012, down from 34 per cent in 2007. This percentage has been decreasing precipitously over time. In addition, 33 per cent of students enrolled were self-funded (paying their own way) in 2007, however this percentage increased to 39 per cent in 2012. Similarly, this percentage has been increasing over time.

EMBA students are increasingly looking for a high impact, life-altering experience. An effective wellness initiative could potentially be that missing ‘ingredient’.

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FORDHAM UNIVERSITY

75 per cent of students believe that our Wellness Initiative has had a positive impact, not only on their lifestyle and energy levels, but also their EMBA experience.

The bottom line is that EMBA students are now encumbering more of the financial burden themselves to attend such programs at premium price points. As a result, they are increasingly looking for a high impact, life-altering experience. An effective wellness initiative could potentially be that missing ‘ingredient’.

Wellness education is desperately needed.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently reported that 35.7 per cent of adults and 17 per cent of children (aged 2-19) in the United States are obese. In addition, the CDC reported that this problem continues to escalate with 12 U.S. states now reporting an obesity prevalence of plus 30 per cent. The CDC and other medical organizations have not only reported the estimated medical costs associated with obesity, which stood at $147 Billion in 2008, but also the health complications that result from this pandemic, including cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, bile duct disease, joint disorders, cancer, sleep apnea, menstrual disorders, depression, stigmatization and self-esteem issues. Such trends now present complex strategic and leadership challenges for executives on personal and organizational levels that must be addressed in some formal way.

With this as a background, we recently launched a “Wellness Initiative” at the current EMBA program that I direct. While more research needs to be conducted, I wanted to forward the preliminary results of this case study as I believe they are interesting and compelling.

A Wellness Initiative was launched at Fordham University’s Graduate School of Business in late 2010 and includes the following activities:  Increased offerings of nutritious meals and snacks throughout the program;  “Lunch and Learn” lectures focusing on current wellness issues (i.e. nutrition, stress reduction, importance of sleep, work/life balance, etc.) in collaboration with a major research hospital in New York City;  Exposure to and opportunities for meditation, spirituality and centering exercises;  Physical activities including yoga and golf; and  Subscription to a wellness magazine.

Overall, the initial results of this case study support our premise of the importance of wellness education. After a year of participating in the Wellness Initiative, our EMBA Class of 2012 (mean age 34) was surveyed and below you will find the initial results.  While 86 per cent of students believe they are physically well and fit, only 71 per cent actually have an annual check-up with their medical doctors;  Although 50 per cent exercise one to five hours per week, and 32 per cent exercise five to ten hours per week, 89 per cent of students wished that they exercised additional hours per week;

 Although mostly all the students work in high pressured environments, only 32 per cent practice relaxation techniques including yoga, meditation, tai chi, breathing and quiet time;  71 per cent of students now believe it is beneficial for them to gain additional knowledge on wellness issues after participating in our program; and  75 per cent of students believe that our Wellness Initiative has had a positive impact, not only on their lifestyle and energy levels, but also their EMBA experience.

While we understand that more work needs to be done to illustrate the importance of wellness among EMBA students, we believe these results, while preliminary, are noteworthy. Wellness is not a traditional offering within current EMBA programs, but perhaps it should be. It can be a casual offering, or it can be potentially more intense and formal in nature, including scheduled check-ups, blood pressure/ cholesterol tracking and more.

EMBA programs should strongly consider these options. Executives, and society as a whole, would greatly benefit if additional learning opportunities were provided to EMBA students who usually work in intense, high pressured environments and who in turn are individuals of power and influence within their organizations.

Biography Ø Francis Petit is the Associate Dean of Executive Programs at Fordham University in New York City.

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WORK/LIFE BALANCE

Achieving a Healthy Work/Life Balance LA Fitness

The benefits of an ideal work/life balance are clear: we perform better at work, so our career progresses, and we enjoy our leisure time more, so we become happier and more emotionally fulfilled. Finding that ideal balance is easier said than done though, and often the everyday pressures of work and family life fuel anxieties, make you less upbeat on the job, and ultimately leave you feeling stressed and run down.

W

e know that stress makes our metabolism inefficient, leading to weight gain. In normal doses the stress hormone, cortisol, promotes the breakdown of fats into fatty acids and glycerol. However, stress-induced, high cortisol levels make it difficult to lose weight: too much cortisol increases insulin resistance, which slows the metabolism and reduces testosterone levels – limiting the body's ability to break down (or 'burn') fat.

These are just some of the unwelcome by-products of a work/life imbalance, so let’s concentrate on how we can improve it, through smart time management and a healthy lifestyle.

Looking after yourself – getting ‘me-time’  Often, when we have a poor work/life balance, we find ourselves neglecting our health and fitness in favour of furthering our careers – whether that’s by grabbing lunch from an unhealthy fast food outlet to eat at our desks, or simply spending too much time glued to the laptop at home on evenings and weekends rather than being active and enjoying time with family and friends.  Getting the balance right is all about compromise, which may mean making a concerted effort to change our negative habits.

So, for example, if you find yourself working late into the evening at home and losing sleep (and energy) as a result, try changing your routine – go to bed perhaps an hour earlier and rise earlier too, allowing you to get to work ahead of schedule and complete everything you need to do within office hours.

Healthy lifestyle

Spend time with family and friends

 With more free time in the evenings, you should be able to introduce healthy activities into your lifestyle with a sensible fitness routine that still leaves you plenty of time to relax. It’s recommended that, to promote good health and fitness, we exercise three to five times a week for 30 minutes at a time.  Jogging, cycling and swimming are all ideal aerobic exercises to help improve physical fitness (and aid weight loss), and it has also been proven that exercise is connected to heightened levels of serotonin – a hormone that controls your moods – which means that regular exercise will leave you feeling happier, as well as healthier, combating depression.  Of course, a regular exercise routine is most effective (particularly when aiming for weight loss) when combined with a healthy diet, so try to cut down on processed, fatty foods and up your intake of fresh fruit and vegetables. It’s not always easy for busy professionals to eat healthily (or find time to cook fresh food in the evening), but try to ditch the ready-meals in favour of quick and healthy dishes like stirfries and salads, which are easy to prepare and much more beneficial.

 A crucial part of establishing a healthy work/life balance is to make sure that your time with friends and family is taken into consideration. Whilst it’s not always possible to organise far-flung daytrips on weekends, sharing a fitness routine with your family is a great way to spend quality time together doing something active.

Remember: even the longest journey begins with one small step. The first step towards achieving a positive work/life balance is to make a commitment to change – then, to build these changes into your everyday life for a healthier, happier you.

Exercise is connected to heightened levels of serotonin – a hormone that controls your moods.

Biography Ø LA Fitness is one of the leading health and fitness operators in the U.K. with over 80 clubs across the U.K. and Ireland. In 2011 they were voted the ‘U.K.’s No.1 Health and Fitness brand’ by the Fitness Industry Association.

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MILLSAPS COLLEGE

“Our students are never a means to an end; they are the end.”

Alexandra Skinner speaks to Kim Burke at the Else School of Management, Millsaps College The Millsaps College Executive MBA Value Proposition In general, the programmes of the Else School of Management emphasise the development of each individual student through a rigorous academic experience and connections to each other, the faculty and the larger community. As one of very few liberal arts colleges with an AACSB International-accredited business school, we use this value proposition to encourage our EMBA students to enhance or find careers that motivate and excite them.

Our focus on the individual student allows our value proposition to apply equally, if somewhat differently, to a variety of audiences. For example, mid- to upperlevel managers with a technical degree (e.g. engineering or medicine) who have a desire to move up within their current organisation encounter a programme that emphasises strategic thinking and communication abilities necessary to be successful in executive positions. Similarly, middle-aged executives who are planning a second career (e.g. a military executive who is near retirement and plans to enter the corporate world), or younger managers who want to change employers, find a programme that provides comprehensive coverage of business skills while encouraging the application of those skills in a different context. The key is that the EMBA programme allows each student to build his or her human capital by solidifying business skills, encouraging creativity, and honing decision-making and communication abilities.

In order to provide individualised attention and development for each student, class sizes in the EMBA at Millsaps College are intentionally capped at 20 students per cohort, less than half of the average class size reported by the Executive MBA Council for similar programmes.

Else School faculty members are teacher-scholars with significant business experience who are committed to understanding the business needs of each student. Because of the smaller cohort size, faculty members actively involve EMBA students in practical, hands-on projects for business.

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campus on alternating weekends during a 16-month period.

Classes begin on Friday at 4 p.m. and end on Saturday at 5 p.m. The curriculum includes leadership, finance, marketing, communications, and entrepreneurship.

On average, students in the Millsaps EMBA are 40 years old with about 16 years of professional experience. The students in the first cohort were a diverse group representing a variety of backgrounds, industries and types of employers. This diversity strengthened the experience, allowing students to engage with very different perspectives, including those of engineers at Fortune 500 companies, sales directors in the pharmaceutical industry, attorneys and CPAs in private practice, doctors who are large hospital administrators, and small business entrepreneurs. While the students were very different, what they had in common was the motivation and determination to develop the additional skills and knowledge base necessary for their continued success.

Taking a Practical Application Approach The Else School’s philosophy of teaching in the EMBA is built on the supposition that tacit knowledge gained through application and experience is far more important to our students than the knowledge of facts. As aspiring leaders, our EMBA students need the opportunity to exercise their decision-making abilities under the guidance of established leaders, including those in their cohort.

One common pedagogical tool used in the EMBA classes is the case method. Faculty members employ the case method to allow EMBA students to “role-play” in the context of the case as well as to critique. Often, business leaders are invited to join the class to discuss and analyse their specific businesses. For example, Jim Barksdale, founder and former CEO of Netscape, worked with EMBA students analysing the decision to sell Netscape, while Governor Haley Barbour discussed disaster recovery efforts and decisions made following Hurricane Katrina. It is this ‘experienced’ learning that we believe is critical to not only building skills, but obtaining the ‘know-how’ our EMBA students seek.

The Millsaps EMBA Cohort: Diversity is Key

Faculty Focus

The Executive MBA at Millsaps is designed for working executives and managers. All coursework is offered on

The faculty of the Else School is critical to its success.

Consistent with the standards of AACSB International,

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MILLSAPS COLLEGE

The EMBA programme allows each student to build his or her human capital by solidifying business skills, encouraging creativity, and honing decision-making and communication abilities. over 90 per cent of our faculty members are academically qualified, meaning they hold a terminal degree and are active scholars in their respective disciplines. The remaining faculty members are professionally qualified, meaning they have significant expertise and experience that provides the basis for them to be exceptional teachers.

Beyond their academic and professional qualification, what really sets this group apart is their exceptional passion for, and commitment to, teaching, nurturing and inspiring our students to reach their fullest potential. When that means our students need individualised attention in or out of the classroom, in finding a new employment opportunity, or in navigating a new business venture, our faculty and staff understand and support the value of that attention. At the Else School of Management, our faculty and staff understand that growing the programme(s) is not our end game. Our priority is to equip our students to reach their fullest potential as informed, ethical leaders. Our students are never a means to an end; they are the end.

A Programme that Meets Market Demands At the Else School of Management we navigate the need to be responsive to the market’s immediate demands with an educational programme that takes a long-term approach.

Our EMBA programme is specifically built on the idea of helping our students obtain the tacit knowledge that meets their immediate needs but that is transferable as the market and its demands change.

Today, the market requires individuals who are successful strategists. Given a rapidly changing environment where information is widely available, the market demands individuals who can absorb and synthesise significant quantities of information, envision multiple outcomes and choose a course of action wisely and quickly.

Our focus on strategic thinking is a curricular constant in the EMBA found in every course and every discussion.

Executive leaders must also be able to communicate well with a variety of different audiences. The EMBA employs a two-pronged approach to honing our students’ communication skills. We teach a course in communication and negotiation skills led by Steve Rogers, former CEO of Parkway Properties – a Fortune

500 Company, and Lee Hetherington, acclaimed author on negotiation skills for attorneys. In addition, we employ a communicating-across-the-curriculum approach in the EMBA, where every course provides opportunities to exercise written or oral communication skills and receive considerable feedback.

Finally, understanding the nature and practice of leadership is key for executives. The Millsaps EMBA begins with a significant immersion in leadership topics.

Students explore the theory of leadership and its practice with recognised business leaders. This exploration continues over the next 16 months as students examine leadership practices through different disciplinary lenses.

The leadership training is then revisited in the capstone strategy course.

Graduate Success Our first cohort of EMBA students graduated in 2013.

Upon graduation, 50 per cent of the students had experienced great success. Of those students, some received significant raises and promotions; others advanced their careers by obtaining new employment; and others started new business ventures. We have been delighted with their successes and look forward to many more!

Advice to Potential EMBA Students Participation in the EMBA programme is an investment in the student’s future. There is no question that this programme is arduous and intense. Participants will be pushed to practice time-management skills in order to attend to their jobs, their families and the demands of the programme. From the beginning, we recommend that students ensure that their employers and family understand the demands of the next 16 months.

What our EMBA students discovered is that with the support of their employers and families, this experience was transformative. As noted, half of our EMBA students experienced some considerable measure of success in their current employment, found new employment or started new business ventures. The up-front investment requires commitment and dedication. The return on that investment is significant.

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MILLSAPS COLLEGE

The Yucatan EMBA Experience For our EMBA students, the international experiences are centred in the Else School’s house located in Merida, Yucatan, Mexico. ‘Casa Millsaps’ is a place for our students to gain an appreciation of the wide range of business and culture in Latin America, and that complements Millsaps College’s presence (a 4,500 acre managed reserve) in Yucatan.

Prior to leaving for the Yucatan, the class was given several research assignments. First, they were given a case problem relating to real-world issues that our partner Ganso Azul Maquiladora was experiencing. Before heading to the Yucatan the students were required to research specific subjects surrounding the Balance Scorecard methods, and prepare recommendations for the factory owner and president on arrival.

DAY ONE Fly to Merida, Mexico, and settle in to ‘Casa Millsaps’, the Else School Center for Business and Culture in Merida, Mexico, and their home-away-from-home for the week.

Arriving at 10pm at the house, the group was greeted

I must admit, I had no idea what to expect from this particular course. My understanding evolved the longer I was exposed to the environment. I probably Watching sugarcane be worked wouldn’t have got the same experience sitting in a classroom reading a textbook with a lecture to boot. I had the opportunity to see an actual factory with workers, their organizational chart, wages, hours and culture. By our last assignment, all the blocks had been filled in for me. I knew the issue of concern and what tools we were using to address it. This was a learning experience I will never forget and will reflect back on during my own career.”

in true Yucatecan style, complete with a mariachi band, local foods, and libations on the terrace of Casa Millsaps www.casamillsaps.com.

Ronnie Thompson – EMBA 2013

The beautiful Mayan ruins in the Yucatan

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MILLSAPS COLLEGE

DAY TWO 9:00 am At Gaso Azul Maquiladora, on the ground work begins. Students meet with Gus Gordon, President of Ganso Azul, and tour the nearly 600-employee factory making specialised police, fire, and other official uniforms for one of the largest uniform companies in North America. Working in teams, the students work with Gus to identify the specific problems and their potential solutions for the company.

3:00pm Lunch and tour of Merida and its Historic and Cultural Center.

6:00pm Group work to prepare initial findings for Ganso Azul, and to identify clarifying questions and information needed for the EMBA recommendation reports.

The experience helped me see many opportunities for re-shoring operations in Mexico that went to China, particularly where NAFTA allows for savings on taxes and so forth. Gus and EMBA Students at Uxm his partners seem to have really al built a culture in their plant that is in between the typical Mexican plant and an American plant. How many other opportunities are there for a ‘Gus’ to start something and build it up in a manner that benefits both the local employees and their American consumers?”

8:30pm Dinner at local favorite Panchos Restaurant in the historic center of Merida.

Lauren Wilkes – EMBA 2013

DAY THREE 9:00am Work at Ganso Azul continues. Gus devotes all morning and early afternoon to help the class understand

DAY FIVE

the communication, cultural, supply and production

8:00am Trip to the historical working hacienda, Sotuta

issues that his company has faced.

de Peon in central Yucatan. The Yucatan offers a unique

3:00pm Return to Casa Millsaps for afternoon work sessions.

history of extreme economic success in a mono-crop

7:00pm Group Dinner.

agricultural system, followed by rapid decline with the

DAY FOUR

loss of market share, the introduction of competing

8:00am Travel to Kaxil Kiuic, the Millsaps College affiliated

products, and the failure to diversify the economy. The

bio-cultural reserve in central Yucatan. Meet with Reserve

EMBA class was able to put its initial research into the

Director, James Callahan, to discuss the off-the-grid facilities

history of the Yucatan and its economic prosperity and

and the Reserve’s uses as a low-impact research and tourist

ultimate downfall into context.

destination. The EMBA class uses this time to investigate

8:00pm: Dinner with executives from Fortune 500

Kaxil Kiuic to help develop entrepreneurial efforts for the

company, VF Corporation.

Reserve to become a more self-sustaining enterprise.

Afternoon Tour of the Ruins of Kiuic with Mexican

DAY SIX

archaeologist Thomas Gallareta. Kiuic is an archaeology

8:00am Travel to the Mayan ruins and UNESCO site of

site adjacent to Kaxil Kiuic that is worked on by Millsaps

Uxmal.

College professor George Bey and his students.

2:00pm From Uxmal, the class travels to Hacienda Xixim.

Hacienda Xixim is a plantation dating back to the mid-

Working with EMBA students was not only fun for me but helped me keep a fresh perspective. After working through a case addressing current issues for our company, the EMBA students proposed solutions that provided unique insight and added great value to our company. I look forward to participating in future sessions with the Millsaps EMBA.”

16th century and is currently owned by international entrepreneur Robert Gow. Mr. Gow has more than 30 companies under his belt, including Yucatan Bamboo on the site of Hacienda Xixim.

DAY SEVEN Travel back to the U.S.

POST TRIP After twelve days students submit full group reports and recommendations due to Ganso Azul and our EMBA professors using their independent research and findings gleaned from their time in the Yucatan.

EMBA Students with Gus

Gordon

Gus Gordon – President of Ganso Azul, Yucatan

Biography Ø Kimberly G. Burke Professor of Accounting and Dean of the Else School of Management, Millsaps College.

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ENTREPRENEURIAL MOTIVATION

The entrepreneur’s

Motivation: Not what you think...

Show me the money? Entrepreneurs don’t always look at financial rewards as the best thing in being their own bosses.

I

n the 1990s, it was Bill Gates. In the 2000s, it was the late Steve Jobs and the Google boys, Larry Page and Sergey Brin.

Here in the 2010s, it's Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. These men not only produced revolutionary technology, they also changed the way people worked and interacted, and became cultural phenomena. Most importantly, they became fabulously rich: on Forbes' latest billionaires list, Gates was No. 2 (US$61 billion); Page and Brin tied at No. 24 (US$18.7 billion each); Zuckerberg was No. 35 (US$17.5 billion), while the estate of Jobs was worth some US$9 billion, good for No. 100.

These ultra-successful businessmen are often held up as examples of the archetypal entrepreneur: huge appetite and tolerance for risk with corresponding monetary payoff to match.

However, that has always been an assumption, and academics have not been able to prove so or otherwise. INSEAD Assistant Professor of Entrepreneurship, Hongwei Xu, undertook a study of over 60,000 individuals at Stanford University, and found it to be otherwise.

Not just the money The study, which was done in partnership with Martin Reuf at Princeton University, looked at two groups of people: those who had just started their own businesses versus the general population. To gauge their risk tolerance the two groups were given three options for venture investments: “a profit of US$5 million with a 20 percent chance of success” (option 1); “a profit of US$2 million with a 50 percent chance of success” (option 2); and “a profit of US$1.25 million with an 80 percent chance of success” (option 3).

The general perception of the riskseeking, nothing-ventured-nothing-gained entrepreneur would dictate that most business owners would plump for option 1. But the study proved otherwise. More nascent entrepreneurs opted for option 3 – a higher chance of profit, but less of it – than the general population, 28

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ENTREPRENEURIAL MOTIVATION

Non-pecuniary motivations are more important than monetary motivations for people to start a new business.

while a higher proportion of the general population actually opted for option 1 instead of the business owners.

So if money alone isn’t enough to make someone start their own business, what is?

“Creating a business is very risky, it’s very uncertain,” Xu told INSEAD Knowledge. “Nonpecuniary motivations are more important than monetary motivations for people to start a new business. One is autonomy: people want to be their own boss. The other is identity fulfilment, which is more about people having a vision of a product or a service. But their employers do not give them the freedom to develop within the company structure. That is a key driver.”

Why start a business?

To test that assertion, this writer spoke to a few entrepreneurs. Former music executive Austin Ng quit his job to become a photographer: “I cannot deny that autonomy and identity fulfilment are a huge part when it comes to being self-employed.

Neither am I saying that making more money isn’t nice, but getting to do something that you love and making money out of it is simply an extremely liberating thing to do.”

“As for entrepreneurs being less risk-seeking than society make them out to be, it took a huge leap of faith for me to make the transition from employee to being self-employed; to me that’s a high risk move,” he adds. “Therefore I would think that entrepreneurs are bigger risk takers, but with an ambition.”

Former public relations manager Daniel Goh quit to start The Good Beer Company, which operates out of a stall at Chinatown Complex in Singapore. “I definitely agree with the first posit about autonomy and identity fulfilment,” he says. “It’s about setting and going for priorities in life instead of having them set for you. The difference between an entrepreneur and a non-entrepreneur is, in my opinion, having gone through the entire consideration path of considering, and accepting, the risks that entrepreneurship brings.”

Tough ride ahead It must be noted that neither Ng nor Goh are necessity entrepreneurs, i.e. forced to start a business to make ends meet. It is here that Xu advises would-be entrepreneurs: “If you want to make money, don’t create a company because you won’t go through the process; it’s very painful and uncertain with lots of ups and downs like an emotional roller coaster.”

“If you have an MBA, it is very likely that when you face difficulties you will stop and get a corporate job instead – be a consultant, leverage your network. Creating a company only works if there is a passion, such as pursuing the vision for a product or service to change the world, to change people’s lives. Only then will you go through the (difficult) process and survive the downtime.

Otherwise you will stop, because you will see the difficulty before you see the money,” he warns.

For people such as Austin Ng and Daniel Goh, they saw the difficulty, but they also saw the nonfinancial rewards that came with being one’s own boss. They might not have the vision to change the world like Steve Jobs or Mark Zuckerberg did, nor do they have a tiny fraction of their riches, but then again, money is not everything.

Courtesy of INSEAD Knowledge.

Biographies Ø Alvin Lee is Web Editor for INSEAD Knowledge. Ø Hongwei Xu is Assistant Professor of Entrepreneurship and Family Enterprise at INSEAD.

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MAKING EXPERIENCE COUNT

Learning to make experience count Linda Ginzel

F

or me, 'Rethinking Management Education: A View from Chicago' is very much like its authors. It is inspiring and challenging, and upon acquaintance becomes a presence in one's life that forever facilitates personal growth.

I first read this paper the month it was published, as I was settling in as a new Booth faculty member in the summer of 1992. It showed me something I’d never seen in my prior MBA teaching experience at Stanford and Kellogg. With an approach that is still unique to Booth, two faculty members – Harry Davis was the Roger L. and Rachel M. Goetz Professor of Creative Management and deputy dean for the MBA Program, and Robin Hogarth was the Wallace W. Booth Professor of Behavioral Science and director of the Center for Decision Research – had created a framework for what they were trying to accomplish in the classroom: to help students to become self-sufficient learners in order to achieve higher levels of personal performance.

In a description of traditional MBA education, Davis and Hogarth explained that students arrived with “domain knowledge,” which is the real-world knowledge – such as knowing industry standards or a company’s specific operating procedures – a person acquires on the job.

Faculty provided formal instruction to transmit “conceptual knowledge,” such as discipline-based theories. Those two different knowledge types meshed in the classroom, and graduates went on to use their combined knowledge to manage firms big and small.

But business schools needed to challenge themselves in order to remain relevant for an ever-changing business community, the authors wrote. And the paper contained a revelation: while MBA graduates were well-armed with domain knowledge and conceptual knowledge, they needed certain skills in order to make the most of what they had gained in the classroom. Meeting

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this need would be the core of a new approach that augmented Booth’s traditional strengths by focusing on two new types of skills, what Davis and Hogarth called “action” and “insight” skills.

By the paper’s description, action skills are similar to those of negotiation and interpersonal influence. The authors explained them as skills “that enable individuals to set goals, to ‘sell’ others on the value of those goals, and to work with and through others in their implementation.” There is no reason why the acquisition of action skills should be left to chance. “‘Hard’ science can still be used to impact ‘soft’ action skills,” they wrote.

A Guide to High Performance The best managers pair knowledge with the skills that “Rethinking Management Education” explained and defined.

Conceptual knowledge Acquired through formal instruction.

Learning experiences typically associated with educational institutions.

Domain knowledge Acquired on the job in particular firms and industries, by experience or through formal training programs.

Action skills Used to transform a mental decision into a successful, practical reality. Involves elements of communication, persuasion, motivational skills, and teamwork.

Insight skills Used to identify and draw helpful lessons from experiences.

Insight skills, they explained, are reasoning skills that you need in order to learn from experience. The authors asked readers to consider two scientists, Herbert Spencer, an early proponent of evolution, and Charles Darwin. Darwin used insight skills to learn from experiences, and he exercised those skills when he took note of data points that seemed to contradict his theories. Spencer, however, was unable to learn as much from experience. Without the skills that would help him to gain insights, he selectively accumulated data that supported his theories.

“Darwin’s insights have endured. But how many have heard of Spencer?” the authors asked.

The authors argued that business schools could arm students with an understanding of and appreciation for those skills, and they believed that this could be done in part by providing opportunities to acquire and practice those skills in the classroom.

The genesis of the paper can actually be seen as an example of its own framework in operation.

To start, it represents a synthesis of its authors’ considerable conceptual and domain knowledge as both academics and stewards of education.

In filtering, shaping, and communicating these insights, the authors also relied on lessons learned from their own experiences.

At the time, Davis and Hogarth were working with colleagues including Joshua Klayman, professor emeritus of behavioral science, to develop what they called “laboratory education,” which includes Leadership Exploration and Development (LEAD), New Product Laboratory, and Management Laboratory where students work in teams, tackle real-world assignments, and are coached by faculty and alumni.

Davis and Hogarth continued to develop and promote their ideas beyond the Selected Paper Series, which was distributed to an audience they hoped to empower. For Hogarth, many of the ideas in the paper formed the basis for his 2001 book Educating Intuition (University of Chicago

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MAKING EXPERIENCE COUNT

The genesis of the paper can actually be seen as an example of its own framework in operation.

Press, 2001). In addition, his early experience with laboratory education laid the foundation for his future development as an internationally renowned management educator.

For Davis, who in 2013 is celebrating 50 years at Booth, the concept of students as active learners who take charge of their own personal development has been central to his teaching over the years. He has spent the last five decades helping Booth students become life-long learners. Recently he teamed up with Terri Albert, senior associate director of the James M. Kilts Center for Marketing and adjunct associate professor marketing, who has a PhD in quantitative psychology and is now responsible for incorporating experiential learning into selected Booth courses in marketing, operations, strategy, and social enterprise. With the very framework this paper described, laboratory education continues to provide real benefits to both companies and students.

Twenty-one years after publication, this paper has been updated to include a “Retrospective and Look Forward” in which the authors expand the definition of action skills to include “the vast array of skills involved in transforming the ‘mental’ decision to do something into a successful, practical reality.”

I read this paper at a critical time in my career development and it continues to inspire and inform my approach to teaching. I ask all my students to read the paper, and I incorporate it into the first class assignment in each of the three MBA courses that I teach. It serves as an introduction to the importance of action and insight skills, and I rely on it to present a useful framework for how to learn the right lessons from experience, both inside and outside the classroom.

“Rethinking Management Education: A View from Chicago.” Harry Davis and Robin Hogarth.

University of Chicago Graduate School of Business Selected Paper Number 72, June 1992.

Updated in 2013.

Acknowledgement Lessons from life: Learning to make experience count was published earlier in Capital Ideas, a publication of the University of Chicago Booth School of Business: www.ChicagoBooth.edu/capideas

Note to Reader The paper will be included in Why Are You Here And Not Somewhere Else, a collection of Harry Davis’s essays to be published by the University of Chicago Press.

See press.uchicago.edu/index.html for more information.

Biography Ø Linda Ginzel is Clinical Professor of Managerial Psychology.

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INSEAD KNOWLEDGE: MANFRED KETS DE VRIES

Are You a

Performer?

Shellie Karabell talks to Manfred Kets de Vries

S

tar performers may be CEOs or politicians or even clerics; they may live in a forest or a city or a jungle. But they all share certain traits.

“Star performers are often a study in paradoxes – they are walking contradictions,” Manfred Kets de Vries, INSEAD Clinical Professor of Leadership and Organisational Change, told INSEAD Knowledge recently. He has put some observations of some 20 years of research and management training with CEOs into a white paper entitled “Star Performers: Paradoxes Wrapped Up in Enigmas”.

To hear Kets de Vries tell it, star performing CEOs are super heroes as well as paradoxes.

They can think long-term and execute well short-term, they take calculated risks and take responsibility for their actions, combine optimism with realism, have great tenacity and high energy. The list seems endless.

“You need to be able to positively frame things,” says Kets de Vries. “When the CEO says things are bad, if he or she gets depressed, the rest of the team may get depressed because it is very contagious. So you need to be positive, but you also need to be realistic, because if you aren’t realistic people won’t believe you anymore.”

But being “positive” doesn’t mean being an extrovert. Kets de Vries contends that many star performers are essentially introverts – reflective souls who have learned to be extroverts when it counts: addressing boards of directors, making speeches, leading the charge when it comes to getting on with things.

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Leading the Team And here’s another paradox: star players have to be able to lead the team as well as play in it. What differentiates them as leaders is in part – you guessed it – charisma. But there’s a downside: narcissism, charisma gone amuck.

Kets de Vries explains it’s not always easy to tell insecure overachievers and neurotic imposters from the real thing.

“Star performers have charisma, but charisma and narcissism get confused very quickly. We all need a solid dose of narcissism in order to function, but if a leader is insecure, if he or she is not secure in his or her skin, he or she can become a ‘reactive narcissist’, a pain in the neck because everything becomes too much ‘me’ and they want to have too much recognition; they have too much of a need to be in the limelight. Sometimes people seem to be pretty decent team players but the moment they are in a position of power they derail and what used to look like a star performer all of a sudden is becoming a psychopathic bully. To be effective as a leader, you have to be a team player – and star performers who are too narcissistic are not team players.”

How to spot a pseudo-star performer?

A rising star destined to self-destruct, potentially leaving a trail of wreckage in his wake? Kets de Vries goes beyond the 360-degree full-circle commentary. “I do 720s,” he says. “I do not talk to just people from the office, the business environment, but also people from their other world – friends, family members, children, sometimes even parents, uncles, whatever. And it’s very interesting.

Due to this kind of feedback, some people may have some bad surprises – the pseudo-star performers who turn out to be psychopathic bullies are very good at image management and at managing upward, so the people who first notice their bad behaviours are the people under them, not over them.”

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They can think long-term and execute well short-term, they take calculated risks and take responsibility for their actions, combine optimism with realism, have great tenacity and high energy. The list seems endless.

The Infosys Example One of Kets de Vries’ favourite examples of star performance is Narayana Murthy, one of the founders of Infosys—its Chief Mentoring Officer— “a giant role model for most leaders – a person of many paradoxes. Due to his leadership, Infosys has built up specific values such as hard work, ethical practices and living up to commitments. According to Murthy, performance leads to recognition, recognition brings respect, respect enhances power, and humility and grace in one’s moments of power enhances the dignity of an organisation.”

But organisations can have bad effects on star performers as well. “If you have an

organisation with a toxic culture, whatever you do, it can make a person sick. You can have a toxic boss who can derail the star performer – maybe a boss who sees the star performer as a threat and gets envious and then tries to put the star down or to demotivate him. Many organisations are not glorious, healthy institutions, unfortunately.

I’ve had some executives in my courses who say they’ve learned from bad bosses how NOT to do things, but it’s not the best way to learn a lesson.”

Women star performers face a few more hurdles than their male counterparts. Kets de Vries concedes they have more pressure on them, and the default model of most organisations is masculine. “I think something should be done,” he opines in general terms “but

men (consciously or unconsciously) are very reluctant to let go” (of center stage perhaps?).

Despite the similarities in stellar performers, much depends on culture, environment and circumstances – where you find yourself in time and space on the planet.

Like there is no baby without a mother, there is no leader without a context. “Being a leader in Malaysia is very different from being a leader in Holland,” Kets de Vries points out. “Running a steel mill is different from running a complex consulting organisation.”

Most stellar performers who come from conflicted backgrounds reached out for support in their formative years: hopefully a parent, but it can also be a teacher, a friend, who helped overcome what may have been difficult circumstances.

And star performers share another common trait: self-awareness. As Kets de Vries points out, “The journey to stardom begins inwardly.”

Courtesy of INSEAD Knowledge.

Biographies Ø Shellie Karabell s Editor-in-Chief of INSEAD Knowledge. Ø Manfred Kets De Vries is Clinical Professor of Leadership and Organisational Change and The Raoul de Vitry d’Avaucourt Chaired Professor of Leadership Development at INSEAD.

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MY WHARTON EXPERIENCE

My Wharton Through the Lens

of Launching a Startup Lisa Lovallo

I

came to Wharton with the objective of starting a business, so I was looking for opportunities from the outset. As a dual-degree student with the Lauder International Studies Masters degree program, I began the journey that took me to Brazil three months before my MBA peers set foot on campus. Though I didn't know much about Brazil – my four years of work experience in Latin America were limited to Mexico, Colombia and El Salvador – it was immediately apparent that growing and emerging Brazilian companies needed highly skilled talent (and that the country was unable to produce all the talent it needed on its own). Recently, an ABC News Article stressed that Brazil needs to attract at least three million skilled immigrants to stay on track for growth.

When dozens of companies, large and small, expressed their urgent need for talent from abroad back in the summer of 2011, the opportunity was clear to me.

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By starting my business at the beginning of my Wharton time, I was able to take advantage of the low-risk environment and great Wharton resources throughout my two years. One of my mentors, Davis Smith (Wharton MBA ’11, Arts & Sciences MA’11, and Co-Founder of Baby.com.br), tipped me off about the Venture Initiation Program (VIP), which I applied to during my first semester. I wanted to immediately start taking advantage of the School’s entrepreneurial programming outside of the classroom. I was fortunate to be admitted to VIP and remained in the program for the five-semester maximum. During that time, I saw Hemishare come to fruition with the support of many people within Wharton Entrepreneurship (WE). I was even more fortunate to receive WE’s Snider Seed Award (which helped pay for several trips to Brazil during the summer of 2012).

WE’s vast media presence helped promote Hemishare’s developments across several media channels, and I took advantage of WE’s many networking opportunities (where I met my lawyer and several key partners).

While dedicating my entire summer last year to working on Hemishare instead of pursuing a traditional internship, I relied on the strength of the Wharton and Lauder brands and networks in Brazil. The Wharton alumni network in Brazil is delighted to see so much student interest in the country. I plugged into the already established Wharton/Lauder entrepreneurial communities in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo via Guilherme Freire, Wharton MBA ’13 (livo.com.br), Peter Ostroske (Olook.com.br), Bernardo Arrospide and Benjamin Lewis (4vets.com.br), Davis Smith (baby.com. br), Ben Gleason, Wharton MBA ’07 (Guiabolso.com.br), Miriam Grobman, Wharton MBA ’11, Arts & Sciences MA’11 (working at Vale). Other students were also there

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MY WHARTON EXPERIENCE

for the summer, such as Thomas Baldwin, Wharton MBA ’13, Arts & Sciences MA’13 and Brett Lewis, Wharton MBA ’13, Arts & Sciences MA’13.

Possibly the greatest benefit of launching a company while at Wharton is being able to combine classroom application with laser focus when it might otherwise be easy to get lost in the dozens of great opportunities.

By effectively incubating Hemishare at Wharton and Lauder during the past two years, I have been able to explore critical aspects of my business through my classes and with professors and peers. Willing group members have contributed significant work on class projects that specifically benefited Hemishare, such as a 20-page recommendation for Hemishare’s international tax strategy for our final project in ACCT897: Taxes and Business Strategy (thanks Mohit, Kush, Jen and Tony!). I’ve been able to explore legal aspects of running my business via Bob Borghese’s Legal Aspects of Entrepreneurship and refine my recruiting strategies via an Independent Study with Professor Peter Cappelli.

I considered the role of social media and viral marketing concepts in Hemishare’s recruit outreach via Professor David Bell’s Digital Marketing and Ecommerce class.

The business plan that I created for Professor Patrick Fitzgerald’s MGMT806 class helped me reach the semifinals of the Wharton Business Plan Competition.

Through the generous support of a Wharton-related mentor in the headhunting industry, I have an office space, recruiting software, and invaluable industry mentorship. I am excited to move to New York City after graduation to continue work on Hemishare. I’ve got a great team on the ground in Brazil drumming up business and press, as well as some great recruiters and social media gurus helping out in the U.S. We’re currently

working hard to place some of our 600 active recruits in emerging Brazilian companies looking to grow their teams with great global talent. We ask that they already have at least Series A funding and 10+ employees. We had a great response from our Facebook Brazil Photo Contest in March indicating where the breadth of the interest in Brazil is right now. We are now looking for investments to fund the development of an interactive Brazil portal that will be the new face of hemishare.com.

Although juggling an MBA, a Lauder Masters, a startup and the Wharton Experience has been a huge challenge, prioritizing Hemishare’s success helped me pick and choose the opportunities that would be most beneficial.

I’m thrilled to have experienced a meaningful two years at Wharton through the lens of my startup.

“By starting my business at the beginning of my Wharton time, I was able to take advantage of the low-risk environment and great Wharton resources throughout my two years.

Biography Ø Lisa Lovallo is a Wharton MBA/Lauder International Studies MA student in the Class of 2013, majoring in Entrepreneurial Management and focusing on Brazil/Portuguese.

She is the Founder of www.hemishare.com, an international recruiting service that connects young professionals in the US with jobs in Brazil. Prior to Wharton, Lisa worked in Mexico City at Bain & Company after completing a Fulbright Binational Business Fellowship there in 2007-2008. She speaks fluent Spanish and Portuguese.

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WORKSHOP LEADERSHIP

Why Workplace Leadership is about to get its First Major Makeover in 100 Years Mark C. Crowley

O

ur common and traditional approach to leadership hasn't significantly evolved since the dawn of the industrial age. When it comes to managing people in a work environment, we've always treated workers like any other input: squeeze as much out of them as possible and pay them as little as possible.

This idea was introduced nearly a century ago when the expansion of the US economy largely was based on industrial machinery.

Workers were required to perform relatively unchallenging tasks and were easily replaceable.

Companies motivated workers primarily with money, paying by the piece to reward those who produced the most widgets.

But as we fast forward to today’s business world shaped by rapidly evolving technology and the far greater importance of institutional knowledge, creative thinking and sophisticated collaboration, the value of each employee has grown exponentially more important.

Companies are focusing on innovation and unique differentiation – and almost exclusively are looking at people, not machines, to provide it.

As workers have become increasingly more critical to the overall success of their organizations, what they need and expect in exchange for their work also has profoundly changed. Money no longer inspires performance as it once did. Being paid equitably will always be important as a driver of job engagement and productivity, of course, but people across the globe now have aspirations in their jobs that were virtually unimaginable in an earlier age.

Extensive research confirms that people want to grow and develop in their roles. They want to feel valued and appreciated by their leaders, and to know their work has significance. In addition, just as Abraham Maslow predicted 70 years ago, they seek to feel fulfilled and even maximized by the work they do.

That leadership practices have remained essentially unchanged through this evolution – and have failed to fully respond to the 21st Century workplace – has much to do with a deeply entrenched status quo. Many organizations, along with their long-in-the-tooth leaders, have failed to embrace workers as being their most important

stakeholder. Instead, they cling to the threadbare paradigm that employees are a costly input, rather than human beings who associate their life’s happiness with their contentment at work. Thus far, they’ve failed to see that more fully supported workers are more loyal, productive and drive an expanded bottom-line.

Mark C. Crowley

The difficulty lies not so much in developing new ideas as in escaping from old ones.

John Maynard Keynes

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But I believe the stars are now perfectly aligned to force a massive change in how we collectively seek to motivate human performance in the workplace. Here are three important reasons why leadership is about to be greatly transformed, why the change will be long sustained and what key practices will define the highly successful manager for the foreseeable future. The one hint I’ll give you now is that future leaders in all workplaces will be required not just to have strong minds, but also generous and caring hearts. I’m dead serious.

Traditional Leadership Practices Are Failing And Businesses Are Paying The Price I recently interviewed Dr. Jim Harter, Gallup’s Director of Research, and learned that only 30 per cent of US workers today admit to being engaged in their jobs. In their “State of the American Workplace” report released early this month, Gallup reveals that the main reason an astounding 7-in-10 workers are disengaged at work is because they’re not getting proper support from their leaders.

For an article I wrote for Fast Company Magazine (http://bit.ly/18R2I0T), Harter explained the gap: “Workplaces in general have paid a lot of attention to process and far less to people. Too often employees are given managerial roles tied to success in a previous role, or as a reward for their tenure. It’s unrelated to whether they can effectively support and positively manage human beings.”

What Harter’s 27 years of research experience has taught him is that people will continue to be unhappy in their jobs (and therefore greatly underperforming) just as long as their leaders fail to be their advocates. For things to change, therefore, organizations must start promoting people into management roles who have a stronger inclination to mentor and care about their employees rather than compete against them.

According to a worldwide study by Towers Watson, the single highest driver of engagement today is whether or not workers feel their managers are genuinely interested in their well-being. Less than 40 per cent of workers now feel that support.

As further evidence that our leadership practices have the effect of undermining rather than driving productivity, the Conference Board reports that 53 per cent of all US workers today effectively hate their jobs.

The Next Generation Of Workers Demands A Far More Nurturing Form Of Leadership If we’ve reached a tipping point in workplace leadership (which I believe we have), it’s because a 40

new generation of workers has arrived on the scene that simply won’t tolerate a work environment that fails to support them and their needs. Said another way, organizations will be unable to attract and retain this young talent if they don’t adopt far more authentically supportive management practices (Inevitably, this will be good news for all workers, regardless of their age).

If you don’t know already, the Millennials (born 1980-2003) are the largest generation in US history. Totaling 17 million more people than the Baby Boomers (the last pig in society’s python), this group is just coming of age.

Their impact on influencing major changes to workplace leadership is just being felt – and it only will get stronger in ensuing decades as they grow older and inevitably assume senior manager and, ultimately, CEO roles.

While derided by some (Boomers mostly) as an unambitious, video-game playing generation still living in their parent’s homes, Millennials are the best educated age group ever. Furthermore, collectively, they have very different values to their predecessors. They’re highly self-confident, very concerned about the well-being of others, and group oriented. It might surprise you that they’re also an extremely generous group; a spirit of service permeates the entire generation.

But here’s what’s most important – to these young workers, money is far less important.

Instead, they have a strong desire to find meaning through their work. In a recent study, 88 per cent of Millennials rated “opportunity to have an impact on the world” important when choosing an employer. These incredibly high aspirations will ensure workplace leadership practices are fully reinvented.

Organizations That Don’t Change Will Be At A Great Competitive Disadvantage In just the past few months, I’ve visited companies like Google (where the median age of employees is just 29) and SAS – organizations routinely ranked by the Great Place To Work Institute (and Fortune Magazine) as America’s “Best Companies To Work For.’’ There are two important things you need to know about firms like these, which place extremely high value on people:

1. They’re helping to reinvent leadership. What these companies have in common is that they give employees a meaningful voice in how the business gets run. They place great value on trust – so much so that people have discretion on when they begin and end their workdays, and when they take their breaks. They’re also uncommonly generous, and provide perks and benefits many traditional CFOs would reject as being blatant profit killers. Workers are encouraged to contribute to projects outside of the scope of their normal roles (partly to ensure they have some variety in their day), and are routinely made to know how their work and efforts contribute to the success of the firm.

2. They have high engagement, very low turnover, and consistently outperform competitors in financial performance and shareholder return. Several recent studies have shown that companies where employees are happiest and better supported consistently achieve significantly higher profits. SAS, for example, has had 37 consecutive years of record profitability, and Google’s stock price has appreciated nearly 700 per cent over the past 8 ½ years (since its IPO) compared to just 51 per cent for the Dow Jones average. What all firms on the “Best Companies To Work For List” are proving is that highly supported human beings are more loyal, more creative, and sustainably drive far greater financial results. This exceptional and broad success will force competitors to adopt similar leadership practices; shareholders will demand it.

The Future Of Workplace Leadership Workplace leadership is failing today largely because it has yet to acknowledge the importance of “emotional currencyTM” – a form of reward that makes people feel important, supported, valued, developed and appreciated. In fact, science now has proved that it’s our feelings and emotions that determine our level of engagement in life, what motivates us and what we care most about.

Where once the idea of appealing to the hearts of workers was seen as heresy, we’ve come to understand that it’s always been essential. The greatest advice I can give you is this: “When you lead from the heart, people will follow.”

Biography Ø Consultant and speaker, Mark C. Crowley is the author of Lead From The Heart: Transformational Leadership For The 21st Century. His work has been published by Reuters, LinkedIn and the Huffington Post; he’s also a frequent contributor to Fast Company Magazine.

Connect with Mark through his website, www.markccrowley.com, Facebook (www.facebook.com/ leadfromtheheart) or Twitter (@markccrowley).

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AUSTRALIAN INSTITUTE OF BUSINESS

To Specialise or not to Specialise?

Australian Institute of Business analyses that all important question.

One of the biggest decisions during the MBA enrolment process is whether or not to specialise.

What is a specialisation?

Some MBAs are a fixed structure with set subjects that must be undertaken, while other MBAs offer a combination of compulsory subjects and optional electives. The MBAs with the most options have compulsory subjects, electives and the ability to choose a specialisation.

Specialisations are not available within all MBAs, so it’s important to consider this when selecting an MBA. The Australian Institute of Business MBA, for example, offers a range of specialisations, such as the more traditional: Finance, Human Resource Management, Strategic Marketing; and in addition offers a range of more innovative specialisations, such as Entrepreneurial Management, Logistics and Supply Chain Management, and Tourism and Hospitality Management.

So, what are the benefits of specialising?

AIB Teaching and Learning Director, Dr George Brown, says

from around the globe actually choose the ‘General

that the advantage of specialising is that it really helps you

Management’ option, as it gives them the ability to

master a particular area of business and positions you for

‘custom make’ their own MBA by choosing electives that

niche roles, or for roles within niche industries.

suit their needs and interests. Students may not like all of

“For example, it is common to see people with a strong accounting and finance working background being drawn

the subjects within one specialisation and prefer instead to choose one subject from four different specialisations”.

to the finance specialisation as the concepts are familiar, learning can be applied to their work immediately, and this

In Conclusion

further cements their expertise in that particular field.”

There is no hard and fast answer to the question of whether or not to specialise. It really comes down to

And the negatives of specialising?

your own personal situation and career aspirations. Our

The main disadvantage of specialising is that it could

advice is choose what you think best fits your situation

potentially pigeonhole you into a particularly niche role

at present, and get started. You can always change your

or industry, making a career switch a little more difficult

specialisation in most MBAs during the course and even

later on in life. With the average number of career

add another specialisation on later.

changes that someone experiences in their lifetime being between three and seven (depending on the country), this could be a decision that you regret down the track.

Another potential disadvantage of specialising is that each specialisation is generally a fixed set of subjects with little room for choice. This could mean that you are learning subjects that are not of interest to you or that you already know well from your working experience.

Is there a better option?

AIB Marketing Director, Joel Abraham, points to AIB’s own

Biography Ø Australian Institute of Business is a 25 year old business school based in Australia, offering degrees, undertaking research, and providing consultancy services globally. AIB was the first, and remains the only, private institution in Australia to be government approved to confer the full suite of business degrees, including the prestigious PhD.

students- “more than 50 per cent of our MBA students CEO MAGAZINE

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How to Fit the into Your Life Alexandra Skinner

D

eciding to do an MBA is a big decision and one that requires strong commitment and dedication. But with some flexibility from both the study institution and your employer, family support and a good level of prioritising and forward planning, it's very achievable.

The Australian Institute of Business (AIB) offers a 12 Month MBA, meaning students are required to dedicate a significant level of time to study within a 12 month period. But with this dedication comes a large prize within a short timeframe – you have an MBA in 12 months.

AIB’s graduates report that while they needed to make some priority adjustments throughout the year of completing their MBA, family support, very careful planning and time management go a long way to making graduating with an MBA a very achievable goal.

This article highlights a number of examples which illustrate how AIB graduates have successfully fitted the MBA into their lives.

Family Support and a Flexible Employer Jodi Howie: Financial Planner, Flight Centre.

When Jodi recently took on the accelerated 12 month MBA programme at AIB, she found that family support and a flexible employer made her life a lot easier when she was studying.

“My husband was fantastic and I couldn’t have done the MBA without his support. It was all the little things that he did that made a difference, such as encouraging me, cooking dinner, and doing the cleaning when I didn’t have time,” said Jodi. “I also had a flexible employer and was able to arrange to have two days off a month to study. This way I was able to devote more time when I had assignments or exams. The two days off a month were really important and it would have been difficult to do the MBA without having this flexibility.”

“I’ve always been fairly disciplined and I broke the course down for myself to make it more manageable. I would wake up at five in the morning and do two hours of study before work. I would usually do this three times a week and then I would also study most of the weekend.

“I enjoy exercising, but during the MBA I had to reduce the amount of exercise I was doing. I also had to cut down my social life and my first reaction when someone would ask me whether I wanted to catch up was that I had to study. But it worked, because the accelerated programme was for such a short time, relatively, and I was prepared to make these sacrifices.”

WEEKDAYS

5AM 9AM 6PM

Study Work Social

Jodi had to make some sacrifices and be disciplined with her routine, but she knew it would be worth it in the end.

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Family support, very careful planning and time management go a long way to making graduating with an MBA a very achievable goal.

Early Mornings and Weekends Aid the Balance Paolo Trevisan: Finance Manager, Hilton Worldwide.

When he decided to take on the AIB MBA, Paolo attended weekend classes and studied every evening to ensure he stayed on top of his coursework.

“I was working from 9am to 5pm at the time and I would attend the MBA classes on the weekends. I would study mostly during the evenings after my daughter had gone to bed, from about nine until midnight every night. I found the study very enjoyable and, for that reason, it wasn’t too much of a chore,” said Paolo.

“Although I spent a lot of time working and studying, my family was always very supportive. My employer was also very supportive and I found I didn’t need to take time off from work to complete my studies.”

WEEKDAYS

Paolo also found the support from AIB staff invaluable, making his experience with AIB a very positive one.

“Everyone at AIB was friendly, professional and the course was well organised. That was the key. From the moment you began, you knew exactly what to expect from the course.”

WEEKENDS

Paolo Trevisan had always been interested in taking on an MBA. With his career at Hilton Worldwide progressing, he felt he wanted to increase his skills, knowledge and confidence, but also wanted to continue working full-time.

9AM 6PM 9PM 9AM 6PM

Work Social Study Class Social

Managing an Unexpected Change in Circumstances Ashleigh Merriel: Senior Administrative Coordinator, Faculty of Health Sciences, Flinders University.

Soon after Ashleigh Merriel had begun studying the AIB MBA in Adelaide, a change in circumstances meant she had to move to Tasmania. Luckily, AIB accommodated her needs and she switched from studying internally to distance learning.

Ashleigh’s own drive and organisation, with the help of AIB’s accommodating approach, meant that she was able to successfully complete the AIB MBA without compromising her other commitments.

“I found the AIB MBA to be extremely flexible. I began the course studying on-campus, but when I had to move to Tasmania, I was able to complete the course via correspondence,” said Ashleigh.

“I was impressed with how accommodating the Australian Institute of Business was. On one occasion I had to be in Sydney for work when I had an exam scheduled, but the staff at AIB were extremely supportive and I was able to complete the exam at another time.”

Ashleigh also managed to fit the MBA into her busy work and life schedule by planning and structuring her days.

“I was studying approximately 20 hours per week. My routine consisted of working from 9am to 5pm. I would make sure that I had a half an hour break for dinner and I would fit in most of my study in the evenings,” said Ashleigh.

WEEKDAYS

9AM 6PM 9PM

Work Social Study

I was impressed with how accommodating AIB was.

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Managing a Senior Role and a Family Andrew Werner: ARFF Training Delivery Manager, Airservices Australia.

Working in a senior operational role for Airservices Australia, and with a family to take care of, Andrew Werner already had a lot on his plate before he decided to take on an MBA. However, after speaking to a colleague who had just undertaken an MBA at AIB, Andrew decided it was a challenge he could tackle. So how did Andrew manage to balance his work and study?

“I started with a routine at the beginning of my studies, and I tried to maintain it. It was difficult, but I found that for me, the best time to study was during the evenings when the kids had gone to bed,” said Andrew. “I was working around 50 to 60 hours per week and studying for at least 15 hours per week.

However, my employer was very supportive of my studies and once or twice I took some study leave, which was very helpful.”

Although Andrew acknowledges he had to restructure his routine and priorities, the benefits were thoroughly worth it.

WEEKDAYS

9AM 6PM 9PM

Work Social Study

Taking the External Study Option David Rowe: MES Business Development Manager, Siemens Healthcare.

David Rowe took on the AIB MBA as he saw the course as a way of gaining formal business qualifications that he could manage alongside his work commitments.

At the time of taking on the MBA, David was travelling frequently and needed a course that would accommodate his schedule.

“The external study format appealed to me as it meant that I could balance my family life and my job. In particular, my job at the time involved quite a lot of travel to South East Asia, so I could not physically attend classes. I liked the non-traditional format of studying one subject per month, as I was able to arrange my travel around the four week blocks. The flexibility that the course afforded was great”, said David.

Although David was working during the majority of his MBA studies, he found that he was able to manage both working and studying by planning his time and being organised.

“I found that I needed 20 hours a week minimum to study and I looked for innovative ways to achieve that. At the time when I was working, I was getting up early in the morning so that I could have my study done before going to work,” said David.

“The course was definitely manageable.

I liked the format and I always knew what to expect, which made it much easier to plan and balance study, work and life.”

WEEKDAYS

5AM 9AM 6PM

Study Work Social

Three Time Management Tips for Students

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Plan Ahead

Prioritise

 Set an achievable study schedule and stick to it. If you have planned to spend one hour on something, try to achieve it within that allocated hour then move on to the next task.  Prepare a monthly overview, a weekly overview and a daily planner. This way you will be able to keep sight of what is due for every subject, as well as having a clear plan for how you can achieve everything in the time available.  Sometimes it helps to develop a routine with set times during the week that you allocate to studying.

 Decide on what your most important tasks are and do them first.  Try not to postpone tasks.  Daily “to do” lists are an excellent way of working out what you need to achieve in a day. You can prioritise these lists and tick the items off as you get them done.

Study Effectively  Split large tasks into smaller, more manageable tasks.  Try to limit distractions and find a quiet place where you find it easiest to focus.  Be aware of procrastination and avoidance strategies.

Biography Ø Alexandra Skinner is Group Editor-in-Chief at the International Graduate Forum

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THE 2013 GLOBAL LEADERSHIP SUMMIT

The

Global Leadership Summit Alexandra Skinner

O

n May 20, London Business School hosted the 2013 Global Leadership Summit in collaboration with Deloitte. The day provided an opportunity to reflect on the turmoil and uncertainty experienced by the corporate and political world in the aftermath of the financial crisis.

CEO Magazine was honoured to be invited to join the discussion around this year's theme; Beyond Heroes, Villains and Scapegoats – The Future of Leadership.

The programme’s featured speakers from the world of business, politics and media, came together to debate and share their insights on the critical need for strong but responsible models of global leadership. Speakers included Paul Polman, Chief Executive Officer, Unilever, Alessandro Profumo, Chairman, Monte dei Paschi di Siena, Sir Michael Rake, Chairman, BT Group plc, Dr Josef Ackermann, Chairman, Zurich Insurance Group; Vice-Chairman of the Foundation Board of the World Economic Forum, Martin Wheatley, Chief Executive Officer, Financial Conduct Authority, and President Ólafur Grímsson, President of Iceland.

Several ‘Big Ideas Sessions’ were held during the day, giving attendees the opportunity to focus on topics of their choice. These included: ‘Business model innovation: putting the world’s workers to work’; ‘Leadership: a covenant of trust?’, and ‘Investing in a fairer future: the role of capital markets in creating a sustainable economy’, amongst others.

The summit was attended by 600 business executives. Throughout the day a live poll was chaired by Richard Quest, International Business Correspondent at CNN International, in order to gain insight into what attendees thought about key issues facing the business and political leaders of today and tomorrow. The results can be seen as follows.

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When can we expect to see a sustained global economic recovery?

5%

NEXT YEAR

41%

2-5 YEARS

40%

5-10 YEARS

8%

10-15 YEARS

15-25 YEARS

2%

THE BEST IS BEHIND US

4%

Are leaders being punished enough for the systemic failures of governance?

YES

29%

NOT SURE

2%

67%

YES

69%

NO

Has European political leadership exacerbated the economic crisis?

NO

NOT SURE

28% 5%

The crisis of 2008 brought the global financial industry to the brink of collapse. International politicians and industry leaders came together to prevent a full-blown economic meltdown, but it soon became clear that this was only a quick fix.

London Business School

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THE 2013 GLOBAL LEADERSHIP SUMMIT

What are the biggest barriers that prevent businesses expanding into the BRICS?

SHAREHOLDER SCRUTINY

LACK OF UNDERSTANDING OF LOCAL BUSINESS PRACTICES

11%

RISK-AVERSION

56%

LACK OF AMBITION TO VENTURE BEYOND TRADITIONAL MARKETS

What do our business leaders need more of to make better long-term decisions?

PEOPLE WHO WILL TELL THEM HARD TRUTHS

30%

25%

PEOPLE WHO CHALLENGE THEIR VIEWPOINT

50%

TRADITIONAL TRADING MODELS

10%

SLEEP

9%

9%

Given all the limitations of the traditional PLC, especially its short-termism, which of the following ownership alternatives do you think has most potential?

THE PRIVATE EQUITY BACKED FIRM

26%

THE FAMILY OWNED FIRM

27%

THE COOPERATIVE OR TRUST-OWNED FIRM

35%

GOVERNMENT OWNERSHIP

3%

OTHER

9%

DOMESTIC REGULATOR

MAXIMISING FINANCIAL RETURN TO SHAREHOLDERS

6%

16%

CREATING A SATISFYING PLACE OF WORK FOR EMPLOYEES

CREATING A RESPONSIBLE CULTURE

25%

INTERNATIONAL REGULATORS

SELF-REGULATION

What should be the highest priority for business leaders today?

28%

Should compensation in the financial services sector be regulated by the:

25% 25% DEMONSTRATING INTEGRITY AND MORAL LEADERSHIP FOR SOCIETY

PROMOTING LONG-TERM ECONOMIC STABILITY

30% 45%

Acknowledgement Ø London Business School‘s purpose is to deliver insights and leaders that have impact.

The School awards over 1,000 degrees every year across MBA, Executive MBA, Master’s in Finance and PhD programmes. Poll results courtesy of London Business School.

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THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA IN HUNTSVILLE

Taking You to New Heights

Alexandra Skinner speaks to The University of Alabama in Huntsville’s Caron St. John

BSBA ALUMNUS I decided to study at UAH in the summer of 1977 between my freshman and sophomore years in college due to fiscal constraints. I attended Vanderbilt University for my freshman year on scholarships, grants and work study, which covered my entire tuition. However, Vanderbilt tuition increased and my resources did not. As a native of Decatur, AL, I decided to go to school at UAH because it was affordable and had a great reputation. I began going to school part-time and working full-time. I graduated with a BSBA in Accounting.

The most influential person in my college career and in beginning my professional career was Dr Eugene Bryson. He was my counselor when I enrolled in accounting in the business school at UAH. He helped me secure two scholarships so I could go to school full-time. I got scholarships from The Alabama Society of Certified Public Accountants and the Alabama Association of University Women. In the spring of 1981 an opportunity came up for me to work for The Boeing Company. My mentor and contact at Boeing didn’t care that I hadn’t yet received my degree.

However, I wasn’t sure about losing two scholarships and taking another year to complete school (rather than another quarter).

Dr Bryson advised me to “TAKE THE JOB!” He also counseled me on professional expectations including salary, benefits and career path. He remains one of the guideposts in my life as those decisions shaped my professional, and personal, life.

During my tenure at UAH (1977-1982), many of my professors were industry experts. The experiences they brought to the classroom were invaluable to my education and my introduction to industry. UAH has a strong reputation with The Boeing Company, particularly with the business and engineering schools.

UAH has grown considerably since I was a student, in size and impact.

UAH continues to be flexible with its offerings to meet the changing demands of industry. I am very proud to be an alumna of UAH.”

Your MBA is AACSB accredited and can be undertaken as a full-time or part-time programme. How do these scheduling options vary?

Our focus is on the Professional MBA that meets in the evening. In the Huntsville community, we draw from a very strong population of working professionals for our MBA programme, most of whom are employed in various technology sectors (e.g., aerospace, biotechnology). The average age is 31, with considerable work experience, which adds to the quality of the discussion in the classroom. Classes meet in the evening, four days a week.

Students can move through the programme at their own pace – typically two courses per semester.

We have a small number of full-time students that we have recruited specifically to take part in our technologymanagement themed programme. For example, one of our full-time students was recognised in India as a top 30 young entrepreneur for his successful launch of a robotics game company. We recruited him to The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) because his technology undergraduate degree and entrepreneurial skills are very much in line with the emphasis of our programme. Full-time students attend classes in the evening with the part-time students in order to benefit from the quality of that experience, and they have opportunities to participate in funded research programmes and internships with high-tech companies in the community.

The UAH MBA has a focus on experiential learning and engaging students. How do you bring these elements into your pedagogical approach?

UAH campus

Virginia A. Barnes is the Vice President & Program Manager of the Space Launch System at The Boeing Company, and a 1982 graduate of The University of Alabama in Huntsville BSBA in Accounting.

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THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA IN HUNTSVILLE

We do this in several ways:  We include many projects in the curriculum that involve applying concepts to a real company, such as an analysis of industry profit potential, an evaluation of a company’s strategy within that industry, or market research on a new business opportunity. In some cases, we encourage students to apply the concepts to their own companies.

In other cases, we might form teams to work with an inventor or entrepreneur to develop commercialisation strategies for a new technology, or to develop a new marketing strategy for a significant growth initiative.

 We have a wealth of class speakers from the high-tech community. We host an Entrepreneurs Roundtable each semester, which gives our students an opportunity to interact with successful entrepreneurs.  We have software platforms that are widely used in industry, and students are able to get hands-on experience through their classes. For example, Bloomberg terminals and SAP software are used across several classes. We also make extensive use of simulations in classes so that our students are able to experience decision-making under very realistic conditions.  Our full-time MBA students have some unique graduate assistantship and internship opportunities. They include opportunities to work with entrepreneurial ventures in the community, with the BizTech new business incubator, and with the biotechnology ventures at Hudson Alpha. We also regularly involve some of our full-time students in funded projects with the Army.

Students can choose from various concentrations in order to further complement the MBA’s focus on the management of technology and innovation. Please can you expand upon the options that are available?

Some of our students choose to focus their programmes on the defence industry by concentrating on federal procurement, information assurance and security, enterprise resource management, or federal contract accounting.

Others are more interested in entrepreneurship, supply chain management or project management.

Technology and innovation are areas that are continuously, and often rapidly, evolving. How do you ensure that your MBA curriculum maintains pace with these changes to match the demands of the market?

Our curriculum is quite different to most MBA programmes because of our technology and innovation management theme. All students start the programme with a course in technology and innovation management. Rather than a general marketing course, our students take new product development. Rather than a general organisational behaviour

The Business Administration Building Lobby

MBA ALUMNUS When I moved to Huntsville, AL and attended UAH’s MBA program I had no idea what a life-changing decision I was making. My educational background is in science, but I have always been drawn to business and entrepreneurship. During my first semester at UAH I was asked to participate on a research project which assessed the financial feasibility of mining Helium-3 from the moon. This project was the first time I was able to combine science with business, and I knew I had found my niche. After this project, faculty at UAH introduced me to BizTech, a high-tech commercial incubator, where I began a year-long internship. This relationship gave me exposure to science and technology start-up companies and allowed me to interact with them daily. The last three months I attended UAH, I interned at Hudson Alpha Institute where I assisted two start-up biotech companies with market research and business development.

After graduating in August 2012, I knew I wanted to work with a start-up company. Today, I work in business development at Conversant Bio, a young biotech company dedicated to providing human tissue samples from cancer, auto-immune, and normal donors for research purposes. My experience at UAH helped me land a job that ties all of my interests and educational background together. I enjoyed the curriculum at UAH because it focused on entrepreneurship and helped me understand the challenges of working with start-ups. Without the coursework and the faculty’s willingness to help me obtain internships in my field of interest, I could not be where I am today.”

Amanda Owens is Site Development Representative at Conversant Bio, and a 2012 graduate of The University of Alabama in Huntsville MBA.

or human resources course, they take a course focused on the management of high-tech professionals. Finally, the capstone strategy course involves an extensive simulation game that models the start-up of a technology based venture.

It is true, technology changes rapidly, and our faculty work to include new examples to maintain currency.

Examples include the use of social media in marketing, the use of mobile apps in all aspects of business IT and

Our curriculum is quite different from most MBA programmes because of our technology and innovation management theme.”

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THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA IN HUNTSVILLE

A Closer Look at the UAH Faculty Dr Richard Rhoades My approach to teaching in UAH’s MBA program is strongly influenced by my experience. My first professional career included nearly 20 years’ experience as the chief operating officer of a very large government research and development center responsible for the development of tactical missile systems. This was coupled with a graduate management degree from MIT’s Sloan School and several years’ involvement with that school’s International Center for Research on the Management of Technology. While teaching at UAH, I have continued to be heavily involved as an advisor on management and technology strategies to Department of Defense organizations and aerospace companies, in addition to directing a research center.

The required course I teach in the MBA program introduces the students to a number of concepts which, collectively, I believe to be useful in understanding and managing organizations involved with technology. My experience base allows me to illustrate the usefulness of these concepts to real situations which the students recognize as credible. I also emphasize the different approaches to thinking about a situation inherent in particular concepts, and the need to employ these concepts in an integrative manner.

The UAH MBA program is designed to serve the needs of the region in which it is located – a region dominated by high technology organizations, and where interest in managing innovation and technology development is high. Hence, while it contains the typical business discipline-based topics you will find in most MBA programs, the focus is on the application of those topics to organizations impacted by technology. The MBA students, by and large, are working or planning to work in such organizations, and recognize the importance of understanding the impact of technology. The work experiences possessed by many UAH MBA students enliven class discussions, as well as allowing learning from each other.

Dr Richard G. Rhoades is Research Professor of Management at The University of Alabama in Huntsville.

communications, and additive manufacturing processes.

However, many of the core concepts associated with the management of innovation, such as management of technical professionals, new product development, technological change as a driver of industry evolution and creativity and leadership are resilient over time.

Faculty are a key component of any MBA programme, perhaps even more so in the case of programmes with a strong industry focus. Are you able to tell us about your MBA faculty profile?

Our faculty include several individuals who have won teaching awards, several who have had successful industry careers before choosing an academic career, a few entrepreneurs who have launched businesses, and some who are currently active in research and consulting within the aerospace and defence industries.

UAH’s unique location, positioned within the second largest research community in the United States, will be of great interest to our readers. How does this add value to the students’ MBA experience?

The location provides extraordinary opportunities. We are able to recruit simply outstanding students from the local community for our MBA programme. We are also able to secure very interesting project and internship opportunities for students, and have a ready-made source of exceptional part-time instructors. Some of our faculty are very involved in the fascinating research being

Dr Ron Greenwood Huntsville, Alabama is recognized as one of the best places to live and work.

Huntsville’s vibrant and high-tech community continues to grow at an everincreasing rate. Over 57 Fortune 500 companies have operations in Huntsville.

Proudly, UAH continues to be an integral part of that growth. Through UAH’s MBA program, students are offered the opportunity to become engaged with the business community and take advantage of learning from some of the city’s most influential leaders.

I am presently CEO of a company dedicated to working with CEOs and their firms. My career path has greatly expanded my leadership skills as I have had the opportunity to work in academia, the federal government and private industry. My goal is to develop leaders that can cope with the unique challenges of managing technology in today’s environment.

As the chief executive of a division of General Electric, the president of several companies, and as a consultant to CEOs, I have seen first-hand the importance of capitalizing on technology. In leading organizations, whether overseeing ten employees or thousands, I have experienced the critical role that leadership and technology plays in determining the success of the individual and the organization.

It would be an understatement to simply say that customers and competitors are not predictable. Thus, it is critical that companies be in a position to anticipate and produce alternate strategies when necessary. With the ever-changing world of technology, companies are better able to reduce the time to reach new markets.

This, in turn, provides companies with organizational efficiencies that lower cost and improve profitability.

Technology is transforming companies, allowing them to test new ideas and products at prices and speeds that were unimaginable a decade ago. Leaders today must be willing to move at a much faster pace and structure their organizations with the necessary flexibility to respond to the realities of the new marketplace.

UAH provides a unique opportunity for the MBA student. Because Huntsville’s business community is so diverse, we are able to offer the MBA student a wide variety of experiences. Located in the second largest research park in the country, the student is afforded the opportunity to interact with outstanding faculty and with experienced business executives who are leading major companies.

Our goal is to develop better leaders that make better decisions that get better results.

Dr Ron Greenwood is Professor Emeritus at The University of Alabama in Huntsville.

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conducted by the leading technology companies and federal agencies in the community, which creates a rich source of examples and projects for students.

What can readers expect from the University of Alabama in Huntsville over the next 12 to 18 months and beyond in terms of programme innovations?

For our MBA programme, we are moving toward a hybrid delivery to make it easier for students to participate in our programmes. By hybrid delivery, we mean making better use of technology to put lecture content online. That way we can preserve more of the class time for experiential exercises and team work.

We are in the process of developing a new Doctorate in Business Administration (DBA) that will focus on the management of technology and innovation. We are finding that more and more of our MBA students are interested in continuing beyond the master’s degree.

They want to learn more about management theories and how to conduct research that will be of value to their organisations. We are planning to partner with a European university to offer a joint DBA that will be taught by faculty from both universities.

Biography Ø Dr Caron St. John PhD is Dean of the College of Administration at The University of Alabama in Huntsville.

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UNIVERSITY OF THE SCIENCES

A Legacy of

Life Sciences gets the Business Treatment Alexandra Skinner speaks to the University of The Sciences’ Patricia Audet The University of the Sciences (USciences) was founded as Philadelphia College of Pharmacy in 1821 and was the first school of pharmacy in North America.

How important is this legacy to current students and how does this add value to their learning experience?

Our track record of innovation, and accomplishments in the pharmacy, healthcare and scientific fields, have all helped our reputation for quality education. This assists us

What would you say have been USciences’ biggest contributions to the business landscape over this period?

in globally attracting highly qualified faculty and students.

The founders of six of the world’s leading

and projects in several of their classes.

pharmaceutical companies were educated at the University of the Sciences. Alumni have continued to

Recent graduates of our programme and industry experts participate in the evaluation of our students’ presentations

The USciences MBA Proposition

make contributions with inventions in other scientific and healthcare related fields. Our graduates have significant leadership roles in the pharmaceutical and healthcare sector.

ONLINE MBA STUDENT

At USciences you offer the unique combination of an MBA in Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Business.

Kindly expand upon your MBA value proposition.

Patricia Audet

I selected the Online Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Business MBA program at the University of the Sciences for a number of reasons. Many of my colleagues have attended the University of the Sciences – they had nothing but good things to say about their experiences at the University. I travel periodically for my job, so I needed flexibility in any program I selected. I have a young family, and wanted to be available to participate in the kids’ activities.

I’ve been out of school for a number of years and had never attended classes online. It was a little bit intimidating at first, but the professors and students in my first class helped me get right back into the swing of things. Now that I am accustomed to the technology, I find it to be simple. In fact, the online program closely represents the business environment; classes are held as conference calls or video conferences, just as is found in business; and students must work together, but few have actually met in person, just as in global business practices. Finally, the program introduces concepts and case studies relevant to the pharmaceutical industry.

I anticipate graduating in December 2013 with my MBA from the University of the Sciences. In the two years I will have spent in classes, I will have learnt not only finance, marketing and policy concepts, but also about leadership and building successful teams.

Brian Korchok is a manager at a major pharmaceutical company.

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UNIVERSITY OF THE SCIENCES

Our track record of innovation, and accomplishments in pharmacy, healthcare and scientific fields, have all helped our reputation for quality education.

highly successful job searches. In fact, 78 per cent of our

Peer-to-peer learning is an extremely important part of the MBA experience, particularly in the case of an MBA with a specialisation. Please can you tell potential Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Business MBA students about the typical make-up of your student body?

graduates had a job waiting for them when they completed

Students in our online programme typically have five to

their MBA, and 90 per cent of these were in the healthcare

ten years industry experience. Students in the evening,

and pharmaceutical industry. Our graduates are highly

face-to-face programme generally have more than three

promotable in the job market; 70 per cent of our graduates

years’ experience. Approximately 20 per cent of our

received at least one promotion or changed jobs for

evening students are international.

The healthcare sector remains a strong segment of the economy. In the U.S. this represents one sixth of the economy (approximately $3.5 trillion per annum). Since students develop deep expertise in this vibrant business sector, this helps them as graduates with focused,

increased salary within three years of graduation.*

EVENING AND ONLINE MBA STUDENT I came to USciences in 2006 to study pharmacy, but quickly realized there were also business classes offered at the university that would be a shame to miss! I expected the classes would be a nice change of pace, but I could have never guessed how profoundly they would affect my career. Walking out of class each evening, I felt excited and eager for more!

This led me to matriculate into the MBA program at Mayes College as soon as I got my PharmD. I’m happy with my decision. Those who teach here have decades of seniorlevel experience in the industry and there’s a relentless practice of making connections between the material and the pharmaceutical and healthcare industry in each and every course. Students can learn valuable lessons while establishing truly meaningful relationships with professors.

Another thing that has stood out to me from the start is the diversity within the program. My classmates come from different cultural and professional backgrounds and are at different career stages. Since the classes are small, we are exposed to each other’s perspectives and it makes for lively discussions, whether it is inperson, via video conference, or within an online discussion board.

My track has been unique as I started the MBA program oncampus in the evenings and then transitioned into the online format when I had to relocate for work. The professors are very good at keeping an open line of communication and working around individual schedules to find meeting dates and times that work. Here’s a perfect example: I’m taking a business statistics course right now and, because of varying work schedules, the professor has scheduled an additional opportunity to participate for students who were unable to make it to the original meeting.

When professors make such accommodations it sends a loud and clear message: ‘We care about your success!’

Of the 21 courses on your Online MBA track, 18 are delivered over the web using state-of-the-art technology. What can those opting for the online programme expect from the experience?

Even though students may not be directly on campus, we encourage weekly interactions with their professors through webinars and other interactive sessions to discuss cases and application of the course materials.

Yelena Yankovskaya is a Managed Markets Research Fellow at Genentech.

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UNIVERSITY OF THE SCIENCES

EVENING MBA ALUMNUS

This enables the students to maximise learning experiences from faculty with deep expertise in their specialised area of instruction, as well as gaining valuable contacts for networking. Lecture materials, recordings and discussion boards are available online using our learning management system. Students come to our Philadelphia campus for week-long courses on team dynamics and leadership development. At the culmination of their MBA programme, students present their capstone thesis project to our faculty in Philadelphia.

Students on the Online and Evening MBA use a variety of real and simulated learning experiences including case studies, simulations and real-world organisational consultations. Please could you tell CEO Magazine readers a little more about what this involves?

Several of my family members have studied at the University of the Sciences and I had studied my undergrad at the university.

I was happy with my experience and knew that USciences was a well-reputed school in the pharmaceutical industry.

The pharmaceutical and healthcare focus was an extremely important factor to me as I knew I wanted to stay in this realm of work. By staying specified, I would be able to learn more about sectors of the industry that potentially my peers may not, and that would give me a competitive edge.

In my final year, I took a multidiscipline strategic management course in which there was a real-world financial forecasting project. It really taught me how to push myself, as well as how to think critically in terms of the financial data a client would need to make a ‘go/no-go decision’. I will continue to use those skills and thought processes in all of my work as a professional.

Because the MBA was an evening program, there were students from all walks of life that shared a similar interest in healthcare business. I really valued that aspect of the program.

I am a constant go-getter, so any opportunity is a networking opportunity! The MBA I’ve received is quite impressive and I feel proud to say that I went to USciences.

We currently use simulations to help in leadership, team dynamics and international business strategies, as well as pharmaceutical sales and marketing cases. Frequently, our faculty select case studies based on situations and

Nimisha Trivedi is an Implementation Analyst for Walgreens and a University of the Sciences 2012 MBA graduate.

The University of the Sciences’ Campus

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UNIVERSITY OF THE SCIENCES

Our graduates are highly promotable in the job market; 70 per cent received at least one promotion or changed jobs for increased salary within three years of graduation. environments. Students analyse potential solutions and

You are able to boast of the impressive fact that six of the world’s top pharmaceutical companies were established by USciences alumni, and are clearly very successful in producing graduates that are equipped to meet market demands. How do you ensure that you continue to match these changing needs?

the consequences of their recommendations. In many of

Our strategic planning focuses on continuous

our integrated learning classes, students are asked to

improvement and the routine examination of course

complete a project for actual clients in pharmaceutical

content and curriculum for our MBA programme. A

and healthcare companies, write a business plan,

significant example of this process was expanding our

or create a development or marketing plan for new

programme from an MBA in pharmaceutical business five

compounds or technologies.

years ago to our current offering in pharmaceutical and

experiences in current biotechnology and healthcare

ONLINE MBA STUDENT Changes in the pharmaceutical industry were happening much faster than I imagined. On a frequent basis we were digesting the challenges of patent expirations, pending U.S. healthcare reform and R&D pipeline pressures. Each person handles change differently, but I chose not to bury my head in the sand and pretend the changes weren’t central to my work as an IT Business Analyst within the pharmaceutical industry. I decided to enroll as an online student in the Healthcare and Pharmaceutical Business Sciences MBA program at the University of the Sciences.

Key factors in my decision to apply and attend the university were: (1) the availability of the online MBA program; (2) credibility of the university and staff; (3) inclusion of ‘relevant’ course content; and (4) the practical application of content to the current pharmaceutical environment.

Nearly 19 months later, and with an anticipated completion date of December 2013, I’m in a place where the enormity of the pharmaceutical challenges has dissipated with each new course. This is largely possible because of each professor’s emphasis on real-time application (over textbook illustrations) to our workplaces and lives as consumers of healthcare. It’s an enviable position to have such open access to the professional experiences of the instructors. There are the added advantages of personal interactions and valuable insights from professors holding leadership positions in Fortune 500 companies, or those who are currently navigating the changes of the pharmaceutical industry for their own biologics and pharmaceutical companies.

I think of my conversations with professors regarding career options, and the professors’ willingness to provide unbiased feedback, when I applied new insights to current work experiences. Without a doubt, these experiences contribute to my evolution as an informed consumer of healthcare and, more importantly, aid in the ongoing decisions I make to support the objectives of my employer.

None of these experiences would have been possible without focus and personal choices. At the onset I relinquished a few non-obligatory commitments, and now strike a balance through ongoing choices to say ‘no’ to those things that are not mandatory, valued, or essential to my life.

Cassandra Jackson is a Business Analyst for Merck and Company, Inc. 54

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USciences and the Pharmaceutical Market

healthcare business.

Our MBA programme is part of the Mayes College of Healthcare Business and Policy within the University of the Sciences. As a result, our students routinely consider healthcare issues from the perspective of the patient, payer, and healthcare provider. This integrated approach of our faculty features an emphasis on dynamic learning environments and adaptation to rapidly changing global healthcare needs and business environments. We have annual expert panels that come to examine current topics, such as personalised medicine, entrepreneurship and comparative effectiveness.

Your Advisory Council is made up of senior executives from across the pharmaceutical and healthcare industry. How important is it for USciences to have these industry ties and how much influence do they have on the structure and content of your MBA? These leaders provide valuable insight into the needs and strategic directions for their employees and organisations in our business sector. This allows us to continually examine relevant learning outcomes and curricula for our students.

Continuing to Grow What can readers expect from the University of the Sciences over the next 12 to 18 months and beyond?

We plan on increasing our emphasis and course offerings to meet the needs of healthcare practitioners and our university alumni. The impact of the implementation of the Affordable Care Act on healthcare delivery in the U.S., and development of medicines and healthcare solutions of value to patients and payers will be an important topic in the next year.

Biography Ø Patricia Audet, Pharm D, is Chair and Professor of the Department of Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Business at University of the Sciences * Data reported was obtained in October 2011 from an anonymous survey of MBA alumni on behalf of the University of the Sciences.

04/08/2013 11:15

NON-TRADITIONAL MBA PROGRAMS

How Non-traditional MBA Programs Foster an

INCLU Dr Emad Rahim and Dr Amine Ayad

M

any people find the subject of business management to be fascinating, but they often find the context that is used to teach and promote business education intimidating and unapproachable. Based on the authors' experiences, students from low socioeconomic backgrounds and non-traditional adult students who can contribute a great deal to the field are interested in pursuing business education, but they veer away from such an endeavor because they often believe they lack the necessary background to pursue a Master of Business Administration degree (MBA). Moreover, the cost of tuition, entrance exams, professional references and letters of recommendation often serve to further entrench a student's impression of an unachievable goal. To attract more diverse MBA students, the image and language that are used to promote business programs need to be more inclusive. The universities that promote and teach traditional MBA degree programs need to consider the diverse population that is not currently being serviced. The purpose of this article is to review MBA traditions and challenges facing inclusive MBA education.

The universities that promote and teach traditional MBA degree programs need to consider the diverse population that is not currently being serviced.

IVE pace

The Traditional MBA The history of advance business education started with Dartmouth College. Dartmouth College introduced the first advanced degree in the study of business in 1900 (Hahn, 2006). In 1908 Harvard University followed along Dartmouth’s footsteps by offering the first MBA degree, which was further developed in 1925 by Stanford University. According to Hahn, the MBA program then struggled as a career enhancement alternative for students until the Carnegie Corporation and Ford Foundation concluded that the MBA program required more analytical education after conducting a thorough research investigation. The study supported the application of analytical practices to deal with business problems and they recommended that more academic research projects be introduced into the MBA curriculum. In 1991 AACSB, the business school accreditation organization, revised its standards on required business curriculums, removing management science from its accepted position as part of the canon of the MBA. Many business programs replaced the management science courses with leadership and organizational behavior courses. These changes were correlated to MBA programs trying to adapt to the current business trends and the needs of practitioners.

During this time there was also a huge enrollment decline in MBA students throughout universities in the nation.

A report issued by the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC, 2004) reported that 78 per cent of institutions offering traditional two-year MBA programs experienced a decline in enrollment in 2004/05.

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There is a strong movement growing in the business world that supports a more individualized business program. Many successful corporate leaders are speaking out against traditional MBA curriculums, pointing out that MBA graduates often lack communication and social skills. They are also emphasizing that many graduates are having difficulty applying theory into practice. Corporate leaders feel that many MBA programs focus too much on functional technicality and not enough on the organizational environment of businesses. They urge for a broader MBA curriculum that allows a diversity of study options.

According to an article printed in News Week titled “MBA programs are getting extreme makeovers” (MacDonald, 2005), many respected traditional business schools are developing more well-rounded curriculums that combine soft-skills, such as communication and listening skills, with technical analysis skills. It was only in the last two decades that nontraditional business degree programs started appearing as executive or online options for students.

Corporate leaders feel that many MBA programs focus too much on functional technicality and not enough on the organizational environment of businesses.

Tom Peters (2006), CEO and founder of the Tom Peter’s Company, a business solution consulting firm that is recognized and used by large companies such as Trump Corporation and Boeing, believes that the traditional MBA degree is no longer relevant in today’s business market because it is lacking creativity, design and innovation in its teaching delivery and curriculum.

Adapting to the current needs and behaviors of businesses and practitioners, many MBA degree programs are now taking on an action (Action MBA, Hardin-Simmons University), practicing (Colorado Technical University) and personal/professional (Personal MBA – Changethis. com, Professional MBA – Cal Poly Pomona College of Business Administration) driven approach in their teaching. Due to the unethical behaviors of corporations like Enron, Tyco and Worldcom, and the downsizing of manufacturing companies, the majority of this generation distrusts corporations and no longer feels secure working until retirement for the same corporation or within the same industry. More students are entering MBA programs with aspirations of starting or running their own business. These students that are often working full-time and have family and community obligations require flexible MBA programs that respond to their needs and non-traditional educational background. Many of the online and Executive MBA (EMBA) programs are focusing their attention on entrepreneurship practices verses traditional business theories. Students entering these programs will participate in workshop-style courses, which require participation in written and verbal

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presentations, group project management and career planning processes as well as structured experiences that foster time management practices, polish listening, interviewing and interpersonal skills, and address conflict management and the effectiveness of meetings. The lecturing approach to learning is replaced with more of a practice-learning style that is delivered online or in a hybrid format.

Contemporary managers require a business program that is compatible with their particular needs; especially their busy time-schedule. Thus, the action-driven MBA program’s approach to management education claims to be more incisively pertinent to the contemporary management of enterprises, irrespective of their geographical location. With the age of the Global Economy, International MBA programs have been developed, allowing diversity and language courses into their curriculum (Thunderbird University, Toronto University, etc.). MBA candidates are expected to diagnose problems, analyze data and situations, apply theory and concepts to gain insight and understanding and make decisions and recommendations without having to relocate to the university’s campus. These new programs use case studies and simulation exercises in an attempt to provide students with “real-world” practical application.

The students learn to apply theory to management practices in ways that are analytically rigorous and managerially decisive.

The Executive MBA The goal of every school of management must be to attract and keep the best future managers in order to build the reputation of the school through their alumni base (Garson, 2004). Many of the alumni of these EMBAs already hold major positions in academia, business, consulting, government, healthcare, public health, community settings, research institutes and major universities around the globe. They provide the financial support and networking opportunities that are so important to current students’ success. Universities rely on alumni networks to provide classroom speakers, career mentors and recruiting and networking opportunities that add tremendous value to the classroom experience. Industry professionals lead panel discussions on a range of business issues and teach classes through bringing the “real-world” into the classroom. A business advisory council made up of alumni in various business roles meets with faculty, deans and students quarterly to guide the school to best serve the economic needs of the region.

A survey conducted by the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School confirms that alumni are powerful economic partners. Carlson School alumni have founded more than 1,800 Minnesota based businesses that employ more than 110,000 people and generate annual revenues of $21.2 billion. These annual revenues are equivalent to the state’s entire manufacturing industry, and the employee base is about the same as that of the combined legal, accounting, architectural and technology industries in Minnesota (University of Minnesota, 2005). Similarly,

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a Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni survey showed approximately 2,600 alumni-founded active companies in Massachusetts, employing more than 175,000 people and generating approximately $46 billion in annual revenue (MIT, 2006).

In schools of business with part-time programs, the part-time and EMBA students make up the bulk of paying students (Winer, 1999). This is because their companies often subsidize their graduate education and these students are not eligible for the scholarships that full-time students are. Therefore, in order to remain financially sound and academically successful, professional business schools must help part-time MBA students improve the abilities they identify as most valuable and in which they require the most improvement. This necessitates, of course, discerning which abilities part-time MBA students perceive as most valuable and as needing improvement. A study conducted at Pace University (Winer, 1999) revealed that less than half of part-time MBA students would recommend the program to friends because they felt core courses were not valuable in helping them to develop interpersonal skills or market themselves. The belief among top graduate schools of business is that in order to maximize prestige and funding, schools must do everything possible to engage MBA students during their matriculation in order to create an active and committed alumni (DePaul, 2004).

Many EMBA programs follow the cohort model, where students are grouped into small teams. These cohorts will stay together throughout the lifecycle of their EMBA program. Cohorts provide each other with motivation, support and guidance. During the attendance of classes and residencies they may also be assigned to complete group assignments, presentations and capstone projects.

According to Edgar Schein (1999), characteristics of organizational culture are important for group identity.

We looked at several of these characteristics that we felt were missing from the part-time program: 1. "Intensity of the group’s experiences of learning together." EMBA and evening classes are scheduled at separate times and are conducted in a separate facility.

Not until the final semester do participants mingle with other business students in elective courses. Although the intensity of the learning is high, the feeling of learning together seems to be missing from these groups due to physical separation.

2. "Strength and clarity of assumptions held by founders or leaders." Directors of the evening and EMBA programs have held onto high standards of academic excellence and years of work experience for admission to the program, resulting in high expectations for participants.

Financial burden of MBA education Byrne (2011) illustrated that MBA students at top business schools are borrowing more money than ever to pay for their degrees.

Further, Byrne (2011) made two critical points:

School

2010 Average Debt

2009 Average Debt

1

UPenn (Wharton)

$109,836

$105,489

2

Dartmouth (Tuck)

$98,292

$85,917

3

Duke (Fuqua)

$92,827

$88,050

4

Michigan (Ross)

$92,734

$84,798

5

Northwestern (Kellogg)

$87,256

N/A

6

Cornell (Johnson)

$86,900

$83,700

7

Yale School of Management

$86,895

$99,418

8

New York University (Stern)

$85,198

$78,887

9

Georgetown (McDonough)

$82,577

$76,746

10

Vanderbilt (Owen)

$80,857

$76,957

11

Chicago (Booth)

$79,539

$86,758

12

Texas-Austin (McCombs)

$77,644

$69,552

13

North Carolina (Kenan-Flagler)

$77,124

$75,251

14

Carnegie Mellon (Tepper)

$75,570

$87,592

15

California-Berkeley (Haas)

$73,186

$63,748

16

Harvard Business School

$73,110

$76,958

17

Virginia (Darden)

$72,027

$66,272

18

Stanford

$71,403

$80,677

19

George Washington

$68,959

$66,989

20

Pepperdine (Graziado)

$66,242

$71,680

21

Thunderbird

$64,381

N/A

22

Notre Dame (Mendoza)

$62,858

$65,295

23

UCLA (Anderson)

$62,711

$64,030

24

Wake Forest (Babcock)

$61,846

N/A

25

Emory (Goizueta)

$60,435

$58,440

Source: Business schools reported to the U.S. News and World Report’

1. “Conspicuously absent from the list are the debt numbers for Columbia Business School, MIT’s Sloan School of Management, the University of Southern California’s Marshall School, and Washington University’s Olin School. These institutions apparently did not disclose this data to U.S. News. But it’s a sure bet that all of them would be among the top 25 if they had provided the information, given their high tuition rates and similar student pools.”

2. “Once you add an effective interest rate of 7.65 per cent from government loan programs, these debt burdens grow quickly over the years. If a Wharton MBA paid down his $110,000 debt over the next 10 years, the total cumulative payments would come to more than $180,000. With a repayment schedule over 25 years, the debt would balloon to more than $280,000 -- not accounting for any deferrals or penalties for missing a payment.”

In personal correspondence with John Byrne, we asked: “Are you aware of any statistics/information that correlate ‘education’ and ‘income’, especially for MBA programs?”

Byrne answered: “All of the schools publish starting salary and bonus numbers for their graduates, but whether this is ‘correlated’ to the actual education they received is hard to tell. It may be more of a reflection of the quality of the incoming students along with the brand value of the university that granted the MBA degree. Hard to tell!”

Many hiring managers tell us that the reputation of the university that grants the degree is considered in the interviewing process, but it is certainly not the deciding factor in the interviewing process, let alone the hiring process.

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Benefits of online education Today there is a great deal of interest in online education and the level of quality that non-traditional education provides to students. Online education is still in its infancy stage. However, it offers students the opportunity to expand their awareness of the world and culture and embrace the internet as an instructional tool. For-profit higher education corporations have spent millions on marketing their programs through mass media and some of the most extensive marketing and sales programs. From marketing concept store fronts to television and online advertising, the competition is growing and getting stronger.

Whereas traditional education is regarded as professor or research centered, online education is viewed as student centered. This becomes even more important in for-profit education where numbers are critical to success and continuity. In an online environment, the instructor is viewed as a facilitator more than a traditional instructor in a “bricks and mortar” campus. Universities such as Colorado Technical University and the University of Phoenix have an applied approach to their curriculum, requiring students to work on group projects applying theory into practice using scenario type questions and case study assignments. Research has shown that inclusion and participation during the education process tends to produce more active and involved students and alumni, which enhances the prominence of the university (DePaul, 2004).

References  Anvari, M., Speech to Faculty and Staff of Weatherhead School of Management, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH (August 2004).  Byrne, J (2011). 25 B-schools that lead to the most student debt. Retrieved Sep 30, 2012 from: http:// management.fortune.cnn.com/2011/04/26/25-bschools-that-lead-to-the-most-student-debt/  DePaul University, Retrieved June 2009 from: http:// www.alumni.depaul.edu/aboutarn.asp  Hahn, B (2006). The MBA is Far From Dead. Rutland Herald. Retrieved July 5, 2008 from: http://www. rutlandherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040906/ NES 409060303/1011/BUSINESS  MacDonald, J (2005). MBA Programs are Getting Extreme Makeovers. USA TODAY. Retrieved July 5, 2008 from: http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/200504-19-mba-usat_x.htm  MIT, Retrieved September 2008 from: http://www. mitadmissions.org/topics/pulse/notable_alumni/  Winer, L., “Why Business Schools Need to Know what MBA Students Want to Learn and How to Find Out” (NY: Pace University, 1999).

Contemporary managers require a business program that is compatible with their particular needs; especially their busy time-schedule.

Recommendations to universities To advance MBA education, our top three recommendations to universities are: 1. Adopt a flexible hybrid platform that is accessible to diverse and non-traditional students 2. Adopt a program that is action-based and/or responsive to industry needs 3. Include a diverse advisory board made up of industry leaders and hire more professionally qualified faculty who are practitioner-scholars vs. those who only focus on research

Recommendations to students To earn and benefit from your MBA we recommend that you: 1. Get some work experience before enrolling in an MBA program 2. Get the most out of the degree by finding a program that is tailored to your needs 3. Develop your soft skills (communication, critical thinking, emotional intelligence, leadership, etc.) in addition to your hard/technical skills while pursuing your MBA 58

Biographies Ø Emad Rahim, DM, PMP is Dean of Business and Management at Colorado Technical University. Follow him on Twitter @CTUBusiness. Ø Ayad Amine, DM is an established leadership author and currently works as a Divisional Merchandising Director at Wal-Mart.

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04/08/2013 11:16

PARIS SCHOOL OF BUSINESS

Hospitality

through a Business Lens Alexandra Skinner speaks to Paris School of Business

“Guests are expected to embrace a lifestyle, an attitude, an expression of their inner-hipster,” explains Helen Smullen, Admissions & Communications Officer at Paris School of Business. “This is the message major luxury hotel groups are instilling in the minds of their guests.

“There is a new wave of ‘big-boutique’ brands opening ‘design’ hotels in emerging countries. This style paradox is, and will continue to be, one of the principal trends in the upscale travel industry over the next 10 years.

“For this niche market it represents a fresh way to create something chic, independent and soulful. For the luxury traveller, the newest incarnation of the ‘lifestyle hotel’ means discovering a defined personality: the sort of personality in which, perhaps, you’d like to see one’s own image: stylish, sophisticated and refined.”

This has presented the Paris School of Business (PSB) with an opportunity to expand its existing portfolio with the addition of an MBA in Hospitality & Lifestyle, launching February 2014. CEO Magazine’s Alexandra Skinner finds out more from Pierre Chevallier, the newly Pierre Chevallier

My vision for the Hospitality & Lifestyle MBA is to bring an innovative approach to management within the industry.

appointed Dean of the programme.

With the launch of the new MBA in Hospitality & Lifestyle, you are joining Paris School of Business at an exciting time. As the Dean of this new offering, what is your vision for the programme?

My vision for the Hospitality & Lifestyle MBA is to bring an innovative approach to management within the industry to young professionals, especially in regards to adaptability in view of the latest wave of leisure and tourism developments. At Paris School of Business we value hands-on education, so we complement academic learning with field trips and company visits.

You have extensive experience within the hospitality and lifestyle industry, and no doubt this will be invaluable in opening doors for students to meet experts within the industry.

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Please can you tell us more about the relationships that you have and how these will be utilised?

After graduating from the Cornell-ESSEC Business School MBA programme, I launched my career through working for world renowned international hotel companies: Holiday Inn, Compagnie des Wagons – Lits, Pierre et Vacances. I also worked as Deputy Manager for five years at the French Hotel and Restaurant Professional Association, which provided me with a great number of opportunities to widen and develop my professional network. As an international consultant in the hospitality industry, I work for International groups such as Intercontinental (hotel upgrading), Accor, Hilton and Club Med. I have had the opportunity to manage the up-scaling and opening of various properties (hotels and spas) in Africa, Europe and France.

How important is it for those wishing to progress their careers within the hospitality and lifestyle industry to have strong networking skills and good contacts?

The PSB Hospitality & Lifestyle programme will emphasise the importance of networking; students’ networking skills will be perfected thanks to personal coaching by the faculty along with the visiting professors who will speak at seminars and conferences. Social media will also play a major role in refining the students’ skills, in particular LinkedIn. The students shall be driven to enhance their networking abilities by social media experts in the hospitality Industry. The PSB campus location is a real asset for our students to network, as Paris is a central business hub for European industry leaders.

Students on PSB’s MBAs in Luxury & Fashion and Arts & Culture have the opportunity to go behind the scenes and meet industry experts on annual study trips. Do you have anything similar planned for the Hospitality & Lifestyle MBA?

KEY FACULTY: STÉPHANE TRYCIONKA As Director of Sales & Marketing for Hôtel Fouquet’s Barrière I am both in charge of maximising hotel revenue and making sure that our brand in the high-end luxury hotel industry is recognised by our worldwide audience as one of the finest in Paris. Luxury hotel sales and marketing are my passion, and there is an endless stream of hotel developments in Paris, and the rest of world: there is no better time to join an industry that requires people of talent and vision.

Throughout the Hospitality & Lifestyle MBA at PSB we will be discussing the various aspects of my position, its several missions and daily tasks at the hotel, in addition to observing and analysing the ultra-luxury segment of the hospitality industry. The specific nature of the Parisian market will be put in perspective with other more mature markets, such as New York City and London.

Positions in sales or marketing in the hospitality industry are often unknown by business school students and I will explain more about the different roles available in hotels to students, most specifically in these areas.

If nothing replaces real-life experience ‘on the job’, I think that the PSB Hospitality & Lifestyle MBA will give you the necessary knowledge of this very specific industry, especially for those who have not come from this background. The fact that PSB has been teaching hospitality for several years also gives the MBA, and the school, a great deal of credibility within the profession.

The network of former MBA students who are now in different positions in the hospitality industry worldwide is without doubt a great benefit to all students of the programme.”

Stéphane Trycionka is Director of Sales & Marketing for Hotel Fouquet’s Barriere, Paris.

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PARIS SCHOOL OF BUSINESS

Georges Nurdin, Dean of the Paris School of Business, discusses why he views the Hospitality & Lifestyle MBA as an essential addition to the School’s MBA portfolio.

We are focusing on two major opportunities: 1. The MBA students will participate in a seven day field trip abroad (in the USA, Middle East, or Asia) with exclusive visits within the hotel, entertainment and haute gastronomy industries.

2. We will offer a field trip with our partner, the French

“For me, the launch of the MBA in Hospitality & Lifestyle was the next logical step for Paris School of Business. This innovative MBA programme perfectly complements PSB’s existing range of specialised MBAs which are positioned around the fastest growing economic sectors in the world: Luxury, Fashion, Art, Culture, and now Hospitality & Lifestyle.

There were two driving factors that led me to introduce this MBA programme to our portfolio, the first being the location of the school – in Paris. France is the number one destination for tourists worldwide thanks to its ideal geographical position; the country’s diverse landscape offers not only the most popular ski resorts in Europe, but also beautiful beaches, castles, top level hotels, wineries and spas. The largest yacht manufacturer in the world is also based in France. The MBA in Hospitality & Lifestyle will provide students with an invaluable first-hand experience of these industries.

The second driving factor for the launch of this MBA was that, despite today’s difficult job market, the business sector revolving around hospitality and lifestyle is booming – particularly in Europe, Asia and South America. These industries are expanding rapidly, thus providing ample career opportunities for graduates in these fields. PSB’s partnerships with the largest operators in the world for hotel chains and entertainment theme parks, in both Paris and China, certainly provide our students with an exclusive opportunity to understand the market from a variety of cultural perspectives, as well as providing exclusive networking opportunities.

The PSB programme of course remains an MBA, and so will train students for top level management positions in these lucrative sectors. The programme will also provide students with the necessary tools to cultivate their entrepreneurial skills and create their own businesses in France and worldwide.”

Restaurant Managers Association, which will provide students with the unique opportunity to visit the famous French wine and champagne houses as well as Bordeaux and Cognac vineyards.

What are the biggest challenges that the hospitality and lifestyle industries face and how will you prepare students to address them?

The hospitality and lifestyle industries have drastically changed over the last ten years, especially within the emerging markets in countries such as China, India, and Brazil. The MBA prepares students to address challenges through innovative courses and consultancy projects, as well as financial management business games directly linked to the lifestyle and hospitality sector. Thanks to hands-on learning and simulations, students will be able to manage, market and finance their businesses.

Having previously been Dean of Hospitality Programmes at ESG Paris, how will you differentiate the PSB offering from the competition?

The PSB programme stands out from its competitors thanks to the unique contribution of our international faculty who come from a balanced mix of backgrounds, both academic and professional. At PSB, we encourage students to consider hospitality and lifestyle management from a strategic perspective. Our programme is therefore designed to provide students with an opportunity to develop their knowledge and skills in core areas of business and management for lifestyle and hospitality. The students explore issues and problems relevant to the range of situations faced by hospitality and lifestyle managers through a number of challenging and creative assessments; consultancy projects; a field trip and a master class with Industry leaders.

Thanks to hands-on learning and simulations, students will be able to manage, market and finance their businesses.

Biography Ø Pierre Chevallier is Dean of the new Hospitality and Lifestyle MBA at Paris School of Business. The Hospitality & Lifestyle MBA launches in February 2014. Application is open until January 2014.

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DARMSTADT UNIVERSITY OF APPLIED SCIENCES

A General Management in The Rhein-Main Powerhouse Alexandra Skinner speaks to Ralf Schellhase at the Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences

The Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences (h_da) MBA is a classical, general management programme, emphasising strategy, marketing and management teachings.

corporations and institutions. However, I also regard a general management programme as the right choice for students with a first degree in business and a few years of experience. From my point of view, it is essential that an MBA programme is generic rather than specialised.

Do you feel that a general management MBA offers more value than a specialised programme? group, which comprises young high-potentials who

Knowledge and understanding of CSR, sustainability and ethics are in great demand from corporations.

Are these woven into your curriculum?

have typically studied a MINT subject (mathematics,

At h_da we assign high value to these topics in our education

informatics, natural sciences and technique) rather

programmes. Recent scandals highlight how important it

than business. It is important for this group to acquire

is to acquaint junior managers with topics such as CSR,

comprehensive, expert knowledge in business. With

sustainability and ethics. As a result, we introduced a new

the help of this knowledge, our students are able to be

Business Law and Ethics unit to our curriculum during the

promoted into general management positions within

course of last year’s programme revision.

Yes, definitely. This is especially true for our target

The h_da programme really stands out due to its

We consider the personal interaction between the students and lecturers as highly motivational, fruitful and constructive.

integrated handling of the topics of law and ethics, which are of utmost importance to us. In addition, topics such as CSR and ethics play a major role in other units such as Global Marketing Management and Strategic Management and Leadership.

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DARMSTADT UNIVERSITY OF APPLIED SCIENCES

In recent years, more and more students from abroad have realised the benefit of this flexible structure.

How important do you feel it is to teach managers to adopt a long-term thinking approach?

I regard it as extremely important to adopt a long-term thinking approach. One of the key values of the h_da MBA is its focus on a long-term perspective. German companies, especially the typical medium-sized ones,

Your MBA is modular in structure affording students flexibility and the opportunity to study and work.

Please can you further expand upon this structure?

think in much longer terms than is the case, for example,

Our programme was originally designed to enable

and European corporations. We consider it as crucial to

students to continue working full-time. The lectures are

convey this to our students.

in the USA. This horizon of thinking in generations, rather than in quarters, is key to the success of German

held on Thursday and Friday evenings, and on Saturdays.

benefit from the schedule of our lectures, working as

Last year you moved into the University’s new ‘Skyscraper’ building. Please can you tell CEO Magazine readers a little more about the facilities on offer and the learning environment that you have created?

interns or taking intensive language classes. As a result,

This move has clearly improved the framework

our programme is very attractive for students from

conditions of our programme. Lectures now take place

all over the world – even if they do not plan to work

in new rooms on the eleventh storey of the skyscraper,

full-time in Germany.

offering a spectacular view from Darmstadt to Frankfurt.

Most of our German students remain in their jobs and study simultaneously. In recent years, more and more students from abroad have realised the benefit of this flexible structure; even those without a full-time job can

The lecture rooms are located close to the MBA management offices, thus increasing convenience for

STUDENT PERSPECTIVE I chose the Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences (h_da) for my MBA degree as the University offers its students a unique concept of teaching which combines a transfer of solid, theoretical managerial knowledge with the implementation of practical experience through case studies and workshops. This creates a solid foundation for the successful handling of any challenge in your professional life. Open discussions and constant exchange with experienced and skilled professors, as well as with other students, make each lecture very interactive and interesting, full of exciting and useful content.

The MBA at h_da not only helps you to develop professionally, but also brings you to the next level personally, making you a better listener and communicator, helping you to understand and consider other people’s points of view and assisting in building strong relationships which are based on mutual trust and respect.

Finding the right balance between personal, professional and student life is only possible when you learn to plan and manage your time effectively and efficiently. You need to be able to quickly refocus your attention, to be open-minded and eager to learn new things.

Of course, a supporting and understanding partner is a huge help and I could not have done it without my husband’s support and love.

The MBA journey is not an easy walk, but more of a mountain climb.

However, with a true friend by your side it’s a great experience that helps you grow as a person, and therefore is definitely worth doing.

For me, the true friends on this great journey were the University itself, my professors and my co-students, who were always there to support and to help during hard times, and to share joy in good times. I would never want to miss that experience.”

our students. We will optimise the technical equipment of the rooms even further throughout this year.

h_da is located within the Rhein-Main area, which is known for being a business centre and financial hub. What advantages does this offer your MBA students?

The Rhein-Main area offers huge advantages, particularly for our students from abroad. Frankfurt Airport is within a 20 minute drive by car or bus from our campus. Of even more importance than this is the economic power of the

Liudmila Ormston is the Business Building Programs Manager at Education GOLDWELL, Salon, Global and current h_da MBA student.

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region. In addition to banks and insurance firms, companies from almost every industry, particularly the IT, automotive, biotechnology, chemical, electronics and logistics arenas, have settled here. This facilitates a student’s search for jobs and internships. Several large international companies, such as Accenture, Bosch, Deutsche Bank, Evonik Industries, Merck, Procter & Gamble and Siemens, amongst many more, have gained ground in and around Darmstadt.

The nurturing of interpersonal skills is considered by many to be as important as a strong management understanding. How much emphasis do you place on personal development?

The Communication, Negotiation and Mediation unit dedicates itself specifically to these abilities. This module aims to develop the skills that are required to overcome barriers and gaps in effective communication and negotiation. Through training activities, practical exercises and discussions, students learn to adopt methods such as assertive communication, active listening and conflict resolution in stressful conversations and negotiations when working in an international environment.

Furthermore, we support our students in searching for jobs and internships. From next semester onwards, we will also offer specific job application training.

Many schools have introduced online MBA programmes to meet the requirements of today’s busy working professional. Do you have plans to this end?

ALUMNUS PERSPECTIVE I decided to study at h_da because I wanted to complete my professional and academic training. Before starting the MBA I had studied Computer Science at h_da, graduating in 2004. As I knew the University as a well-respected institution, particularly in setting up part-time programmes, I decided to undertake my MBA there too. The programme offered what I was looking for: accredited; a focus on general management; a requirement of three years professional experience and all courses, lectures, examinations taught in English. The programme aligned with MBA guidelines.

A combination of guest speakers from local industry, lecturers and fellow students meant there were definitely many opportunities to network and connect with industry experts. I made some very strong relationships with lecturers and many with my fellow students, and we established our own group within the business network xing.com to keep connected. I still meet with some to share updates on our professional development.

The h_da MBA has had a significant impact on my career. It has enabled me to develop professionally across two dimensions: from a technical expert within technical product development to a position within procurement, and from an employee to a manager with disciplinary and functional responsibility. The h_da MBA really pays.”

Sakir Temür is a Group Manager within Network Procurement at Deutsche Telekom and a 2009 graduate of the h_da MBA.

No, we do not have plans for this at the moment.

We consider the personal interaction between the

However, it goes without saying that we use teaching

students and lecturers as highly motivational, fruitful

and learning platforms to support and complement our

and constructive. Thus, we do not want to forgo this.

lectures in order to enhance value for our students.

What advice would you give to those students who are considering applying to the h_da MBA? Due to the rise in demand for our programme and the limited places available, prospective students should apply early and provide a well-founded cover letter explaining why our programme was chosen to advance his/her career. Additionally, it is important that the application is complete. Unfortunately, there are occasional delays in the application process due to missing certificates or other documentation.

From my point of view, it is essential that an MBA programme is generic rather than specialised.

Biography Ø Dr Ralf Schellhase is the Academic Director of the MBA Programme and Professor of Marketing at The Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences, Germany.

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Risky Experiential Learning in Saint Lucia “Student engagement”, “real-life experience”, “global classrooms”, these are all phrases that we commonly hear coming from business schools when they talk about their MBA programmes. Rightly so, as these are values that can elevate students’ MBA experience when implemented correctly. One school that knows how to get this right is Lynchburg College. Based in Virginia, they have successfully incorporated a study abroad programme in Saint Lucia into the risk management module of their MBA programme. However, this isn’t your average ‘education vacation’, as Joe Turek explains to CEO Magazine’s Alexandra Skinner.

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Beautiful St. Lucia

STUDENT REFLECTIONS “This trip taught us many things, not all of which were related to risk management. Looking back at the Lynchburg College MBA program in five years, I am certain that the Saint Lucia study tour will come to mind as one of the most memorable and rewarding experiences. It was a chance to see elements of so many other parts of the program come together, and a great way to really get to know some of our classmates before entering into the final summer of the program where teamwork is essential to manage the demands of the capstone. The best bonds are forged through shared struggles.”

McLean Machut

e introduced the risk management module to our MBA curriculum following its success as part of the MBA we developed for Babcock & Wilcox (B&W), a manufacturer of government and commercial nuclear applications.. The MBA with B&W is a very customised programme. With our MBA we offer a number of electives. However, B&W came to us and said that they had some very specific ideas about what they wanted to have included in the programme that their employees would be taking. The two courses that they specified were risk management and leadership and ethics, and we included these components when we put together the programme for them.

From this, we realised that they were onto something! There was a reason that they wanted to include risk management, and the reason was compelling for every other student in the MBA programme. So we took the concept and embedded it within the MBA programme element at Lynchburg College, along with a study abroad programme to Saint Lucia

The real challenge that leaders today face is trying to navigate through an environment that is so turbulent.

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A Closer Look at Risk Management The real challenge that leaders today face is trying to navigate through an environment that is so turbulent. You look around and you see that there are disruptive technologies in addition to radical economic restructuring. Given the number of things that are changing, it really requires businesses to rethink some of their strategies and to develop approaches that are more sensitive to this dynamic environment. Risk management is about recognising that we’re making decisions in situations where we are dealing with, in many circumstances, substantial uncertainty; decisions where the consequences are unknown.

Many courses taught on MBA programmes assume that decisions are being made in a relatively stable environment, and that the decision makers have far more information than they do in reality.

Being a part of a current situation certainly makes it come alive more than case studies in the classroom.

We want our MBA students to think about how to approach decision-making when the information that’s driving the decisions is not fully known. One of the ways that we do this is to introduce students to the concept of scenario planning, which has stemmed from strategic planning. With scenario planning, you explicitly recognise that it is impossible to predict the future and that businesses that are planning on the basis that the future is predictable run the risk of making some very significant errors. When we have students working on various scenarios, we are not really planning for a particular future, but are instead acknowledging that there are a number of possible futures, and we look at how an organisation is impacted by this uncertainty. All decisions are ultimately risky decisions.

Students conduct an environmental scan for a company (which could be their own employer), which includes an extensive analysis of environmental forces that are important to the business. Then they look at the extent to which these elements are uncertain. If there is something that is very important to the company, yet is also very uncertain, it means that as you move into the future that element can have a significant impact on your ability to achieve your

STUDENT REFLECTIONS “During our tour of the island we visited the Fond Doux Plantation, one of the oldest working plantations in the Caribbean. The owner, Lyton Lamontagne, discussed the sustainable practices he had learned from previous family generations and shared his belief that humans need to ‘look after the land, and the land will look after them.’ It was so inspiring to hear this man speak about sustainability, when in the U.S. we are seriously struggling to catch-up to other parts of the world.

There was talk of returning to Saint Lucia with the next MBA cohort that travels to the island. I really hope this happens! I would absolutely love to go again. I learnt more that week about Saint Lucia and risk management than I ever thought I would.

Being there on the island in the thick of things and immediately being able to apply what we learned during class time added immeasurably to my learning experience.”

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goals. We don’t spend too much time talking about ‘black swans’ – we are more concerned about how normal changes in the business environment can test the company’s ability to survive. There are many things that can happen that you can’t control, but there are organisations that are better able to respond and to adapt. Our emphasis is on strategies for increasing organisational resileince because we know that resilient organisations are better able to successfully adapt to unforeseen or uncontrollable changes in their environment.

The MBA Study Abroad Programme: Saint Lucia As part of the risk management course, we hold a study abroad programme on the island of Saint Lucia. Lynchburg College has a relationship with Saint Lucia, so it made the island an obvious choice for us. Prior to departure, the students and I spent about eight hours in class discussing risk assessment, the economics of risk management, scenario analysis, and crosscultural communication. We also used this time to familiarise ourselves with the Saint Lucian economy and political system.

We recognised that, for the island of Saint Lucia, economic development was critical. We then asked the question, ‘What elements of risk, in their environment, could perhaps impede economic development?’

We identified three key elements of the Saint Lucian economy for groups to focus on: 1. Hospitality and Tourism 2. Healthcare 3. Environment and Infrastructure As the groups were doing their research prior to the trip it became very obvious that there was so much overlap between each area. Each group identified a potential risk that originated in their area, and went on to explain the crossover with the other elements.

An itinerary of the other activities that took place during the trip can be seen as follows.

STUDENT REFLECTIONS “I wouldn’t trade the experience for anything. It really put us in a situation of constant uncertainty, an atmosphere for constant bonding and having to depend on your colleagues around you, and was a live ‘case study’ where there really was no right and wrong answer. Being a part of a current situation certainly makes it come alive more than case studies in the classroom. It also helps to be able to see the challenges that face governments and organizations rather than just theorizing about them. It is easy to sit in a classroom and analyze what a country should have done, but it is completely different to have to come up with scenarios and solutions that can be adopted in the real-world.”

Jennifer Thomspon Saint Lucia MBA Study Abroad Programme Itinerary Sunday, May 19  Depart for Saint Lucia.

Monday, May 20  Tour of the island, including visits to the areas hardest hit by Hurricane Tomas in 2010, the Fond Doux Plantation, and the Soufriere Volcano.

Tuesday, May 21  Presentation on Saint Lucia’s hospitality and tourism sector

by Mr Allen Chastanet, former Minister of Tourism.

Wednesday, May 22  Presentation on government structure in Saint Lucia by Mr Guy Joseph, former Minister for Communications, Works, Transport and Public Utilities.  Presentation on Saint Lucia’s health sector by former Chief Medical Officer, Dr Stephen King.  Presentation on disaster preparedness by Ms Dawn French, Director of the National Emergency Management Organization.

Thursday, May 23  Visit to the market in Castries, port city and capital of Saint Lucia.

Friday, May 24  Interview with Ms Jeanette Hughes, Executive Director, Victoria Hospital.  Interview with Mr Carl Beviere, General Manager, Sandals Grande Resort.

In addition to the trips and interviews identified above, each day included classroom time and an end-of-the-day debriefing. As well as the risk management study produced by the class, students kept a daily journal and blogged regularly. Several of the students have expressed an interest in repeating the trip next summer, a testimony to the success of the programme!

Biography Ø Dr Joseph Turek is Dean of the School of Business and Economics at Lynchburg College, Virginia.

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THE WISE LEADER

The Wise Leader Smart leaders steer their organisations to victory, but wise leaders are needed to keep them on top in a dynamic world.

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e like to think that top leaders are smart, intelligent people.

Mensa defines high intelligence individuals as those with IQ "in the top two percent of the population", where 140 is considered a genius IQ score. Such individuals include General H. Norman Schwarzkopf (verified IQ 170, Mensa member), Commander of the U.S. troops during Operations Desert Storm and Desert Shield; Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (estimated IQ 180); and Microsoft founder Bill Gates (estimated IQ 160).

The intelligence of these men has brought them plenty of success and recognition, but just being smart may not be enough in the long run. “‘Smartness’ allows people to become savvy for their own self-interests,” says Prasad Kaipa, Senior Research Fellow and Executive Director Emeritus at The Center for Leadership, Innovation and Change, Indian School of Business in Hyderabad, India. “One should recognise when our strengths have gotten to a point where they become our weaknesses – I call

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it ‘core incompetence’. The signature strength of yesterday, when it is inappropriately used, becomes the weakness of today.”

Red v Blue States (of Mind) According to Kaipa, who participated in the Leadership Consulting and Coaching Forum on the Asia campus in Singapore recently, there are two kinds of ‘smartness’. “One, I call being in the red zone – that means you are more aggressive, you are always looking for the next opportunity, and you are looking at the big picture, the big vision, and you want to stay on that visionary perspective but you do not pay sufficient attention to how that vision gets executed.

Whether it is cost issues, quality issues, delivery issues, you feel it is not your job.”

“The second kind of “smartness” – being in the blue zone – is about being cautious and careful, paying attention to operational excellence, paying attention to the supply chain, paying attention to the execution of the problem.

Making sure it gets done impeccably, it gets done on time, under budget to the highest customer

satisfaction. This is obviously a gift that many organisations would love to have.”

These two different paradigms of smartness are embodied by the last two men who have run the world’s most valuable publicly-traded company, Apple. The late Steve Jobs was the archetypal ‘red leader’, while the current CEO, Tim Cook, personified the ‘blue leader’ in his previous role as the Chief Operating Officer.

However, both men made the necessary and crucial move away from just being a smart leader to becoming a wise leader.

“Steve Jobs, in his first run at Apple, he was very much a smart leader,” said Kaipa, who once worked with the former Apple boss and has been a student of his methods for many years. Jobs’ legendary – some might say obsessive – handson approach to product design made it easy to label him a micromanager, but at the same time he never lost sight of what the market wanted, i.e. seeing the big picture. “But when he came back for his second stint, he was beginning to demonstrate, in certain areas, wisdom. He did act with wisdom to start the Apple stores. He did

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Without self-awareness, it’s very hard to move out of your smartness. act with wisdom when he began to respect Jony Ive and his designs, and he began to work closely with him. And he also began to demonstrate wisdom when he allowed Tim Cook to become the COO first, and then CEO.” “On the other hand, Tim Cook, when he was in the operations role, when he was primarily working from the supply chain aspect, did not talk about FoxConn, did not talk about some of his suppliers joining some of the consortiums.

He focused on what his job was, and he stayed in his zone. When he became the CEO, he was talking to the public about increasing the quality of life for the employees and he began to step up to the plate and recognise that some of these things could not be dealt with from his preferential zone; he had to step up to the wise leader zone.”

The Wise Leader So is wise leadership as simple as avoiding the extremes of both ‘red’ and ‘blue’ leadership styles? “This requires a certain dancing between one end of the spectrum – it could be the red

zone or the other end of the spectrum – and recognising between the two continuous movements, dynamic movements are what generate wise leadership,” Kaipa explains. “It is not just coming to the centre and stop. That’s not wise leadership – that’s dead leadership.”

How then does one go from being a smart leader to a wise leader? One school of thought suggests being aware of one’s own identity and actions is a good place to start. “I think the essential pieces of awareness, and through that self-awareness, grows a depth of something that goes beyond smartness,” says Roger Lehman, Affiliate Professor of Entrepreneurship and Family Enterprise at INSEAD. “One of the issues is that smart leaders keep using the same formula even when the context or the situation or the market has changed, and what was smart becomes ineffective. Without self-awareness, it’s very hard to move out of your smartness.”

Self-awareness is part of Kaipa’s overall strategy, where leaders find a ‘North Star’.

“Smart leaders make New Year resolutions and set quarterly milestones, charting progress

against ambitious plans and goals. Wise leaders, however, take a different approach: they root themselves in a noble purpose, align it with a compelling vision, and then take action — not just for that year, but for the rest of their lives.

That noble purpose becomes a North Star, giving direction when the path ahead is hazy.”

Kaipa believes that the answer to ‘What makes a leader wise?’ would have been clearer had pancreatic cancer not taken Steve Jobs at the age of 56. “There are dimensions of wisdom that Steve Jobs began to show, and maybe, if he had lived longer, if his biography were to come out when he was still alive, I would assume that the self-awareness would move him more and more into wise leadership.”

Courtesy of INSEAD Knowledge.

Biography Ø Alvin Lee is Web Editor for INSEAD Knowledge.

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LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS

List of Contributors A AASCB International Australian Institute of Business C Colorado Technical University Columbia Business School D Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences F Fordham University – Graduate School of Business I INSEAD L LA Fitness London Business School Lynchburg College M Mark Crowley Millsaps College P Paris School of Business T The University of Alabama in Huntsville The University of Chicago – Booth U University of the Sciences University of Pennsylvania – Wharton

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