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DON’T WRITE OFF A FAILED ENTREPRENEUR
SPRING/SUMMER 2019
CRAFTING BETTER STRATEGY: WHY EMPATHY MATTERS
HOW TO STAND OUT AND WHY YOU SHOULD SPECIALISE
THE DISRUPTION-FIT LEADER
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10 OF THE WORLD’S GREAT SAGES SHARE THEIR MOST IMPORTANT LEADERSHIP ADVICE Mark Crowley
TABLE OF CONTENTS
GLOBAL MBA RANKINGS CEO Magazine
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HOW TO STAND OUT AND WHY YOU SHOULD SPECIALISE EU Business School
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ceo-mag.com / Spring/Summer 2019
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ENTREPRENEURS MUST BALANCE SPECIALISATION WITH GENERAL KNOWLEDGE Henrich R. Greve
22 I, T OR M? THE GENERALIST VS. SPECIALIZED MBA DEBATE RAGES ON! Alon Rozen
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‘HAVE’ THE RIGHT MINDSET FOR AGILE WORK Tomoko Yokoi
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ceo-mag.com / Spring/Summer 2019
KSU EXECUTIVE MBA YOU BRING YOUR DRIVE TO SUCCEED; WE’LL PROVIDE EVERYTHING ELSE. You need an EMBA to accelerate your career. So we’ve designed a unique program that will help you quickly achieve your goals. Starting from day one, you’ll meet coaches and mentors who will support and advise you, and be immersed in a team designed to help you hone your management and leadership skills. KSU’s EMBA program was ranked #1 in Georgia and 7th in the world by CEO Magazine in 2018. One reason is because no other EMBA program will work harder to get you started right, right now. “KSU helped instill in me a belief that it is critical to be a lifetime learner. You have to keep challenging yourself if you want to find success. I am so thankful for the time I spent at the University and for the impact the program has had on my career.” – Jennifer Van Buskirk, Northeast Regional President for AT&T Mobility EMBA Class of 2004 ceo-mag.com / Spring/Summer 2019
Coles College of Business | Aspire to More™
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THE POWER OF HISTORY AND INNOVATION: THE ISEG MBA Jorge Gomes
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THE DBA STUDENT EXPERIENCE Christine Holt and Scott Boswell
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DON’T WRITE OFF A FAILED ENTREPRENEUR Waverly Deutsch
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ceo-mag.com / Spring/Summer 2019
Take charge of your future. With the Georgia WebMBA, you can get your degree online and easily maintain a balanced life. Climb the corporate ladder faster with our top-ranked AASCB accredited program for a third of the average MBA cost. Enroll now at: WebMBAonline.org
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Georgia WebMBA is a consortium of six universities: Columbus State University • Georgia College • Kennesaw State University • Georgia Southern University • University of West Georgia • Valdosta State University ceo-mag.com / Spring/Summer 2019
THE DISRUPTION-FIT LEADER Marco Mancesti
CRAFTING BETTER STRATEGY: WHY EMPATHY MATTERS Knowledge@wharton
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
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WHAT MAKES FOR INCLUSIVE WORKING CULTURES Benjamin Kessler, Clarissa Cortland and Zoe Kinias
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LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS
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ceo-mag.com / Spring/Summer 2019
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10 OF THE WORLD’S GREAT SAGES SHARE THEIR MOST IMPORTANT LEADERSHIP ADVICE
MARK CROWLEY
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ver the past year, I've had the wonderful honor of interviewing nearly thirty of the world’s most remarkable leadership authors, researchers, and professors – and have published these discussions on my “Lead From The Heart” podcast. And for this piece, I wanted to share what I personally believe are the ten most cutting-edge insights these noteworthy guests have shared so far. As you read these, you’ll notice all ten ideas are direct quotes. They stand alone and can really be read in any order. And while I’ve intentionally included podcast links in case a particular guest’s comments piques your interest, my goal here is to simply share the most profound leadership wisdom I’ve taken from all of my conversations so far. It’s my hope that you’ll find these gems of leadership thinking as striking and valuable as I do.
“While most managers feel it’s their job to continually give employees performance feedback and direction, what people really want and need from you is simply your attention.”
TOM PETERS
Podcast Link: http://bit.ly/2VnICWD 8
"With the technological disruption that’s coming – and which could potentially eliminate millions of jobs – business has a moral obligation beyond anything it’s ever had before to support and develop and train the people who come to work for you.” Legendary leadership author, Tom Peters, says it’s really unclear how many human jobs artificial intelligence and other technologies will eliminate in the coming years, but where he finds no ambiguity is on who is most responsible for ensuring workers successfully adapt. Peters believes that no matter how large or small, businesses have a clear duty to help their workers prepare for what’s expected to be an unprecedented and imminent workplace upheaval. “It’s a moral responsibility. And it’s really important to remember that business is what people do. The way I like to say it is that business is not part of the community; business is the community.” ceo-mag.com / Spring/Summer 2019
AMY EDMONDSON
Podcast Link: http://bit.ly/2E0ceU4
“One of the most common and unwise management practices in our workplaces today is the reliance (whether consciously or not) on fear and intimidation as a strategy for getting results. The neuropsychology and other research on this is pretty clear; it doesn’t work.” Harvard Business School professor Edmondson is the world’s expert on “Psychological Safety,” the quality that Google recently discovered characterizes all high-achieving teams. And while her podcast interview is my most listened to episode by far – specifically because of the discussion around psychological safety and her new book, "The Fearless Organization" – she offered a compelling explanation for why so many people continue to manage with fear. “At a very early age, most of us found that school was a fearful place. Not wanting to get in trouble with teachers or get our assignments wrong – our childhood behavior was driven by a lot by fear. And then, we’ve long had this meme around us that indicated ‘this is how bosses act.’ But today, many managers still haven’t yet connected to the truth – this isn’t the way any human being really performs well.”
DR. JAMES DOTY “When a human being feels as though they are being cared for and nurtured, their physiology works at its best.”
Podcast Link: http://bit.ly/2vW5aDG
Stanford University Medical School professor – and world-class brain surgeon – Dr. James Doty asserts that our common workplace leadership practices are entirely misaligned to the preponderance of recent scientific discoveries which prove human beings perform best when they work for caring and supportive bosses. These kinds of leaders make employees feel safe and valued – and create environments where people know their voice matters and they won't be judged. “We hold up Silicon Valley companies as having the best workplace cultures, but as a physician I know their greatest expenditure of health care dollars is related to stress, anxiety and depression. Consequently, if I were in front a roomful of CEOs, I’d tell them what people really want in exchange for work is love. Leaders who affect the hearts in people get the best results, and your companies will become far more successful once you embrace this."
LIZ WISEMAN “A ‘multiplier’ leader is someone who uses their own intelligence, capabilities, and talents in a way that amplifies the talents and intelligence of others. They’re leaders who we’re best around.”
Podcast Link: http://bit.ly/2JlC1dE
ceo-mag.com / Spring/Summer 2019
As a senior leader at Oracle, Wiseman observed that all of her peers were intellectually smart people – but not all of them used their intelligence to better others. Her inevitable epiphany – which she later documented in her book, "Multipliers: How The Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter" – was that the managers who used their intelligence to drain others – or even used it as a weapon – had the effect of diminishing people. “But multiplier leaders believe in the potential in people. They’re self-secure and other-focused, and because of this, tend to draw out all of their employee’s capabilities and deliver results that consistently surpass expectations.”
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ASHLEY GOODALL
Podcast Link: http://bit.ly/2WJH3UC
“People thrive when they’re given productive and frequent attention.” Author of the new best-seller, “Nine Lies About Work,” co-written with Marcus Buckingham, Goodall says the single most important management practice of all is regularly checking in with people. “The frequency of interaction with people is the glue, and it requires leaders to make an unbreakable commitment to speaking with every direct report no less than once a week.” Goodall says that managers needn’t have a firm agenda every time they meet with their people, and that conversations that grow organically and naturally lean into the most important topics. The secret sauce of highly effective teams is that employees feel connected, valued, seen and heard by their boss. “And the predictability and ritual of these chats is what fulfills all four of these deeply human needs.” And while most managers feel it’s their job to continually give employees performance feedback and direction, what people really want and need from you is simply your attention.
TOMAS CHAMORRO-PREMUZIC “There’s a pathological disconnect between the attributes that seduce us when hiring managers and those that are actually needed to be an effective leader.”
Podcast Link: http://bit.ly/2WEjFaJ
In his new book, “Why Do So Many Incompetent Men Become Leaders,” University College London and Columbia University professor, Tomas Chamorrow, says that when we select people for leadership roles, we too often get “seduced by people who are confident, charismatic and even narcissistic, when in fact what we should have are people who are competent and who have integrity and humility.” Chamorrow taps into research which shows women leaders generally outperform men in all of the most important metrics today – but not because women have any God-given advantage. It’s because they more often employ a more feminine leadership style that’s proven to drive greater performance. They leverage traits men can and must adopt. “We can see the effects of hyper-masculine leadership; what we need today are managers who are more self-effacing, empathetic and altruistic – other-focused people who are good coaches and mentors.”
FRANCESCA GINO
Podcast Link: http://bit.ly/2VkfJus 10
“When I look at the data I collected, what you see – no matter what industry or job you’re looking at – are employees reporting that they feel pressured to follow very well-established norms and common practices. They’re frustrated by being unable to speak their minds, bring their ideas forward, or really change the status quo due to the fearfulness of their leaders.” Harvard Business School professor Francesca Gino, author of "Rebel Talent: Why It Pays to Break the Rules at Work and in Life," believes too many managers are conformists, and need to adapt a “rebel nature” by displaying far more curiosity and courage. “If you were to ask most corporate leaders what kind of employees they really want in their organizations, you will get the same answers from everybody. They want creative workers, innovative people who think out-of-the-box – who speak truth to power and who are always looking for better ways to get things done. But this is what they say. When you look at their actions, they’re actually quite different.” ceo-mag.com / Spring/Summer 2019
KIM POWELL “It’s not the big decisions that differentiate highperforming CEOs, it’s the volume and speed of their decisions. It’s about the speed rather than the precision on the hundreds of decisions they need to make.” In her best-selling book, “The CEO Next Door,” Powell says that only highly decisive people ever make it to the C-Suite. “And in our research, we saw this play out in two ways. One is about priorities and the other is about people decisions. These tend to be the places where many managers struggle to make high velocity choices. And if you’re not decisive like this, it’s like a virus that affects everyone around you.”
Podcast Link: http://bit.ly/30pTCq2
DANIEL COYLE
“These kinds of leaders make employees feel safe and valued – and create environments where people know their voice matters and they won't be judged.”
“We’ve always thought that trust had to come before vulnerability — and we’ve got it backwards. It’s by being vulnerable that we create trust. Vulnerability sparks trust and triggers trust.”
Podcast Link: http://bit.ly/2Hja5VJ
“The Culture Code” author, Daniel Coyle, spent four years researching the cultures at eight of the world’s most successful organizations — including the U.S. Navy’s Seal Team Six, global design firm IDEO and the five-time NBA champions, San Antonio Spurs. And one of his key discoveries was that leaders who were willing to reveal personal weakness inspired far greater trust. “What social science has shown is that vulnerability, when it’s shared, creates closeness. People perform with more cohesion and cooperation. And as Navy Seal Dave Cooper said, ‘the most important words a leader can say are, ‘I screwed up.’”
JIM HARTER “Work and life are now blended more than they’ve ever been before because of technology and other advancements – and there are tradeoffs that people now expect from that. I think this is forcing leaders to re-think their cultures, and to move from a culture of ‘boss’ to a culture of ‘coach.’”
Podcast Link: http://bit.ly/2vYRszQ
ceo-mag.com / Spring/Summer 2019
As Gallup’s long-time Chief Research Scientist, and the co-author of the new book, “It’s The Manager,” Harter says past generations “kind of accepted that work was just a job. But new generations really expect something different. They’re more aware of what work can and should be which creates greater expectations upon leaders and organizations. Science has taught us a lot about what work should be; the problem is management practices haven’t kept up with that.”
BIOGRAPHY
Mark C. Crowley is a speaker, leadership consultant and the author of Lead From The Heart: Transformational Leadership For The 21st Century. Connect with him on Twitter, Facebook and at his website.
Final Thoughts Someone once said that "big ideas are great, but we must put our big ideas into action if we're to change the world." Tied to this, it's my hope that you'll take all ten of these leadership insights and use them to not just change our workplaces -- but to make them profoundly more human, nurturing and effective. 11
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2019 GLOBAL MBA RANKINGS
he benefits attached to an MBA are well documented: career progression, networking opportunities, personal development, salary... and the list goes on. However, in an increasingly congested market, selecting the right business school can be difficult, which is far from ideal given the time and investment involved. Using a ranking system entirely geared and weighted to fact-based criteria, CEO Magazine aims to cut through the noise and provide potential students with a performance benchmark for those schools under review.
Weighting of Data Points (full-time and part-time MBA)
Quality of Faculty:
34.95 %
International Diversity:
9.71%
Class Size:
9.71%
Accreditation:
8.74%
Faculty to Student Ratio: Price:
7.76% 5.83%
International Exposure:
4.85%
Work Experience:
4.85%
Professional Development:
4.85%
Gender Parity:
4.85%
Delivery methods:
*EMBA Weighting: Work experience and international diversity are adjusted accordingly.
3.8% 0%
5%
10 %
GLOBAL MBA RANKINGS School American University: Kogod Appalachian State University* Ashland University Aston Business School Auburn University: Harbert Audencia Business school Bentley University: McCallum Boston University: Questrom Bryant University Business School Netherlands California State University-Chico California State University-Long Beach California State University-East Bay California State University-San Bernardino Central Queensland University City University: Cass College of William and Mary: Mason Colorado Technical University Concordia University Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences Drake University Durham University Business School* EBS Business School
Country North America North America North America UK North America France North America North America North America The Netherlands North America North America North America North America Australia UK North America North America Canada Germany North America UK Germany
15 %
20 %
25 %
30 %
35 %
**Online MBA Weighting: Delivery mode and class size are removed.
TIER ONE
School
Country
École des Ponts Business School EDHEC Business School
France France, Singapore and the UK Emlyon Business School France ESADE Business School Spain EU Business School Germany, Spain and Switzerland FEN-UCHILE Chile Florida International University North America Fordham University North America GBSB Global Business School Spain Georgia State University: Robinson North America Gonzaga University North America Griffith University Australia HEC Montréal North America HHL Leipzig Graduate School of Management The Netherlands Hofstra University: Zarb North America Hult Internatonal Business School North America IAE Business School Argentina IFM University Switzerland INCAE Business School Costa Rica Indiana University: Kelley North America
*Some data unavailable 12
ceo-mag.com / Spring/Summer 2019
GLOBAL MBA RANKINGS School
Country
ISEG – University of Lisbon Portugal Jacksonville University North America Kennesaw State University North America Kent State University North America La Trobe University Australia Lagos Business School Nigeria Leeds University Business School UK Loyola Marymount University North America Loyola University Chicago: Quinlan North America Maastricht School of Management The Netherlands Marquette University North America Massey University New Zealand MIP Politecnico di Milano Italy National Chiao Tung University Taiwan Nebrija Business School Spain Niagara University North America Northern Illinois University North America Oakland University North America Pepperdine University: Graziadio North America Queens University of Charlotte North America Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute: Lally North America RMIT University Australia Rochester Institute of Technology: Saunders North America Rollins College: Crummer North America Saint Joseph's University: Haub North America Saint Mary's College of California North America SBS Swiss Business School Switzerland Simon Fraser University: Beedie Canada Suffolk University North America Swinburne University of Technology Australia Syracuse University: Whitman North America Texas A&M University-College Station: Mays North America Texas Christian University: Neeley North America Texas State University: McCoy North America The Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM) Mexico The University of Adelaide Australia Toulouse Business School France Toulouse Business School (with IIMB) India Trinity College Dublin Republic of Ireland School of Business United International (Belgium, Italy Japan, Business Schools the Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland) University of Akron North America
TIER ONE
School University of Alberta University of Baltimore University of California at Berkeley: Haas University of California at Davis University of California-San Diego: Rady University of Connecticut University of Delaware: Lerner University of Denver: Daniels University of Exeter University of Kentucky: Gatton University of Liverpool Management School University of Louisiana-Lafayette: Moody University of Massachusetts-Lowell University of Memphis University of Michigan-Flint University of Nebraska-Omaha University of New Mexico: Anderson University of North Carolina-Wilmington University of North Carolina-Charlotte: Belk University of Oregon University of Ottawa: Telfer University of Pittsburgh: Katz University of Portland: Pamplin University of Richmond: Robins University of San Diego* University of Sheffield Management School University of South Australia University of South Florida: Muma University of Southern Queensland University of Tampa: Sykes University of Texas at Arlington University of Texas-Dallas: Jindal University of Texas-San Antonio University of the Sciences University of West Georgia University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee: Lubar University of Wollongong Sydney Business School Victoria Graduate School of Business Virginia Commonwealth University Virginia Tech: Pamplin Walsh College Willamette University: Atkinson Xavier University
Country North America North America North America North America North America North America North America North America UK North America UK North America North America North America North America North America North America North America North America North America Canada North America North America North America North America UK Australia North America Australia North America North America North America North America North America North America North America Australia Australia North America North America North America North America North America
TIER TWO School Country
School Country
Bowling Green State University California State University-Northridge Iowa State University
Northwest Missouri State University The Univerisity of Newcastle Australia University of Washington: Foster*
North America North America North America
North America Australia North America
*Some data unavailable ceo-mag.com / Spring/Summer 2019
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GLOBAL EXECUTIVE MBA RANKINGS Rank 1 EU Business School
Country Germany, Spain and Switzerland
=2 Global OneMBA
(Fundação Getulio Vargas (FGV-EAESP); Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University (RSM); Tecnológico de Monterrey (EGADE); University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC); and Xiamen University, School of Management (SMXMU))
=2 3 4 5 6 =7 =7 8 =9 =9
Brazil, China, Mexico, the Netherlands and North America
The Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM) SBS Swiss Business School University of Ottawa: Telfer Emlyon Business School Maastricht School of Management Kennesaw State University University of Denver: Daniels Leeds University Business School California State University-East Bay EDHEC Business School
=9 10 =11 =11 =11 =11 12 =13 =13 =13
Mexico Switzerland Canada France The Netherlands North America North America UK North America France, Singapore and the UK INCAE Business School Costa Rica École des Ponts Business School France RMIT University Australia Rutgers Business School North America University of California at Berkeley: Haas North America University of Texas-San Antonio North America Hult Internatonal Business School North America Maastricht University The Netherlands Purdue University-West Lafayette: Krannert North America IMM Global Executive EMBA
(Purdue University-West Lafayette: Krannert, North America, TIAS School for Business and Society Tilburg, the Netherlands, Fundação Getulio Vargas (FGV- EBAPE), China, Brazil, MIP Politecnico di Milano, Tianjin University, Italy and and ISM University of Management and Economics) Lithuania
14 =15 =15 16 17 18 =19 =19 =19 20 21 =22 =22 =22 =23 =23 =24 =24 =24
Business School Netherlands The Netherlands Kent State University North America University of Wollongong Sydney Business School Australia City University: Cass* UK Trinity College Dublin School of Business Republic of Ireland The Durham-EBS EMBA Germany and the UK Pepperdine University: Graziadio North America Saint Mary’s College of California North America University of California-San Diego: Rady North America Swinburne University of Technology Australia University of Nebraska-Omaha North America Texas Christian University: Neeley North America University of North Carolina-Wilmington North America University of Texas-Dallas: Jindal North America University of Oklahoma: Price North America Washington State University: Carson North America Audencia Business school France Oakland University North America Pontifical Catholic University of Chile Chile
Rank =24 =25 =25 =26 =26 27 =28 =28 29 =30 =30 =30 31 =32 =32 =32 =32 =33 =33 =33 =34 =34 =34 35 =36 =36 =37 =37 38 =39 =39 40 41 42 43 44 45 =46 =46 47 48 49 =50 =50 51 =52 =52 53 54 55 56 57
TIER ONE Country
University of Texas at Arlington North America Jacksonville University North America Loyola Marymount University North America Bradford University School of Management Dubai Georgia State University: Robinson North America Boston University: Questrom North America AIX Marseille Graduate School of Management France United International (Belgium, Italy Japan, Business Schools the Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland) University of Kentucky: Gatton North America IfM Institut für Management Austria University of Oregon North America Virginia Tech: Pamplin North America Virginia Commonwealth University North America Bradford University School of Management UK College of William and Mary: Mason North America University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee: Lubar North America University of Sheffield Management School UK Concordia University Canada Florida International University North America Rochester Institute of Technology: Saunders North America Texas A&M University-College Station: Mays North America University of Connecticut North America University of Tampa: Sykes North America University of Exeter UK Lagos Business School Nigeria Simon Fraser University: Beedie EMBA-IBL Canada Fordham University North America University of Pittsburgh: Katz North America Loyola University Chicago: Quinlan North America Aston Business School* UK University of Nevada-Las Vegas: Lee North America Auburn University: Harbert North America University of South Florida: Muma North America MIP Politecnico di Milano Italy Northern Illinois University North America University of Alberta Canada Saint Joseph’s University: Haub North America Marquette University North America University of New Mexico: Anderson* North America IAE Business School Argentina Suffolk University North America Simon Fraser University: Beedie Canada Bowling Green State University North America Xavier University North America Villanova University North America ESADE Business School: MMBA* Spain Hofstra University: Zarb* North America ESADE Business School* Spain University of Washington: Foster* North America California State University-Long Beach North America University of Memphis North America University of Louisiana-Lafayette: Moody North America
*Some data unavailable 14
ceo-mag.com / Spring/Summer 2019
GLOBAL ONLINE MBA RANKINGS Rank 1 EU Business School 2 3 4 5 =6 =6 7 8 9 =10 =10 =10 =11 =11 =11 =12 =12 =13 =13 =13 =13 =14 =14 15 16 =17 =17 =18 =18 =19 =19 =19 =20
Country Germany, Spain and Switzerland Switzerland New Zealand The Netherlands UK Australia Spain
SBS Swiss Business School University of Otago Business School Maastricht School of Management The Open University University of South Australia GBSB Global Business School MIP Politecnico di Milano: International Flex EMBA Italy La Trobe University Australia The EuroMBA (Aix-Marseille, France, Audencia Nantes, EADA, Germany, HHL Leipzig, Kozminski University the Netherlands, Poland and Spain and Maastrict University) Jack Welch Management Institute North America Univeristy of Denver: Daniels North America Bradford University School of Management UK Griffith University Australia RMIT University EMBA Australia Saint Mary’s College of California North America Pepperdine University: Graziadio North America Aston Business School* UK RMIT University Australia California State UniversitySan Bernardino North America Queens University of Charlotte North America Washington State University: Carson EMBA North America University of North Carolina-Wilmington North America Colorado Technical University* North America University of MassachusettsLowell North America University of Exeter UK Central Queensland University Australia University of the Sciences North America MIP Politecnico di Milano: Flex EMBA Italy Durham University Business School* UK Suffolk University North America University of Delaware: Lerner North America Washington State University: Carson North America Rochester Institute of Technology: Saunders North America
GLOBAL DBA LISTING Schools Aston Business School Baruch College, City University of New York: Zicklin Bradford University School of Management Case Western Reserve: Weatherhead Cranfield School of Management DePaul University: Kellstadt Drexel University: LeBow Durham University Business School École des Ponts Business School EU Business School Florida International University Georgia State University: Robinson Harvard Business School IE Business School
TIER ONE
Rank =20 Georgia WebMBA (Columbus State University, Georgia College, Georgia Southern University, Kennesaw State University, University of West Georgia and Valdosta State University) =20 Marquette University 21 Ashland University 22 University of Southern Queensland =23 Victoria Graduate School of Business =23 University of Liverpool Management School 24 Saint Joseph’s University: Haub 25 Saint Joseph’s University: Haub EMBA =26 University of Pittsburgh: Katz =26 University of Texas at Arlington =27 University of Baltimore =27 University of South Florida: Muma 28 University of Maine =29 College of William and Mary: Mason =29 Walsh College* 30 University of Texas-Dallas: Jindal 31 Kent State University 32 Bentley University: McCallum* =33 Swinburne University of Technology =34 Florida International University 35 Niagara University 36 Syracuse University: Whitman* =37 Auburn University: Harbert =37 Virginia Commonwealth University 38 Kennesaw State University =39 Hofstra University: Zarb* =39 Xavier University 40 University of Louisiana Lafayette: Moody* 41 University of North Alabama 42 Northwest Missouri State University =43 Indiana University: Kelley* =43 University of Memphis 44 University of Washington: Foster* 45 Jacksonville University* 46 The Univerisity of Newcastle Australia 47 American University: Kogod*
Country
North America North America North America Australia Australia UK North America North America North America North America North America North America North America North America North America North America North America North America Australia North America North America North America North America North America North America North America North America North America North America North America North America North America North America North America Australia North America
Based upon accreditation, quality of faculty, geography, and international standing, this year’s Global DBA Listing is designed to showcase the market’s premier DBA providers.
Country UK North America UK North America UK North America North America UK France Pan-European North America North America North America Spain
Jacksonville University North America Kennesaw State University: Coles North America Maastricht School of Management Netherlands Pepperdine University: Graziadio North America Pontifical Catholic University of Chile Chile Rollins College: Crummer North America SBS Swiss Business School Switzerland Temple University: Fox North America The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater North America United International (Belgium, Italy Japan, the Netherlands, Business Schools Spain and Switzerland) University of Dallas: Gupta North America University of Manchester: Alliance UK University of Missouri-St. Louis North America Washington University in St. Louis: Olin North America
*Some data unavailable ceo-mag.com / Spring/Summer 2019
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HOW TO STAND OUT AND WHY YOU SHOULD SPECIALISE
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ceo-mag.com / Spring/Summer 2019
EU BUSINESS SCHOOL
With the job market becoming increasingly competitive, having specialised knowledge and a unique selling proposition (USP) can help you stand out from the crowd when it comes to recruiters. ceo-mag.com / Spring/Summer 2019
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here are two paths that can be taken to gain a specialist skillset: an MBA that combines fundamental business knowledge with a specialisation, or a master’s degree that focuses more acutely on a particular discipline. Why You Should Specialise New careers and job specialisms are emerging at a rapid pace in response to technological advances. All businesses, including the world’s most successful companies, such as Google, Amazon and Facebook, need people with specialist knowledge to fulfil the new roles being created as they adapt to shifts in the market based on current trends. In fact, it is because of their ability to adapt that these businesses remain so successful, and to do this they need experts in the latest trends. Rufus Franck, founder of Consultants 500, comments “The effect of specialisation is such a broad concept that it touches upon almost everything in our daily life, and our natural urge for specialisation is also one of the main reasons why professional services exist. Society and businesses cannot know everything and therefore need specialists with practical experience to help and guide us.” 1 The Latest Trends So, where should you specialise? Which areas are most sought after by companies today, and where will they be focusing in the future? Successful entrepreneurs and professionals should always be up-to-date with the latest trends, and it is important for them to hone skills that are in line and ahead of the business environment. Technology is undoubtedly one of the world’s fastest growing fields and having
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specialised knowledge in this area will amplify your prospects and business career considerably. Co-founder and CEO of MBJ London and EU Business School alumnus, Julian Baladurage, emphasises the importance of having specialised knowledge in the technology field, “Understanding big buzzwords like artificial intelligence, machine learning, big data and wide data is important, because there are a lot of people out there who know everything quite broadly, but I think there are people right now who are needed who are quite niche, who understand one thing very well. So that, in terms of tech, is becoming very relevant.” 2 By studying an MBA or master’s, you are exposed to, and learn about, the latest trends and other niche areas in business. Applying the knowledge learnt in an MBA or master’s to your chosen business field will help with both personal and company development. Global Head of Mobile Products and Mobile Applications at Nestlé, Luca Dell’Orletta, believes that students should start by “getting to know the technologies that are going to be key in the coming years, like blockchain, artificial intelligence, machine learning and the internet of things, and understanding how these can really be applied in a business model and in business in general.” 3 The rapid development of technology is also completely changing how finance and economics operate. The FinTech industry, which received $17.4 billion in investment last year alone, is booming: startups and big businesses alike are developing ceo-mag.com / Spring/Summer 2019
new and innovative FinTech ideas which are revolutionising the banking arena. Blockchain, created in 2008, has recently become very popular as its potential benefits beyond that of cryptocurrency have become clear. Numerous companies now use it in order to reduce operational costs, speed transactions and eliminate the need for intermediaries to assist in financial transactions. Its burgeoning use in the business world means that blockchain management has become a vital and highly prized skill, particularly in finance. Through an MBA programme, such as EU Business School’s MBA with a specialisation in blockchain management, you will be able to explore challenging technical topics such as asset pricing, fixed-income securities and blockchain fundamentals. Given the proliferation of new niche jobs in every field, it is clearly more important than ever to have an area of specialised knowledge. The best way to acquire this knowledge is through an advanced degree, such as an MBA or master’s, in an emerging or key field. MBA: A Building Block MBA programmes usually require at least two years of professional experience as part of their admission requirements. As a result, MBAs enable candidates to build on, strengthen and expand key business skills acquired during their careers. They also give students the opportunity to select a particular area of interest in which to specialise. This comprehensive grounding is attractive to employers across all business sectors. CEO of Google Belgium and Luxembourg, Thierry Geerts, says that “Obviously to be successful in the digital world, you don’t have to only embrace digitalisation, you also need some basic skills like finance and marketing, for example.” Mike Fulton, a public affairs and advocacy expert from Washington D.C., says the first thing he looks for in job applicants is a solid business foundation: “There’s a lot to be said for being well-rounded and having diverse experiences before you commit to one area.” 4 An MBA programme allows you to build on this broad base by choosing a specialisation, either in an area in which you are passionate, or one that is highly sought after by companies. Having a specialisation that complements a solid foundation of business skills makes you stand out in a crowded job market.
Master’s: A Deeper Focus A master’s degree that focuses on a chosen specialist subject is a good choice for professionals who already have a lot of business experience under their belts and want to specialise further. A master’s from an internationally recognised, professionally accredited business school, such as EU Business School, will give you the edge in today’s job market by demonstrating that you have acquired an industry-specific skillset. The business of fashion and luxury, for example, can be hard to get into without the specialised knowledge that a master’s in this area can provide. Christopher Moore, Director of the British School of Fashion, highlights the importance of having a postgraduate degree in the fashion industry, stating “The market has become so competitive that very often the very best fashion companies can take their pick, so they will go for the graduates who are the most rounded and the most educated.” 5 If you can demonstrate an in-depth knowledge of high-end brands and customer attraction and retention, companies will take your credentials more seriously. Sports management is another area where you can benefit from being at the forefront of the latest trends to push your career to the next level. As the sporting sector becomes progressively more globalised, specific skills and trends are now vital. Sports stars need people to manage their social media and secure sponsorship deals in a time when influencer marketing is on the rise. Clubs need people who know about facility and event management, as well as those who understand the legal implications of their business. By taking an MBA with a specialisation in sports management, knowledge of the sporting world can be combined with business acumen to create success. At EU Business School, we understand how important it is to know the market and gauge which disciplines are in demand – now and in the future. Our master’s programmes include Digital Business, Innovation and Entrepreneurship and Fashion and Luxury Business, while our MBA programme offers a choice of eleven majors, including Blockchain, Global Banking and Finance, and Sports Management. If you are interested in knowing more about our master’s and MBA programmes, visit our website at euruni.edu. We look forward to hearing from you.
Biography Established in 1973, EU Business School (EU) is an international, professionally accredited, highranking business school with campuses in Barcelona, Geneva, Montreux, Munich and online. We offer English taught foundation, bachelor’s, master’s and MBA programmes.
1 https://www.forbes.com/sites/larryalton/2016/12/20/5-reasons-modern-businesses-are-turning-to-specialization/#249ac82e4a29 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fshl7V3fdQw&t=1s 3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rM6YzfPoEek&t=19s 4 http://platformmagazine.org/2013/11/15/a-need-for-specialization/ 5 https://www.theguardian.com/education/2013/dec/06/students-routes-into-fashion-industry
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EN TRE PRE NEURS MUST BALANCE SPECIALISATION WITH GENERAL KNOWLEDGE 20
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HENRICH R. GREVE
In La La Land, Sebastian is such a dedicated jazz pianist that he cannot bear playing other kinds of music. After many trials and travails, he succeeds as an entrepreneur, starting the jazz club of his dreams. A wonderful story of entrepreneurship (the movie had a love story too, I think), but is it realistic? It depends on who you ask.
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recurring theme in entrepreneurship is the trust in generalists – people who can master a wide range of tasks. This trust comes from one bigpicture and one small-picture consideration. The big-picture consideration is that successful entrepreneurship has a component of inspiration gained from combining ideas that others do not see as connected. You may be carrying the descendant of such a combination: The iPhone was put together by a company that made compact MP3 players which had just exited an alliance with Motorola to make cellular phones. The small-picture consideration is that smaller entrepreneurs often end up in charge of everything, first directly, then through finding and recruiting expertise for each function. Generalists are good at this. But could Sebastian have been the capable founder of a jazz club if he were a generalist? The argument against generalists is that they are superficial and they don’t have enough deep knowledge about any specific topic to succeed. Gaining legitimacy A paper in Administrative Science Quarterly by Aleksandra Kacperczyk and Peter Younkin finds that pure generalists have no particular advantage in entrepreneurship; what is needed in the ideal entrepreneur is one area of specialisation combined with general knowledge. Specifically, specialisation in the market pays off when combined with general knowledge about the tasks needed for production. This broad and deep combination buys both the credibility and understanding of customers, which are more important to specialise in than the mechanics of making a product.
“The big-picture consideration is that successful entrepreneurship has a component of inspiration gained from combining ideas that others do not see as connected.”
The study, which gathered evidence about music industry entrepreneurs who formed independent record labels, showed both the effects of market specialisation and the effects that were complementary to functional breadth. Market specialists could double their odds of success by becoming more general in functional knowledge; market generalists began with low odds which did not improve when they gained more general functional knowledge. So, Sebastian got lucky. Yes, he had market knowledge, but he knew little about different functions (I am not counting tap dancing as a useful function). For an example of someone who had both general and functional expertise, the paper references Justin Timberlake. Prior to becoming an entrepreneur, Timberlake was part of a pop group, ‘N Sync, and later diversified into song writing, performing as a backup singer and producing music. Therefore, the breadth of his functional knowledge increased over time giving him more entrepreneurial legitimacy. For start-ups, the paper’s authors suggest, those who have worked in a number of jobs in their field, gaining both functional and general knowledge, will find it easier to establish themselves as entrepreneurs.
Biography Henrich R. Greve is a Professor of Entrepreneurship at INSEAD and the John H. Loudon Chaired Professor of International Management. He is also the Editor of Administrative Science Quarterly and a co-author of Network Advantage: How to Unlock Value from Your Alliances and Partnerships. ceo-mag.com / Spring/Summer 2019
Acknowledgement This article is republished courtesy of INSEAD Knowledge (http://knowledge.insead.edu). Copyright INSEAD 2019. 21
I, T OR M? THE GENERALIST VS. SPECIALIZED MBA DEBATE
RAGES ON! ALON ROZEN
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o specialize or not to specialize, that is the question! A question that is not quite as old as Hamlet but probably as old as David Ricardo (who definitely came down on the specialist side of the debate). As specialized MBAs and master’s programs gain in popularity, many future MBAs (and their parents) ask me where I stand on this. Personally, I am a generalist. As such, you will not be surprised to learn that I am biased towards being a generalist (as, being an empiricist, it has worked well for me so far). And, perhaps due to confirmation and selection biases, I tend to read literature, data and research that confirms the superiority of generalists over specialists in terms of professional progression, earning power and career agility. In other words, generalists tend to have more opportunities, earn more, climb the ranks more quickly, build successful startups and/or change sectors or professions more readily than their specialized peers. The title of a recently-published book (highly recommended by the way) by David Epstein, Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World, kind of closes the debate before it even begins. And also proves my previous point on reading things that confirm my worldview. But let’s not go too fast or get too ahead of ourselves as the debate is more subtle than it appears at first glance. The title of the book refers to a “specialized world” and, increasingly, specialists like data scientists (although calling data scientists specialized is another debate unto itself) are some of the best paid employees on the planet. Even unexperienced data scientists are in such high demand that a semi-specialized 22
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“If the specialization is in a high-demand industry or sector, it may make finding a new job quicker and easier than for generalists.�
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“No matter which program you do end up choosing, please make sure that it includes personal development, interpersonal skills, guided introspection (coaching), as well as advanced soft skills.”
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(semi-competent?) data scientist can earn a six-figure salary directly after completing an undergraduate or MSc – specialized or not. Data science is probably the exception though. At the management level, I (and others - to ensure no false claim to originality in these pages) talk about I, T and M profiles. I as in vertical deep, domain-specific knowledge, also known as specialized talent. T as in a generalist who has enough domain knowledge to manage specialists, also known as technical managers and often the profile of an expert who has risen to a managerial position. And M as in a multi-generalist who is able to manage multiple experts, for example a modern CEO, CTO, CFO or COO. As the MBA market has become more competitive and thus less differentiated, many business schools have opted to either shift their focus to specialized and executive Master’s programs and/or introduce specialized MBA and Executive MBA programs. European business schools are no exception to this megatrend. We at École des Ponts Business School have a specialized Executive MBA in Aviation and Aeronautics with Tsinghua (Beijing)
and ENAC (Toulouse), while Copenhagen Business School has a Maritime MBA and EM Burgundy has a Wine MBA. While it is difficult to generalize (pun intended), the idea of these programs is to ensure the full spectrum of MBA skills, while providing relatively in-depth familiarity (rather than mastery) of a specific domain. As always in academics, as in life, there is a third way, something I would call the specially-flavored MBA. For example, we offer the #LeadTech E-MBA in Leadership and Technology Management with Eada (Barcelona). This is a generalist program with a special emphasis on leadership (of self, teams and others) and innovation and technology management. It is not specialized per se, but the program is tailored for a specific profile of T and M managers that
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understand that the increasing technological complexity of modern business requires new, agile and adaptive leadership skills. To be fair, while the program is original, the approach is not – many business schools offer MBAs with a specific flavor – innovation, entrepreneurship, finance, marketing, digital transformation, sports management, etc. There is another dimension a prospect should consider before deciding which path to take. If the specialization is in a high-demand industry or sector, it may make finding a new job quicker and easier than for generalists. In MBA-speak, this would mean that payback is shorter (the time necessary to cover the initial investment), even if studies show that generalists have a higher ROI over time (that is higher earnings over the longer term). With MBA programs – specialized or not – getting more expensive, and as Millenials (if we can generalize) are not as quick to embrace debt as their parents, this can be a factor to consider. If we take a more meta view of executive education, the idea is to prepare graduates for both today’s and tomorrow’s job market. However, as the pace of change seemingly continues to accelerate, and most pundits seem to agree that the majority of jobs we will be doing in 5- to 10-years’ time do
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not exist today, a fundamental question is whether specializing in anything is not too risky a strategy? Agility and adaptation, which is more closely associated with multi-generalists, would appear to be a more sustainable strategy. This may mean foregoing short-term upside in exchange for limiting long-term downside, but nearly all strategies require an arbitrage relative to time horizon, risk and return. For those wanting to pursue a specialization or emphasize a particular sector, industry, or profession (e.g. automotive, industrial design, digital marketing), choosing a specialization that has wide application can also be a way to manage the generalist-specialized tension and ensure relative career agility down the line. This probably means a mix of generally-accepted words of wisdom – “follow your passion”, “think different” and “skate to where the puck is going” – and is probably the wisest strategy in a rapidly-evolving professional landscape like the one we are experiencing today. At the end of the day there is probably no optimal path as we live in a complex rather than complicated reality, i.e. one that defies optimized-under-constraints solutions and right answers. Which is why, I believe, the future will belong to those who are especially good at asking questions, listening to others, reframing problems, efficiently learning new skills all the time, working in cross-disciplinary and cognitively-diverse teams, and reading weak and strong societal signals actively (and not just in one domain). Personally, I think multi-generalists are probably the best-armed for this, but all roads can lead to Rome… and as tomorrow remains unwritten, who is to say today which is the best path to take going forward? So, the question remains, are you better off being a jack-of-all-trades or master of one? David Epstein and David Ricardo each have a different opinion on this, and thus the world is divided on the question it seems. That said, looking at this from a higher plane, it would seem clear that tomorrow needs a new and more agile mindset. So, whether I, T or M is the best approach for you, I cannot know or say. But no matter which program you do end up choosing, please make sure that it includes personal development, interpersonal skills, guided introspection (coaching), as well as advanced soft skills. It is this skillset, IMHO, which is the foundation upon which leadership is built in the 21st century, and the key management success factor for many years to come. And it will undoubtedly remain true whether or not you are one-day managed by a robot, or managing one! From Paris with empathy, Alon.
BIOGRAPHY
Alon Rozen is Dean and Prof. of Innovation, Ecole des Ponts Business School in Paris, France. 25
‘HA THE RIGHT MINDSET FOR AGILE WORK TOMOKO YOKOI
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AVE’ T
could last an entire career. In a longer life he aspiration to lead long and healthy with a rapidly changing job market, one must lives was given a boost with the continually re-learn and re-skill. recent completion of a $100m funding Unfortunately, few people are equipped round by Juvenescence - a UK biotech to make multiple transitions. It requires company focused on extending longevity. flexibility and the ability to acquire new We are already living longer than our knowledge, explore new ways of thinking, grandparents. And children born in rich and proactively build new networks. countries today have a 50-50 chance Transitions also require time. of living beyond 105 years old. But, Individuals could take a sequential while life expectancy continues approach by interspersing incometo increase, there is a general earning stages with learning and consensus that we, as individuals “As digitization self-reflection. Or, they could and as a society, are ill-prepared for take a parallel approach by using century-plus living. hits industries, their leisure and recreational time Academics such as Gratton and Scott in their 2016 book The those losing jobs during one career stage to reinvent themselves in preparation for the 100 Year Life believe that we must might not be able next, as described by Gratton and fundamentally rethink how we Scott. The advent of online learning approach work and education. They to re-train fast and digital coaching platforms argue that the current three-stage enough to qualify helps facilitate the process of life of education - work - retirement self-improvement and re-skilling no longer applies. Instead, they for new jobs for those who choose a parallel propose a multi-stage life where approach. transitions will become the norm, that are being In this digital age, there is much with repeated changes of direction created.” discussion about the need for and many different careers. digital skills. But given the rate of Interpose century-plus living technological development, what against a backdrop of faster, smarter stocks of skills and knowledge will and cheaper technology, and we will remain valuable and how can they see a significant churn in the labor be developed? market as traditional jobs disappear While there is a tendency to focus on and new ones appear. As digitization hits technical expertise, research on leadership industries, those losing jobs might not be able in the digital age by IMD’s Global Center for to re-train fast enough to qualify for new jobs Digital Business Transformation reveals the that are being created. In shorter lives with need for a much broader and richer set of core relatively stable labor markets, the knowledge portable skills and attitudes. and skills that a person mastered in youth
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WE RECOMMEND THAT AGILE WORKERS EMBRACE THE HAVE MINDSET:
“In a longer life with a rapidly changing job market, one must continually re-learn and re-skill.�
Humble
An ability to accept feedback and acknowledge that others know more than you.
Adaptable
Visionary
An acceptance that change is constant and that changing your mind based on new information is a strength rather than a weakness.
A clear sense of long-term direction, even in the face of short-term uncertainty.
Engaged A willingness to listen, interact, and communicate with a strong sense of interest and curiosity in emerging trends.
BIOGRAPHY
Tomoko Yokoi is a researcher and writer at the Global Center for Digital Business Transformation, an initiative by IMD business school and Cisco. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Courtesy of IMD Business School. 28
Preparing for century-plus living in the digital age requires making different choices that open up opportunities in exciting ways, as long as we are prepared to embrace it. ceo-mag.com / Spring/Summer 2019
— Design your future Make it your business to shape the world with an MBA from RMIT. To get ahead in today’s world of business, you need more than knowledge. We understand this, and that’s why at RMIT we collaborate with industry leaders from across the globe to create MBA programs that offer unique industry insight and experiences that go beyond the expected. So if you’re ready to embrace the future and challenge the old way of doing business, choose an MBA program that puts design thinking, creativity and collaboration first. RMIT is located in Melbourne, the world’s most liveable city.* Choose RMIT. To find out more visit rmit.edu.au/postgrad *Economist IU 2016
Aynur Cakal Executive MBA ceo-mag.com / Spring/Summer 2019
CRICOS: 00122A | RTO: 3046
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THE POWER OF HISTORY AND INNOVATION: THE ISEG MBA A L E X A N D R A S K I N N E R TA L K S T O J O RG E G O M E S
Q. Launched in 1984, this year marks the thirty-fifth edition of your MBA programme. How has the programme changed over this time? The ISEG MBA has accompanied the trends in this management education niche by adapting to the changing environments and requirements from international accreditation agencies, such as AMBA. The latest relevant change took place two years ago, when the programme adopted English as its tutorial language. This was part of a strategic move to support the school’s internationalisation endeavour.
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Q (a). What does the history of the programme mean to potential employers and students? This particular MBA is the only one in the University of Lisbon, which is the largest in the country by all standards and metrics. The university is the result of a merger between the Technical University of Lisbon and the Classical University of Lisbon. Nine schools and institutes from each university came together in 2012 to create the University of Lisbon. The MBA belonged to the Technical UL, which had always been recognised as extremely demanding from a technical point of view. Hence, the ISEG MBA is historically seen as technically strong, leading to the development of skilled and talented professionals, managers, and leaders. ceo-mag.com / Spring/Summer 2019
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“As corporations are nowadays global, most Portuguese students seeking our MBA are also interested in the programme because it is delivered in English.�
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Q (b). Are you able to open doors that other programmes might not? Portugal is a small country, with no more than ten MBAs. All are able to combine highquality programmes with value for money, especially if you compare them to MBA products in many other countries. Each MBA is unique and, hence, you could say that they target different markets, and consequently open different doors. Maybe a shared door that all Portuguese MBAs open is the capacity to develop managers and leaders with a global mindset, capable of understanding the future trends of a profoundly different and yet interconnected world.
There is no leadership without communication, but communication is not leadership. So both are important and trained separately and together. Negotiation and persuasion skills, coaching and mentoring, ethics and social responsibility, self-leadership and self-awareness, and mindfulness, are also components of our programme.
Q. From an experiential learning standpoint, what does Silicon Valley offer, over and above other education destinations? The ISEG MBA continues to focus on the two-plus-one pillar of modern management. The first two are management skills and leadership, which I elaborated on earlier. These two components are similar in nature Q. Given that the programme is now offered to every other MBA in the country. However, in English, what impact do you foresee this we differentiate ourselves from having on the make-up of your other programmes by highlighting student body, and application innovation, entrepreneurial volumes? competencies and spirit. Travelling Offering the programme in to Silicon Valley is a must-do if you English was definitely an important want to develop these competencies. change, but there were also other “We differentiate We have a long-standing factors that contributed to the partnership with the University highest number of applications ourselves of San Francisco, and so the we’ve witnessed in recent years. immersion week there is a studentNaturally, the cohort composition from other defining moment that has worked is now even more heterogeneous out well so far. because of our foreign students, and programmes this is a direct consequence of the by highlighting Q. Increasingly, students want programme being offered in English. programmes that offer an Interestingly, as corporations are innovation, entrepreneurship dynamic. How nowadays global, most Portuguese entrepreneurial would you rate demand for this students seeking our MBA are amongst students at ISEG, and to also interested in the programme competencies what extent do you cater for this? because it is delivered in English. Our experience is that not all and spirit.” students seek this type of dynamic, Q. As is the case with all highor at least not all of them want to calibre MBAs, ISEG teaches its start new companies. Consequently, students sound management we have refined our focus and offer skills. However, it’s the ‘soft skills’ to add intra-entrepreneurship. This that students learn that ultimately new facet is important because make the difference, post-MBA. To it matches most students’ interests and this end, are soft skills a component of the professional realities. programme, or do they feature throughout? Soft skills are a key component of the Q. Finally, given your history of success programme, and we do our best to help (alumni success stories), the international students develop these skills according to faculty assembled to teach on the MBA, and the latest techniques and methods. This your double accreditation, how are you able means that soft skills are taught not only with to keep the cost of the programme so low traditional methods and techniques, but also (€18,500)? via other means. Portugal is still a country with an The weekend we spend at the Air Force affordable cost of living, including Academy and theatre company, together with educational costs. Having said that, it is alternative leadership-competency-building obviously a challenge to maintain costs exercises, is all part of the programme under control. But then again, being in a content. business school, it seems natural that you would be highly efficient and effective Q. Do you place more emphasis on leadership in creating an educational product at a or communication, and to what extent are reasonable investment value, correct? the two interwoven? ceo-mag.com / Spring/Summer 2019
BIOGRAPHY
Jorge Gomes is Associate Professor of ISEG and the Director and Scientific Coordinator of the MBA. 33
THE DBA
STUDENT A L E X A N D R A S K I N N E R TA L K S T O
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EXPERIENCE C H R I S T I N E H O LT A N D S C O T T B O S W E L L
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Q. Why the University of Missouri-St. Louis (UMSL) DBA? Christine Holt I saw it as an opportunity to marry my practical knowledge with theoretical principles in order to serve as a change agent for higher education. Scott Boswell The programme had exactly the right balance of outstanding academic rigor, and the best accreditations with terrific on-site learning that is accessible through a weekend residency, once a month. The university is also geographically desirable in the Midwest.
“The greatest highlight has been the genuine interest and concern the professors have for the success of each individual member of the cohort.”
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Q. With regards to the admissions process, what advice would you give to potential applicants? CH Given that it’s becoming more of a competitive process, I urge prospective students to start the admissions process early. In addition to doing your due diligence (structure and format of the programme, support services of faculty and staff, etc.), be introspective and strategic about how the programme aligns with your learning style, educational goals and career aspirations. SB Be thorough, and be yourself. The process will test your writing skills and inspire you to think about how you’ll fit an intense and fulfilling programme into your busy life and the future research topics that you might pursue. The interview process is a great opportunity to get to know the amazing faculty and leadership in the programme and allow them to get to know you.
The talent of the faculty and cohort members is stellar and I feel fortunate to have them as peers and mentors. SB The cohort is wide and varied, but all with life experiences that add to the programme. All are bright and engaged. The age range is wide from mid-30 s to upper-60 s . Q. What do you consider to be the highlight of the programme thus far? CH In addition to the vast array of experience and knowledge the faculty and my fellow academic peers bring to the table, the greatest highlight has been the genuine interest and concern the professors have for the success of each individual member of the cohort. It starts with the staff providing concierge services (registration, securing instructional materials etc.), and it continues with the faculty being available to answer questions, offer research guidance, and advice. The administration has been highly visible and responsive to our suggestions for continuous improvement on everything from course design to marketing. SB Being back in an academic environment with a terrific group of professors, university leaders and fellow students.
Q. Can you expand upon the make-up (industries, geography etc.) and calibre of your fellow UMSL DBA participants and what they bring to the programme and your learning experience? CH One of the great attributes of the programme is the diversity of the individuals (in thought and experience). In our cohort we have members from a vast swath of industries and sectors (banking and finance, federal government, healthcare, higher education, manufacturing and non-profit) representing a multitude of functional areas and positions (from C-suite to middle manager to retired executive).
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Q. What is the hardest thing about the programme? CH For myself and many of my classmates, we’ve been out of an academic/classroom setting for a number of years, so becoming a student again has been a challenge. With that said, the format of the programme has been ideal: one residency a month, on-site at the university, and much of the coursework done through an online learning management system. We use tools such as Zoom to work on assignments or to get further instruction from faculty. SB Time management. As a busy executive deadlines can still jump up and need to be met. Fortunately, the flexibility of the faculty and fellow students between residencies helps significantly. Q. What has been the most challenging thing about returning to education, and what mechanisms (support from family, time management etc.) have you put in place in order to manage the increased workload? CH In the best of circumstances, without pursuing a degree, time management can be a challenge, but even more so when you’re maintaining a demanding full-time job while furthering your education. Although the programme is academically sound and rigorous, our faculty members are understanding when unanticipated work disruptions occur from time-to-time.
SB My wife and I are fresh empty-nesters with both of our sons in college. (This is part of what inspired me to return to school after 27 years to obtain a terminal degree in my chosen field.) My wife has been unbelievably supportive. She tells our friends the learning experience has reenergised me. I have always been driven as an executive, so I make sure that the additional work does not impact my work life. With our children away from home, I am putting the time I once spent on certain recreational activities into the programme. Q. Are there unique elements of the programme that you feel will enhance your career objectives? CH I appreciate having the latitude to conduct research on topics that address everyday workplace problems that I grapple with as a practitioner. As I mentioned earlier, the depth and breadth of the faculty’s research interests seem boundless and provide a tremendous resource in helping me refine and tailor my research. Q. Has the programme met/exceeded your expectations? CH The programme has stretched my professional, personal and academic growth in ways that I did not even anticipate before starting the programme. It has expanded my understanding of defining and dissecting a research problem, looking at the research literature to see what has been done and finding gaps for further study. SB Significantly exceeded! Q. How would you summarise your DBA experience at UMSL to date? CH It has been, and will continue to be, a transformative experience. In sum, as a result of being a part of this inaugural DBA cohort, I have become, and will continue to become, a better visionary and leader – leading change, leading people, more results driven, and better at building coalitions for the sustainability of higher education into the distant future. SB It has been invigorating. I love the academic challenge, honing my intellectual skills and learning from very bright people (faculty, staff and students)!
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“It has been invigorating. I love the academic challenge, honing my intellectual skills and learning from very bright people (faculty, staff and students)!”
Programme Profile The Doctor of Business Administration programme at the University of Missouri-St. Louis provides participants with the skills needed to conduct rigorous research with the objective of applying the findings to real-world decisionmaking in industry and government. DBA graduates will be equipped for high-level positions in higher education, consulting, or career advancement in their industry. 37
WAV E R LY D E U T S C H
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recently received an email from a former student of mine, Mrin. It was a thoughtful debrief on why she had decided to shut down the company I had been coaching her on last year for the Edward L. Kaplan, ’71, New Venture Challenge, an annual startup competition and accelerator program sponsored by Chicago Booth. The experience was a difficult one for her, and she told me she had trouble disentangling the failure from her personal identity. In her own words, which she has given me permission to share, “I’ve never been more aware of how much I don’t know. And, at the same time, I’ve never learned so much so quickly. Shutting down the company has had me grappling with feelings of failure while questioning my self-worth and abilities.” What Mrin finally realized is that she had not, in fact, failed. The Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary offers several definitions of the word “fail,” including, and I’m paraphrasing: to lose strength, fade away, stop functioning normally, fall short, be inadequate, be unsuccessful, become bankrupt, disappoint expectations, be deficient in, leave undone, or not pass some test. None of these apply to Mrin’s or any other entrepreneur’s experience in trying to bring an innovation to market and learning that it does not work as a business.
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To fall short or be unsuccessful requires some agreed upon definition of success. To disappoint expectations means that there are some expectations to disappoint. Mrin did not stop functioning, fade away, or leave something undone. No, in fact, Mrin accomplished a lot. As Thomas Edison said when an associate suggested that it was a shame myriad experiments to produce a nickel-iron battery had not produced any results, “Results! Why, man, I have gotten a lot of results! I now know several thousand things that won’t work.”
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“To some extent, entrepreneurship is a numbers game, and those who try, and try again, create jobs and drive innovation.”
Entrepreneurship, especially innovationfocused entrepreneurship, is very much like science—involving a series of experiments that can bring something new and valuable into the world. You cannot learn what product or idea will work without being willing to discover what won’t work. This is known by every successful entrepreneur, most of whom have business “failures” in their portfolios. Before Evan Williams started Twitter, he founded Odeo, the podcasting platform you’ve never heard of. Before Reid Hoffman created LinkedIn, he launched SocialNet, a dating site that didn’t connect. Nick Woodman shuttered EmpowerAll.com and Funbug before clicking with GoPro. “Failure” is critical to innovation entrepreneurship. I invested $40,000 in an e-book company that created the largest database of off-copyright texts that existed in the commercial market at the time. I lost every dime. Why? It was 1994. There were no e-readers. Laptops weighed 12 pounds and weren’t fun to carry around. You got on the internet via slow, dial-up connections, and Amazon didn’t exist as a distribution channel. Countless companies launched tablet computers that went nowhere—think Apple’s Newton experiment, which was released in 1993, before a market coalesced around the beautifully designed iPad and its App Store. Many factors including timing, markets, technology, and the right team need to come together in order for a new product or business model to be successful, and if someone cracks the code, value is created.
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Small-business and innovation entrepreneurship differ Not all entrepreneurship is about bringing innovation to market, of course. Many startups essentially offer products and services that already exist, and not all entrepreneurs are trying to create the next unicorn company that will change the world. Many smallbusiness entrepreneurs are trying to provide for their families, be their own bosses, and have flexibility in their schedules—in fact, the vast majority of people starting companies are trying to build small businesses. In 2017, only about 40 percent of founders in North America said their product was new or innovative, according to data from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM), a research organization focused on entrepreneurial activity. In China, the number was 25 percent. In Indonesia, it was less than 12 percent. At the same time, while 60 percent of North American founders expected to create some jobs and hire employees, fewer than 15 percent foresaw needing 20 or more employees in the next five years, and worldwide, those expectations fell to less than 8 percent. These founders clearly aren’t aiming for unicorns, which create thousands of jobs. What causes “failure” is different for these two kinds of entrepreneurs, growth entrepreneurs and small-business founders. When US Bank conducted a survey of smallbusiness owners whose companies had failed, the top two reasons cited involved capital: 82 percent said they’d failed due to poor cash-flow management, and 79 percent blamed starting out with too little money. But compare that to a survey by CB Insights,
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“Entrepreneurship, especially innovation-focused entrepreneurship, is very much like science— involving a series of experiments that can bring something new and valuable into the world.”
a data company looking at VC–backed companies, which, by definition, are trying to innovate and scale in order to get venture funding. In this survey of founders who shut their companies, the No. 1 reason listed, by 42 percent of respondents, was an inability to find product market fit—“no market need,” as CB Insights puts it. Only 29 percent of founders said they ran out of money. Nevertheless, for both growth entrepreneurs and small-business founders, research suggests that the learning process of opening and closing a business increases the chances of success the second time around. University of Michigan’s Francine Lafontaine and Stanford’s Kathryn Shaw looked at serial retail business founders—typical small-business entrepreneurs—in Texas, from 1990 to 2012. Only about 25 percent of these retailers opened more than one establishment over those years, but these serial entrepreneurs were, in Lafontaine and Shaw’s words, “considerably more successful,” with 7 percent lower likelihood of shutting down overall than for inexperienced founders. And the effects were cumulative. Each previous business lowered the hazard risk by nearly 4 percent. Lafontaine and Shaw were not able to determine with the data set they used whether the businesses shut for positive and neutral reasons such as a sale, a better opportunity for the owner, or retirement, or for negative reasons such as bankruptcy, lack of profitability, or legal problems. As a result, it is impossible to determine how much of
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a future boost toward success came from a small-business failure versus a positive exit. But in research on innovation entrepreneurs, Harvard’s Paul Gompers, Josh Lerner, and David S. Scharfstein and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s Anna Kovner were able to isolate the impact of a failure versus a success on a serial entrepreneur’s next venture. They used data, captured by Dow Jones’s VentureSource database, on nearly 10,000 VC-backed companies founded between 1986 and 2000. Over 1,100 of the companies were founded by serial entrepreneurs. What the researchers discovered, unsurprisingly, is that having a successful enterprise increased the chance that the next venture would be successful by more than 30 percent. But surprisingly, having a failed venture increased second-round success by 5 percent. To increase innovation, support serial entrepreneurs—even if they have failed I have heard many US-based investors say, “I would rather back someone who has tried to start a business, even if it didn’t work. At least they learned on someone else’s dime.” The research indicates that this approach is right. To some extent, entrepreneurship is a numbers game, and those who try, and try again, create jobs and drive innovation. A predisposition to give entrepreneurs a second chance may help explain some of the variation in entrepreneurial activity across cultures.
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“You cannot learn what product or idea will work without being willing to discover what won’t work.”
Intuitively, you might think more-riskaverse cultures would produce people with a higher fear of failure, and that this would inhibit the desire to start a company, but it’s not that simple. The “GEM 2017/2018 Global Report” looks in detail at how self-perception and societal values affect entrepreneurial activity worldwide. In its population studies of 55 countries, the report finds that expressed fear of failure was not a good predictor of how many people pursued or avoided entrepreneurial careers. In Bulgaria, for example, only 21 percent of the population indicated a fear of failure, but a paltry 4 percent was involved in entrepreneurship. In Thailand, where 53 percent of people reported fear of failure, the entrepreneurship rate of 22 percent was more than five times that of Bulgaria. When it came to individual self-perception, where people reported high levels of an ability to see opportunities and confidence in their own capabilities, GEM tracked higher rates of entrepreneurship. How society views entrepreneurship also predicts the amount of entrepreneurship in a country. In places such as North America, Asia (excluding Japan), and the Middle East—where a lot of people consider entrepreneurship to be a good career choice, society awards high status to successful entrepreneurs, and the media pay a lot of attention to entrepreneurship—the percentage of the population engaging in entrepreneurial endeavors is substantially higher than in more conservative areas, including Europe and Japan. Japan is a particular example of a place where culture holds entrepreneurial activity back. Only 24 percent of the population see entrepreneurship as a good career choice, and only 7 percent see opportunities for innovation. It is no wonder that only 5 percent of the population is engaged in starting new companies.
Pay attention to cultural perceptions Society’s impressions of entrepreneurship predict how much of it actually happens in a country. The “GEM 2017/2018 Global Report” reveals which countries value entrepreneurship more than others. US and Canada Countries favoring entrepreneurship more: China, India, Indonesia, Israel, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates Countries favoring entrepreneurship less: France, Germany, Poland, Spain, UK, Japan People who believe entrepreneurship is a good career choice 64% 65% People who believe successful entrepreneurs are given high status 75% 74% People who believe entrepreneurship attracts media attention 76% 68% 54% People who see good opportunities to start a company in the area where they live 62% 46% People who believe they have the required skills and knowledge to start a business 55% 42% Deutsch, 2019; Global Entrepreneurship Research Association, 2018
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Policy makers need to pay attention to these cultural issues as they think about economic growth and entrepreneurship’s impact on it. Entrepreneurs, especially innovation-driven ones, have long been seen as the primary job-creation engine. Important analysis of the US Bureau of Labor’s Business Dynamics Statistics data set by Tim Kane for the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation suggests that companies in their first year of
existence have created an average of 3 million new jobs annually in the United States since 1992, and that, in all but seven of those years, they have created 100 percent of the net new jobs. Kane’s study demonstrates that after the first year of business, as a group, new firms actually lost more jobs than they created, but the net number of jobs lost over the next 14 years was a fraction of the 3 million initially created.
ENTREPRENEURS: THE PRIMARY JOB-CREATION ENGINE An analysis of US Census Bureau data finds that companies in their first year of existence have created an average of 3 million new jobs annually in the United States since 1992. New jobs created in the US Yearly net total
AT START-UPS IN THEIR FIRST YEAR AT EXISTING COMPANIES
5m 2.5m
BIOGRAPHY
Waverly Deutsch is clinical professor and academic director of university-wide entrepreneurship content at Chicago Booth. WORKS CITED
“GEM 2017/2018 Global Report,” Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, updated April 2018. Paul Gompers, Anna Kovner, Josh Lerner, and David S. Scharfstein, “Skill vs. Luck in Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital: Evidence from Serial Entrepreneurs,” Journal of Financial Economics, November 2006. Jessie Hagen of US Bank cited in blog post on Preferred CEO, “Cash Flow: The Reason 82% of Small Businesses Fail” https://www. preferredcfo.com/ cash-flow-reasonsmall-businesses-fail/
0 -2.5m -5m -7.5m 1980
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Kane’s conclusions are mirrored in worldwide research from GEM. The “2011 High-Impact Entrepreneurship Global Report” analyzed surveys conducted from 2006 to 2010 with over 70,000 active entrepreneurs and discovered that high-growth entrepreneurs (defined as experiencing 20 percent or greater year-over-year job growth) made up 4 percent of the respondents but created 40 percent of the more than 800,000 jobs their companies supported. These are the entrepreneurs most likely to be building firms trying to bring innovative products and services to market. They are the angel- and VC-backed entrepreneurs. And they are the group that, once identified, need to be nurtured and supported through early failed ventures.
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1990
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I believe Mrin is one of those future highimpact entrepreneurs. She has clearly been bitten by the entrepreneurship bug. She definitely plans to try again when she finds an idea she is as passionate about as the one that didn’t work. As for takeaways from her experience, she recognized that she had failed in a market she had little experience in; that, since nothing went according to plan, she needed to keep moving on multiple paths—not rely on just one; and that she should have been sure the business concept had a defined revenue model on which to execute. Her biggest lesson, she says, was “how not devastating it actually was to fail. I wish people would be more comfortable talking about the failures. There is so much to be learned.” This is an entrepreneur I would invest in any time.
Tim Kane, “The Importance of Startups in Job Creation and Job Destruction,” Marion Ewing Kauffman Foundation, July 2010. Francine Lafontaine and Kathryn Shaw, “Serial Entrepreneurship: Learning by Doing?” Journal of Labor Economics, February 2016. Rhett Morris, “2011 High-Impact Entrepreneurship Global Report,” Center for High-Impact Entrepreneurship at Endeavor and Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, sponsored by Ernst & Young. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Courtesy of the Chicago Booth Review.
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THE DISRUPTION-FIT LEADER MARCO MANCESTI
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n management thinking circles over the years, VUCA has become somewhat of a buzzword to describe a business landscape that is volatile, unpredictable, complex and ambiguous. Now many are beginning to question it: Does it really exist, or did leaders create it, so they could blame it for some kind of uncontrollable fate instead of taking responsibility for their failings? Having said that, if we acknowledge that a single tweet can shake Wall Street and far beyond, then it is probably fair to agree that we are operating in a world where there is much that we do not know and cannot control – a world where, for example, disruption may come from technology companies rather than our traditional competitors. If a dominant position is no longer a guarantee of sustainable success, if the new generation of talent has different expectations before engaging, if the customer is now more empowered than ever, if everything is changing all the time, can leaders be the same as before? Is operating in such an environment just about applying methods such as scrum and agile? Or… do we need a new type of leader? One thing is certain: Companies need to be disruption-ready to survive, so they need leaders who are disruption-fit. What do they look like? Disruption-fit leaders are top-notch sensors They are experts at scanning, and they know that observing the competitive landscape is by no means enough. Because everything is interrelated, they sense three layers simultaneously and understand how they influence each other.
Sensing alterations across the layers
Diagram 1: The Integrated Alertness Leadership Model:
Systemic dynamics People dynamics Self dynamics
Sensing alterations within the layer Integrated Alertness Leadership Model - © by Marco Mancesti - 2014-2019. All rights reserved
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Sensing layer 1: The system In the Model, a company’s systemic layer is composed of institutional goals, related measures (e.g. balanced scorecard), risks and strategy. Here’s an example: In the context of the automotive industry, new generations do not necessarily want to own a car, autonomous cars are being tested, city congestion and pollution are reaching record highs, triggering new regulations, etc. In such a situation, can an auto manufacturer still define its goal as “to be #1 in terms of cars sold”? Some traditional players have started to broaden their scope, at least on paper, and reposition around global mobility solutions. What kind of performance indicators would illustrate such a shift? Are the risks the same as before? What about the strategic roadmap? Disruption-fit leaders sense changes in context and are on top of the consequences in their company’s systemic layer.
Goal
Measures
Risks
Strategy
Context
Sensing layer 2: The people AI, robotics and other technologies are changing the workplace, with direct and indirect impact. Amazon’s main warehouse in Spain recently got stuck in a months-long conflict over remuneration schemes, which led to partial strikes. Behind this, and behind the yellow vest protests in France, is the rise of inequality. It’s all very well for a company to rely largely on robots and AI for its operations, but if its trucks cannot leave the warehouse... We find an indirect impact in the war for tech talent. The disruption-fit leader knows that the new generation is looking for purpose and for evidence that the companies they are going to work for are not only conscious of sustainability but also responsible in their concrete actions. For example, the disruptionfit leader could invest in training early to transfer people into new roles before their jobs disappear. 45
Operationally, the disruption-fit leader understands that a company’s structure is made up of teams. They are everywhere – a company’s board is a team, the executive committee, functional management teams, cross-functional teams, task forces, chapters, tribes and squads; all are teams. So the leader pays particular attention to sensing how these small structures are doing in terms of their coherent sense of purpose, integration between members, innovation skills and knowledge development, their full mastery of the ecosystem in which they evolve and a deep understanding of one another. Teams are quite sensitive to changes in leadership, in the company’s ownership, the working environment, reorganizations or reputational hiccups, and crises in general. These context alterations can cause an imbalance in one or more of the above dimensions. The disruption-fit leader constantly senses the team dynamics.
Biography Marco Mancesti is R&D Director at IMD and an alumnus of the High Performance Leadership (HPL), the Advanced High Performance Leadership (AHPL), Orchestrating Winning Performance (OWP) and Organizational Learning in Action (OLA). Acknowledgement Courtesy of IMD Business School. 46
Sensing layer 3: The three connections of self When adversity hits, leaders can quickly find themselves alone. So, to remain well grounded, disruption-fit leaders need to be as sharp as athletes before a race. This can include physical training, of course, but not merely for the sake of it. Physical training, as well as practicing yoga, playing a musical instrument, singing or other activities help leaders to hone their first connection, the one connecting them to their body and emotions – in other words the present moment. The next connection is to their experience and anticipation – past and future. This is the problem-solving center, in short: the mind. The third connection is to their purpose in life. For leaders, the second connection, the mind, is natural – digging into the past for insight, and looking ahead to the future for scenario planning. The danger comes when that connection annihilates the others. This is an open door for burnout or becoming toxic to others. So, disruption-fit leaders stay hyperalert to any imbalance in all three connections (diagram 1). Disruption-fit leaders are masters at creating informed accelerations When it comes to seizing an identified opportunity or going through a companywide transformation to respond to a threat, speed immediately springs to mind. But there is no point in speed if the leader is the only one on the train. This is where the concept of acceleration (versus speed) comes in: Think about making
a pass in a ball game. The perfect pass is one that lands right in the hands or at the feet of a team mate; however, a pass that creates acceleration stretches a team mate’s capabilities to reach it – challenging enough to create the acceleration but not so challenging that they miss the ball. The art is knowing where to make the acceleration, when, and how intense it should be. As we’ve seen above, disruption-fit leaders are top-notch sensors; they should use observation of the three layers to determine how best to create informed acceleration. If analysis of the people layer shows that a transformation first requires a change of culture, then the acceleration focus should be put there, before for example stretching the sales teams to force a product into a market that might not be ready for it. In a nutshell, the disruption-fit leader is clear on the goal and tactical in the stretch. Speed all the time and everywhere may lead to performance in the short run, but ultimately creates exhaustion. Disruption-fit leaders are obsessed with seeking opportunities whenever the context alters… …Just as a professional boxer who sees their opponent’s every offensive move as an opening. This is a mindset that requires courage and consistency. Courage because seizing an opportunity may be a leap into the unknown, like crossing the Rubicon and making an irrevocable move. Consistency, because it is not about one heroic action, but applying that mindset repeatedly. Of course, the disruptionfit leader doesn’t jump into deep waters without preparation. Again, let’s remember that they are top-notch sensors, first and foremost! But why does it all matter? Seeing change as a source of opportunity is probably the best possible antidote in a world that is at times unpredictable, but not only. It is a question of establishing a balance between positive and negative, fighting threats with preventive or mitigation actions (this is still necessary), and catching opportunities to turn them into innovative breakthroughs. Disruption-fit leaders are top-notch sensors, they are masters at creating informed acceleration and are obsessed at finding the opening in each context alteration. But it doesn’t end there. A major challenge remains: having their own organization embrace the same mindset. Why? Because leadership is at each level of the hierarchy, and great innovations rarely come from the top. ceo-mag.com / Spring/Summer 2019
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CRAFTING BETTER STRATEGY:
WHY EMPATHY MATTERS
Empathy is increasingly a valuable skill for chief strategy officers, notes this opinion piece by Mark Leiter, chairman of Leiter & Company, a consulting and investment firm aiming to raise the performance of business-tobusiness organizations. He is the author of the book, Crafting Strategy in an Accelerating World. In this opinion piece, he notes that “the effective strategist has a natural platform for encouraging the team to pause, reflect, and step back — even for just a few moments — to consider the broader implications of upcoming decisions.” o you ever have days when you are just utterly exhausted by the escalating pace and unpredictability of business? If this sounds familiar, then you have my empathy. As a member of Strategy 50 — a global community of chief strategy officers — I’ve spent years comparing notes with fellow members on how strategy development is evolving in an accelerating world that is moving forward with far greater velocity and volatility. Last year, I took these conversations a step further and conducted a research project with the community to examine this topic in more detail. Participating corporations ranged from $2 billion to over $200 billion in revenues. The chief strategy officers addressed issues spanning a wide range of sectors, including industrial glass, power grids and railroads through to automobiles, electronic payments, stock exchanges and open-source software solutions. One surprising theme emerging from these discussions was the increasing value and importance of empathy to the strategist. Why is this surprising? Strategists are traditionally hired for their IQ over their EQ. Back in my McKinsey & Company days, when we interviewed prospective consultants we assessed “intellectual horsepower,” “problem-solving skills,” “conceptual thinking,” and “quantitative reasoning skills.” Demonstrated capacity for empathy — the ability to understand what another person is thinking and feeling through their unique frame of reference — wasn’t tested in any interview. I can’t recall a time when it was even discussed. ceo-mag.com / Spring/Summer 2019
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Life as a chief strategy officer today requires a broader skill set. Executives are pushed and pulled in more directions while facing constantly rising expectations for improving every performance metric that matters. “This environment puts enormous pressure on our senior leadership team, such that everyone is always stressed out regardless of our performance,” said one chief strategy officer operating in an iconic company that generated $35 billion in revenues last year. “We are not in huge distress; our business is solid, and our stock is up. But none of that changes the team’s intrinsic stress level.” As the stress on the team ratchets up, the ability to quickly internalize your colleagues’ mindsets and pressure points has become an essential skill that can play a big role in elevating the strategist’s craft from good to great.
“While it’s tempting to imagine the answer is to simply think faster, even the smartest minds have their limits.”
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How Challenging Is It on the Front Lines? Consider Nielsen, where I served as the company’s chief strategy officer. When our current U.S. President proclaims that he is “great for the ratings,” he means the Nielsen TV ratings. While it is the most famous part of the company, Nielsen is much more than TV ratings. Founded in 1923, Nielsen operates at the epicenter of the global marketing, media and retailing ecosystem. It influences trillions of dollars in consumer consumption and billions in advertising expenditures. During my tenure working with the firm, Nielsen’s enterprise value tripled — from $9 billion to $27 billion. Generating this outcome required navigating massive innovation coming from multiple directions. A “big data” company long before that term was popular, Nielsen primarily measures market performance for two sectors: media and fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG). The team has been arming domain experts with the latest advances in analytics, algorithms, AI, machine learning and data-asa-service systems to deliver value to clients. This has required shifts in capital allocation, talent development and go-to-market methods. Measuring these sectors grows more challenging by the minute. Notably, the media industry landscape — both audio and video — has grown more complex. It now includes such wildly diverse companies as Amazon (via prime video), Apple, CBS, Comcast, Disney, Facebook, Hulu, Netflix, Spotify, Tencent, YouTube and Verizon. The media value chain is in constant flux, spanning content creation through to distribution and consumption. It isn’t any easier analyzing where consumers
shop and what they buy in physical and online retailers. We’ve watched disruption on the retail front lines thanks to players that include Alibaba, Amazon, Costco, CVS, eBay, JD.com, Target and Walmart. The rapid and unstoppable technology and business model innovation across these three domains — information services, media and retailing — is enormously challenging to absorb. I’ve always had empathy for the Nielsen teams as they traversed this terrain. To that end, I would underscore a point made by Eric “Astro” Teller, the “Captain of Moonshots” (CEO) at X, an Alphabet R&D lab, when he said, “although humans and societies have steadily adapted to change, on average the rate of technological change is now accelerating so fast that it has risen above the rate at which most people can absorb all of these changes. Many of us can’t keep pace anymore.”¹ However, technology isn’t the only major driver of change and innovation. Strategists are concurrently adapting their methods to evolving organizational models that are inherently designed to move business forward with greater speed, precision and agility. At Nielsen, every facet of the company’s operating model was reimagined over the last dozen years in parallel to tackling external and internal technology innovation. When Strategy Meets Operations Every company, in its own way, is mixing all of this rapid change — technology, operations, organization — into the corporate blender alongside continuous competitive and customer evolution. To be effective in this context, the strategist must be able to build empathy with colleagues who are trying to juggle their fast-paced, frenzied day job with participation in more reflective and deliberative strategy conversations. This is particularly apparent when strategy meets operations. “To manage complexity on a faster timeline, operators must work in a fully agile, continuous mode,” says Vince McCarthy, group president at Verisk Analytics and previously the company’s head of corporate development and strategy. “They are constantly building momentum by driving multiple commercial initiatives and product innovations while putting out any fires. While they will help co-create new strategic themes and ideas for the company, they aren’t waiting around for a new strategy to shape immediate priorities and decisions.” Even the military — the historical progenitor for top-down cultures — has shifted to a more agile, adaptive model. This comes in response to a new kind of enemy that is tech-savvy, networked and dispersed, and which has disrupted historical combat ceo-mag.com / Spring/Summer 2019
norms. “The familiar pursuit of efficiency must change course,” wrote General Stanley McChrystal, former commander of the U.S. Joint Special Operations Command, in the introduction to his book Team of Teams. “Efficiency remains important, but the ability to adapt to complexity and continual change has become an imperative.”² Not surprisingly, operators often get their adrenaline rush from being on the front lines, not being stuck in a room debating strategy. Most companies reward action and outcomes. In a world where every day counts, there is unbelievable pressure to spend every hour accomplishing something that moves the needle in a measurable way. “The more we re-engineer the enterprise to fluidly adapt to changing conditions, the more the lines blur between strategy and operations,” says Tom Manning, Harvard University fellow and former CEO of Dun & Bradstreet. “In many ways, this is what we desire: an adaptive organization that is continuously changing to seize the day. On the other hand, it dramatically raises the bar for the value the chief strategy officer must deliver to the CEO and the operators to enable their success.” To be successful in this world, chief strategy officers must be able to quickly understand the needs driving each of the leaders they interact with and to help them access relevant strategies that have been used successfully elsewhere in the organization. This requires a broad skill set. According to Janine Ames, a leader of Spencer Stuart’s chief strategy officer practice who counsels CEOs and board members, “CEOs increasingly want chief strategy officers who are the full package. Their short hand specification is a mix of strategy consulting and operating experience. The former provides the core training in strategy development over a range of complex problems, while the latter instills an appreciation for what operators face on the front lines. The CEO simply can’t afford to lose momentum with a brilliant, visionary chief strategy officer who lacks sufficient empathy for his or her colleagues.” Moreover, while the CEO ultimately owns the corporate strategy with the board, he or she is always seeking more leverage. “As the world moves faster and faster, the line outside the CEO’s door gets longer and longer — and their time to deeply reflect and think about strategy gets shorter and shorter,” as one chief strategy officer put it. ceo-mag.com / Spring/Summer 2019
In contrast, the chief strategy officer’s mandate includes spending enough time scanning and thinking about what’s possible as well as how to solve some of the toughest problems facing the company. This frees up more time for the CEO and key executives as they work overtime to build confidence with investors, customers and employees. A Call for More Empathy Speed and stress are the natural enemies of thoughtful strategy development. Yet, we can’t make the world simpler, nor slow it down. Each year typically brings only higher performance expectations, changing and conflicting priorities, tighter budgets and a perceived decrease in the available “time to decision.” While it’s tempting to imagine the answer is to simply think faster, even the smartest minds have their limits. The effective strategist has a natural platform for encouraging the team to pause, reflect, and step back — even for just a few moments — to consider the broader implications of upcoming decisions. Having a shared sense of vision, values, purpose and principles is the starting point for taming the complexity. These are “north stars” that help us guide strategic decisions. What else can we do? We can dial up our collective empathy. While this skill comes more naturally to some individuals than others, everyone can try harder to see the world through their colleagues’ eyes. From empathy comes deeper understanding, and a clearer path to achieving alignment and momentum. We might believe we now have less time to be empathetic — but that’s not an excuse. We can all find enough time to understand what our colleagues are thinking and feeling. As the poet Maya Angelou said, “I think we all have empathy. We may not have enough courage to display it.” My advice: Be courageous.
“The ability to quickly internalize your colleagues’ mindsets and pressure points has become an essential skill that can play a big role in elevating the strategist’s craft from good to great.”
¹ Thomas L. Friedman, Thank You for Being Late (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2016); pages 28-35. ² McChrystal, Stanley. Team of Teams: New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World (Penguin, 2015). Acknowledgement Republished with permission from Knowledge@ Wharton (http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu), the online research and business analysis journal of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. 51
WHAT MAKES FOR INCLUSIVE WORKING CULTURES
BENJAMIN KESSLER, CLARISSA CORTLAND AND ZOE KINIAS
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ender imbalance in the workplace is not confined to the gender pay gap or number of women vs. men in senior leadership positions. It also has to do with subtler yet deeper cultural cues about who belongs and who doesn’t. For the most part, organisational cultures do not yet meet the needs of a gender-balanced workforce. Not only do mental models of brilliance and leadership mostly skew male, but policies and practices are also largely holdovers from an era when male-dominated professional contexts were unquestionably normative. Expected to “prove themselves” within a system that holds them to double standards, women often justifiably feel set up to fail. As a result, too many women burn out or secondguess their own suitability for leadership roles. The underutilisation and departure of valuable female talent come at a heavy cost to companies. The second annual Women at Work conference, held in March on INSEAD’s Asia campus in Singapore, featured a session of research talks titled “Visibility & Fit”, which explored actions organisations can take to address this problem. The presenters’ research-based insights suggest that proactively developing gender balance is critical to organisations evolving with the times. It is also a priceless opportunity to nurture leaders in a way that benefits everyone, just when the race for top talent is intensifying globally. Visual representation Biased beliefs about what professional roles women fit are deeply embedded in decision making. Unconscious gender bias can affect our split-second sensory responses to another person. UCLA Professor Kerri L. Johnson presented findings from her research on visual representation and gender fit. Johnson focused primarily on Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields, where stable and well-paid jobs are expected to be increasingly concentrated in the coming years. In this STEM context, women are dramatically underrepresented around the world. When Johnson and her team showed study participants images of men and women and asked which were likely to be in a STEM career vs. non-STEM (or administrative assistants in STEM firms), men were assumed far more often to have STEM careers. This confirmed the prevalence of the assumption that STEM is a place for men. ceo-mag.com / Spring/Summer 2019
Beyond this, there is a more surprising finding. When Johnson’s team displayed faces of men and women that ranged widely in gender typicality, or the extent to which they looked masculine or feminine, she found that the masculinity or femininity of the face significantly predicted perceived suitability for STEM within genders as well. More masculine-looking men were judged more likely to work and succeed in STEM than men with less masculine appearances. Women with very feminine faces were seen as less STEM-worthy than those with less feminine facial features. For organisations, having a diverse group of role models – in terms of gender, appearance and occupational role – can revise people’s automatic assumptions and associations regarding gender and competence. There is robust research evidence that “changing exemplars changes the evaluations we make of other people”, Johnson said.
“Research shows that women (and it is almost solely women) who adopt flexi-work suffer significant career penalties for appearing to back away from work commitments.”
Improving quotas Numerical representation is obviously crucial as well. Gender diversity in currently male-dominated fields such as STEM and top business management will eventually become normalised when it is more common. That is one argument for gender quotas, such as Germany’s and Malaysia’s requirements of 30 percent female representation on supervisory boards of public companies and California’s mandate that women hold at least 40 percent of directorships on listed companies by 2021. Through quotas, advocates hope to create opportunities for women aspiring to lead and also encourage women to aim higher than they otherwise would. However, Christa Nater, a PhD candidate at the University of Bern, has found that the way quotas work is hardly that simple. Nater conducted a study with her collaborator and session discussant, Professor Sabine Sczesny, also from the University of Bern. In it, male and female management students read one of four different versions of mock job ads for leadership positions. One ad didn’t mention gender. Another described a policy of preferential hiring with a 40 percent gender quota. One ad explicitly invited “qualified women” to apply. A fourth ad mentioned preferential policies for “equally qualified women” with no quota. Only this last ad changed how women saw themselves in relation to the position advertised. The authors concluded that granting women preferential treatment in hiring works best when requirements other than gender are also emphasised. When 53
women feel that their gender may simply be an additional asset on top of their skills and abilities, rather than (as is usually the case) a liability, they can be more motivated to strive for leadership positions. The authors also noted that when women are made to feel that their gender constitutes the core of their advantage – as can be the danger with quotas – the encouragement effect in the study above was basically nil. Additional studies compared management students’ leadership aspirations after reviewing a corporate website featuring a story about a merit-based woman leader, a quota-based woman leader (with and without later success), or no information about a female leader (control group). The merit-based description boosted women’s interest in leadership positions relative to the control group, with no effect on the men. The quota description without later success, on the other hand, did not increase women’s aspiration, and reduced that of men. The quota effects were improved when the leader was subsequently successful in her role. Men’s aspirations were not reduced and women's aspirations were increased, despite the leader’s initial selection based on a quota. The answer, Nater said, is not to dispense with quotas, but rather to ensure that qualifications and performance are communicated as crucial selection criteria, especially when quotas or similar mandates are implemented. For example, one way to effectively signal the qualifications of women would be to explicitly communicate the use of “merit-based quotas”. Global mindsets Fitting in is a fraught concept for women with working lives across multiple cultures. They have learned to understand and benefit from the challenges and opportunities of standing out in a cultural context. INSEAD Organisational Behaviour Emeritus Professor Linda Brimm has done years of research following professionals (of both genders) with hybrid cultural identities, whom she calls “Global Cosmopolitans”. Multinational employers can misunderstand these professionals and categorise them narrowly as mobile game pieces to be shifted around the global chessboard. But Brimm says they have much more than their mobility to offer organisations. They possess a problemsolving skillset and a change-ready mindset, derived from a long history of cross-cultural bridge-building. Each move can feel like creating a new chapter in a life story, and this can involve a decision to return to a place called home. This choice can be particularly difficult for women, 54
highlighting the difference between their global perspective and the local perspective back home. Brimm told the story of a woman with Korean heritage whose repatriation left her feeling like an anomaly, as an unmarried non-mother in her thirties. Yet the pull of family and passion to make a difference gave her the motivation to turn this challenge into an opportunity. When they want to position themselves for high-level leadership, Global Cosmopolitans can count on their ability to effectively communicate what they bring to the table. And leaders can enable dialogue with Global Cosmopolitans, value their difference and convey their value. Brimm says, “Organisations that confine executives by limiting their ability to see who they are and who they can be will lose key players unless they are able to listen and learn.” Working from home As workplaces continue to evolve, the need for knowledge workers to come into the office every day is increasingly scrutinised. Yet a certain amount of conspicuous facetime is still considered essential for aspiring leaders. For women, who even in relatively egalitarian contexts are doing most of the management of the home, housework and childcare, this obligation creates constant tensions between work and family life. Some organisations have tried to address the problem by introducing flexible working options, such as job sharing, compressed work-weeks and reduced working hours with pro-rated pay. But research shows that ceo-mag.com / Spring/Summer 2019
“Gender imbalance in the workplace is not confined to the gender pay gap or number of women vs. men in senior leadership positions.”
women (and it is almost solely women) who adopt flexi-work suffer significant career penalties for appearing to back away from work commitments. Evidence suggests working women are aware of this and often feel compelled to reject flexi-work as a consequence. Professor Eliot Sherman of London Business School recently explored a potential alternative. Partnering with a life sciences company based in the U.K., he launched a four-week experiment whereby employees could work remotely as much as they wanted during randomly assigned weeks. Unlike formalised flexi-work, men and women (both parents and non-parents) chose to work remotely about two days per week. According to surveys completed by all employees after each week, working from home had no effect on the total number of hours worked, compared to in-office weeks. However, the ceo-mag.com / Spring/Summer 2019
vast majority of employees felt that they were more productive when they were allowed to work remotely at their discretion. This effect was largest for mothers, who also experienced a meaningful reduction in conflict between work and family demands. According to employees that Sherman subsequently interviewed, working from home helped mainly by restoring time that would otherwise be spent commuting (many mothers’ commutes are lengthened by school pick-ups and drop-offs), avoiding the social distractions that are rife in office environments, and allowing people to catch up on sleep. These interviews also suggested that employees did not wish to work remotely for more than a few days per week, due to concerns about social isolation. With broad appeal and especially positive impacts for working mothers, the success of discretionary remote working in Sherman’s context suggests that solutions that improve gender balance can also improve working lives for everyone. Interventions to explore The above research points to some possible interventions for resolving conflicts between women’s gender and working identities, so that they can fully contribute to their organisations and receive commensurate recognition. The big takeaway is that organisations would benefit by implementing interventions that target women’s obstacles and concerns, without over-emphasising gender in ways that call attention to gender differences or solidify gender stereotypes.
Biographies Benjamin Kessler is Managing Editor for INSEAD Knowledge. Clarissa Cortland is a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at INSEAD. Zoe Kinias is an Associate Professor of Organisational Behaviour at INSEAD and the Academic Director of INSEAD’s Gender Initiative. Acknowledgement This article is republished courtesy of INSEAD Knowledge (http://knowledge. insead.edu). Copyright INSEAD 2019. 55
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