Driving Leadership Potential

Lifetime Learning Options
Savvy business professionals have always recognized the need for lifetime learning to stay at the top of their game. They attend conferences in their area of expertise, read trade magazines, and keep up with business trends through popular business magazines. Despite these efforts, they may plateau as they rise to higher levels of responsibility within their organizations. They may lack the vocabulary to manage across different business disciplines, or be missing the skills to evaluate larger business risks and opportunities. Nan Plummer, Arkansas Arts Center Director and Ross MBA ’03, recognized this need to expand her business literacy and add a business degree to her already impressive list of credentials which included a Ph.D. “What drove me to get an MBA at this point in my career was the need for a bigger toolkit. Even in a non-profit setting, we still compete in the same markets, we still manage people. Within the context of the work experience itself, I’d gone as far as I could go, and I need to give myself a boost to get ahead,” noted Plummer.

As executives’ needs for education and skill-building have evolved, business schools have developed a broad variety of programs to develop business professionals. These programs divide very broadly into executive education (non-degree) courses and degree programs. Executive education courses are typically designed to build single skills through a three to five day program, covering topics such as the basics of finance or insights into supply chain management. These courses are most-often designed to stand alone; they develop literacy in a specific discipline rather than general management competency. The advantage to executive education is the limited time away from work; executives can update a few key skills while still attending to the day-to-day needs of their business.

Degree programs are, by their nature, more inter-disciplinary experiences. MBAs are expected to have a deep, cross-functional understanding of business that allows them to develop integrated strategies. MBA programs are typically targeted to build the following capabilities in their graduates:

• An ability to analyze cross-disciplinary business challenges and make strategic choices.
• An increased understanding of global business and opportunities.
• A toolset to understand how to apply business theory in practice.
• An increased self-assurance and ability to lead teams and tackle new challenges.

Traditional MBA programs require up to two years of intense study in residence at the college or university. This limits the appeal of these programs among the executive set, as they are understandably unwilling to leave their careers to pursue an education for two years. Traditional MBAs are often targeted at people with approximately four-five years of work experience, and can not meet the needs of the executive participant.

John O. Renken, a partner in Hawkins Delafield & Wood LLP and Ross MBA ’04, was one of those candidates whose needs were not met by the traditional MBAs. John was not just ready to get his MBA after twelve years of law practice – it was a practical requirement. John noted that, “Our clients expect us to quickly understand their business and help them explore their options. I knew that broad-based understanding would be best developed through a degree program. Nevertheless, with two preschool children and a demanding law practice, a traditional MBA program just wasn’t in the cards.”

Executive MBA programs are designed to better meet the needs of actively working professionals. These individuals often enter the program with eight or more years of work experience, with significant management and supervisory backgrounds. The programs are designed to be flexible yet rigorous, allowing participants to continue to work while they purse their degree. One advantage of this is that Executive MBA participants can apply what they learn as they learn it – there is an almost immediate workplace benefit.

Benefits of Executive MBAs
Executive MBA programs were developed to blend the flexible aspects of executive education with the integrated curriculum of a full degree program. While they share all the benefits of traditional MBA programs, there are some unique benefits to the Executive MBA format.

Strategic Focus
Executive MBA participants typically have more experience than their traditional MBA counterparts, and their jobs are at higher levels within their organizations. Put another way, Executive MBAs are typically consumers of information rather than producers. Executive MBA programs recognize this difference by focusing more on the strategic aspects of a business discipline, rather than how that information is assembled. For example, a traditional MBA program might focus on how financial accounting information is gathered and presented – an Executive MBA program concentrates on how to understand that information and derive strategic options.

Outstanding Faculty
Faculty often vie to teach in Executive MBA programs, because the extensive interaction with these students is very stimulating and academically challenging. This results in the Executive MBA programs getting some of the best faculty that an institution has to offer, senior faculty with extensive consulting experiences and applied research. These faculty know how to teach an executive audience, and generate business insights that can be immediately applied.

Integrative Courses with a Single Cohort
Many Executive MBA programs are “lock-step” programs; a cohort of students enters the program together and all take a integrated curriculum that is designed for the executive audience. This yields two benefits for the Executive MBA participant. First, the integrated format allows faculty to better adapt their courses to integrate with other business disciplines. Faculty know precisely what course material has already been taught, so they can build off of other faculty’s syllabi and create an understanding of the business gestalt. Businesses don’t function in silos, and neither should an effective executive-level curriculum. Second, the students learn from one another as well, developing business perspectives and understandings from other industries and types of businesses, including non-profit and government entities. Schools work hard to ensure the diversity of the class cohort. Michigan’s Ross School, for example, strives to accept no more than two candidates from any firm per cohort (and typically only one), and draws in leading non-profit sector students through a generous scholarship program. This approach to admissions has resulted in over fifty different companies being represented in a cohort of sixty students, working together to develop business knowledge. Don McMonagle, former NASA shuttle commander and Ross MBA ’03 notes, “We have sought and achieved a deeper understanding of the business environment than calculations and bottom lines – an understanding of the spectrum of elements that support sustained success, an understanding that will serve us well when we are seated at the boardroom table. We are now collectively aiming to achieve new heights, to fly higher in the realm of business than we originally envisioned.”

Flexible Program Formats
Executive MBA programs can be offered in a broad array of formats which makes them more practical for working executives. While some programs are entirely online, many programs use a “blended learning” approach – incorporating residential time on campus as well as distance learning. The time between residencies varies widely – from just a few days to several months. Picking a format is a delicate balancing act for programs. Schools want the students together for group learning and faculty interaction, but more widely spaced residential sessions allow for a broader geographic diversity in the student body and an easier work-life-school balance. Michigan’s Ross School chose a one weekend per month format for its Executive MBA program, providing opportunities for students from around the world to participate in the program. Laurie Spencer, Flint Ink Vice-President and Ross MBA ’06 notes, “The once-per-month format and the ability to participate from remote locations allowed me to work on my degree no matter where I was in the world. The program allowed me to earn a world-class MBA while maintaining my personal and professional life.”

Technology Makes Learning Possible
Executive MBA program often use technology to bridge the gap between time in residence at the school and time spent away, freeing students to engage their MBA more asynchronously. Michigan’s Ross School uses a broad variety of technologies to provide a great learning experience. Program and course websites keep MBAs up-to-date on their studies, and provide opportunities to interact with faculty when students are away. Interactive simulations allow students to test their understanding of a subject area in a fluid and competitive marketplace. Digital libraries, backed by skilled research librarians in Ann Arbor, ensure that students access to current business data and literature is second-to-none, no matter their location. Dedicated collaboration servers and software suites keep student teams connected to one another, and provide a common meeting place even when students are separated by oceans.

Perhaps the most challenging element of a blended learning program for faculty is the delivery of curriculum. As Professor Susan Ashford, Professor of Management and Organizations notes, “You can’t learn to negotiate via CD.” Faculty in Executive MBA programs have learned to organize their courses differently than they might if all content were delivered in person. Faculty learn to segregate those topics which can be explained through a static medium, and those which are better delivered live. Professor Ashford continues, “By using a CD to present introductory material, we gain time to work directly with students on their negotiation skills.” This segregation of material often allows for improved learning opportunities. Students that have difficulty with a subject can easily review it again, and faculty can provide supplemental lectures that can provide insight into special topics for interested students.

Building the Complete Leadership Package
While all Executive MBAs build the analytical and strategic capabilities of their graduates, fewer work to build the softer skills required to lead from the top of the corporate ladder. Leading business publications have identified several areas in which top leaders need to be developed, including working with analysts, media relations and managing corporate boards. Traditional MBA courses don’t cover these subjects, but they’re critical to effective corporate leaders. Michigan’s Ross School of Business has tackled these and other “Professional Development” challenges with a series of individual consultations and customized workshops that develop the required skill sets and challenge participants to think and act like leaders.

Ross’ Media Relations workshop is lead by Tony Collings, an Emmy award winning journalist and former bureau chief in Bonn, London and Rome. Collings brings over thirty years of experience as a practicing journalist into the classroom, teaching the students how best to create favorable relationships with the media. In this multi-day workshop, students are surrounded by lights, sound equipment and cameras, and get experience handling both low-pressure inquiries, like product announcements, and high-pressure “attack” interviews, like those seen occasionally on CBS’ 60 Minutes. This knowledge was recently put to use by Lance Pilch, a Major in the USAF and Ross MBA ’06, “I was recently featured in a documentary about the F-22 Raptor. Because of the professional development program, specifically the media relations class, I was calm, cool, and collected. The course has also helped me deal with the press and field difficult questions from reporters. The EMBA program has made me more effective as I play a more prominent role in the US Air Force.”

Picking the Right Program
There are few wrong choices for educating your employees, but some choices are better than others. If you’re just trying to build a few key skills, non-degree programs offer a cornucopia of courses to choose from, in all the disciplines. Custom course programs can also be designed for larger groups, to develop a set of skills in a group of participants.

When you’re developing a mid-career professional into an executive position, we recommend that you consider a full degree program. These programs offer integrated experiences that develop the full array of business leadership skills, including the soft skills executives need to succeed. With over 240 Executive MBAs offered around the world, some will fit better than others. When considering Executive MBA programs, you should of course consider the school’s reputation, as well as the program format and curriculum to see how well it fits your candidate. We also recommend that you examine the demographics of the participants; as much of the learning in a MBA program comes from the other participants as it does the faculty. Finally, keep in mind that the right school for one candidate might not be right for another.