Tag: business school guidance

Society informs us that we should be able to become a business owner by ourselves, by studying YouTube videos and learning from the “school of life.” But while there are more learning resources available to us than ever before thanks to digital media, a program of study can still provide an exceptional launchpad for pursuing business and career goals.

So what can entrepreneurs actually gain from earning an MBA degree? How can an MBA help an entrepreneur build the best business they can?

How MBA programs aid aspiring and experienced entrepreneurs

Is an MBA worth it for entrepreneurs? This is a question we often face at Olin Business School. People who are creating businesses from scratch will wonder if they’re better off learning on the job or whether an MBA could offer their business a kick start.

First of all, an MBA degree can give aspiring leaders a mindset for business. Growing a company is more than an occupation, and Olin lives and breathes entrepreneurial spirit. The MBA isn’t just about learning how to solve a problem; it’s about examining the problem inside out, learning to love it and finding fulfillment in the solving of it.

Working on a startup idea while earning an MBA is an amazing combination. It gives you access to a willing alumni network to help, troubleshoot and crowdsource. It takes a village to raise a business, and you have a much better chance of finding a cofounder when you are surrounded by others with similar interests and who are in the same stage of their careers.

Does an MBA help you start a business? Absolutely. It all starts with developing a mindset. After that, the resources and tools we can give you as you build your entrepreneurial life are second to none.

What specific features of the Olin MBA can help entrepreneurs?

Olin’s MBA program is tuned into entrepreneurship and many of our features are purpose-built to help students form startups, not just learn about them. Here are a few noteworthy characteristics:

Famous for Hatchery

Olin has an entrepreneurship platform built purposefully to give students experiences of pitching venture capital, founding a company and getting ideas out onto the international stage. Students in Hatchery can work with experienced entrepreneurs to evolve a business plan, form a startup, and present their ventures to investors and venture capital experts. Since the Hatchery course was founded, the companies launched inside its incubator walls have raised a combined $87 million.

An eye for innovation

Olin itself is an environment that rewards and seeks innovation. Entrepreneurs will find that there are multiple courses in which you can workshop your own ideas. Take ideas further and you can enter pre-seed venture capital funds and competitions focused on student ideas. Olin’s BIG IdeaBounce® is one such opportunity—an elevator-pitch contest open to all WashU students. The Arch Grants is another competition that students regularly participate in, this time for a business plan. The winners receive $75,000 in startup grants to get their ideas off the ground.

A global edge

While the regional environment gives students plenty to get involved in, other opportunities draw them further afield to gain international business experience. Olin’s Venture Consulting in Israel and Berlin elective, for example, brings students the experience of startup consulting through a global lens. Through the CEL Entrepreneurial Consulting Team course, students can spend a semester working with early-stage startups in St. Louis, New York, San Francisco, and various international locations.

Local power

The entrepreneurial spirit of Olin is immersive. St. Louis is a highly entrepreneurial environment, and students of the MBA program can benefit from Olin’s connections beyond the classroom. Local entrepreneurs and executives are involved in many of our courses. Our Center for Experiential Learning is designed with this kind of on-the-ground mentorship in mind. Students can study consulting courses that take you inside an entrepreneurial venture and connect to innovation communities such as Cortex and T-REX, which are dedicated to powering local startups.

Our courses at Olin—from Venture Capital Methods to Acquisition Entrepreneurship to Managing the Innovation Process—show how invested and excited we are by the entrepreneurial world. You may think that as an entrepreneur, you need to “go it alone.” You do not. In a supported program full of opportunities to gain real-world experience, you could find a solid foothold for the next step of your career.

As a society driven by information, the data available for us to collect has amassed at breakneck speeds. More data is within our reach to analyze than ever before, and organizations have to learn to collect and analyze much more data than they have previously. Informed leaders of organizations are learning to value data to make data-driven decisions for their customers, clients or students.

In previous generations, managers led employees by gut instinct and industry wisdom. A lot can be said for the value of this approach, but with the analysis of data, industry leaders are realizing the benefits of data-driven decision-making instead of ruling by gut and wisdom alone.

Becoming data-driven as an organization takes a bit of elbow grease. While you can start by running a few reports and using those to educate your decisions, you’ll need to fold the idea of data-driven decision-making into your business to receive the full benefits. As the strategic IT advisor for InterVision Jeffrey Ton put it, “Strong data governance, data literacy throughout the entire organization, an understanding of your biases and your willingness to shift your culture create the pillars of a data-driven organization.”

Industry exemplars leading by example

Leading your business through any transformation can come with growing pains. The shift in culture doesn’t always come easily, and, with so much information, you can be overwhelmed just wondering where to begin. The first bump in the road often comes from getting leadership on board, as any decision can lead to a large financial endeavor to purchase equipment, train employees, etc. Once leaders get on board, they must recruit their employees to understand data-driven decision-making and begin speaking its common language.

United Parcel Service stands out as a prime example of a company that relies heavily on data-driven decisions. On a typical day, UPS handles 25.2 million packages. Their interactive bot can answer customer requests and take steps to respond to them, and their ORION system creates optimal routes for deliveries. If weather, accidents or other factors alter the best route, ORION alerts everyone involved, from air traffic controllers to drivers. 

An example more local to Olin’s community is Schnucks, the St. Louis grocery chain where 1.4 million shoppers have a loyalty ID. That allows Schnucks to analyze customer shopping habits. This data then governs what kind of customized promotions they send customers.

Olin’s data-driven decision-making is a central focus for students

Since its introduction, Olin’s Values-Based, Data-Driven Decision-Making course has become one of our most successful. The core idea is that future leaders will always need to consider the values of their company, what’s best for their employees and what the data indicates is best to find their answers.

As a modern leader, you’ll have to find the balance between making decisions that best support stakeholders, society, the community your business operates in, your employees and more. This course assists students in learning how to evaluate values and data so they can become successful leaders who make decisions that address everyone depending on them.

The faculty at Olin Business School demonstrated the principles of data-driven decision-making at the Brookings Institution in Washington, DC, on April 27, 2022. Six faculty members created a predictive system that uses machine learning to advise pharmaceutical distributors about potentially misdirected opioid orders using data provided and maintained by the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

With the data from this highly-accurate prediction tool, the Olin Brookings Commission designed 14 policy recommendations that would allow near-real-time detection of opioid shipments being diverted through supply-chain blind spots. The faculty, who demonstrated leadership in a global environment, hope to continue to improve the AI-powered detection system to even flag nonprescription opioid shipments and save even more lives from overdose with the help of the DEA.

The techniques of leaders have largely remained the same in recent decades. But with the advent of technology capable of processing data that can deliver in-depth insights about customers, employees and company partners, new studies show the majority of leadership and employee interactions are projected to be powered by data by 2025. If you’re ready to be a leader who can embrace the new changes in technology and leverage them to the benefit of your employees, then an MBA might be the perfect stepping stone for you.

What makes a great MBA program? Famous faculty? Dynamic students? A state-of-the-art library of learning resources? When students are figuring out what to look for in an MBA program, they need a mixture of qualities and features that will signal that they’ve uncovered a great, high-quality online experience.

At Olin Business School, we’ve discovered a lot about what makes a successful program. It boils down to a handful of key elements. These elements encompass great faculty, great students, great support and great technology. Each of these elements feeds back to the others. A diverse group of students enriches the faculty’s teaching and draws world-class educators to the campus. A great support team aids the digital surface of an online program. And so on.

The PRINCE and PRINCESS model

Are you wondering how to choose an online MBA program? When sifting through online MBA program requirements, there are a few key elements to look out for. These elements contribute to a student’s experience of an MBA and combine to boost the overall value of this kind of learning.

P is for Personal

A great online program connects a student to the faculty. Faculty members are so present and involved in the student’s ideas that they feel like friends by the end of the program. An MBA that uses video regularly to film faculty and connect cohorts together will succeed in making their program more immersive and social.

R is for Rich

In a dynamic program, students aren’t sitting in front of their screens hour after hour, watching PowerPoint presentations and screencasts. The ideal program will give you a variety of media and interactions to experience. You will meet a variety of faculty members and practitioners, and you will complete a variety of challenging tasks. This is the foundation of a rich experience.

I is for Interactive

Learning business is not a spectator sport. You may be sitting in your bedroom or your study, but you will actively be engaging with course materials and interacting with fellow students, faculty, quizzes and discussions. A complete range of interactive learning methods and modules helps students engage thoughtfully with their own ideas.

N is for Networking

A great program helps a student build a working network of friends, mentors and collaborators—people who will support and join that student’s business ventures into the future. In an online MBA, students work in groups with people who come from a very broad geographical and cultural reach, establishing this diverse mix of friends and helpers.

C is for Communication

Communication is a vital element of any program but especially an online one. From live Zoom sessions to lectures to time for questions, an online MBA needs to carefully bring together spontaneous, “in the room” discussions and give students an opportunity to think and respond with their best ideas.

E is for Engagement

Engagement is what should naturally follow from all of the above elements. Get communication, networking, interactivity, rich variety and personalization in place, and the MBA program can’t help but entice and engage its students.

Two more points to add

There are two further points we can add to really drive home our MBA’s effectiveness and turn this PRINCE into a PRINCESS:

S is for Smart

In today’s world, “smart” no longer refers to aptness; to succeed in the world of business requires an education in data and digital technology. A smart MBA uses the power of data and digital tools to make the program more intuitive and engaging. Technology allows faculty to check in on students who haven’t used the platform or haven’t been engaged, and it allows them to ask how they can help in a personalized and direct way.

S is for Simple

The final letter of our model refers to the simplicity it takes to make a learning program clear and easy to use, while still challenging students academically and professionally. We aim for our technology and materials to provide clear water through which our students can learn to swim.

Are online MBA programs credible? Absolutely. An online MBA is a different animal from an in-person, on-campus program, even though it will be based on the same foundational courses and components. A great online program needs to be dedicated to making a continued, significant investment in a center of digital education. Done correctly, online learning provides an engaging, supportive education while breaking down the traditional barriers that have held back our education system for so long. And that’s where Olin shines.

When you’re leading a modern organization, you’re not just expected to focus on profits. More and more, purpose is playing a huge role in corporate navigation. This is why investing in leadership development that’s built on future-forward principles—including values-based, data-driven decision-making—has become a critical must-have for anyone seeking an MBA.

The benefits of creating a purpose-driven organization are becoming clearer by the day. Leaders who fold a sense of value into everything they do can enhance employee engagement, increase innovation and drive revenue. It’s a matter of being able to combine System 1 and System 2 thinking, something that takes practice and attention but can achieve huge successes.

If you’re unfamiliar with System 1 and System 2 thinking, they represent each side of the values-based, data-driven decision-making concept. System 1 thinking is gut-driven, whereas System 2 thinking is evidence-based and analytic. Many leaders end up leaning toward System 1 thinking, and that’s not a bad thing. Someone who’s been in the trenches for 30 years should have a good nose for the right solutions. However, new and seasoned leaders can both benefit from using System 2 thinking to back up their knee-jerk System 1 instincts.

When you’ve been trained in values-based, data-driven decision-making, you learn how to effectively merge the best-of-best properties of System 1 and System 2 thinking styles. For instance, a values-based, data-driven leader knows that leadership isn’t about mindlessly going with the algorithms, although those algorithms are critical, and that going with what they think is right might not turn out to be right for everyone.

The leader understands how to couple objective information with the values of the organization and its people—as well as the community and the customers it serves. This means that the data might support the decision you want to make and just reaffirms your gut instinct or the data might contradict the decision you think is best—leading you to do some more digging for a better solution.

Leaders who exemplify the future of leadership development

There are a few notable leaders around who are able to see the big picture through a values-based, data-driven leadership view. Marc Benioff at Salesforce leverages his Silicon Valley roots in that he’s tech-savvy and attentive to evidence. He’s outspoken about social issues, community causes and more. So he exhibits a holistic understanding of how to lead with thoughtfulness and integrity.

Another leader who has combined values and data for decades is Warren Buffet. Though his charitable side may seem to sit separately from his business side, they combine well to give him a high degree of authority, trust and respect.

Traditional MBA programs didn’t put a high degree of emphasis on delivering values-based, data-driven leadership classes in the past. Now, an MBA program must focus on cultivating this type of leadership in order to best prepare students to be successful leaders. At WashU Olin Business School, students can expect that we will focus on guiding students in the interplay and integration of combining values and evidence through their MBA courses to prepare them to be leaders ready for the future of business management.

What a values-based, data-driven MBA looks like

What does all this mean in concrete terms? At the Center for Analytics and Business Insights, we work with about five companies that come to us with problems containing strong data components they’re trying to solve, like pricing product lines or managing supply chains. Our student teams head up these projects and analyze the data to find solutions. Historically, this has resulted in ecstatic companies and students walking away with real experience solving problems that they might face as leaders of their own organizations.

Sometimes a problem will need a more values-based solution backed by data. For example, we ask students if the solution could somehow be guided by a bigger purpose, such as making the company a better corporate citizen. This makes sure our MBA cohort can experiment with solving leadership issues using ethics or values as well as data.

Last year, Olin’s MBA students worked with Schnucks, a local grocery chain. Schnucks wanted to better serve its customers who shopped at stores that were economically disadvantaged. Students kept this corporate citizenship angle in mind as they poured over data related to food stamps versus other payment options.

This year, our students will work with Reinsurance Group of America, Incorporated. RGA is working on the Longevity Research Program with Olin that has the potential to be able to predict COVID deaths or deaths related to other illnesses. This program focuses on research that can help predict the morbidity of patients with life-shortening diseases. Their goal is to help improve disease prognosis and prevent the disease entirely.

While projects that students can participate in may look at different companies’ efforts, each provides a unique take on values-based, data-driven decision-making. Our hope is to expand the horizons of our students so that they can see there isn’t just one way to look at values and data.

Future-forward leaders: Doing what’s right and responsible

Leaders today and tomorrow are going to be expected to wear a “values hat.” They’ll need to have a keen understanding of the relationship between data and values, and they’ll be expected to make important decisions with confidence. That’s not a small feat but it’s a doable one for MBA program graduates who’ve been trained on techniques like System 1 and System 2 thinking.

So why invest in leadership development at Olin? Values and data are part of our school’s nerve center. It gives our students the chance to dive into exciting research that may have far-reaching consequences. If you’d like to be a future leader and you’re ready to learn from dedicated faculty, you’re in the right place.

Pictured above: Olin’s Seethu Seetharaman leads the first morning in a two-day workshop focused on “values-based, data-driven decision-making” for board members of the Center for Analytics and Business Insights.

Any leader has overcome a lot to be where they are today. They have learned many things the hard way—from hiring to economics to coping with personal burnout. But today’s leaders need more than grit, determination and even expertise to survive and succeed in our rapidly evolving digital world. The incredible pace of digital innovation today means leaders must constantly work to understand the ever-changing landscape of technologies that surround them.

In previous generations, it was acceptable to be a leader who couldn’t use a cellphone. Now, being technologically distant is not an option. What’s more, today’s leaders can’t just be technology enthusiasts themselves; they need to bring their whole team to the front line with them and cultivate an attitude of lifelong learning. In many cases, that means leading by example and going back to school—even as a seasoned professional—to get an MBA.

What is the value of an MBA degree in the technological future?

To make the most of on-the-job experience, a leader must become a student again. An MBA program gives you the frameworks and tools to quickly understand the world you operate in. It also gives you the practice using those tools to prepare you for the crucial decisions you’ll make in this disruptive new world and for the (sometimes heavy) responsibilities that accompany the era of digital transformation.

Facing the revolution

Part of being a leader is realizing that you have little control over the way the world shifts around you. There will always be another crisis you’ll need to respond to and another industry development that takes over the established methods in your business. The value of an MBA degree is that it teaches you how to handle the unexpected, no matter what the context is.

Managing your own growth

It’s one thing to learn how to manage a team, but in the rapidly changing business world, it’s equally important to manage your team’s learning and development. Understanding how you and others learn will be a key factor in making new technologies work for you. That could mean empowering yourself or someone on your team to learn Python, A/B testing, or techniques for data visualization, for example, to extract insights from the mounting volumes of data now available for managers. It could mean setting stretch goals that you never thought of before, goals that induce the growth your team needs to excel.

Acquiring confidence using new technologies

Thriving in this era will require confidence, not just competence. The value of an MBA degree is that it can show leaders that technologies aren’t as scary or challenging as they seem on the news. Although technology definitely changes how business gets done, it doesn’t change the core principles that make a business successful—delighted customers, operational efficiency and prudent financing. Seeing these core principles in action across multiple companies, industries and generations of technologies in their MBA coursework gives leaders the confidence to remain undaunted in the face of the opportunities and challenges that current era’s technologies bring.

Making failure part of the process

Learning how to manage and accept failure is part of every leader’s journey. The sooner and more willingly they learn, the sooner they’ll be able to take on new technologies and master them as part of their business plan. A positive relationship with failure breeds resilience and agility. An MBA classroom discussion led by an insightful instructor and filled with bright students is a perfect place for leaders to test ideas and deepen their understanding.

What does it mean to embrace innovative leadership?

Consider the example of Patrick Moreton, a professor of practice in strategy and management. He came into the workforce in 1984, at around the same time that the PC did. Then, everyone had an inkling that this technology would be very important to the future of their business, but many people were still tentative to learn about it. He got hired as a management consultant because none of the senior partners had typing skills. They didn’t want to deal with this new language, and he did.

Today’s leaders need to cultivate their own digital knowledge and expertise while they investigate how digital transformation can impact their organization in the near future. First, this means being a high-potential leader. A can-do attitude goes a long way; if you’re the kind of leader that values continuous learning then you can adapt to new and complex technologies.

Secondly, it’s about acknowledging experience as the source of learning and development. A leader needs to get in the weeds of technology and learn to trust their own experience. From the devices themselves to the software that runs on them, leaders need to collect real-world experience with tools and how they work.

From here, they can start understanding analytics, which will be key to making smarter managerial decisions and sifting through the massive amounts of data every business now owns to find productive truths. The business of the past was run on a handed-down, instinctive knowledge. The business of the future will be led by data-powered decisions.

We know 2022 wasn’t the easiest year for business leaders. On paper, it was been a nightmare—from the Great Resignation to economic instability to the ongoing uncertainties of the pandemic. Leaders have had to navigate complex problems and adapt to new modes of working. However, while the recent past has presented challenges, it has also created incredible opportunities to lead.

How have recent challenges impacted leaders?

One of the main impacts of this tumultuous time has been a mass priority shift to address major concerns that were already on our radar but were magnified by the pandemic and the global events that followed. Priorities have shifted towards digitalization, talent retention, diversity and sustainability. And while these issues are taking up more room in leaders’ brains, the fight for sheer survival goes on as companies struggle to stay afloat, make supply chains work, and fulfill orders and obligations.

What does a business need from its leader right now?

First, a business leader needs the vision and ability to engage with the wider society. Today’s companies are judged by their ability to prioritize purpose and positively impact the world. Environmental, social and governance (ESG) standards have evolved enormously in recent years. Today, a business leader must practice values-based leadership. This requires a deep understanding of how the company affects the world around it, as well as how to turn that knowledge into a competitive edge.

Secondly, today’s managers need the ability and flexibility to cope with change and uncertainty. The era of exponential change is far from over; business leaders must know how to build resilient organizations and innovative business processes to survive and thrive in a constantly changing climate. Adapting to the remote-working mode, for example, and managing effectively in a virtual environment will be an ongoing challenge.

Lastly, a business leader must stay ahead of the technology game to successfully innovate and drive an organization forward. New technologies build economic value in an increasingly digital world, and the pandemic has highlighted how empowering remote and hybrid work can be in an uncertain time. Leaders who can leverage technologies like artificial intelligence and data science to make more effective decisions and foster a productive work environment will be best placed to weather the storms ahead.

These challenges have opened up opportunities for eager, ambitious leaders to evolve quickly. A landscape in which new obstacles are emerging daily is tough, but it also generates urgency and motivation for resilient organizations to learn, innovate and make positive changes.

What are the benefits of getting an MBA at this time?

An MBA program helps shape and educate leaders so that they are prepared for the world of tomorrow, to not only handle the challenges but also stay knowledgeable of the opportunities that can give their businesses competitive advantages.

The value of an MBA is heightened now, as we face massive leadership challenges. Here are just some of the ways effective global leadership and MBA value intertwine:

Developing responsible leaders.

A good business school can actively develop socially responsible leaders through scholarly research, teaching and outreach. Professors and members of the MBA program are busy devoting their research to sustainability-related issues in business, so students can benefit from all the practice-based managerial insights they generate.

One of the pillars of Olin’s MBA program is values-based, data-driven decision-making, and we even have a specific Values-Based and Data-Driven Decision-Making course, required for all students. Here, we show students how a values-based ethos can power a global perspective and drive business success while positively impacting the world.

Equipping students to make decisions amid uncertainty.

To navigate an ever-changing environment, business leaders need to master state-of-the-art decision tools and understand potential disruptions caused by new technologies. The value of an MBA is to equip students with practical coursework so that they can become experts in using analytical tools to make intelligent decisions and developing innovative solutions in today’s data-intensive business world.

Olin courses—both required and elective—are framed by the idea that we’re living in a digitally driven landscape, and that new technology will continue to offer up massive challenges and opportunities. As AI, 3D printing, big data, blockchain and cloud infrastructure continue to redefine the production and delivery of products and services, a new and evolved MBA is required.

Preparing to lead in a diverse and international environment.

The comprehensive curriculum of an MBA program will give students a holistic view of business organizations, including their complexity and the multifaceted challenges they may face. And while helping future leaders embrace holistic leadership principles internally, an MBA program also looks outward.

An internationalized MBA program like Olin’s provides a diverse, cross-cultural learning environment where students can develop the kinds of soft skills—like empathy, teamwork and communication—that will enable them to succeed in a global context. The world is shrinking. That’s why Olin’s Full-Time MBA emphasizes leading in a global context, connecting students to international business locations where they can spread their wings and test their learning on the ground.

With COVID-19 finally coming under control, it is time for business leaders to learn from the impacts of the pandemic, lead their organizations through the stages of recovery, and build strategic resilience for future uncertainties. Where there has been fear, there can now be hope as leaders expand their knowledge bases, acquire new skills and invent solutions to evolving problems.

Business leaders who have a growth mindset and can seize these learning opportunities will excel in tomorrow’s highly competitive and ever-changing business environment.

Pictured above: In 2019, first-year MBA students began their program abroad. Here, in Shanghai, they did field research in Chinese retail locations for a project emphasizing global business as part of the program.