Tag: EMBA

Confident in building relationships with the prisoners he was tasked to interrogate, Eric Maddox, current Executive MBA (Class 45) student and decorated veteran, credits innovation in interrogation techniques for the capture of Saddam Hussein. In 2003, while assigned to a Special Operations Task Force in Iraq, Maddox conducted over 300 interrogations and collected the intelligence which directly led to the capture of Saddam Hussein. Maddox shared his experience in Iraq at Olin’s Century Club speaker series on Jan. 28, 2016.

Capturing Saddam is the inside story of Maddox’s role as an interrogator in the intelligence gathering operations that led to the capture of Saddam Hussein.

The first current student to speak at Century Club, Maddox talked about being sent to the Middle East after being trained as a Chinese Mandarin linguist. Assigned as an interrogator, Maddox quickly realized he needed to change his tactics to gather intelligence. The biggest change was becoming an excellent listener, a tool every good negotiator should have according to Maddox.

Maddox told the audience in Emerson Auditorium, that innovation can be applied to any field when you have a passion and confidence in  your mission. The challenge is finding out where to change the process, or “find the pain,” the obstacle that is keeping others from changing with you.

Maddox found the obstacle to changing interrogation techniques and gathering intelligence in the Army. He utilized that information and shared it with his team. These tactics not only led to the capture of Saddam Hussein, the “Ace of Spades,” but also changed interrogation tactics used the US military.

Maddox is now integrating knowledge gained from Olin’s EMBA program into his work as a consultant to corporations, organizations, and individuals on interrogation and debriefing techniques.

Learn more about the EMBA program here.

Learn more about Eric Maddox here.

Julie Thiessen, EMBA 43, said she realized how valuable the program was soon after taking Financial Accounting. She said, “I was at lunch with some of the financial analysts, and they were talking about an issue with the way things were being accounted for that was affecting reporting. I stopped the conversation and said, ‘Hey, do you know what is happening right now? I not only understand what you’re talking about, but I’m participating.'”

When Julie started the EMBA in Fall of 2013, she was an IT Program Manager with limited exposure to many aspects of business operations.

Soon after graduating this past May, she was named Vice President for Strategic Initiatives at Prologis, a role in which she will be responsible for the business operations of the leading owner, operator and developer of industrial real estate, with global and regional markets across the Americas, Europe and Asia.

Although her trajectory was in progress when she started her MBA, she credits the program with helping her to hone the interpersonal elements of her management style that made her new position a good fit.

I talked to Julie after a few months into the program, then again after graduation. Early on, she was effusive about how much she was gaining personally from the program:

“I absolutely love it–the whole experience. I love the instructors, I love my classmates. I’m learning not just book material, but I’m growing from a personal perspective.  During “GO Week” we were one of the groups that struggled to get along, but I would not go back and change it. Yes, we still have butting heads, but now we can call each other out comfortably. We have learned how to really overcome such a huge hurdle. ”

After graduation, when asked if she had gotten out of the program what she hoped to, Julie hadn’t lost much enthusiasm, although she did admit to some senioritis. “I got more out of the program in some areas, and less in others.  To a certain extent that was self inflicted after ‘senioritis’ set in, but for me, what changed is my understanding of interpersonal dynamics. I am more aware of other people’s differences and am not as judgmental and dismissive.”

In her new role, Julie is taking on business operations responsibilities. “As the Brits say, I’m ‘minding the gap’, ” she said. “I’m working on those issues that come up that are business annoyances for them, and have downstream effects, but there is no one working on resolving the problems–the types of things that people complain about for years. I am identifying them, then prioritizing them for resolution. I’m not necessarily feet on the ground, but I’m figuring out how to fix them.”

Julie was working as a consultant at Prologis when the Director of the PMO she was working in asked what she planned to do after graduation. “I said I hadn’t had a lot of time to think about it, but that I wanted to move on beyond consulting and project management into the next step in the path to COO.  She said she could open a door for me in business operations, and within six minutes I’d heard back from the Senior Executive in charge that he was interested in talking to me.”

Did the EMBA make that happen? Julie isn’t sure, but credits the program with her improved people skills. She said, “I think it could have happened without the piece of paper, but possibly not at the level they hired me at. I might also have left the company last year without the training I got in interpersonal dynamics.”

Laura Tellmann, EMBA 43

Laura Tellmann, Executive MBA 43, was born in Missouri and was the first in her family to go to college. “My first day of the Introduction to Computers class was the first time I ever touched a computer,” Laura said.  Although a counselor in high school had encouraged her to study math and science based on a skills assessment, Laura still said it was by “sheer luck” she ended up a Computer Science major. “I love it,” she said.

After graduating from Missouri State University in three years, Laura went to work at Emerson Electric Company in the Government and Space Division where she provided Information Technology support for the group that created missile guidance systems. “I got progressively more challenging assignments, and a wealth of experience. After awhile I wasn’t comfortable making bombs.” Laura left Emerson after 6 years to work at Washington University Medical School, and has been there in some capacity every since.

Now, in her dual roles as Director of Healthcare Informatics at Washington University School of Medicine, and Director of Clinical Informatics at BJC Healthcare, Laura develops and supports enterprise clinical decision support, data management and electronic clinical quality measurement. Most recently she officiates the enterprise data governance program.

Laura had three main goals when she decided to enroll in the Executive MBA Program at Washington University. At the beginning of the program she said,  “I want to become more knowledgeable about business in general, gain confidence, and take advantage of the huge networking opportunity the program presents.” She had already begun working out of her comfort zone, expressing interest in and being selected for speaking engagements at various conferences.

Reflecting on the EMBA program, Laura said she got what she hoped for and more. “I did get the fundamentals of business that I was lacking. It was a good introduction. I got the skills and confidence I needed to sit at the table with the executives where previously I didn’t think I belonged. What’s changed the most is how I operate in general. I understand more and I aspire to  more. Before the MBA I never would have wanted to run a very large group. Now I am ready to do exactly that.”

Laura took advantage of the career development staff of the EMBA program who are available for additional assistance if a student requests it. She said that both Frans VanOudenallen and Lee Konzak assisted her with gaining additional insights. “Frans told me that there is no way I could not brag. That unless I feel like I’m bragging, I’m not selling myself.”  They also helped with framing conversations she wanted to have with management regarding her salary and role.

In addition to what she had hoped for, Laura said the encouragement from her teammates took her even farther. “They never let me step back, they always pushed me forward. When I faltered, I couldn’t falter for very long. My team wouldn’t let me.”

Image: Laura Tellmann, second from left, on the Great Wall of China with fellow EMBA 43 classmates, March 2015