Tag: WashU at Brookings

“Batch 3,” the third cohort of students in the joint IIT-Bombay-Washington University Executive MBA program gathered last week in Mumbai to begin an 18-month course to advance their leadership skills and careers while working full-time. WashU Chancellor Mark Wrighton and Olin Dean Mark Taylor welcomed the new class via video message.

Shivganesh Bhargava, Head of the Shailesh J. Mehta School of Management at IIT Bombay, and Kurt Dirks, Olin’s Bank of America Professor of Managerial Leadership and Co-Director of Bauer Leadership Center, were present for the formal launch at IIT and Welcome Dinner at Taj Lands End. Graduates of the program from Batch 1 and 2 also attended.

“The joint global degree is meant to equip executives with the tools, education and confidence to work in any industry in any part of the world as leaders in the new landscape of economic development. This also enables them to apply the concepts they learn while taking the course and know its impact in real-time.” Prof. S. Bhargava, Head of Shailesh J. Mehta School of Management at IIT Bombay.

Executive MBA -Mumbai Batch 3 At-a-Glance
Number of students: 25
Average age: 39
Average years of professional experience: 15.3
Women students: 7

IIT-Bombay and Washington University launched the first US-India joint Executive MBA program in Mumbai in 2015. The partnership between Shailesh J. Mehta School of Management (SJMSOM) at the Indian Institute of Technology in Bombay and Olin Business School offers only the Executive MBA program in the world to confer a degree from both an Indian and an American university.

Thanks to Kiran Shesh, CEO of IITB-WUStL Research and Educational Academy, for the photos in this gallery from the Batch 3 launch. Click on photos to enlarge.

“When we met with members of the Council of Economic Advisers to the White House, Congressional staffers and Congressional members, it really impressed me that they need  input from industry.” That was one of many takeaways Patti Williams, a member of Olin’s Executive MBA (EMBA) cohort shared after their DC Residency – a deep dive into government regulations and policy – in Washington, DC with Olin partner, the Brookings Institution.

Williams who is Vice President and General Counsel of Peabody Energy completed the EMBA program in May of this year and was featured in a recent article on Olin’s unique DC Residency program published by the Poets & Quants for Executives website.

The four-day DC residency with Olin’s partner the Brookings Institution provides students the opportunity to talk face-to-face with government decision makers including legislators, administrators and power brokers who influence policy behind the scenes. During the residency, students complete two courses: Business and Government, and Business and Society. They engage with speakers from current and former members of Congress to US governors, White House advisors and administrators from organizations such as the Federal Reserve and the Office of Management and Budget.

Olin EMBA graduate, Chris Hawkins, Vice President of operations at Multiply, a St. Louis-based fan engagement platform, says the DC Residency provided an insider’s view of the complexity of the legislative process.

Hawkins told Poets & Quants, the DC Residency was a non-stop learning experience. “There wasn’t any time where you thought, ‘OK, this is where I’m going to step outside and take this call for work.’ You felt like you couldn’t miss anything.”  Hawkins added “It really addressed a hole I had as [business] related to public policy.”

According to Poets & Quants, “One of the biggest takeaways for many…participants was the importance and impact business leaders can have within society as a whole. [Patti Williams] left feeling more optimistic about the interactions between business, society, and government.”

Link to Poets & Quants article, “Olin Mixes Policy and Business in DC”

It’s not easy being a top performer. Just ask LeBron James, Oprah, Bill Gates, or the guy in the next cubicle who is more productive than anyone else in the office. An article published on the Scientific American website by Francesca Gino, a Harvard professor and research collaborator with Olin’s Lamar Pierce, delves into the problem faced by top performers – they risk being undermined by their peers.

Resentment and envy can drive peers to criticize, ridicule, and even sabotage a top performer’s work. Gino cites several research studies that support the finding including her study with Prof. Pierce that examined the actions of vehicle emissions inspectors. Gino writes:

Decades of research on social comparisons show that when we size ourselves up relative to people who are better than we are (or as good as we are) on a particular dimension, we are likely to experience discomfort, envy, or fear. These emotions, in turn, affect our decisions and our interactions with others.

Ironically, the research suggests that undermining top performers can be worse in workplaces that value cooperation more than competition. Gino advises managers to be on the look out for signs of tension among peers:

By helping employees recognize that the benefits of collaborating with high performers can outweigh the threats, managers can assure that star performers are embraced rather than sabotaged.

Link to Scientific American, “The Trouble with being a Top Performer”

Link to NPR, “Top Performers Risk Being Undermined By Peers, Studies Show”

The Friends of Olin reception is one of the highlights of the year. It allows Olin to thank the many volunteers who help shape our students’ development. The event took place on May 12, a week before Commencement.

Dean Mark Taylor kicked off the event by thanking our guests for being judges, mentors, speakers, volunteers, advisory board members, and employers.

Over the course of the school year, nearly 2,000 individual volunteers provided insights and guidance to help students develop to their maximum potential.

More than 300 guest speakers shared their expertise in and out of the classroom, and over 125 companies networked with our students at our Meet the Firms events throughout the academic year.

Poets & Quants celebrated two of our BSBA students, Colton Calandrella and  Jessica Landzberg, and two of our MBA students, Markey Culver and Conn Davis, this year.

Todd Milbourn introduced our three featured speakers: Lillie Ross, BSBA’17, Professor Dan Elfenbein, and IBM’s Jerry Lis. Each speaker shared their perspective on the role and impact of Olin’s many friends.

Speakers: Dan Elfenbein and Lillie Ross.

Lillie spoke of mentorship and the meaningful relationship with a Friend of Olin that she developed her sophomore year and will last beyond her graduation.
Professor Elfenbein waxed poetic on the value of having classroom speakers who help illustrate the key learnings from his class.

Jerry Lis shares from the heart how IBM is a Friend of Olin.

Finally, Jerry Lis spoke of how important it has become for IBM to have a strong relationship with Olin and how both his company and the University have benefited from the partnership. It was a beautiful afternoon and a great way to celebrate our corporate partners and their help in creating the Olin experience.

Special thank you cookies for Friends of Olin.

©Photo by Jerry Naunheim Jr.

We recognize several familiar faces in St. Louis Magazine’s June issue!  Symbolically pictured in front of Knight Hall’s Frick Forum, the site of many graduation receptions and gatherings, Executive MBA (EMBA) alumni from diverse industries and different classes reunited for a special photo op during Olin’s Centennial year.

This photo is part of special advertising section on page 91 of the June 2017 edition of St. Louis Magazine.  Alumni of Olin’s EMBA program take part in this month’s issue that features the “Faces of St. Louis – 2017.”

Among these faces are, in the front row, from left: Drew Caylor, Louis York Capital; Gene Dobbs Bradford, Jazz St. Louis; Dr. Vamsi Narra,Washington University; Dr. Doug Pernikoff, Clarkson-Wilson Veterinary Clinic; Sara Wade, Express Scripts; and Dr. Mary Jo Gorman, Prosper Women Entrepreneurs.

The back row features, from left: Eric Willis, Nestlé Purina; Bill Hibner, Aegis Strategies; Rachel Andreasson, Wallis Companies; Dr. Ken Yamaguchi, Centene and Washington University; and Emily Pitts, Edward Jones.

These alumni represent a medley of classes, including, most recently, EMBA Class 46, that graduated in December 2016.  They also collectively hold a breadth of industry involvement, ranging from Doctors, entrepreneurs, and healthcare, financial and non-profit professionals.

While the photo presents the array of experienced professionals who have studied in the program, it also conveys the importance that different perspectives and career experiences bring to the teamwork that exists in and outside of the curriculum.

Fittingly so, many of the key phrases that sum up the 20-month journey of alumni through the program boil down to “transformational,” “life-changing,” and “collaborative.”  As students begin the rigorous curriculum of the program, they learn the basic strategy and financial aspects of business from a leadership perspective.  In turn, as the program centers on peer collaboration, relationships are formed as students with diverse industry backgrounds and experiences apply their real-world knowledge to foster innovative and disruptive ideas.

By the end of the program, the goal is for each student, and alumnus, to hold an integrated view of the enterprise and a model for leadership ready to apply anywhere.

Fun fact: did you know that there are currently more than 2,000 alumni of Olin Business School’s Executive MBA program? Learn more about how alumni apply Olin’s Executive MBA program in their endeavors.

One of the most-explored and desired processes of today’s global business marketplace is innovation.  In this highly digitized age, where entrepreneurship and start-up ideas are encouraged and often fostered, traditional organizational hierarchies can be brushed to the side.  The power of a game-changing idea has the ability to transcend this traditional structure, leaving room for equal places of contribution to the table.

The most recent broadcast of the Executive MBA program’s “Live from Olin Business School” webinar series challenged the common notion that a leader should not be involved in the innovation process.  Stuart Bunderson, Associate Dean & Director of Executive Programs, the George & Carol Bauer Professor of Organizational Ethics & Governance and Co-Director of the Bauer Leadership Center, presented the webinar.  In “Leading Innovation without Getting in the Way,” Bunderson broke down just why innovation does not work effectively without the involvement of a strong leader.

By citing the famous example of the 1999 IDEO shopping cart video, in which an IDEO team redesigned the standard shopping cart in just five days, Bunderson showed how innovation is a process buffeted by the contribution of members from each level of a hierarchical system. IDEO, a Palo-Alto, California based invention company, had not formally defined hierarchy of its shopping cart team. Team members were encouraged to contribute ideas equally in the short five-day due date.

Buoyed by this timeline, key members of the team did help drive the process forward, each with a specific role to play. Narrowing down the best idea meant that contributions from the group facilitator, company founder and more experienced members led the team to a revolutionary approach to the shopping cart.

Bunderson emphasized that a social hierarchy helps innovation. Hierarchy is a natural occurrence because of differences in expertise, education, and other characteristics within groups of people. It contributes to the function of groups, most particularly where there is a problem that needs to be solved in a specific amount of time, such as the IDEO shopping cart proposal. These types of “problem parameters” encourage creativity, because time and resource restraints often can produce the most skilled outputs from group members.

Because of this organizational behavior, leadership develops. Leaders become moderators of sorts, making sure that voices are heard and the ideas of team members are not drowned out. This is not for the leader’s professional benefit, but for the guidance of the team and its product output. If there are disagreements, a group can be sidetracked from its goal and its organizational structure. A leader, produced from a social hierarchical system, will settle these disagreements and achieve coordination. In other words, keeping the eyes on the prize – a group or organization requires leadership to encourage direction over conflict, move things forward and foster innovation.

The ancient quote from Lao Tzu, from the Tao Te Ching, best sums up what Bunderson conveyed in his research findings:

“A leader is best when people barely know he [or she] exists, when his [or her] work is done, his [or her] aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves.”

Please visit www.olin.wustl.edu/EMBAevents to register for the next “Live from Olin Business School” event and to learn more about the Executive MBA program.