Focusing in on the education component, I need to start somewhere. As candidates explore their path, they discover each top MBA program has its own niche. Again... where to start? According to most rankings, both informal (i.e. the MBAs) and formal (e.g. Businessweek ranking, FT ranking, Economist ranking), Stanford and Harvard are the gold standard. While Stanford is known for entrepreneurship, Harvard is known for leadership.
Let's get started and talk about Leadership.
At Stern, one of the core classes is Leadership in Organizations (LIO). In my opinion, it is the most under-rated class in the program. While so many people focus on the hard skills (e.g. Accounting, Finance, Stats), the most successful collaborators and managers have the soft skills too.
While there has been plenty of debate about whether or not soft skills can be taught, I can attest that after LIO and supporting electives that -- yes, Leadership can be taught. It can be cultivated like a muscle through repetition, especially when done with the right exercises.
Guaranteed Great Professor!
Dolly Chugh, an HBS alum, taught the course for me in the Spring of 2014. She brought a truly modern approach to the class, incorporating an out-of-class 24/7 dialog via Twitter, using #SternLIO (still active with current semesters). Dolly brought in amazing guest speakers, a few of which I have outlined here*, augmented with links to my favorite relevant podcasts.
While I cannot speak from experience for other MBA programs, I would guess that they follow a similar structure is matching an amazing professor for the course. In short, take the course. Even if you skip the MBA, see if you can sit in on a few at night in a part-time program.
Guest Lecturers:
- Michael Liebowitz, CEO of BigSpaceship
- Lesson: Culture is critical
- Gary Loveman, CEO of Caesar's (Harrah's)
- Lesson: Empower innovation
- Lisa Carnoy, Global Head of Capital Markets BAML
- Lesson: Getting to the top takes sacrifice
- Bill Bratton, former NYPD Commissioner
- rescheduled :(
- Ann Moore, former CEO of Time Inc.
- Lesson: Push yourself harder than anyone else. But remain civilized. Send flowers.
Course Lessons:
- The difference between management and leadership
- Management is planning in and reacting to current environment
- Leadership is planning for and creating a new environment
- Overconfidence is deadly
- Listent to "Everest"
- Rightsize your solutions (e.g. know what fits and what doesn't)
- Tensions/Tradeoffs are everywhere
- Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic vs. Hygienic motivation
- Intrinsic: does not rely on others
- Extrinsic: relies on others
- Hygienic: motivate vs demotivate
- Procedural Justice matters most
- in other words: "Processes can suck, but they should suck for everyone equally"
- Selective Attention is a real reason why failures break
- Watch: "Count the Basketball Passes" (Simon & Chubris)
- Culture is critical
- Starts from the top
- Flows into every decision in a company
- How Will You Measure Your Life? by Clayton M. Christensen
- The Perils of Group Think!!!
- Watch "12 Angry Men" (1957)
- Listen to "Clean Trains" by 99% Invisible about David Gunn
- Listen to "Broken Windows"
- Listen to "Failure is your Friend" (NASA O-rings)
The BIG Idea: Good management is not leadership. Good Leadership can be management.
Be Well. Do Good.
BG
*I'm not linking to anything but the "best of". Her class was much more robust, and for that, I'm forever grateful.