Archive for 'Education'
Work/life balance now taught at business school
Business School changes curriculum
The Wharton School is teaching increased integration of careers and personal lives to future leaders?
No way.
Yes way.
Management professor Stewart D. Friedman teaches that leadership potentially exists in everyone, no matter his or her job level, and extends to all aspects of their personal life.
What a breath of fresh air.
A concept of 24/7 leadership that I can embrace.
Core Values And Leadership
My heart (and brain) sings at the thought of some business schools teaching that core values:
- ought to permeate a person’s life
- need to be aligned in all actions at work, at play, at home, in one’s community
- are parts of leadership and we all can be leaders no matter what are job.
This viewpoint isn’t original. I taught workshops in the late 1980s and early 1990s based on Stephen R. Covey’s books The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People and Principle-Centered Leadership.
But, I think the precepts are being embraced at a different level than they were previously.
Why Teach Them Now? What Changed?
First, business schools are integrating courses like Friedman’s into their curriculum. During the course, students talk about the importance relationships to their lives. Relationships. Not just business theory. Not just business processes.
Second, the importance of core values and relationships are being taught as more than concepts. They are being identified and discussed through experiential learning exercises and supported outside the classroom and after graduation with networking groups, alumni coaches and mentors.
Third, the business climate is ready for it. They’re ready because as Allan R. Cohen, the dean of Babson College’s graduate business school says “We have seen a lot of unethical leadership, and all of a sudden devoting your career to just making money isn’t looking so attractive. So different kinds of courses become more interesting.”
All these points are valid.
I also believe the change in emphasis related to leadership is marked by a different attitude, overall, of the younger generations – Gen Y and the millennials. They don’t accept that career takes automatic precedence over family and personal life. With the new workforce having different ideas about the number of hours one should be expected to work and how employees should be treated while on the job, businesses are forced to change.
Couple that with more women in the workforce who, for the most part, have different attitudes about the importance of relationships and collaboration. They recognize their value to productivity and success.
Just ask the women of 3 Plus International.
by Cherry Woodburn
Cherry is owner of Borderless Thinking LLC, a paradigm shifter, welcoming a world of possibilities, Speaker on Women’s Issues. Connect with Cherry on Twitter.
Tags: business, Business Schools, career management, career strategy, leadership, Work/life balance
Encouraging Women MBAs – 3 stories
Welcome to my world. I’m Programme Lead in International Career Development and Lecturer in Diversity/Inclusion Management at Luiss Business School in the heart of Rome. The university is headed by Emma Marcegaglia who also leads the ‘Confindustria’, Italy’s largest organisation representing the industrial sector. Luiss Business School has delivered MBA programmes for over 20 years and now has a highly successful International programme that will soon take ownership for all MBA programmes.
3 Stories
You are about to read a compilation of conversations with 3 women who are fellow-ettes in my MBA programme. My aim is to understand what business schools can do to support gender balance in their programmes. The three women represent different age groups, stages of life, and years of work experience. One is Italian and two are from Brazil. Our MBA class is comprised of almost 30% women and about 50% non-Italians. Read more »
Tags: Business women, diversity, gender, gender balance, LUISS Business School, MBA, Women & MBAs, Women in business, women MBA
Women in Academia: How 3+ women make a difference!
Taking the Guesswork Out of Tenure
After spending many years as an 8th grade language arts/social studies teacher, I learned a couple of things. First, I learned that relationships are the cornerstone of teaching and learning. Treat your students with respect and kindness, and that’s what you’ll get in return. I also learned that the best-laid plans rarely play out that way. I learned that flexibility is worth more than gold, and that getting enough sleep is next to godliness. But, in terms of assessment, I learned very quickly that it was only fair and just that I informed my students ahead of time how I would be grading their assignments. I provided rubrics that corresponded with specific criteria. I provided checklists and exemplars and tried as hard as I could to avoid playing that age-old game of “guess-what’s-in-the-teacher’s-head.” It’s a dumb game that nobody wins, yet it’s played out again and again, and not just in middle school classrooms. Read more »
Tags: academia, business, communication, gender balance, leadership, mentor, Professional Woman
Why MBAs Are Not Just For Men
Women can take responsibility
Grant Mason threw a pebble in the pond when he commented on Twitter that “MBA’s are done by blokes in their 30s and 40′s. Women are doing career and mothering.” The ripples spread across the world, as women on four continents responded to this rather sweeping statement.
My experience was that I had done an MBA as a woman with a strong career and two small children (then two and four years old). I was in my late 30s at the time: I certainly did not conform to Grant’s characterisation!
However, it’s worth considering what the situation looks like worldwide.
Global view
According to the Financial Times, while women have outnumbered men in worldwide university enrollments and graduations over the past five years, there are still major discrepancies when it comes to business schools, with men outnumbering women significantly. Women comprise 31.6% of MBA classes on average worldwide.
So I am in a minority, and maybe Grant can be excused for believing what he did….
Since our interaction, I have reflected on what helped me break the trend. I took personal responsibility for my own career strategy and personal development. Without that , I would not have achieved my success. It is also a truism that “Behind every successful man, there’s a woman”. Behind my MBA success there is an army of people! Read more »
Tags: business, career management, diversity, leadership, MBA, Work/life balance
