mba.com Blogs on NewsGator Online

Jacqueline Grace: Balance is the Key to Life…

Jacqueline Grace — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 13:32:00 GMT

So, in keeping with this time-tested principle, allow me to provide a more balanced view of the "glamorous gaming life": While every one of my fabulous friends were enjoying 4th of July BBQs, parties, firework displays, trips to MV, etc. this past...

Sukanya Ragunath: More reflections from rural India

Sukanya Ragunath — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 00:32:00 GMT

Last week I returned from another 6 day trip through rural India. This time I went to markets in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu. The idea of going to these markets was to have more one on one conversation with rural customers and since I am fluent in...

How Will You Time Your Application Submission?

Clear Admit — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 07:00:24 GMT

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

Paige Huetteman: The Darden Connection

Paige Huetteman — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 06:06:00 GMT

I'm not sure why I'm surprised. Since the day I started investigating Darden, I've heard of the network. I experienced the network in San Francisco and quickly became sold on the school. So why is it when I'm working for one of the largest...

Vika Osipenko: Post Darden

Vika Osipenko — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 04:50:38 GMT

Can’t believe two years are over just like that. I learned a lot and for the most part enjoyed my experience at Darden. And now it is time to move on. If for some reason you want to read about my life post-Darden you can do so on my new...

How Storytelling Can Help Your Company

Stacy Blackman — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 13:00:32 GMT

Remember that creative writing class you took your senior year of college because you wanted an easy elective? It turns out that dusting off the notebook where you wrote about plots and characters might be a way to help you lead your company. Organizational storytelling is slowly but surely becoming a hot strategy for conveying important information about [...]

Building Effective Boards

Michael Roberto (mroberto@verizon.net) — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 09:53:00 GMT

Beverly Behan outlines some key principles regarding the construction of effective boards of directors. I think it's especially important to note that so much of the governance reform literature focuses on the composition of the board, whereas much of the impact can be found in improving board process. After all, one can alter composition to insure, for instance, a high share of outsiders on the board, but that doesn't mean that the board will truly be independent of top management. Many people who appear to be outsiders, in fact, may have close social ties with the CEO. Composition, then, is a blunt instrument of governance reform. For boards to operate effectively, they need to rethink their process. That improvement effort should focus on key process issues such as information flow, opportunity for surfacing divergent views, and the like.

Trivia Tuesday: Immersion Programs at Cornell’s Johnson School

Clear Admit — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 07:00:53 GMT

Welcome to another addition of Trivia Tuesday, our weekly examination of the programs and policies that impact the student experience at the leading business schools. This week, we turn our attention to the Johnson School of Cornell University and their unusual first-year Immersion Program.

In the spring semester of their first year, students complement their final two core courses with Johnson’s signature Immersion Learning program. The Immersion programs consist of a coordinated set of electives focused on a particular career or industry; these courses invite students to engage with real world business problems across functions and disciplines, as they will later do in their careers. Many career switchers report that Immersions are an effective way to gain an in-depth understanding of their new target industry.

The Johnson School offers eight defined Immersion programs. In line with Johnson’s career orientation, these courses enable students to gain specialized industry exposure early in the MBA experience, making them well-prepared for their summer internships and full-time job searches. While the protocol for each Immersion differs, the cornerstone of the Immersion experience is a practicum in which students work on real projects with companies in the target industry. Despite Cornell’s relatively remote location, students report that executives from major cities and companies are routinely drawn to campus. Lectures and workshops with visiting experts, on-site visits and team presentations are regular components of each immersion.

Approximately 80% of the first-year class typically undertakes one of the eight defined Immersions. While students must bid for placement in their Immersion programs, they report that virtually everyone is enrolled in the Immersion program of their choice. For students whose career interests do not fit within the defined Immersions, Johnson offers a customized Immersion option. Through the customized Immersion, students can work with a faculty advisor to build their own specialized curriculum from the electives offered at Johnson or in the larger University.

For more on the Johnson School’s Immersion Programs or its other unique academic offerings, be sure to check out the school’s website or the Clear Admit School Guide to Johnson!

Made to Stick

Michael Roberto (mroberto@verizon.net) — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 15:47:00 GMT

I just finished reading Chip and Dan Heath's best-selling book, Made to Stick, while on vacation in Maine. What a terrific book! The Heath brothers explain how we can create, spot, and communicate ideas that people both memorable and compelling. I love the blend of research insights, practical advice, and convincing examples. The Heath brothers boil "stickiness" down to six key principles: simplicity, unexpectedness, concreteness, credibility, emotions, and stories. For those who are interested in increasing the impact of their ideas, this book is a must-read.

Ethnography for Innovation

Michael Roberto (mroberto@verizon.net) — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 20:50:00 GMT

Business Week provides another example of the power of ethnographic methods in the innovation process. This article features a new product development project at OfficeMax. Here's an excerpt:

"In order to get beyond the survey data, OfficeMax asked GravityTank, a Chicago innovation consultancy, to study women who buy office supplies. "If you wanted to understand the behaviors of a long lost tribe in the Amazon, you wouldn't send them a census survey. You'd observe them," says Ryan Vero, OfficeMax executive vice-president and chief merchandising officer, who initiated the research. Ditto, he says, with consumers. "Ethnographies are a critical component of our innovation process."

Vero wanted to know more about the potential customers' underlying needs and values. How could OfficeMax offer something more valuable than an eco-friendly paper line or longer-lasting pens? What products would address their problems? What messaging would resonate? Did OfficeMax need to change the design or staffing of its stores to better address female customers? Gravity Tank's task was to paint a more complete portrait of women's lives and understand how office supplies fit into them.

The research team recruited a group of 10 women, all from the Midwest, who together represented a cross-segment of OfficeMax's customer base, which includes both small offices and big companies.

Over the course of two weeks, the Gravity Tank field teams, including a researcher and videographer/photographer, spent one or two days with each subject, arriving at the woman's home in the morning and shadowing her as she traveled to work and back. "We try to watch for workarounds. Things people don't necessarily perceive as a problem, because they've developed a way around it," says Shailesh Patel, a Gravity Tank partner who led the OfficeMax project.

For instance, the research teams repeatedly saw women trying to reuse file folders, often writing a new project name on a Post-It and sticking that on the tab. But because the adhesive was relatively weak, the Post-Its would often fall off."

Admissions Tip: Addressing Unemployment or Gaps in Employment

Clear Admit — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 07:00:22 GMT

Given the emphasis that schools place on a candidate’s work experience, it is important to be proactive in addressing gaps in employment. When applying to business school, many candidates worry about how the adcom might perceive gaps in employment. We would like to take some time to discuss strategies for addressing this issue.

It’s not unheard of for an MBA candidate to have a gap in employment, and this will not necessarily impact someone’s candidacy in a negative way. Gaps might be due to anything from lay-offs to periods of travel. As a rule-of-thumb, applicants should explain gaps in employment that are three months or longer in an optional essay or, if instructed, on their data forms. The adcom will not want to play detective with vague dates on an applicant’s resume or large chunks of unaccounted for time. As the adcom will simply want to know what an applicant was doing during a period of unemployment, applicants should show that they made productive use of this time. It is important for applicants to be open and clear about extended gaps to show that they were not simply spending the time to look for full-time employment.

Addressing current unemployment in applications, however, requires a different strategy than simply discussing past gaps in employment history. Candidates applying to business school who are not currently employed are in a trickier situation, as business schools view themselves as career accelerators rather than career jump-starters. The task is not impossible, though, and given the current state of the economy, more candidates are applying to business school during a period of unemployment. As with addressing gaps in employment, these applicants should not evade discussions centering on this issue. On the other hand, they should not present unemployment as the reason for applying to business school nor should they suggest that they aren’t presently looking for work due to the need to devote time to their MBA applications (a major ‘red flag’).

In addressing unemployment, applicants should show that they are doing their best to find something temporary or engaging in volunteer work. Ideally, applicants would show that they are doing something in line with their stated professional goals, like attending conferences or working to secure an internship in a field they want to explore. Whatever the case, applicants should be honest and appear proactive.

As every applicant is unique, we encourage our readers to contact Clear Admit directly (info@clearadmit.com) if they need guidance on tackling a gap in employment or current unemployment situation. Send us your resume and sign up for a free one-on-one session with one of our counselors.

Paige Huetteman: The Evolution of Brands

Paige Huetteman — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 01:03:00 GMT

I walked into Express on Monday, as I often do when I'm out wasting time. There was a day that I wanted everything in the store. These days, I'm lucky if I purchase once over a span of five visits. As I walked to the back of the store, I chuckled...

Paige Huetteman: Is AAPL Steve Jobs?

Paige Huetteman — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 00:23:00 GMT

The market is alive with clatter about whether or not Apple disclosed enough information about Steve Jobs' medical condition. On one hand, I understand the concern, but on the other, I wonder exactly why people invest in Apple. Do they believe that...

AIGAC Presents Findings of MBA Applicant Survey at Annual GMAC Conference

Clear Admit — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 19:30:37 GMT

The Association of International Graduate Admissions Counselors (AIGAC) was invited to present the findings of its 2009 MBA Prospect Survey to assembled representatives from many of the world’s top business schools as part of the annual Graduate Management Admissions Council (GMAC) conference, which took place in Baltimore last week.

The presentation, delivered by AIGAC President and Clear Admit Co-founder Graham Richmond, outlined some of the major findings of the survey, which was designed to share with the schools AIGAC’s unique perspective on a specific segment of the overall MBA applicant pool, namely those who choose to work with graduate management admissions counselors.

This unique pool of applicants, most of whom are targeting highly competitive programs at business schools with extremely stringent admissions requirements, trends toward the top tier of business school candidates and represents a segment that leading business schools are very much interested in coming to better understand.

GMAC welcomed the opportunity to have AIGAC present at its annual conference, where representatives from more than 175 member schools gather each year to examine trends and developments in graduate management education. The schools paid close attention to the survey’s findings, which provided information about who AIGAC’s applicants are, how they make the decision to go to business school, what sources of information they use to gather facts about the schools they consider and what impact the current economy is having on their application process.

The AIGAC survey findings were presented for comparison alongside the findings of a broader GMAC survey of overall MBA prospects. The joint presentation helped showcase the particular attributes that distinguish AIGAC’s signature applicant pool.

Among the AIGAC survey findings that schools seemed to consider most notable were the following:

• Three-fifths of surveyed AIGAC prospects (59 percent) scored 700 or higher on the GMAT exam.
• Almost half (44 percent) were international students.
• A majority of prospects (52 percent) cited school websites as the most valued source of information in the application process.
• School viewbooks and brochures were considered far less effective sources of information. (Only 5 percent of surveyed applicants rated them as highly valuable.)
• The overall applicant pool is trending younger than in the past. (Thirteen percent of prospects were under 24, and two-thirds of prospects were between the ages of 25 and 29.)
• While more than a third of respondents (37 percent) reported that the economy influenced their decision to apply to an MBA program now, this factor was still secondary to career advancement.

In a brainstorming session that followed the presentation, GMAC conference attendees examined the ramifications of the AIGAC survey findings. Among the topics of discussion were how best to reach younger applicants, whether producing expensive printed viewbooks and brochures continues to make sense for schools and, as more prospects influenced by the economy enter the application pipeline, how their concerns and interests may differ from those focused first and foremost on advancing their careers.

Richmond, elected to serve a two-year term as AIGAC’s president this past spring, set as one of his goals while in the role to strengthen the organization’s relationships with top business school representatives. He approached GMAC with the idea for the prospect survey and was pleased that the council showed immediate interest in having its findings presented at the conference.

“It’s a real milestone that AIGAC was invited to present at the schools’ annual gathering,” Richmond said. Of course, the high caliber of AIGAC prospects makes them an audience schools are very interested to target, Richmond pointed out. “The schools seemed really interested in the data we were presenting and grateful that we were sharing it with them.”

To learn more about AIGAC, click here. For more on the 2009 GMAC Annual Conference, click here.

Lessons in Leadership

Michael Roberto (mroberto@verizon.net) — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 21:30:00 GMT

If you have not seen it, the Wall Street Journal has developed a rich set of video resources on leadership. They call the site, "Lessons in Leadership" - it includes many videos from CEO interviews that they have done. Many videos offer good, practical advice for managers. Here's the link.

Next Generation GMAT Exam Now in Development

Clear Admit — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 16:00:31 GMT

The Graduate Management Admissions Council (GMAC), which owns the GMAT entrance exam, is currently developing a Next Generation GMAT, slated for completion in 2013.

Through a three-phase development process, GMAC hopes to build on the strengths of the existing exam by incorporating advances in testing technology to better measure prospective applicants’ skills. It also hopes to expand the range of skills tested by the exam to include those applicable to both traditional MBA programs and newer business programs that have emerged in recent years.

As part of the first phase of development, now underway, an advisory group of faculty members from leading business schools is helping GMAC identify and review potential new skills the GMAT could measure. This advisory group met on February 11th to rate the importance of various skills and recommend changes to the GMAT.

“The process of preparing for the Next Generation GMAT has been both well-planned and extremely sensitive to the needs and concerns of business schools,” said advisory board member Luis Palencia, who is associate dean of the MBA program at IESE Business School. “If this first stage is an indicator of the final result, I know that the new exam will be innovative, valuable and successful,” he added.

Using the first-phase research, the second phase of development will involve designing and testing exam enhancements to ensure that they meet business schools’ needs. The third phase will focus on exam accessibility, including upgrading test centers as necessary, developing test preparation materials for the new exam and examining ways to make the exam available to more test takers without compromising security.

To learn more about development of the Next Generation GMAT, click here.

Paige Huetteman: The Parentals Visit ATL

Paige Huetteman — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 21:55:00 GMT

I can't believe week 6 is here! That means I'm halfway done with my internship come Friday...(assuming I have the math right) Atlanta has been a blur and I think time is speeding by quicker these days. My project at work is moving slow, which I...

Sukanya Ragunath: The little birdie

Sukanya Ragunath — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 15:22:00 GMT

Sania recently suggested that I should get on Twitter, given the amount of traveling I would be doing as part of my internship. Nor was she the first to suggest it. I dithered for long, unwilling to get on yet another social network platform and...

Writing Good Emails

Michael Roberto (mroberto@verizon.net) — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 23:48:00 GMT

Stacey Hanke provides some wonderful advice on how to write effective emails. I would simply add one additional recommendation: individuals must learn to write consistently in the active voice!

Mandy Lozano: I'm back

Mandy Lozano — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 17:01:00 GMT

And Greece was AWESOME!!!! I had so much fun with some of my best friends in the world. I am truly blessed by the relationships Darden gave me. I have nothing but great memories of the past two years. And when I came home, my compost pile...