In recent years, business schools have been under heavy fire for turning out MBAs ill-equipped to survive in the corporate jungle. The campaign forced England‘s Henley Management College, for one, back to the drawing board.
The result, says Ray Wild, professor and principal of Henley, is a program designed, taught, and attended largely by corporate executives with an emphasis on management development, problem solving, and analytical skills.
“Resilience and flexibility, confidence and courage,” says Wild, ticking off the characteristics both executives and business schools will need to thrive in an increasingly competitive, global environment. “Not syllabus stuff.”
From the school’s headquarters in a 14th century estate near Henley-on-Thames, Wild and his faculty continue to refine their curriculum. Among the most intensive of Henley‘s offerings is a “total immersion” program, in which teams of students resolve business situations and conflicts. One group even traveled to Italy to observe first-hand a family-held company’s transition to public ownership. Wild, 51, encourages these educational excursions.
“The whole ethos of what we’re doing is to provide management development by putting people in touch with the situations they’re going to have to work in,” he says.
Henley‘s programs are structured in consultation with corporations such as Intercontinental Hotels and Grand Metropolitan, and taught by an untenured faculty that includes many former executives. A typical student is a 34-year-old corporate hotshot, whose education is being bankrolled by the company.
Barry Gibbons, a 1975 alumnus of the program and now CEO of Burger King, recalls sitting near classmates ranging from investment bankers to public sector executives. “What we learned was that we could approach problems from very different viewpoints,” he says. “You come out with a much more balanced attitude toward business situations.”
With globalization and Eastern Europe the latest corporate buzzwords, Henley has fielded a rush of inquiries from U.S. companies lately. The attraction? “I think they take the view that they cannot study developments in Europe at a distance. They want to be here to feel they’re a part of it,” says Wild. He notes that the school’s joint MBA programs in 16 countries-including the Netherlands, Hong Kong, and most recently, St. Petersburg-ensure that almost half the 3,500 executives, and increasingly, the faculty, who pass through Henley’s U.K. campus each year come from abroad.
Wild’s own career reflects at least one component of the Henley credo-flexibility. “I think I’m the only engineer who is the head of a U.K. business school,” says the educator, who also authored a popular series of children’s books on technology with such whimsical titles as “A Car Called Maurice.”
And don’t forget his marketer’s hat. Wild insists that Henley clients must be satisfied customers. Says he, “They know what they want, and if they don’t find it here, they’ll go somewhere else.”
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Strategic Planning Workshop
1:00 - 5:00 pm
Over 70% of Executives Surveyed Agree: Many Strategic Planning Efforts Lack Systematic Approach Tips for Enhancing Your Strategic Planning Process
Executives expressed frustration with their current strategic planning process. Issues include:
Lack of systematic approach (70%)
Laundry lists without prioritization (68%)
Decisions based on personalities rather than facts and information (65%)
Steve Rutan and Denise Harrison have put together an afternoon workshop that will provide the tools you need to address these concerns. They have worked with hundreds of executives to develop a systematic approach that will enable your team to make better decisions during strategic planning. Steve and Denise will walk you through exercises for prioritizing your lists and steps that will reset and reinvigorate your process. This will be a hands-on workshop that will enable you to think about your business as you use the tools that are being presented. If you are ready for a Strategic Planning tune-up, select this workshop in your registration form. The additional fee of $695 will be added to your total.
To sign up, select this option in your registration form. Additional fee of $695 will be added to your total.
Women in Leadership Seminar and Peer Discussion
2:00 - 5:00 pm
Female leaders face the same issues all leaders do, but they often face additional challenges too. In this peer session, we will facilitate a discussion of best practices and how to overcome common barriers to help women leaders be more effective within and outside their organizations.
Limited space available.
To sign up, select this option in your registration form. Additional fee of $495 will be added to your total.
Golf Outing
10:30 - 5:00 pm
General’s Retreat at Hermitage Golf Course Sponsored by UBS
General’s Retreat, built in 1986 with architect Gary Roger Baird, has been voted the “Best Golf Course in Nashville” and is a “must play” when visiting the Nashville, Tennessee area. With the beautiful setting along the Cumberland River, golfers of all capabilities will thoroughly enjoy the golf, scenery and hospitality.
The golf outing fee includes transportation to and from the hotel, greens/cart fees, use of practice facilities, and boxed lunch. The bus will leave the hotel at 10:30 am for a noon shotgun start and return to the hotel after the cocktail reception following the completion of the round.
To sign up, select this option in your registration form. Additional fee of $295 will be added to your total.