Most executive MBA programs require at least 10 years in business, with at least two years
in an executive (or high-level managerial) position. Most incoming students, however, have significantly more experience — often 15 years or more.
If you want to move up in your company’s hierarchy but haven’t reached that point in your career yet, check out MBAs in leadership. These teach many of the same skills but don’t presuppose the same depth of experience.
Executive MBA programs are designed for people who already have significant leadership experience.
Leadership is evaluated based on the role the person plays in his or her organization, rather than on the title he or she holds.
“We look at the type of decisions the person makes, and how those decisions impact their unit or organization,” explains Elie Farhat, director of graduate programs at Drexel University’s LeBow College of Business. Because of the emphasis on function, LeBow students have included not only executives, but people with MDs and PhDs — and even a homicide detective once.
As experienced decision makers, most students enter the program knowing the basics of finance, marketing and management. They’re ready to get a broader perspective that emphasizes how those fields affect one another.
“Instead of looking at individual silos of experience, the perspective is the one from 30,000 feet,” Farhat says. “Students learn to see the interconnectedness of decisions — ‘If I push this lever in finance, how does that affect what happens in marketing?’”
Students gain perspective by working together in teams that mix people with different areas of expertise in different industries. It is this diversity of experience within the student body that makes the executive MBA so valuable, according to Farhat. “It provides a very rich environment in which knowledge can leapfrog from person to person in the classroom,” he says.
letters@metro.us |