How to interview like a top MBA #Book Summary#10

 FOLLOW UP, REINFORCING A POSITIVE , LASTING IMPRESSION

What to Do after the interview: An insider's View
After the interview, remind the interviewer who you are by writing a brief note---even if it is just a brief e-mail-- that makes reference to some of the things you spoke about with the interviewer. Express your appreciation for their time, and mention that you greatly enjoyed getting to meet them. I have received many responses from interviewers letting me know they really appreciated it when I sent them notes after the interviewer. It adds a nice touch.

Top Ten Interview Dos
1-Create a great first impression
2-Do your homework about the company,industry, job offered, and interviewer
3-Use the resume as an effective interviewing tool.
4-Demonstrate a fit through your responses to key questions
5-Shape the interview
6-Address concerns about clear weaknesses effectively
7-Explain any periods of unemployment well
8-Demonstrate the business relevance of your experience and education ( if you are a nontraditional candidate)
9-End your interview excellently with wonderful closing comments or well-considered questions
10-Follow up your interview so as to reinforce a lasting, positive impression.

How to interview like a top MBA #Book Summary#9

END YOUR INTERVIEW EXCELLENTLY

End-of-Interview Chance to Discuss your record
Often , in bringing an interview to a conclusion, the interviewer asks you whether there is anything else you'd ike to discuss about your record. Many of the ways you can approach this opportunity will enable you to take advantage of this chance to end the interview with a lasting , positive impression. You should use this question as an opportunity to emphasize your winning attributes, relevant skills, and record of success.

Questions to Ask

1-What have you most enjoyed about working for this company?
2-How is your company seeking to grow?
3-How is this division seeking to grow?
4-How would you describe your firm's culture?
5-What are the most important divisional goals at this time?
6-What are the most important corporate goal at this time?
7-What makes this company particularly good at what it does?
8-How does the work of this department fit with the overall goals of the company?
9-What do you foresee as the biggest changes to your service or product lines in the future?
10-Who do the leaders of this department report too?
11-Where does the company see itself in five years?

How to interview like a top MBA #Book Summary#8

DEMONSTRATE BUSINESS RELEVANCE IF YOU'ARE A NONTRADITIONAL HIRE

Transferable Skills : Making a Nontraditional Background Relevant

The concept of transferable skills is particularly important for nontraditional job seekers who must demonstrate that their education and work experience have given them skills that - though used in a totally different context before--can be used or adapted in the new environment to enable the candidate to succeed in the workplace. To demonstrate how a candidate with a nontraditional background often picks up business-relevant experiences, consider these dimensions of work experience, which provide transferable skills you might employ whether you
are working in the health care industry or in a computer consulting company:

Performing analysis
Performing math computations
Problem solving
Delivering presentations
Prioritizing tasks
Participating in high-performing teams
Leading teams
Setting goals
Communicating goals
Delegating tasks
Managing work flow
Setting clear deadlines
Coaching team members
Communicating effectively with superiors
Communicating effectively with peers
Communicating effectively with clients
Developing business plans
|Securing buy-in for a project
Marketing a project
Implementing change


TIPS FOR NONTRADITIONAL CANDIDATES IN A MAINSTREAM BUSINESS INTERVIEW


Avoid speaking in highly technical terms if you are not interviewing for  a technical job.
Communicate your skills in business-relevant terms, focusing on transferable skills
Study key business sources to learn basic business principles
Demonstrate a clear willingness to learn in new environment and underscore adaptability
Appear versed in basic business etiquette such as how to dress and whether to take notes
Take courses or seminars when possible to learn business principles
Demonstrate a clear understanding of the industry and position you are applying for.
Articulate clear and compelling reasons for changing your profession or direction
Become familiar with professionals who have made similar career changes to the one you seek to make, and cite their success as examples if appropriate.

Emphasize how your uniqueness can add to the company.

How to interview like a top MBA #Book Summary#7

PRESENT A STRONG EXPLANATION IF YOU'VE BEEN OUT OF WORK


How to deal with periods of unemployment ? 

if you were out of for only a couple of months, normally you do not need to explain this during an interview . The interviewer will often be content to hear that you took time to assess where you hoped
to go with your career, research companies and job opportunities, and prepare to begin interviewing.

However, if you have been out of work for a longer period of time-- more than four months, for instance--you are best off if you can state to your interviewer that you are doing more with that time than searching for a job. An employer wants to see that you were not content to sit idle but took the initiative to use the time off as a tremendous opportunity. Ways to do this include expanding your professional qualifications through certifications, expanding your knowledge base , deepening your professional experiences or your ideas about your long-term goals, and broadening your worldview through travel.


You've been fired : now What?

your own consulting company: Use the time to run your own business. even if on a pro bono(unpaid) basis, showing your desire to apply and stretch your skills.

More credentials : Use the time to enhance your expertise and credentials through certifications or licenses.

Deeper expertise : Use the time to refine your knowledge through online or extension courses.

Long-term goals :  Use the time to conduct research into your desired long-term goals.

Travel : Use the time to travel and experience other cultures.

Community Service : Use the time in community service , to enhance the nonwork aspects of your resume.

Specific Responses if you were Laid off 

keep several issues in mind when responding to questions about why you were laid off. The greatest concern your potential new employer will have is whether your termination reflected poor performance on your part. If you were a lazy or irresponsible worker, your new employer will be more hesitant to hire you. So, if you were not laid off because of performance issues, you should make that clear.That is , if you were laid off.



How to Address Questions About Your Termination If you were downsized

Don't be defensive
Emphasize the benefits of what you learned at your job before you were laid off
Emphasize any good performance reviews you received
if possible, mention that you have taken the initiative during your time off to deepen your skills through
courses of certifications or to conduct research into your longer-term career goals.

If your company Went Bankrupt

Our Company was a very dynamic one, and I felt honored to be chosen as one of ten
employees of this start-up. So many things went right: We developed a novel idea, we constructed
an outstanding business plan, and we brainstormed effectively as  a team to determine how best to implement our strategy. Everything was going relatively smoothly, but then we hit the rough waters of the recessions.


Funding everywhere seemed to dry up as investors became much more cautious. We miscalculated how much money we would have available for our marketing campaigns, and this proved to be a notable mistake.
Our otherwise sound marketing plan simply could not be implemented successfully on 40 percent of the funds we had expected to draw on. Without our planned marketing campaigns, our company did not grow our client base adequately , and soon we could not meet our financial obligations. It was a difficult and disappointing experience to close down the company, but I have learned a  great deal about putting together a great business plan and developing contingency plans for what to do if funding evaporates. Unfortunately, in my former company, we did not have a contingency plan in place. But i have those valuable experiences now to draw on in my next  job.

How to interview like a top MBA #Book Summary#6

ADDRESS CLEAR WEAKNESS (WITHOUT APOLOGIZING)

Poor Grades in a few Classes (Case)
Yes, my GPA was low during my first two years of college. At that time, I was adjusting to the new college environment and trying to learn to balance the demands of my schoolwork with my part-time job.But i was not one to give up prematurely. I was determined to make the adjustment and develop the skills and time management abilities that could enable me to eventually excel in college. Once i became more adjusted to the new environment and challenges, i focused my energies , and my grades improved dramatically. In my last two years, you will note that earned a B+ average in the advanced courses I was taking, and i also began to distinguish myself in campus politics. My classmates elected me to the student government, which was a tremendous honor. I am hoping that you will note how much my grades improved in last two years and that you will see the notable improvement in my overall record during those last years as signs of my determination to meet and overcome challenges. My last two years in college are much more accurate indicators of my future success than the first two years were.

Consider next the situation of Sarah, who was unfocused throughout her entire college career.


Yes, my GPA is low. Unfortunately, when i attended college, I was not very focused on my studies. I viewed college as a time to explore different ideas and interests. I became involved  in many clubs and made significant contributions to several , including one involved with the homeless. It was only after I left college and entered the work world that i realized i had made such a mistake in neglecting my studies. Once I found a job that captured my interests, I focused mu energies and excelled. I am hoping that you will therefore consider my record since college, which reflects much more accurately my commitment and helping our client base to grow. My reviews have been excellent, and i was promoted just last year.

Poor Standardized-Test Results(Case)

Yes, my standardized-test score is low. This is not an indication of my lack of motivation or my lack of preparation for the exam. I spent months preparing, but I have  never been a strong standardized test taker. Luckily, my inability to score well on such exams did not deter me from gaining admission to an excellent college, and you can see how I distinguised myself in college with a high GPA. I hope that you can feel assured of my ability to handle quantitative tasks, given my performance at my last job, which included working with financial statements and complex data sets, my performance ratings were always in the highest category also, which indicates that I mastered the key quantitative skills needed.


Disciplinary  Issues(Case)


The biggest mistake I have made in my life was engagin in dishonest behavior on that exam. It was foolish, and there is no excuse for it. During the year i was away from college as a result of that choice, I took the time
to really do some thinking about my values, my ambitions, and how i would need to change in order to do something meaningful with my talents. During that year, i began to mentor young people who were having difficulty . i found it rewarding be able to share my experiences--positive and negative--- in ways that could help others avoid the mistake I made in college. I have continued that work, and I intend to continue it in the future.

When I returned to school the next year, i  felt like a new person. I went to the professor whose class i was in when i made my mistake, and i apologized. He was impressed with my turnaround and even allowed me to reenroll in his class. I received a strong grade, as you can see. After returning to school , my grades were high.This experience turned out to be a wonderful opportunity to learn and change, and I carry with me the strong ethical values that have enabled me to succeed since that time.

How to interview like a top MBA #Book Summary#5

SHAPE THE INTERVIEW WITH RESPONSES TO OPEN-ENDED AND TURNAROUND
QUESTIONS


Addressing Open-Ended Questions Effectively

Use the question to paint a picture of your winning three or four qualities- the ones that will demonstrate
a match between your qualities and those of the ideal candidate.

Use the question to move straight to the strengths that distinguish you--the skills and work experience that
show you are highly qualified for the job.

Use Open-Ended Questions to Paint a Picture of Yourself


I am a very goal-oriented person with a passion for new ideas and desire to achieve excellent outcomes in all that i do. I have demonstrated my commitment to excellence in many ways. For instance , when I attended the
university of Chicago, I earned a B+ average in a very difficult major, and i graduated with honors. I was recruited by a leading computer company in our city, and my experience there reinforced my passion for new ideas. My innovation and contributions resulted in three promotions in four years and an award of "Employee of the year" last year. I now have a very valuable skills set and am ready to move to the next level of my career, working as a manager. That is why I have approached your computer consulting company. I believe this is my ideal company and job position.

Greatest Failure Questions : What to Avoid
1-A Failure that is too recent
2-An example that was financially costly to your employer
3-An example that cost your employer a client or hurt your employer's reputation.
4-A failure that is central to your current work
5-A failure that reflects a weakness in the skills you need to use excellently to succeed in your potential new job.
6-An example where you cannot elaborate on what you learned
7-An example where you cannot cite another example of when you dealt with a similar situation and succeeded.

Greatest Failure : Sample Approach

• Spend only a small amount of your response addressing your failure
• Talk about the lessons you have learned
• Spend the remainder of your time montioning an example of when you succeeded by applying the lessons you learned from the failure you have spoken about.

Greatest Weakness Questions : What to Avoid

• A Weakness that resulted in a bad outcome that proved financially costly to your employer
• A weakness that resulted in a bad outcome that cost your employer a client or hurt your employer's reputation
• A weakness that indicates a problem using the skills you will need to excel in your potential new job
• A weakness that indicates a significant skill needed for the central work in your current job
• An example upon which you cannot elaborate to describe how you are productively addressing and strengthening that weakness.

How to interview like a top MBA #Book Summary#4DEMO

DEMONSTRATE A FIT THROUGH YOUR RESPONSES  TO KEY QUESTIONS

Winning Attributes Recruiters Look For
Goal-oriented
Hardworking
Dedicated
Determined
Focused
Motivated
Detail-oriented
Creative
Innovative
Analytical
Organized
Energetic
Articulate
Ethical
Trustworthy
Cooperative
One to take Charge
Directed

Relevance of Education : Ten Useful Types of Skills

1-Analytical skills
2-Problem-solving skills
3-Teamwork skills
4-Writing skills
5-Presentation skills
6-Mathematical skills
7-Computing skills
8-Research skills
9-Teaching skills
10-Persuasion skills

How to interview like a top MBA #Book Summary#3

USE YOUR RESUME AS AN EFFECTIVE INTERVIEWING TOOL

Use your Resume to Demonstrate a match


1-Create the interviewer's Checklist. Use the job description and your understanding of the available position to assess the job requirements and profile of an ideal candidate.




2-Assess your record in three dimensions. these are work ,experience, education, and extracurricular activities.






3-Highlight relevant experience. Use the interviewer's checklist to prune your resume


4-Prioritize. Use the interviewer's checklist to strategically structure your content.


5-Phrase effectively.  Phrasing matters! Use action words, "fit phrases" (that demonstrate a match between your qualifications and those of the ideal candidate) , and " leadership language" to describe your experience.


6-Final Check. Complete a final check to avoid common resume mistakes.






Sample Assessment of Job requirements


Part A
Top Five Responsibilities
Provide strategic advice to high-technology companies
Provide organizational design advice to high-technology companies
Manage teamwork of junior associates
Facilitate work between team and client
Serve as support for Vice President's work


Associated Tasks
Oversee research and compilation of data about challenges faced by high technology clients.

Stay abreast of trends affecting the high-technology sector
Set team goals, assign team tasks, review work products of team members
Mentor junior team members
Meet with Vice president to keep him/her abreast of team activities and progress
Meet with client to ensure client's needs are met and to address client's concerns
Meet with client to coordinate collection of data or to present findings

Associated Skills/Knowledge
Research skills
Familiarity with data resources
Familiarity with high-technology concerns
Analytical skills
Team participation skills
Team leadership skills
Team management skills
Client management skills
Presentation skills


Sample Profiling the Ideal Candidate
Ideal Work experience

Experience managing teams
Experience participating in teams
Experience coaching team members
Client management experience
Experience collecting , sifting through, and assessing of data
Experience formulating recommendations
Experience making presentations to clients
Experience working as liaison between upper management and teams

Ideal Education
MBA degree, undergraduate degree in sciences or engineering (major relevant to high technology)
Education that included courses requiring collection and analysis of data
Education that included participation in team projects.


Ideal Skills/Knowledge
Research skills
Analytical skills
Familiarity  with data resources and high-technology concerns
Team participation skills
Team leadership skills
Time management skills
Client management skills
Presentation skills


Ideal Personal Attributes
Organized
Motivated
Good communicator
Good problem solver
Goal oriented
Innovative
Cooperative
Good team player/leader

Ideal Short- or Long-Term Career Goals
Short-term : Desire to help high-technology companies perform excellently and continue to
innovate

Long-term : No particular requirement but perhaps a desire to help lead the interviewing company's high-technology practice

Top Ten Resume Mistakes

Resume has too many job listings
Resume lacks strategic arrangement of information : candidate's
qualifications for available job not clear or prioritized
Resume has too many bullet points per job listings- not adequately streamlined
Resume lacks sense of direction or indicated progression of skills
Resume lacks action verbs
Resume contains typographical errors(typos)
Resume contains exaggerated information
Resume lacks consistent formatting
Resume does not explain missing years
Resume is not professionally printed.

Top Ten Resume Dos
Elaborate in greater length about jobs that are most relevant to the position for which you are applying.
Strategically arrange information, emphasizing your relevant skills and knowledge.
Keep bullet points to five or six per job listing
Show a progression of  skills over time
Use leadership language and action words
Do not exaggerate qualifications
Check your resume for typos or incorrect information
Account for any missing years somewhere on the resume
Use consistent formatting
Have your resume professionally or laser printed

How to interview like a top MBA #Book Summary#2

DO YOUR HOMEWORK IN FOUR KEY AREAS

What to know About your industry

1-What are the main characteristics of the industry?(Is it fast paced,
expanding, slowing, marked by innovation, marked by
intense competition by a few giant competitions?)

2-What challenges or trends are currently affecting the industry?

3-Where is the industry heading in the long term ?

Key Areas of information About the industry

Basic understanding of the industry?

What are the main characteristics of this industry?

What challenges or trends currently affect the industry?

Where is the industry heading in the long term?

Sample Questions This knowledge Will help You Answer


Why is this  the right industry for you? What factors make this industry appealing to you!
How can you use your skills to help the company meet the industry challenges it faces?

Where do you see yourself in five years, given the changes and direction of the industry?


Resources to consider


1-News Media
2-Search Engines
3-Online Companies
4-Standard & Poor's Reports




What to Learn About the industry Before Interviewing : An insider's View


What to know about the company Interviewing YOu
1-The company's main products or services
2-The main competitors of the company
3-What makes the company unique
4-The company's mission
5-The company's profitability and growth
6-The corporate's culture of company
7-The company's strategy (for example, whether it is repositionaing itself or expanding its products and services in any notable way)

What to know about the company you are interviewing With 
Basic Understanding of the company


What are the company's main products and services?
Who are the company's main competitors?
What makes the company unique?
What makes the company unique?
What is the company's mission?
How has the company been faring in terms of profitability or growth?
What is the corporate culture of the company?
Is the company repositioning itself or expanding its products and services in any notable way?

Sample Questions This knowledge Will Help you Answer
What interests you most about this company?
Why would you choose our company over our competitors?
Why do you believe this is the best company for you?
How do your values fit with our mission?
How you believe you can this company become more profitable?
Do you believe you will fit into this office?
Where do you see yourself in two years?

What to know About the Specific Job Offered
.What are the educational requirements and work experience requirements for the position?
.How many people will you be managing , if any?
.What will be your primary tasks and functions be?
.To whom will you report?
.Will you be working in teams or individually?
.Are special technical or writing skills required?


Sample Questions This Knowledge will you help you Answer


How is your educational background relevant to this position?

How was your work experience prepared you for the position?

Tell me about your managerial experience.
What makes you feel qualified to complete the primary tasks of this job?
How do you interact best with your superiors?
What factors do you believe help create good teamwork?
Tell me about any special skills you have that you believe can enhance your performance in this job?

How to interview like a top MBA #Book Summary#1

CREATE A GREAT FIRST IMPRESSION

Business Etiquette

1-Arrive a few minutes early
2-Arrive with a professional-looking pad and pen
3-Appear organized, carrying related documents with you.
4-Shake hands with the interviewer
5-Wait to be asked to seat
6-Use the interviewer's last name


Business Talk: Four Key Elements

1-Don't talk about controversial issues
2-Do not talk about issues that will make you seem overly negative
3-Do not crack risky jokes
4-Do not engage in boisterous talk.
5-Do not overuse business jargon
6-Do not use slang unnecessarily
7-Try to avoid speaking negatively of your past employers(unless there is some important reason why
you would want to do so).


Making the most of Informational Interviews: An insider's View

1-Focus the coversation on the professional
2-Show respect: Don't waste the interviewer's time
3-Etiquette for the informational interview: dress the part, arrive early
4-Do your homework
5-Take your resume and a brief cover letter summarizing your experience
6-Close with style

Is An MBA Right For You?

http://education.yahoo.net/articles/is_an_mba_right_for_you.htm?kid=1G47D

Earning your MBA with a management specialization could give you a top-to-bottom view of everything and everyone in an organization. You'll likely learn about general management principles while also studying methods that are unique to different disciplines like heath care or technology. Typical courses include risk management, leadership and team-building strategies, and project and supply chain management. Along the way you might build key problem-solving and communication skills that you could put to work right away.

Potential career paths: An MBA with a focus on management could be a great calling card to employers who are looking for employees who have what it takes to grow into senior roles. One route to success would be to start as a project manager and work your way up the ladder. Positions like distribution manager and purchasing manager have average yearly incomes of $85,470 and $96,910 respectively, according to the Department of Labor.*

MBA Courses over the web

http://www.killerstartups.com/Video-Music-Photo/mbavid-com-daily-mba-video-lectures-for-free

http://resources.prufrock.com/GiftedChildInformationBlog/tabid/57/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/191/Free-University-Video-Lectures.aspx

http://download-reports.blogspot.com/2010/08/video-lectures-economics-usa-download.html

http://mbainavideo.com/

Be A Leader : Leading cross functional teams

The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

Leadership is not so much about technique and methods as it is about opening the heart. Leadership is about inspiration; of oneself and of others. Great leadership is about human experiences, not processes. Leadership is not a formula or a program, it is a human activity that comes from the heart and considers the hearts of others. It is an attitude, not a routine. - Lance Secretan, Industry Week 98

The word "leadership" comes from an old Norse word-root meaning "to make go." Indeed, leadership is about making things go — making people go, making organizations go. But the misunderstandings come in when leaders fail to recognize who actually makes what go.

Be it service or production - leadership is essential element to mange group integration and best practices. Fast growing IT & Biotech industries are in need of great leaders to manage innovation and intelligence. With expectation of managing multiple functionalities and skills required business, Buzz world wants cross-functional team leaders.

Cross Functional Team
A cross-functional team is made up of participants from a variety of business functions. For instance, one might have a cross-functional team whose aim is to develop a new product. That team might be composed of participants from the company's manufacturing, sales, marketing, and financial functions. Cross-functional teams help companies do more with less.

Cross-functional teaming is not just about managing relationships in different locations or functions. It is not about using "old management techniques" in a new business world. Rather, it is about expanding our thinking and our tools to create new opportunities that are aligned with the best thinking about using the resources of our people.

Leading As Leader

Effective team leader are self-directed with teams and committees. Effective team leader has a clear vision and able to communicate that vision to the members of the team. Such leaders develop a sense of urgency about the team’s work, involve team members in goal setting and decision-making and foster a climate of openness and honesty. People want to work for them.

If we try to identify key words to become or leading a team as a leader then such words are: - Clear Vision, With Teams & Committees, Ability to communicate vision, Sense of Urgency, Involve team in decision-making, Openness and Honesty.

When we talk about cross-functional team leader, leader should add further more keywords. Pulling a group of people together and dealing with upper management, functional department heads and support groups.

Lao Tzu said "Be gentle and you can be bold; be frugal and you can be liberal; avoid putting yourself before others and you can become a leader among men."

Let me list out qualities a leader needs.

* Be participative than directive, more enabling than performing.
* Leaders do nothing more important than have people get results.
* Practice effective relationship management up down and across the organization.
* Be able to work with little, no, or at best unclear authority.
* Demonstrate a working knowledge of the technical, scientific and business issues.
* Facilitate the establishment of team goals and an implementation plan and then keep focused on their targets.
* Protect team from undue and unproductive interference.
* Be assertive about obtaining the resources necessary for the team to be successful.
* Keep faith with the past, keep step with the present, and keep the promise to posterity. (Harold)
* Commit and believe in value of the work and willingness to work through obstacles.
* Able to deal with ambiguity and act without complete information.
* Be open to change and help the team adjust to changing conditions and priorities.
* Be authentic; make honest commitments, tell the truth and act with integrity.
* Inspire self with great confidence in self.
* Leader is to get others to do what they don't want to do, to achieve what they want to achieve (Tom Landry)

Cross functional leader needs following qualities in core of leadership.
- Recognizing the talent and contribution each individual can make.
- Keeping the team focused on goals, measurements and outcomes.
- Facilitating a sense of diversity, interdependence and accountability among team members.
- Defining a decision process that encourages empowerment and keeps corporate bureaucracy to a minimum.
- Realizing that organizational change is more a way of life than an obstacle to be overcome.

And Finally…
Good leaders make people feel that they're at the very heart of things, not at the periphery. Everyone feels that he or she makes a difference to the success of the organization. When that happens people feel centered and that gives their work meaning. (Warren Bennis)

Further Readings
Managing cross-functional teams - Terry R. Seamons
Leadership and Cross Functional Teams - Brent Filson

Columbia Business School Executive MBA

Core Curriculum

Columbia Business School’s core curriculum, a series of focused, rigorous, and relevant courses taken primarily during the first year of the Executive MBA Program, is designed to give students an in-depth mastery of the aca

Electives

Upon completion of the core curriculum, Executive MBA students assemble their own schedules, choosing the courses they are most interested in from a wide array of electives. These courses allow students to delve deep into specialized topics with faculty members who are on the forefront of innovation in their respective fields.

Schedule permitting, students also have the chance to enroll in electives in the traditional MBA program, many of which meet weekday evenings, and to participate in elective block weeks, which bring together students from all Columbia’s EMBA programs for intensive, cross-cultural learning experiences. In the second year, EMBA students also take the weeklong International Seminar, which sends them abroad to directly experience business at the international level.

Some recent electives include:

• Advanced Corporate Finance
• Entrepreneurial Management
• Executive Leadership
• Managing Brands, Identity & Experiences
• Modern Political Economy

• Napoleon’s Glance
• Real Estate Finance
• Supply Chain Management
• Top Management Process
• Thinking Globally

demic disciplines and applied functional areas necessary to every business leader’s success.

First-year EMBA students are divided into clusters of 60 to 70 students who take every core course together. Clusters are further broken down into learning teams of five to six students with diverse professional backgrounds, strengths, and weaknesses, fostering cross-disciplinary collaboration from the start of the program. The bonds formed among clustermates and learning team members form the foundation of Columbia Business School’s community and global network.

Core courses are:

• Corporate Finance
• Financial Accounting
• Managerial Statistics
• Managerial Economics
• Strategy Formulation
• Leadership and Organizational Change

• Marketing Strategy
• Operations Management and Strategy
• Decision Models
• Global Economic Environment I and II
• Financial Planning and Analysis

Note that each core course is taught by several different professors each term; the professors and syllabi linked above are merely samples of what may be offered in a given term.

Columbia Business School MBA

Core Curriculum

The Columbia MBA Core Curriculum represents about 40 percent of the degree requirement — two full courses and 12 half-term courses. As of fall 2008, the new core also offers students the option of a “flexible core.” In the second half of the second term, students will select their core classes from three prespecified menus (Organizations, Performance, and Markets), choosing a single course from each area.

The courses that make up the core curriculum follow. Click on a course name to view the course description.

First Term

1st half	Corporate Finance	Financial Accounting	Managerial Statistics	Managerial Economics	Strategy Formulation
2nd half			Marketing Strategy	Operations Management	Leadership Development

Second Term

1st half	Global Economic Environment	Decision Models	Managing Marketing Programs	Elective 1	Elective 2
2nd half	Menu 1: Organizations	Menu 2: Performance	Menu 3: Markets

Organizations	Performance	Markets
Organizational Change	Operations Strategy	Game Theory and Business
Power and Influence	Financial Planning and Analysis	Global Economic Environment II: Business Cycles and Financial Markets
Social Networks and Social Capital		Incentives and Performance

Electives

Students may choose from more than 130 elective courses at Columbia Business School and supplement them with more than 4,000 graduate-level classes from the University’s other graduate and professional schools.

Among the most popular electives at Columbia Business School are the following:

Master Classes

Among students’ many elective options are the newly developed Master Classes. Each Master Class focuses on a specific industry context (e.g., media, real estate, consulting) and draws significant input from the professional community via group projects, guest speakers, adjunct faculty, and alumni participation. With substantial project work and practitioner involvement, Master Classes provide students with unique exposure to real-time business challenges.

Economics of Strategic Behavior

Offering an excellent background for all consultants, managers, and corporate finance generalists, this course examines the economics of successful business strategy — from the dynamics of entering an industry and the strategic imperatives of competitive markets to the sources of competitive advantage.

Financial Statement Analysis and Earnings Quality

Recent events underscore the importance of this course, in which students learn how to glean information about a firm’s current and past performance from financial statements. Students also gain a deeper understanding of specific financial statements from a user’s perspective, particularly focusing on issues of earnings quality, as well as more advanced topics related to mergers and acquisitions and consolidated financial reporting.

Introduction to Venturing

This course challenges students to consider how appropriate an entrepreneurial career may be for them. An overview of the entrepreneurial process, the course covers such topics as characteristics of successful entrepreneurs, techniques for finding and screening ideas, entrepreneurial finance, the politics of new ventures, valuation and deal making, writing a business plan, buying a business, family business dynamics, and managing crisis and failure.

Launching New Ventures

Students work individually or in teams to develop a comprehensive and effective presentation of a real business concept. Faculty, industry mentors, and others help students distill business opportunities into a written and oral presentation ready to seek funding and commence operations.

Managerial Negotiations

Recognizing the critical role that negotiations play in management, this course — one of the most celebrated electives at the School — uses actual negotiations, as well as concepts from the behavioral sciences, economics, and game theory, to hone students’ negotiating skills.

Modern Political Economy

Beginning with Adam Smith, this course examines leading political economists’ theoretical contributions to the development of capitalism. It focuses on the effects of international business on the development of American capitalism and the nation-state.

Operations Consulting

This Master Class is a hands-on laboratory in which student teams work on real-world consulting projects representing diverse industries and varied problem types. The course has been designed and is delivered with substantial participation by major consulting firms. Students learn consulting skills and leading practices through guest lectures by senior consultants at these firms. Throughout the term, the teams will interact intensely with the client organization and receive feedback and critiques on their work.

Retailing: Design and Marketing of Luxury Goods

Bringing together Columbia MBA students and the Parsons School of Design undergraduates, this course provides students with the tools to address the idiosyncrasies of the luxury industry by studying various aspects of the business, from design, production, and management to distribution and promotion. Students work in teams on company-sponsored projects focusing on product design, communication design, and interior design.

Security Pricing: Models and Computations

This course examines the development of models for security pricing, portfolio analysis, and risk management. Particular attention is given to computer-based models for option pricing and hedging; mean variance analysis; multi-period portfolio optimization; analysis of the term structure; and interest rate-sensitive securities, including swaps, “swaptions,” and mortgage-backed securities. Techniques include binomial methods and Monte Carlo simulation, as well as linear and quadratic programming and regression.

Seminar in Value Investing

Designed to develop the approach to investments and security analysis pioneered by Columbia Professors Benjamin Graham and David Dodd, this course details the comprehensive statistical evidence in favor of such a technique and the types of investments that are likely to be fruitful targets of a value approach. Lecturers and visiting speakers — successful practicing value investors — have included Warren Buffett, MS ’51; Robert Bruce, MBA ’70; Mario Gabelli, MBA ’67; and Charles “Chuck” Royce, MBA ’63.

Top Management Process

How do general managers get things done? Typically, they work through processes, or sequences of tasks and activities that unfold over time. This course explores six top management processes: strategy, decision making, resource allocation, learning, managerial decision making, and change.

Turnaround Management

Turnarounds require an integrated view of accounting, corporate finance, cash flow and balance-sheet projections, debt restructuring and liquidation analysis, and credit relationships. Students examine these concepts from the general manager’s perspective through group-oriented projects.

Why Do Married Men Earn More Than Single Guys Doing the Same Job?

In the annals of wage discrimination, a so-called marriage premium for men seldom gets much traction outside academic circles. Experts have for decades acknowledged that men who are married earn more on average than bachelors who do similar work.

The big, still puzzling question is why?

Theories about why employers pay married men more center-even in 2011-on a spouse at home who frees a husband from domestic tasks that sap his productivity at work. Of course, the same might be said of women at work whose husbands run households. But the available evidence does not show that men capitalize on extra time.

Is there a basic bias going on? Are married men getting the proverbial free lunch? Sidestepping a loaded question, maybe in a world where rules are fair and family expenses soar through the roof we should get more automatically. But the world is not fair, so I find it odd that life appears to bestow a free lunch on anyone, married or single.

Are Married Men More Productive Than Single Men?

Economists have yet to come up with good answers for this. The exploration of this topic has relied on fuzzy data on productivity tied to job titles and compensation surveys full of statistical assumptions, where two desk jobs that sound alike may scarcely resemble each other. No one has answered the basic question - are married men more productive?

That’s where economists Naomi Feldman of Ben-Gurion Universityand Francesca Cornaglia of Queen Mary University come in. They’ve drilled into this topic by examining another group of employees that American men can easily relate to: professional baseball players.

To be sure, professional baseball players are different from most of us. But there are similarities in some civilian echelons. Like top athletes, prominent CEOs, politicians, entrepreneurs and lawyers travel extensively, work long hours, pocket lavish compensation, and court winning records in the public eye.

Where the productivity of most private citizens is out of view, kids and rotisserie baseball fanatics can go online for exhaustive stats on every major league baseball player. (Sadly, trading baseball cards has lost cachet in schoolyards.) Pro second basemen on any team seldom stray far from second base, making their productivity easy to compare. Likewise, teammates mind their turf. And rules have changed hardly at all since the first major league pitcher faced a batter in 1871.

With statistical assists from the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Sean Lahman’s Baseball Archive, Feldman and Cornaglia mustered data for a stab at benchmarking married men’s performance at work. Around 16,000 major league baseball players have played at least one game on a major league baseball since the first game. Trimming the roster left 5,000 players who played a sufficient number of games.

Looking for Answers in Baseball Stats

Besides marital status, “Productivity, Wages, and Marriage: The Case of Major League Baseball” crunched player height, weight, left or right-handedness, age in rookie season, experience, number of games played in a season, fielding position and team managers in addition to routine batting and pitching stats. When the dust settled, the study confirmed that the top third of married pro baseball players since 1975 - when free agents were born — have earned from 17 to 20 percent more that top tier counterparts who still play the dating field. But as for productivity, the authors found no meaningful evidence that links marriage to more runs, hits and putouts.

If married ballplayers are not more productive, why then do they earn a marriage premium? It’s not a free lunch. Feldman and Cornaglia credit added value to off the field characteristics like stability, leadership skills and popularity. Fans often flock in larger numbers to home teams with more married players, the study found. Bigger gates appeal to team owners who sign players’ paychecks.

But does that explain a marriage premium for corporate citizens? Hardly. On the other hand, Feldman says that anecdotal evidence - especially from men — supports an old-fashioned theory. Marriage might not make men better workers, but wives make them better negotiators.

S.L. Mintz covers finance and investment strategy and was a writer of the best-selling Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission Report.