Developing Innovative Leaders
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By Richard Lyons, Bank of America Dean, Haas School of Business University of California, Berkeley
Why is now the time to think differently about how business schools teach leadership?
Whether it is producing more fuel-efficient autos or creating new business processes, innovative leaders are the people who will deliver into our idea-driven economy and create opportunity from the major challenges facing us today. Berkeley-Haas defines innovative leaders as individuals who drive growth by putting new ideas into action in every corner and every function of their organizations, and who do so responsibly. Developing this type of leader is our new focus, and we have revamped our MBA core curriculum and are emphasizing the school's distinctive culture to shape its students. Our goal is to assure students learn specific leadership skills such as the ability to think critically and flexibly, and to recognize and foster creative ideas. All of this innovative leadership content is part of what we call Berkeley Innovative Leader Development (BILD), a connecting theme that runs through the entire MBA curriculum, both core and elective.
What does Berkeley Innovative Leader Development (BILD) add to the MBA experience?
Innovative leaders will still need to know accounting, finance, and marketing. That's why we continue to require the basics of business for our students and teach from a general management perspective. At the same time, we will be calling out the content in our core courses in order to produce a particular kind of leader. As part of the BILD approach, each core course has been reviewed to determine elements that contribute to the fundamental capabilities linked by research to innovative leadership. New content on innovative leadership is being added to some courses, and related content is being identified in all required courses. Two existing core courses, Leading People and Leadership Communications, have been restructured to offer additional leadership skills, such as new skills in influencing others. The BILD approach also includes a new required course, Problem Finding and Problem Solving that teaches new ways of thinking in order to solve problems more effectively. Another new course offers teamwork skills and peer coaching. Students must also take an experiential course in which they hone these skills in a real-life setting. BILD also includes the Berkeley MBA Leadership Development Series-a popular new suite of leadership development experiences that are offered to students as non-credit, hands-on workshops and seminars. The program is patterned after the applied leadership programming offered to senior leaders at the world's best companies. It addresses leadership from three perspectives: self, team, and organization.
How does the Berkeley-Haas culture support such a change?
A unique aspect of the new approach is the conscious use of the school's culture to shape its MBA students as they learn how to be innovative leaders. The very best firms have strong cultures and values that encourage their employees to act in certain ways to be successful. We want to use our unique culture and values in the same way -- to encourage and develop the attitudes and behaviors of innovative leaders in our students. Our culture is unique because of who and where we are. Berkeley- Haas is located in the heart of the San Francisco Bay Area-an innovative ecosystem that is unequalled anywhere in the world-which contributes to an unmistakable atmosphere of innovation on the campus. Our strong sense of culture is also reflected in the pioneering scholarship of the Haas faculty members, such as Professor Oliver Williamson, who won the 2009 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for redefining how economists understand firms and markets. As part of the strategic planning process, we have codified our culture into four defining principles:
- Question the Status Quo: Haas students are able to envision a different reality, to take intelligent risks, and to learn from failure, as well as having the courage to speak our minds.
- Confidence without Attitude: Haas students are able to make decisions based on facts and analysis, act without arrogance, and lead through trust and collaboration.
- Students Always: Haas students have a mindset of curiosity and lifelong learning and seek personal growth.
- Beyond Yourself: Haas students consider the long-term impact of their actions and possess the facility for putting larger interests above our own. These four defining principles are used in the selection process of MBA students and are integrated into the curriculum in various ways. They have always been the Berkeley-Haas heartbeat, but we have never articulated them until now and have never used them so deliberately to shape our students and graduates.
Source: topmba.com
Date: 9th November, 2010
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