Welcome to the MBA Program!

Editor's Notes

• #2: It is my pleasure to warmlywelcome the fourth cohort of the Master of Business Administration program at James Madison University. I want to congratulate you on your admittance to what I believe is the best value to be found in a B-school anywhere, and my sincere thanks to Dr Busing and the College of Business leadership for inviting me to offer my remarks as a returning iMBA student.Leading through Innovation with Technology and People: what does this motto say about us?Always looking for a new and better way to lead wellClosely connected with the technological advances of our business cultureFocused on the human dimension of the market and the workplaceI’d like to talk to you about my experiences in this program, and not just mine, but those of Cohort 3 as a whole. We did everything as a group and when I received the invitation to speak here the first thing I did was reach out to my classmates and get their input. It has amazed me the kind of relationships we’ve been able to build; I am working on a major business deal now that originated right here in Cohort 3.I’ll begin with an introduction…
• #3: Introduce myself, talk about my situation before business schoolTwo responses everyone had to my B-school:Are you crazy?That’s awesome, you’ll do really great
• #4: A little apprehension is a healthy thing. If you are not experiencing some apprehension about whether you can really pull this off, you’re probably not taking it seriously enough. Grad school is a big deal.This experience will be everything you thought it would: challenging, connecting, educating, inspiring. And your attitude is what’s going to make it that. Enjoy the environment and opportunity, because it goes by quickly
• #5: Start thinking of yourselves as part of a cohort, and as future business leaders. You will form friendships and partnerships, but most importantly resources that you can draw on later.Form groups early on and get used to working together, but also be fluid and flexible so that you get the benefit of working with everyone in the cohort. We formed the Dream Team early on and were very cliquish, I wish we had branched out more…Start a Cohort 4 Facebook page to chronicle your journey together, meet up on Skype, study togetherRemember that your team members are here to practice leadership too, not just you
• #6: Contribution: Don’t hesitate to speak up in class, whether online or onsite, but make sure you actually have something to say. There is limited time and we need to make sure everything contributes to moving the learning process forward.I was always the guy with the passionate wrong answer. Some of this was because with my engineering background I think I can figure anything out quicker than anyone else, some of it because I don’t hesitate to jump into the mix when there’s a great discussion going on, but this track record did two things for me:1. Made me think a little longer before I speak2. Helped me not be afraid of being wrong. Peter Harris quote: Sometimes wrong but never in doubt!This is different from undergrad work. The professors are all accomplished professionals and their time is as valuable as ours is. We are here to learn from each other!You will also find that they have very high expectations of us. The iMBA cohorts have established a reputation as eager, driven, hardworking students. Dr Reif story about expectations…Later on this afternoon, Dave Stoops will give more information about some of the tech tools that are available to you for your classroom experience…
• #7: Use Powerpoint and Prezi. I like to print notes pages in PowerPoint with the slide on top and the notes below, so I can follow along with the presentation. You’ll be exposed (if you haven’t been already) to things like TedX and Ignite! and they are fun too.Video editing: iMovie, if you have a Mac. (I don’t know anything about this)Virtualization: If you have a Mac, do yourself a favor: use Bootcamp, Parallels or VM Ware (VirtualBox isn't very reliable)Presenting is incredibly fun. You learn stuff about yourself and get better, you are stretched to do things you didn’t think you could, your confidence is built by orders of magnitude, and – best of all – all the attention is on you for a little bit and that’s OK!!
• #8: Take time to get to know your new team members. Everyone has different strengths that will be needed for success. You will be amazed at some of the stuff the people in your cohort can do.Assign roles and create mileposts. The first initial idea is to rush into dividing up things and tackling tasks, but the group works much, much better if a collective understanding of what really needs to happen is clear. There is almost always one person in every group who hesitates and asks a question while everyone else is rushing off. I am not that person but I have learned to appreciate them very highly.File-sharing between group members: DropBox seems to be the preferred method, SkyDrive works as wellGroup meeting/chat: Skype for both voice and text chats. You will also find that when you are presenting together online, Skype is invaluable to coordinate “behind the scenes” while one group member is speaking on Elluminate.
• #9: We have discovered that when writing a group paper, it is a good thing to have one main editor for the paper who serves as "air traffic controller”. It prevents some headaches. It is OK not to be the main editor all the time! We need to remember that an intrinsic part of being able to be a leader is being able to be a follower at times.When multiple people are editing one paper, use Track Changes in Word and figure out how to merge two versions of a document back into one. You have to keep short accounts with this or it will get out of hand.Word/Excel: Learn how to embed Excel in word documents to make Accounting easier. It helps me to keep everything clean and in the same format every time I work it, so that I can recognize if something doesn’t look exactly right.
• #10: Log on to Elluminate for the online sessions early in case you have problems connecting. Give it 10 or 15 minutes just to be safe. Promptness and attention makes a difference to our professors; they appreciate and reward it.If your Elluminate session gets slow, let the professor know! I had a lot of problems with that for the first six months and it turned out that everyone else was, too. Do not hesitate to “raise your hand” and say that you’re having a problem.Get familiar with Google Docs! It’s a great way to collaborate and contribute to group projects online. You can also share articles, pictures, schedules etc.
• #11: Talk to the people you are close to and let them know about the lifestyle changes that are coming for the next two years. For example, prep your friends for the fact that unplanned social invitations will almost certainly not happen. Did you know that at Darden they won’t even let you in until they get buy-in from your spouse, boss, pastor etc?Make sure you are very intentional about planning activities during holidays and breaks because otherwise they will be on top of you before you know it. Celebrate big events! Go hang out together as a cohort or as smaller groups after exams, last class etc. Take time to build these relationships because they will last. I remember picking up Phillip Broughton’s Ahead of the Curve: Two Years at Harvard Business School in the JMU library before school started last year, and reading the section where he describes the people who studied in the classroom before him. Jeff, James, Mike, Margaret: we know them as GE’s Jeffrey Immelt, JP Morgan Chase’s Jamie Dimon, New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg, and HP’s Meg Whitman.
• #12: For me personally I think the single greatest gain from getting your MBA at JMU is the confidence you attain by performing and competing with your classmates; the second, the intellectual progress that comes from mastering the academic subjects. Both of these are absolutely necessary for excellence in leadership. You must be the leader who is all about the bottom line, and you must be the leader who casts a vision that inspires people.You are leaders, every one of you. You have the smarts to achieve financial goals and the passion to lead people to achieve great things. That is why you are here. Take the opportunity to grow, to take risks, to learn more about yourself and the spheres you will move in, and to build lasting relational and professional bridges.If you remember nothing else I say, remember this: Change is the stuff of which success is made. Embrace it, grow through it, do not fear it. And when you master the art of change, both in yourselves and in the organizations you lead, you will attain to the goals you’re dreaming of today.
• #13: It’s a great ride! Enjoy every bit of it.
• #14: Thank you for your attention today. I do wish you all the best as you embark on your Master’s in Business Administration here at James Madison University, and I can tell you it is a truly great experience. Are there any questions I can answer? We have another 2 minutes to go…And now I will hand it over to Dave for a discussion on technology!