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Finance on film Specialist studies Work-life balance
Corporate plotting Luxury goods, law Juggling study
on the big screen and medical MBAs and relationships
FT business education
January 30 2012
Global MBA
ranking
www.ft.com/business-education/mba2012 2012
contents
january 2012 03
Special reports and
supplements editor
Michael skapinker
Business education editor
Della bradshaw
Editor 60
hugo Greenhalgh
Lead editor
Jerry andrews
Art director
openings
sheila Jack
Visual consultant 4 from the editor
ed Robinson
Production editor 6 upfront
top
Jearelle wolhuter Do internships really matter? the art
Commercial director, EMEA of business; top of the class
25
Dominic Good
Head of B2C 8 introduction
elli Papadaki business schools are rethinking the
Head of business education Mba to meet changing needs
report: specialising
sarah Montague
Account managers 10 meet the dean 44 luxury sector
ada Fardarechard, Gemma taylor alison Davisblake on her new role learning to bridge the demands of
Publishing systems manager at the Ross school in Michigan highend creativity and commerce
andrea Friasandrade
Advertising production 12 on management 49 medical
Daniel lesar should a company’s employees have trainee doctors are preparing for
a say in who manages them? realworld medicine with joint degrees
on the cover
illustration by neil webb 14 dean’s column 55 legal
John Quelch of ceibs on a marketing schools respond to the blurring of the
guru with a sharp mind – and tongue border between law and business
contributors
niGel anDRews is the Ft’s
features 60 veterans
film critic; anDRew baXteR is it should happen to a vet: us Mba
Ft special reports senior writer; 22 18 interview programmes want exmilitary students
Della bRaDshaw is Ft how an Mba took a graduate from
business education editor; siMon paratrooper to banker and a role
endings
caulKin is a management in the london 2012 olympics
writer; chaRlotte claRKe 65 books
is Ft business education 22 film a straightforward look at leadership.
online and social media how cinema sees business Plus the pick of 2011 titles
producer; PhiliP DelVes in the aftermath of the
bRouGhton is a manage global financial crisis 69 technology
Photos: RoRy Daniel; lauRa baRisonzi; baRRy wetcheR
ment author; eMMa Jacobs Getting to grips with
is assistant editor of Ft business 28 relationships cloud computing
life; Michael Jacobs is an Demanding studies have an
Ft business education statisti impact on those closest to you. 73 challenge
cian; Miles Johnson is the how can you protect them? sightsavers
Ft’s Madrid reporter; Rebecca wants your
KniGht is a freelance journ help with an
rankings
alist; chRis nuttall is Ft image problem
technology correspondent; aDaM Interactive 34 analysis
Palin is Ft business education rankings and interpreting the data gathered from 74 hopes
researcher; elizabeth Paton more at students and schools for the ranking & fears
is assistant editor of luxury 360; www.ft.com/ Devneet bajaj
alanna PetRoFF is a freelance rankings 36 the ranking wants to make
journalist; John Quelch is the top 100 schools, plus methodology a difference to
dean of ceibs, shanghai; farmers back
Ross tieMan is a freelance 40 the top school in india
journalist; PeteR wise is the what makes a winning school? we ask 74
Ft’s Portugal correspondent a dean in the top spot for the first time
f t.c o m / B U S i n e S S e d U c at i o n
from the editor
04 della bradshaw
Moving targets
➔ As the world enters an era of mega-cities, are business schools in the right locations?
h
ow important is location to a business other cities that spring to mind are tokyo – the
school? does it matter if you are rooted in world’s largest metropolitan area with a population of
one particular city or country? it is a topic about 36m – dubai, são Paulo, Chicago, singapore, new
that is creeping on to the business school
Business delhi and los angeles. might istanbul also have a shot?
agenda because, as we know, demographics educators must if the 25 global cities are to be at the heart of business
are changing dramatically. bridge business and educational life, then do they not also have to house
the world’s top business schools?
there are now a mind-boggling 7bn people on the
planet. What is more, that figure could double again by and academia, among the top 10 schools in the Ft’s ranking of
the end of the century, with the largest growth occur- and the place the top 100 mbas, only one city is represented twice –
ring in developing countries. Where will people live? boston. With seven large universities in the greater bos-
What kind of lives will they have? how many will pursue to do that is on ton area, it is arguably the world’s most important city for
higher education? the doorsteps education. but, 10 or 20 years from now, will it be one of
the dean of the indian school of business gave me the top 25 cities? and if not, does that matter?
an alarming statistic recently. only about 30 per cent of of global i would argue that it does. unlike history or philoso-
people in india live in urban areas, compared with 82 per companies phy departments, business schools must bridge the gap
cent in the us. india is expecting between 250m between business and academia, and the place to do that
and 300m people – close to the popula- is on the doorsteps of global companies.
tion of the us – to migrate to cities in so how do london, mumbai, new york and shanghai
the next 20-25 years. fare? a glance at the ranking shows there is a smattering
this means business schools of business schools in london and new york. each city
face two issues. First, the is home to a top-10 school and has at least one other in
growth in student numbers the top 100. indeed, if you include “greater, greater
outside the traditional london”, as one german professor recently defined it to
mba markets of north me, there are six business schools within an hour’s jour-
america and europe. ney of central london, including oxford and Cambridge,
second, a rush towards that make the top 100.
urbanisation. mumbai has no business schools represented as yet
some deans of top and shanghai just one – Ceibs. this may change rapidly.
schools have given the there is the much-quoted statistic that by 2020 there will
latter much thought. sally be 20 cities of 20m people in China. the problem is, at
blount, dean of the Kellogg the moment most people can only name two of them.
school at northwestern What is clear, is that many universities are in locations
university, says globalisation that will never become global conurbations. new
Photo: ed robinson; illustration: raymond biesinger
will lead to the emergence of haven, Connecticut (home to yale) will never make the
25 global cities – intellectual, cut. nor will lancaster in the uK, lausanne (home to
social, economic, educational and imd) in switzerland, or london, ontario (home to the
cultural capitals. ivey school).
Where will they be? and will they be so how can they flourish? technology
250m
home to the world’s top mba programmes, too? will play a part. two of the us schools that
a quick poll among business education colleagues recognised the value of this early on have
(a rather unrepresentative sample of seven) showed been the north Carolina schools – Fuqua
tremendous disparity when colleagues were asked to Between a quarter of and Kenan-Flagler. and many schools
nominate the 25 top cities of the future. everyone agreed a billion and 300m have set up overseas campuses or partner-
on london, mumbai, new york and shanghai. Indians are expected ships with business schools in China and
beijing, hong Kong, moscow, Paris, rio de Janeiro to move from rural south america – india is still proving
and Washington also got multiple votes. What about san areas to cities in the more difficult. but so far there has been
Francisco? too small. rome? not enough industry. and next 20-25 years – little innovation by schools in the us
then there is germany, the industrial powerhouse of a number not far and europe to deal with changing demo-
europe, but with a federal system that mitigates against short of the current graphics. if they do not innovate, will they
the surge of one great national city, such as london, US population of 312m survive as global institutions? it will be
Paris or madrid. another 20 years before we find out. b
f t. c o m / B U S i n e S S e d U c at i o n
06
upfront $125,824
Average alumni
salary (weighted),
for the top 100
programmes*
➔ Poll: internships really do give you an ‘in’
$1bn: the 8,230 graduates from the top 100
business schools who gave salary data to
the alumni survey for the FT global MBA
ranking collectively earn more than $1bn
➔ The name game
What’s in a name? Quite a lot it
seems. The MBA is one of the
few globally recognised degree
brands, but the letters stand
for a lot more than a masters of
business administration.
Apple’s MacBook Air is per-
haps the most famous product
to share the initials, but some in
PHOTOS: DREAMSTIME; GETTY; ALAMY
the US will be familiar with the
Mortgage Bankers Association
P
or the Monterey Bay Aquarium,
rospective students completed an intern- not to mention another postgrad-
who view an MBA as ship found employment uate degree, the Masters of Beef
a springboard to new within one month of finishing Advocacy, awarded by the National
industry sectors or jobs their courses, only 69 per cent Cattlemen’s Beef Association. But pos-
would improve their of those with no internships were sibly the furthest cry from the prestigious
chances by completing an intern- as successful. business degree is Scotland’s little-known
ship, a recent FT survey reveals. A contributing factor was the charity, the Mountain Bothies Association,
According to almost 2,000 fact that 63 per cent of interns which maintains shelters in remote areas.
MBA alumni from the class of were offered a position with the
2008 who responded to an FT internship employer. It is therefore
poll in November 2011, those who unsurprising that 85 per cent of
undertook an internship as part of alumni who completed an intern- ➔ Top of the class
their programmes were more likely ship said the experience was
to change career paths. Of those important to their post-MBA Top for aims
who completed an internship, 92 career progression. achieved
per cent changed jobs and 69 per More than a fifth
37th
(Three years
cent changed sectors. Among those of those who did not after graduation)
who did not, these figures were do an internship IMD, Lausanne,
8 per cent and 12 per cent lower regretted it, princi- Switzerland
respectively. pally on the grounds The University of Hong Kong’s
It also took less time for those that it would have position in the FT Global MBA
who did an internship – 72 per cent been an opportu- ranking, the highest of four new
of respondents – to find employ- nity to experience a entries to the top 100 (three are
ment after completing their MBA. different sector and from east Asia, two from China)
While 75 per cent of those who role. - Adam Palin
F T. C O M / B U S I N E S S E D U C AT I O N
07
➔ FT GLOBAL MBA RANKING
TOP The top 25 in 2012*
25
Weighted
(US$)**
salary
Rank School name
1 Stanford Graduate School of Business 192,179
2 Harvard Business School 178,249
© 1994, ARTIST: SALLY DAVIES. BY PERMISSION OF THE ARTIST/HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL, SCHWARTZ ART COLLECTION
➔ Art for art’s sake – at a business school? 3 University of Pennsylvania: Wharton 172,353
4 London Business School 152,981
formidable public collection. A 5 Columbia Business School 166,497
belief in the power of provocative 6 Insead 144,355
art to catalyse creative thinking
has brought together an eclectic 7 MIT: Sloan 157,337
range of contemporary pieces. 8 IE Business School 156,658
Many, including “Painting
No.538” (pictured) pose a meta- 9 Iese Business School 133,888
phorical challenge to students. 10 Hong Kong UST Business School 127,600
According to the artist, Sally
Davies, the purpose of the piece 11 Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad 175,076
is “to question our sense of value, 12 University of Chicago: Booth 152,585
our obsession with consumerism
and what initiates our desires”. 13 IMD 144,045
The popularity of the student 14 University of California at Berkeley: Haas 146,811
Art Appreciation Society appears
to indicate the regard in which 15 Duke University: Fuqua 139,405
the collection is held. The club’s 16 Northwestern University: Kellogg 145,834
co-presidents get to accompany
Schwartz on his annual trip to 17 New York University: Stern 134,093
procure the latest acquisitions. 18 HEC Paris 121,061
The collection is not an
investment, but has been 19 Dartmouth College: Tuck 151,182
S
donated in trust. It is arguably a 20 = Indian School of Business 129,512
hould the Financial Times paradox that art may be deemed above
attempt to rank the art collec- the commercial imperatives that 20 = Yale School of Management 142,455
tions of the world’s leading underpin an MBA curriculum. Para- 20 = University of Oxford: Saïd 134,805
schools, Harvard Business phrasing Oscar Wilde, perhaps it is
School would have a strong through art alone that schools can 23 National University of Singapore School of Business 97,625
claim to the top spot. shield their students from the perils of 24 = Ceibs 123,058
Motivated by an absence of artistic the world beyond. Or it may simply be
inspiration in his time at Harvard, nice to look at. – Adam Palin 24 = Cornell University: Johnson 141,727
MBA alumnus Gerald Schwartz has See slideshow at www.ft.com/ Footnotes
* See ranking, p39, for the criteria. ** The average salary three years after
been the driving force behind HBS’s business-education graduation, with adjustment for salary variations between industry sectors
Top for careers Top for international
(Seniority after experience
three years and (Based on course
size of company) elements overseas)
Indian Institute Hult International Business
of Management, Top for salary
School (US/UK/UAE/China)
Ahmedabad (Three years after graduation)
Stanford GSB, California
Top for female students ($192,179, weighted)
(Highest proportion: 45 per cent)
Cass Business School, London *See key (p37) and methodology (p39) for criteria
F T. C O M / B U S I N E S S E D U C AT I O N
introduction
08
Degrees of change
➔ Business schools are reinventing the MBA. By Della Bradshaw
T
wenty years ago, the mBa by russian business schools. i do not
was unquestionably the see a particular demand for [it].”
degree of choice for ambi- in europe, the surge in demand
tious young managers; for pre-experience masters in manage-
these days, the picture is ment degrees has overshadowed the
less clear cut, as shifts in the global mBa, with many established schools
economy highlight the need for com- seeing a decline in applications. in
peting types of manage- countries such as Germany, the mBa
ment education and is still a fledgling product, explains
greater student choice. jens wüstemann, president of the
while the mBa $100,000 mannheim Business school. “Fifteen
still dominates the Eleven of the 100 years ago, the mBa was unknown in
north american degree schools in the 2012 Germany. we are trying to educate
market, a diverse range FT Global MBA the market.”
of programmes are blos- ranking charge even in the us, the home of the
soming in developing more than $100,000 mBa, fragmentation in the market – or
economies. for their MBA pro- customisation, as deans prefer to call it
south america is gramme. All are in – is increasing, says david schmittlein,
emerging as a non- the US – and all are dean of mit’s sloan school and a long-
degree market, with in the top 25 time advocate of programme choice.
executive education “there’s been a lot more discussion.”
the norm in Brazil. in so, just as the us exported the mBa
china, executive or to europe 50 years ago, today there
part-time mBas are the is an increasing demand for euro-
premium programmes. in india, the pean-style pre-experience masters in
flagship postgraduate programmes are management degrees in north america,
targeted at those straight out of under- as well as for specialised degrees in
graduate courses. finance, accounting and marketing.
in the fourth Bric country, russia, the latest technology has also
the mBa also takes a back seat, says sent many mBa schools back to the
Valery katkalo, dean of the Graduate drawing-board. even the top-ranked
school of management at st petersburg schools are acknowledging the changes.
illustration: nick lowndes; photo: jim sulley/newscast
state university. “currently the full- “i think people will look at different
time mBa is not the product delivered formats,” says Glenn hubbard, dean
‘I think people may want to get
an MBA in a slightly different way’
GlEnn HUBBArd, dEAn oF ColUMBIA
BUSInESS SCHool (lEFT)
of columbia Business school in new
york. “i think people may want to get
an mBa in a slightly different way.”
while every business school is
exploring the option of blended learn-
ing, in which courses can be either
online or based in the classroom, in
2012 all eyes will be on the kenan-
Flagler school at the university of ➤
f t. c o m / B U S i n e S S e d U c at i o n
09 f t. c o m / B U S i n e S S e d U c at i o n
introduction
10
at ie Business school in madrid, programmes in asia. this year, the
‘What does it mean to for example, the 633 full-time mBa chinese school is planning to start
put capitalism through students now choose which 80 elective teaching in new york as well.
courses will run from the 150 pro- as established business schools
the moral filter of Islam?’ posed by faculty. “it’s demand driven,” scurry to educate those from different
BIll BoUldInG, dEAn oF explains strategy professor david Bach. cultures, the curriculum’s focus has
as numbers on mBa programmes moved from the content to the context
FUQUA SCHool oF BUSInESS
in europe and the us plateau or in which business operates. “what
decline, business schools everywhere does it mean to put capitalism through
are counting the costs, and fundraising the moral filter of islam?” asks william
campaigns are squarely back on the Boulding, dean of duke university’s
north carolina at chapel hill. in 2011 agenda as state funding evaporates. Fuqua school of Business. “we’d better
it launched mBa@unc, essentially But in asia, different funding models begin to understand that.”
an online mBa, but with the same are emerging, such as corporate foun- as well as damping the number of
premium fees as the full-time degree. if dations, to take the place of the state mBa applicants, the continued eco-
successful, it could set the benchmark and the wealthy alumnus. nomic uncertainty has brought other
for other highly ranked schools. dean William as nitish jain, president of the sp changes. students are now opting for
in the scrabble to attract the top Boulding of the jain center of management, points longer programmes. at esade in Bar-
students, this kind of differentiation Fuqua school out: “it will be private enterprise that celona, where students can complete
has become the name of the game, says (above); richard funds asia’s growth in education.” their mBa in 12, 15 or 18 months, most
richard lyons, dean of the haas school lyons of the Haas one example is cheung kong Gradu- are eschewing the shortest course. of
at uc Berkeley. “Business schools are school (below) ate school of Business, which made the 180 students, only 20 in the class
taking more of a stand and saying, ‘this a splash in 2011 by opening facilities of 2012 will finish their degree in 12
is what we are about.’ we’re saying in london, reversing the prevailing months – the rest are opting to study
this is our identity; this is our history; trend in which western schools set up over a 15- or 18-month period. “what
this is our place.
we’re going to play
it our way.” ‘Business schools are
But as the taking more of a stand
ticket price of an
mBa goes up, so
and saying ‘This is
does the student what we are about” ’
demand for high-
rICHArd lYonS, dEAn oF THE
quality teaching
and services. HAAS SCHool oF BUSInESS
dave wilson,
president of
Gmac, the body we didn’t expect at all was the
that administers [low figures for] 12 months,”
the Gmat entry says Gloria Batllori, executive
test for business director for the mBa.
photos: charlie BiBBy; shaun curry; daVid schmitZ
schools, warns of oxford university’s saïd
the dangers. “the Business school is also
13th
faculty are a fixed tapping into the trend.
cost, just like the peter tufano, the newly-
building. there’s appointed dean, plans to
a limit to what launch a 1+1 system this
they can teach,” The “aims achieved” year, in which postgraduate
he says. “now rank out of 100 of students will be able
they have to teach Haas School of Busi- to obtain two degrees in
mBas for medical ness at the University two years, the first a masters
students or mscs of California at Berke- in a specialist subject, such
in finance.” ley. This measures as environmental manage-
But market- the extent to which ment or education, the second
sensitive business a school’s alumni an mBa.
schools are learn- fulfilled their goals consumer choice, it seems,
ing to embrace for doing an MBA will increasingly be the name
the new reality. of the game. B
f t. c o m / B U S i n e S S e d U c at i o nView profiles
of top deans at
www.ft.com/
deans
11
Meet the dean
➔ Alison davis-Blake aims to put the ross school on the global map
A
lison Davis-Blake rattles consultancy projects rather than at the University of Minnesota,
off the statistics as if she lectures or case studies, has been and before that a professor at the
has known them all her on the curriculum for 25 years. McCombs school at the University
life. The University of Michigan And it was one of the first US busi- of Texas at Austin.
has 43,000 students; 7 per cent ness schools to recognise the need For many, state education is all
of them are studying a business for students to develop a global about the funding, but at Ross this
degree or business major; the mindset. These days, 80 per cent is largely academic. The business
university receives 5 per cent of Ross students have an action- school is essentially tuition driven,
of its funds from the state. learning experience outside their with just 0.9 per cent of its funds
Yet Prof Davis-Blake home country. coming from the state, and 71 per
only joined the university For many top US business cent of income from fees.
a little over six months schools, including Harvard, these However, money is a big issue.
ago, when she was kinds of projects are only just Even though alumnus Stephen
appointed hitting the agenda. Ross gave the school $100m in
dean of Indeed, Michigan 2004, the total endowment of
the Ross The business already does many $364m is not enough to support
School of
Business.
school is high of the things for
which other top US
operations, says the dean. Indeed,
fundraising is high on her agenda.
Now it is on substance, schools are earning But Prof Davis-Blake says the
her job to but often column inches. At defining issue of state universities
put it on Stanford, for exam- relates to ethos, and to the notions
the global reticent to ple, one in every of public service and inclusion.
map. shout about it six MBA students “We need to educate all sectors in
Prof is studying for their society,” she says.
Davis- second degree at the In a polite but firm swipe at the
Blake, 53, is a career university, yet the proportion at FT rankings – one criterion in the
academic with a Ross is similar. rankings is alumni pay – she says
PhD from Stanford So why is Michigan not more life is not all about money. “I see
and lists of globally visible? “Midwest mod- more and more students think-
Alison publica- esty” is one reason, believes the ing, ‘What kind of outcome do I
davis-Blake tions to her dean. But she is also realistic. really want? What does a better
on a recent name. In “Michigan is not the school for job mean?’ A better job means I
visit to that, this every student,” she concedes. It is can make a bigger contribution to
london business- in Ann Arbor, a Midwest university society. A better job is having more
like expert town, not New York, San Francisco influence over society.”
on strategic or Hong Kong. And the business That is something state univer-
human school is part of a large, full-service sities are well placed to deliver,
resource university, not she asserts. The
manage- a standalone message must be
ment is campus. on video getting through,
perhaps It is also a state because as other
emblematic of the school university, rather Alison davis-Blake business schools
she now runs, an institu- than a member of talks to FT Business admit to falling
tion that is high on substance, the exclusive Ivy Education editor applications and
but often
often reticent to shout League. But then, della Bradshaw about enrolment rates
about it. Prof Davis-Blake how business schools this year, the Ross
Over the years, the Ross is an advocate of can help improve school can boast
school has been a pioneer of US state higher the gender balance that applications
innovative course and curricu- education. Before on company boards. for its MBA
lum design. joining Ross, she www.ft.com/business- programme are
Action-based learning, in was dean at the education/mba2012 up 7.6 per cent. B
which students learn through Carlson school – Della Bradshaw
f t. c o m / B U S i n e S S e d U c at i o non management
12 simon caulkin
The view from below
➔ It makes business sense for companies to give employees a say in how they are managed
T
he coalition government need less protection. The UK is already To recap: engagement and com-
is considering changing next to bottom in the employment mitment are the nearest things to a
employment law to make protection league. UK employees work management silver bullet. What is
it easier for companies to longer hours, are more likely to work more, we know how to do it: select
hire people – Orwell-speak, part time, and get propor- managers who can, in Prof
many think, for sacking them. In her
piece on business school governance in
tionally half the employ-
ment benefits of the aver-
There is no Birkinshaw’s words, “push
decision-making down to
the last issue of this magazine, editor age. Taxes on labour are correlation employees, communicate
Della Bradshaw noted that it was hard lower, too. There is simply between low the meaning of the work
to imagine organisations “allowing no correlation in the being done loudly and
the workers effectively to decide who OECD figures between low employment clearly, and provide
will be their new boss. When the FT is employment protection protection support when needed”.
next looking for an editor, will jobbing and high economic perfor- This is hardly rocket
journalists be allowed to vote?” mance. Rather, the reverse and high science – and it has been
Maybe they should. Behind both is true: greater protection performance known for decades. In this
these ideas are the same assumptions: seems to go light, the real question is
that, baldly, performance is all about with better economic not why you would give workers a say
sorting out the workers, and all will be performance. in appointing their manager: it is why
well if managers are allowed to get on If employees you would not.
with it. It is the conventional wisdom – are feeling Sure enough, some of the high-
but does it stack up? helpless and performing, best-to-work-for compa-
In a recent research report on worried nies do just that. At manufacturer WL
“employee-centred management”, about Gore, of Gore-Tex fame, the only way to
London Business School’s Julian their become a leader is to attract followers.
Birkinshaw, Vyla Rollins and Ste- jobs, Current chief executive Terri Kelly got
fano Turconi point out that unlike, that is the job because more people followed
say, sales and marketing, which has what her than anyone else. Closer to home,
learnt that customer insight comes they are Happy, the award-festooned training
from seeing the world through focused company, lets associates choose depart-
customers’ eyes, management is on, not ment heads; and if anyone is unhappy
exclusively viewed from the perspec- customers with their manager, a better solution
tive of the manager. or quality. than forcing them to leave is allowing
This one-eyed view is self-reinforc- Fear makes them to choose someone else.
ing, perpetuating the assumptions it people stupid. Even among the “best-workplace”
PHOTO: ED ROBInSOn; ILLUSTRATIOn: AnDREW BAKER
started with. Beyond that, companies, most see employees select-
If the aim is “creating a workplace though, in LBS’s ing managers as a step too far. But, as
where employees are able to deliver ideal workplace, trust Prof Birkinshaw notes, even without
their best work” – the subtitle of the looms large, and trust is allowing this, the central conundrum of
LBS report – the evidence is unargu-
able: a happy, secure workplace pro-
The big question knowing whether you
incompatible with not people management remains. Why do
more managers not walk the talk? Why
duces better results. Dozens of studies In What Matters Now, will be there tomorrow. are there so many bad ones? Why are
show that improving engagement pays Gary Hamel says creating It goes further. The so many workplaces “stultifyingly dull”
off. One recent scholarly study calcu- organisations fit for the main determinant of (Prof Birkinshaw), or worse? There are
lated that a value-weighted portfolio of future and for humans trust, and engagement a number of plausible answers – for
Fortune’s “100 best companies to work is the answer. Is that not generally, is a good example, the self-reinforcing, top-down
for” in the US, outperformed the aver- what management is first-line manager. In assumptions we started with, human
age by 3.5 per cent a year over 25 years. about? The fact that they fact, all other aspects of nature, convention and fear of standing
Or try it at national level. Statistics have not done it already, the workplace – condi- out from the crowd. But none has
from the Organisation for Economic suggests managers are in tions, colleagues, pay anything to do with evidence – which
Co-operation and Development make for a big challenge. – are comparatively does not do much for management
nonsense of the idea that UK workers insignificant. pretensions in the first place, does it? B
f t. c o m / B U S i n e S S e d U c at i o n➔
View profiles
dean’s column of top deans at
www.ft.com/
14 John quelch deans
Bark with bite
➔ His manner could be blunt, but Theodore Levitt’s intellect was both sharp and inspirational
A
cademics succeed if their Arriving at Harvard as a doctoral I wrote to Prof Levitt, by then head
names are linked to student in the mid-1970s, I had heard of Harvard’s marketing department. A
one important idea that Prof Levitt was one of the big men terse one-sentence reply mailed weeks
outlives them. Profes- on campus. Walking to my first class, later announced there were no
sor Theodore Levitt’s I noticed behind me a openings. Ten days later,
name is linked to many. The first was a
blockbuster. “Marketing myopia” was
sprightly man with bushy
eyebrows whom I assumed
‘Always work unexpected the phone rang – an
resignation.
published by Harvard Business Review correctly to be the profes- on important The professor needed me
(HBR) in 1960, one year after Harvard sor. I held the classroom problems at Harvard in two months
Business School plucked Prof Levitt, door to let him through. to teach the required MBA
the son of a German immigrant cobbler, As he passed, he barked: that are marketing course.
from the University of North Dakota. “You’re late!” important In 1983, HBR
The article famously asked: “What I gave him a wide berth published Prof Levitt’s
business are you in?” It critiqued until it was time for feed- to important “Globalization of markets”.
railroads for “letting their custom- back on my thesis proposal people’ It rocked the marketing
ers get away from them because they after three months of hard world by claiming: “Gone
assumed themselves to be in the labour. The meeting lasted five are the accustomed differences in
railroad business rather than the minutes, barely long enough for Prof national and regional preferences” as
transportation business”. They Levitt, whose mentoring style was consumers everywhere pursued the
were product-ori- more tough love than hand- single objective of “world-class moder-
entated rather holding, to dismiss me with: nity at affordable prices”. Believing the
than market- Theodore “Throw this out, start again thesis to be exaggerated (which, as a
orientated. Levitt was a and come back in a week consummate provocateur, Prof Levitt
Over towering figure with something impor- freely admitted), I worked long and
the next 40 in marketing tant!” Fortunately, I did. hard on an HBR rebuttal, “Customizing
years, Prof Prof Levitt’s advice global marketing”, which demonstrated
Levitt’s articles was always to work on how successful multinationals such
dominated HBR, important problems as Coca-Cola and Nestlé combined
alongside those that are important to standardisation of marketing strategy
of Peter Drucker important people in with local adaptation of marketing
and, later, Michael important companies. It tactics. As a non-tenured professor,
Porter. His sweeping spurred me to get out into I was nervous about taking on the big
generalisations were the field, talk to business beast. Prof Levitt loved it.
rendered tolerable by the people, write case studies A few months later, and just ahead
elegance of his prose. He and understand the messy of my promotion review, Prof Levitt
opined brilliantly on the perils complexity of the world, rather called my office to announce he would
of corporate social responsibility, than work behind be sitting in on my next class. The
the need to differentiate everything, my desk on math- case study involved a discussion of a
and the importance of tangible evi- About the ematical models marketing ethics question: should The
dence to reassure customers choosing based on unrealis- Boston Globe newspaper accept adver-
among suppliers of intangible services columnist tic assumptions. tising for South African Krugerrand
(the impressive bank building, the Professor John Quelch After graduat- coins? The discussion was spirited and
authoritative logo). All 25 HBR articles is dean of Ceibs in ing, I took a job at the students thankfully well prepared.
went through at least five rewrites. As Shanghai. His latest the University of At the subsequent debrief, Prof Levitt
PHOTO: ROSIe HALLAM
he said: “Why should you make book is All Business Is Western Ontario. asked me how I rated the class. “Well,”
customers go through the torture Local. Previously, he was The famous I stumbled, “it wasn’t bad but I could
chamber? I want them to say ‘Aha!’” senior associate dean blizzard of 1978 have done a few things differently...”
I spent perhaps no more than eight at Harvard Business dumped 37 inches He cut me off. “Quelch, it was a terrific
hours in the company of Prof Levitt, School and dean of of snow outside class, no more need be said.” Prof Levitt
but he had a profound impact on London Business School my apartment; it gave praise sparingly but, when he gave
my career. was time to leave. it, he gave it unreservedly. B
f t. c o m / B U S i n e S S e d U c at i o ninterview
16
Winning
position
A paratrooper turned banker,
Chris Daniels’ MBA helped secure
him a dream role preparing for
C
London 2012, writes Andrew Baxter
hris Daniels was out on the a non-governmental organisation such as the UN or the
town when Bob Diamond, then head of Barclays Capital International Red Cross. “When I was at Iese, the big
and currently chief executive of Barclays, rang his home thing was investment banking and I went through the
in Barcelona to persuade him to take up a summer first year thinking it was a kind of crème de la crème job,”
internship. he says. “It was hard to get into and it was perceived as
It was 1999 and Daniels was almost halfway through glamorous, so I thought: ‘I’ll just do a 10-week intern-
his two-year MBA course at Iese, the business school ship and then I will have gotten it out of my system and
based in the Catalonian city. “the human resources at least I would be experienced in it.’”
department [at Barcap] had obviously deployed Bob But it did not work out that way, and Barcap played
Diamond on the waverers,” he says, “but my Romanian a clever hand in reeling in Daniels, paying him for each
housemate answered the call, and of course he had no module of its training programme he completed during On form: Chris Daniels
idea who he was. he said: ‘Chris is out in a pub so it may his second year. By the time he had signed up to join handles Lloyds invol
be a couple of days before he phones you back.’” the investment bank, he was back in the black after vement as a sponsor
Not the most auspicious start to Daniels’ banking going tens of thousands of pounds into debt to fund his of the London 2012
career perhaps, but after five years in the army and with MBA – even with a scholarship that halved the fees. the
Photos: getty
Olympic Games and
a strong desire to do something “useful, that had a sense financial help was not the reason he joined Barcap, he Paralympic Games
of purpose”, he never intended to enter the industry. stresses, “but it kind of nudged [the decision] along”.
he had hoped, instead, that his business qualification In a non-financial sense, however, payback for the
would lead to a job as head of operations or strategy at time and effort invested in the course has taken much ➤
f t. c o m / B U S i n e S S e d U c at i o n17
Photo: ChARLIe BIBBy
f t. c o m / B U S i n e S S e d U c at i o ninterview
‘I was frustrated that I was only
ever using 25 or 30 per cent 19
of my skill set and knowledge
[in investment banking]’
longer. Daniels was attracted to the trading floor that he had spent six weeks at the Sydney
environment. “it was dynamic, fast moving, entrepre- Games in 2000, volunteering as athlete
neurial; you were allowed to be your own boss,” he says. services manager for the modern pen-
after 10 weeks at barcap, he was tasked with setting tathlon. also, while at barcap, he had
up an equity derivatives business from scratch, as man- attended the 2004 athens games with the london
agers realised he was a bit older than other new entrants 2012 bid committee.
and, as an Mba, had more breadth. “equity derivatives Daniels was told it was a year too early for him to
was less about derivatives and more about tax, account- come on board, but his interest was welcomed.
ing and financing issues,” he says. “i was not an expert in When he left the bank later that year to join hboS,
any of those things but [because i had done the Mba] i he assumed that would be the end of the matter.
D
could speak the language and grab in the expertise.” however, by September 2008, he was back in the
fold after lloyds tSb absorbed hboS in the
aniels found he was using a little of fallout from the global credit crisis and became
what he had absorbed at iese, but not lloyds banking Group .
enough. the derivatives knowledge he on July 27 2009, exactly three years before
had picked up was very theoretical, so he the start of london 2012, Daniels was offered
had to relearn on the job; on the other his current job. as “head of london 2012
hand, he says, it was good to have the activation – wholesale” his role is to find ways
theoretical base, and his focus would to bring value to the bank’s corporate activi-
also have been much narrower if he had gone straight ties from its Games sponsorship.
into investment banking after receiving his maths degree it has been a dream job, and a big chal-
from oxford. lenge. Daniels had to define the scope of the
it was much the same story in subsequent investment new role himself, looking at business develop-
banking assignments – typically he would spend two ment, customer and employee engagement,
years developing a business that was either not perform- and working out how to use london 2012
ing or was starting up, first at barcap and latterly at to instil pride in the bank. all of this took
lloyds tSb. “on reflection, i was frustrated that i was place at a time of upheaval as two
only ever using 25 or 30 per cent of my skill set and banks were combined and jobs
knowledge. you are compensated by being paid really were being lost to deliver the
handsomely – certainly in those days, maybe it’s less now. synergies and savings that inves-
photo: charlie bibby
but, fundamentally, you are paid to do deals,” he says. tors expected.
then in February 2007, lloyds tSb announced it Daniels says the sponsorship has “created new Picking up the pace:
would be a tier-one sponsor of the london 2012 olympic networks and new ideas, and really allowed us to the true value of
and paralympic Games. Daniels was running european demonstrate our support for the UK economy and small an MBA only becomes
derivative sales for the bank, but sensed an opportunity. businesses, which has been great”. apparent later on
he rang the head of marketing, said he wanted to work this multifaceted role has at long last allowed him, at in your career,
on the olympics project, and reminded his colleague the age of 42, to use his full range of skills, he says. ➤ Daniels believesinterview
“i regularly deal with hr, marketing, the finance guys, “the ethos of the paratrooper is, you land on the Great expectations:
the business development people – you name it, i’m ground and you can’t jump up again, so you just have to the Olympic venue
dealing with everybody. So now i am fully utilising my get on and sort things out,” he explains. in east London is
H
Mba, drawing a lot on what i learnt at business school.” Five years later, after seeing action in Northern nearing completion
20 ireland, the prospect of eight years in army desk jobs
e stresses, however, that he is also did not appeal. Daniels was aware that his civilian
leveraging what he learnt in previous friends were working as management consultants or
roles building businesses in banking, investment bankers in london, and having a whale of a
and drawing, too, on his military days time. “i thought, if i am going to work at a desk, it will
in terms of leadership management be one of my choosing, in a place i want and where i can
– he has six direct reports but dotted organise my time.”
lines mean the team can rise to 13. that prompted the decision to do an Mba, but
after leaving oxford and deciding that the university Daniels felt it would have to be a full-time, two-year
milk round and some of the jobs a maths graduate would course because he was facing a “massive” learning
be offered on it – such as actuary or accountant – were curve. the one-year Mba at insead, for example, was
“the most deathly dull thing you could possibly imagine”, just too quick and seemed to be “designed for manage-
Daniels chose to become a paratrooper, attracted more ment consultants”. he looked at two top US schools but
by ideology than the chance to jump out of an aircraft. found that, despite their strong brand names, they were
US-centric rather than global. he plumped for iese for
a variety of reasons, including a desire to experience a
different culture, but the clincher was the lack of a domi-
nant nationality in the cohort.
‘I wonder whether the effective use of an MBA
possibly comes much later in a person’s career’
“in a class of 70, the maximum [number of people]
of a certain nationality was six, so you had this very
cross-cultural experience,” he says. and, of course, “why
wouldn’t you spend two years in barcelona if you had
the opportunity?”
looking back, Daniels says: “it’s almost as if my
career to date has all come together in one role and i
wonder whether the effective use of an Mba
possibly comes much later in a person’s
career.” Which is something, perhaps, for
prospective students to bear in mind – you
may get a quick return financially, but other
benefits can take longer to come through.
So what next for Daniels after london
2012? “i’m going to sleep for three months,
that’s the first thing,” he jokes. “i’ve told my poor
wife and children: ‘you’re not going to see me
this year, i’m just going to be flat-out busy.” B
Photo: charlie bibbyfilm
22
On the
money?
A wave of films about business has
followed in the wake of the financial
crisis. But the big screen is struggling
to come to terms with the scale of
the upheaval. By Nigel Andrews
f t. c o m / B U S i n e S S e d U c at i o nO
In Wall Street: Money
Never Sleeps, Michael
Douglas reprises his
23
role as Gordon Gekko –
but the character
has changed subtly
nce upon a time, the only
thing film fans knew about the bond market regarded
a chap called James. this Bond regularly dominated
the news, encouraged mass investment and caused
worldwide excitement. Whenever there was a new Bond
issue – of connery, Moore or Brosnan – it stirred up the
newspapers as well as the cash registers.
how things have changed. even with Daniel craig
enlivening the 007 brand, the word “bond” now needs no
capital B. Indeed, the joined concepts of “bond” and “lack
of capital” are exactly what make headlines: a credit-
crunched world in mortal peril, money changers fleeing
temples, all of us in a tailspin without the interference of
Smersh or Goldfinger.
the latest wave of finance-world films – including Wall
Street: Money Never Sleeps, The Company Men, Inside
Job and The Social Network – all began shooting in 2009.
Lehman Brothers, the investment bank, collapsed in Sep-
tember 2008. Do the maths. even if some of these films
were then gleams in hollywood’s eye, the cry of “action”
would only have been hastened by events.
With the globe’s horizons still streaked in red ink – and
possibly getting redder – the odds are that there will be
more such movies. the newest is Margin Call. Depicting
three days in the life of a Lehman-style bank, hollywood’s
latest audit of the meltdown suggests little has changed.
the patient is no better, he still excites shock, awe and
pity. More importantly, he excites screenwriters and
directors – Margin Call’s J.c. chandor makes his debut
in both jobs – to present the boardroom and brokerage
corridors, once so heedless and bountiful, as places fit for
a modern Greek tragedy (a description Greece itself, of
photo: Barry Wetcher/SMpSp
course, now lives up to).
Star casts are fixtures in these films. Wall Street:
Money Never Sleeps saw the return of Michael Douglas
and The Company Men features Ben affleck, tommy
Lee Jones and Kevin costner. Margin Call is awash with
names. Kevin Spacey, the best in the business for busi-
ness roles and a graduate of Glengarry Glen Ross (David
Mamet’s seminal drama-satire about sales firm practices),
plays a sales manager trying to survive a downsizing
storm. chief executive Jeremy Irons and “head of risk”
Demi Moore are among the winners and losers. ➤
f t. c o m / B U S i n e S S e d U c at i o nfilm
the business movie is today’s version of the 1970s Cimino’s The Deer Hunter and francis ford Coppola’s Hard times: Tommy
disaster film, less physical but no less apocalyptic. The Apocalypse Now were released in successive years. seven Lee Jones and Ben
Poseidon Adventure and The Towering Inferno had star years later and a year before Wall Street (as if opening Affleck star as execu-
casts to help us keep tabs on a plenitude of characters. the door from one us zeitgeist to another), oliver stone tives made redundant 25
the complexity of modern money doings, which can made Platoon (1986). in The Company Men
undo an entire company, country or the world, also needs If there is much more momentous tribulation in
a big dramatis personae and the hi-fi cast to play them. financial trauma wards currently – and there surely will
Now, a physical cataclysm is not required. Bonds be – we should expect movies of equivalent stature: the
will do for bombs; hedge-fund crises are as threaten- kind that stand above the fray while also lending it new
ing as hurricanes. tragedy has become microcosmic. power built on myth or metaphor.
the beating of a butterfly’s wing in Wall street, tokyo right now we are in a phase where we try to see
or London’s square Mile is as humanity in man’s inhumanity.
momentous as the destruction If Michael Douglas as Gordon
The business movie is
Y
of a street or a city. “greed-is-good” Gekko in the
today’s version of the 1970s first Wall Street defined a
et for all its modern titanic antihero for the 1980s,
obsession with the disaster film, less physical the post-meltdown baddies and
money world, one but no less apocalyptic goodies are subtly different. or
could argue that differently subtle. Gekko him-
cinema still has self, in the second Wall Street, is
not found the subject’s full dramatic a mixture of old bluster and new penitence, who ends by
measure. the ground troops have moved investing his money, through only partly selfish motives,
in, but the main campaign may well lie ahead. Com- in a more far-seeing world. (“Green is good”?)
pare the history of the Vietnam war movie. It took a the title characters in The Company Men, executives
decade or more – filled with the honourable grunts and made redundant by a failing Boston firm, are vic-
squaddies of hollywood action cinema fighting on the tims not of evil super-bosses but of life and the
level plains of gung-ho – before the defining epics, unpredictable spasms of lucre. as in the Wall
raised up by mythic or tragic vision, arrived. Michael Street sequel, there is an underlying belief that
everyone should get back to doing honest,
simple, socially responsible work – a
Voltairean injunction to “cultiver nos
jardins” – which explains why fired
executive Ben affleck takes a job
with Kevin Costner, his salt-of-the-
earth builder brother.
even The Social Network, while
endowing facebook founder Mark
Zuckerberg with an unflattering
mixture of gauche egotism and go-
getting ruthlessness, seeks to find the
human being behind the uber-geek.
the film enjoys – in an acerbic yet
forgiving way – the irony of a hero
with minimal social skills creating
a website for world togetherness. ➤
photo: rex featuresfilm
Financial losses and the
menace of bankruptcy are
26
up there, for dramatic value,
with love, sex and fatal illness
novel Atlas Shrugged brought to the big
screen. Part one of a proposed three-part
adaptation hiccupped into movie theatres
in April. For critics and audiences it was
simultaneously too little and too much.
rand’s vision of an unconstrained laissez-
faire Utopia seemed as challengingly
batty as ever. Yet the film was under-cast,
under-directed and under-powered.
We await, even so, a film about
capitalist downfall that has the mytho-
manic reach and grandeur of rand’s
storytelling. Perhaps we require an
upside-down or reconfigured Fountain-
head. in my view, we need – as the story
of the Vietnam war needed cimino,
coppola and stone – an artist unafraid
to lend the fall of Mammon something as Not the same old
reverberant as the fall of Adam (and i do villains: The Social
not mean smith). Network cast the
too many modern money movies founder of Facebook as
recycle the same meltdown meteorology. egotistical but human
stocks tumble; the braces are stretched; (left); Kevin Spacey is
the juniors are fired; the seniors quake; an executive trying to
the kevin spacey/Michael Douglas survive downsizing in
character gets to make his climactic Margin Call (below)
M
speech about greed being good,
bad, redemptive, iniquitous,
Photos: Merrick Morton; JoJo WhiLDen
elodrama, plain and purple, is not complicated, simple, or any combination
today’s preference. there are too many of the above.
colours, we have been schooled to come on, hollywood. there is a
believe, and many of these overlap. it world falling apart out there. Atlas has
is too easy to blame the old villains, so indeed shrugged. the ongoing, long-
hollywood leaves that to the documen- lasting world money crisis is threaten-
taries. non-fiction films such as Inside ing all our lives, sending cracks and
Job and Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer have fissures into each corner. it is not just
begun to seem – paradoxically – more black-and-white about suits in skyscrapers. how many
than fictional dramas. other crises in our times, wars apart,
sometimes current business fiction on screen goes have had such an effect? Let us get that
back in time to find those bold colours. Mad Men, the hit vision up and running. Let us get the
television series, is set in the 1960s, but who is counting? picture world’s prophetic
this backstabbing, rival-knifing drama set in a Madison powers pumped, primed
Avenue advertising agency seems a lot like the present and unafraid of the big
day, with yesterday’s gloss and visual statement: poetic,
styling. the swing of the redundancy political or
axe is ever threatening. Financial losses apocalyptic. B
and the menace of bankruptcy are up
there, for dramatic value, with love, sex
and fatal illness.
the great leap backwards does not
always work. Last year, that prophetess
of capitalism, Ayn rand, almost saw – from
her cloudy eminence in the afterlife – herfeature
28
Family
business
Prospective MBA students need to consider
the impact their course will have on their
M
personal lives, says Emma Jacobs
oving partners it can be hard. Arriving in a strange country
to England was a huge decision for Elaine Grogan. It with no job and a partner who has little time for you
meant giving up a job she loved, selling wallpaper and can be very difficult. Any student considering an MBA
textiles for an international company. It was the first time or even a part-time EMBA, should weigh up the human
Grogan, 31, had lived outside Taiwan and leaving her costs of the time commitment and possible relocation on
family was a wrench. It also meant exchanging a warm their friendships, relationships, family and employer.
climate for the cold, damp English countryside. Jessica Pounds, director of diversity affairs at the
But this year she upended her life so that her Irish University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business, says:
husband could pursue an MBA at Cranfield School of “Students who come here spend a lot of time in recruit-
Management, near Milton Keynes. Her verdict on the 12 ing and study time, so they spend a lot of time away
months at Cranfield is that it has been a “great experience from their families. There’s a constant grind in business
– you meet lots of people from 40 different countries, school – it is very intense from the moment you arrive,
with different talents and different ideas to you”. The fact whereas normally in jobs you get ebbs and flows.” For
that she has enjoyed her time as a student’s partner is students who bring partners, the pressure to spend time
largely down to her attitude. “You have to find something with them may be strong, she adds, “though leaving a
to do day to day. You have to contribute something – you partner at home can also be problematic”.
can’t just wait for people to approach you and you also Paul Dainty, Melbourne Business School’s deputy Difficult decisions:
have to make time to do something with your partner.” dean and author of The MBA Companion, says “stu- relocation and a
She was helped, she says, by Cranfield, which lays on dents have to manage the critical elements, which are lack of time can
social activities and sports clubs for partners of students. family and work … Quite often, people will say to their be challenging for
While accompanying her husband to business school friends or family ‘I’m going to do this MBA’, and then MBA students and
has been a positive experience for Grogan, for other get caught up in the school work and find that the last ➤ their partners
f t. c o m / B U S i n e S S e d U c at i o n‘Students spend a lot
Occulpar cieniae se
of time away from
nisit quam, sunt. their families. There’s
23
Con pedis reperovitat a constant grind in
audam et laborep
business school – it
is intense from the
moment you arrive’
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
PHoTo: CorBIS
➤
f t. c o m / B U S i n e S S e d U c at i o nfeature
conversation they had was six months ago. They should She received support from Mothers at Booth, which
be having regular discussions with people who are criti- she co-chaired, a small group where women can share
cal to them throughout the programme, not just at the experiences and identify good ideas from other schools.
start. Those who haven’t got family presumably have a “Everyone has different experiences. Some brought
30 nannies and mothers or mothers-in-law. We can use each
social life or partners or both. You have to be very care-
ful to maintain those relationships. If you put people on other as sounding boards, to discuss issues with children
J
hold for three years, they don’t suddenly pop up again.” and how to navigate the corporate ladder. We invited
alumni in – it gives female students some insight into the
ust as important, he says, “kids don’t necessar- career ahead of them and helps them plan.”
ily understand what Mummy or Daddy is doing. She is unconvinced that doing an MBA is any more
You’ve got to spend time with them.” stressful than a high-pressure job in terms of family and
Gila Vadnai-Tolub, a 29-year-old management believes the move has enriched her family’s life. “My five-
consultant, graduated from Booth in 2011. Her hus- year-old didn’t speak a word of English when we arrived,
band and children (aged five and one) moved with but within four months she was bilingual”.
her from Paris. She says her entrepreneur husband Jessica Pounds says Booth has made an effort to sup-
was very supportive. “He pushed me to do the MBA.” port families. “We have a partners club and they organise
As co-chairwoman of a French MBA social activities. We also have Polo – Parents
group that organised breakfasts or outings, of little ones – to organise playdates and
as well as a French film club, she intro- babysitting or outings to the zoo. We invite
duced her husband to French speakers.
Helping hand partners to events and try to engage with
Nonetheless, her husband was mostly at Look for support. Many them early on.”
home. “It made me feel reassured that he schools offer mothers Those taking part-time courses can
was at home with the kids,” she says. She and partners groups. face resentment from colleagues, says Prof
was also helped by a flexible curriculum Do not be passive. Dainty. “MBA students have to manage
that allowed her to some extent to choose If there are no exist- them. They should not necessarily expect
courses to fit around her family. “It meant ing clubs, set one up colleagues to understand what they’re
I could sometimes see my children in the yourself. going through: they haven’t been through
day. Also, at Chicago Booth you are able Talk. Keep partners the programme. resentment is an issue,
to join in the part-time EMBA courses, so and friends onside by especially when part-timers have to leave
you can catch up in the afternoons or at communicating what is work a bit earlier. They need to try and
weekends.” expected in the MBA. help colleagues see that this study is also
The hardest part of the MBA was the Make time. It is easy to of benefit to the company. Yes, it is an
recruitment season, says Vadnai-Tolub, get sucked into an MBA individual benefit, but it will be ploughed
“when I had to go to breakfasts, lunches but it is important to get back not only through the individual’s job,
and dinners. By the second year I had a job the balance right. but also potentially [in tackling] broader
offer, which meant I could relax a bit.” company issues.” B
Balancing act: while it
can be hard to juggle
a young family and
academic work, there
can be unexpected
PHoTo: AlAMY
benefits, such as the
chance for children to
learn a new language if
you have to relocateYou can also read
