Executive Education is Dead As We Know It, Where to from Here?

This is no idle statement. Read the opening statement from the Harvard Business Centenary Global Business Summit "Business Education in 21st Century.

...On the whole, MBA programs are in decline. Their value is being questioned, and they are seen as overly emphasizing analytics rather than skill development and experiences. Deans, executives, and recruiters identified four main areas where current MBA programs are falling short: leadership; globalization; communication/presentation skills; and problem identification in ambiguous environments...

It came as a shock to The Creative Leadership Forum to see our own research so strongly validated on the failure of business school education to provide practical business skills by the most famous business school brand globally.

And the trend is not just in America. Since the global financial crisis in November 2008, Australia's leading business schools have had dramatic drops in attendance of up to 70% at their open executive education programmes and in some instances have completely closed them down. And the question remains whether they will be able to re-start as the global financial crisis eases, without a substantial re-think.

Research with Australian top 500 companies reveals they are extremely unhappy with the type and content of business education currently being offered in Australian universities. One of the major banks has opened its own academy for its senior executives with the assistance of a senior US academic they selected as having flexibility and expert knowledge in the area they felt most relevant for their organisation. They have indicated they will no longer be using Australian business schools for their senior executives training as they simply do not understand their corporate needs, nor showed any interest in wanting to understand them. In another instance, companies threatened to withdraw from a two year accelerated learning programme unless the academics listened to their needs and the programme re-designed accordingly.

Why have business schools failed? The answer lies in the DNA of each sector.

Business academics in the main research and develop theories in a risk free highly regulated environment. They test their theories with course participants and in the process make a nice little earner on the side by teaching their theories to open programmess. Academics by industry and business standards are still poorly paid unless they are in the public speaking Harvard branded category and regardless of whether academics dress themselves in the costumes of consultants, they are in the end academics and perform and conform to the rituals of that world. Thinkers they might be, rarely though are they successful entrepreneurs, too!

Business operates in a completely different paradigm. Large organisations need skills programmes aimed at turning managers into entrepreneurial leaders. They need executives practised in the art of complex decision-making for profit in volatile and highly risky environments. This is not the world of the acadmeia. Whilst theory is important to provide a framework for these practices, the academic emphasis on research and theory, particular the Harvard case studies model, offers little in the way of applied cognitive business skills and Harvard Business School acknowledges that.

Small organisations, the main repositories of business and commercial innovation, about 80% of the Australian market simply can't afford business school educations. David Mamet, the Oscar Award winning playwright and screenwriter captures the sentiment very nicely in his book "Bambi v Godzilla - On the Nature, Purpose and Practice of the Movie Industry" when he implores those interested in becoming film makers NOT attend film school. In his view, those who go to film school go to watch films not to make them. His recommendation is, if you want to become a film maker, make one. That's the way of small businesses. People simply make them!!

So what options do organisations or businesses, small or large have to develop their senior and emerging executives?

The Creative Leadership Forum has developed a peer to peer management innovation learning laboratory (COL:LAB) based loosely on the Leadership and Innovation in Complex Systems (LAICS) Masters programme at the Copenhagen Business School. The difference with the COL:LAB model is the organisations participating design the learning journey themselves, not the academics or the course director.

From mid 2010, we will bring together 40 executives from 8 different organisations to explore management innovation over a 2 year period. Participants, using retreats and Web 2.0 tools with input from international knowledge experts, will use real work challenges to explore management innovation.  The knowledge they gain from this practice will be applied to their work circumstances and subject to peer group feedback to assess the outcome, whether successful or otherwise.

The aim of COL:LAB wis to create leaders highly skilled in the art of practical business decision making for the contemporary era.

The Creative Leadership Forum has appointed Warren Kennaugh, former Executive Director of Coaching, Melbourne Business School as COL:LAB Programme Director and is well advanced in its planning with expressions of interest from several large Australian corporations. In addition, the Creative Leadership Forum is running a series of short public events to introduce organisations to the COL:LAB format over the next couple of months.

Click here to express an interest and to receive a PowerPoint presentation on COL:LAB

.If you would like to discuss COL:LAB directly please call Ralph Kerle directly on +61 412 559 603

Business education is about to change!!!!