Headline, September14, 2013

!!! '''YOU CAN'T CREATE A LEADER IN 

A CLASSROOM !!! '''

Another critical distinction is the concept of reflection   -quite a switch from traditional executive education, which uses a lot of  ''action''  learning or case studies, ''The last things the managers need from us is boot camp  -intense, high-pressure class room activity,'' says Mintzberg.

''They live boot camp every day! What they need is to step back from the pressures and reflect on their experiences.''

Because Mintzberg rejects the notions of silos, most of the business functions are covered either in the analytic module  or in ''close learning''. This doesn't mean that you have to hug a tree or dance at a powwow of every session of the  IMPM   -though at times you will find yourself in drama workshops or yoga classes.

What it does mean that you have to learn to ask the right questions, to reflect, and to avoid the traditional manager's trap of reacting to one crises after another.

''Management is, above all, a practice where art, science, and craft meet,'' says the Professor.

It is that type of interaction that seems to have the most impact. When McCroary was in Japan for the collaborative module, she was walking with another student, an engineer from Matsushita, amid cherry blossoms falling from trees onto a driveway. ''He explained to me that a lot of Japanese Haiku is written exactly about this event, and I admitted that I had been thinking 'What a messy tree.' 

The combined effect was so powerful that when I got home, I made it a point to select people who were different from me in a project.''

A recent innovation at the  IMPM  is the 50-50 rule. Unlike the traditional lecture or case format, where the professor is the only expert in the room,  IMPM  sessions allow students to spend half the time in conversation with the other students. The discussion often veers off  on tangents  -but that's the point, says Mintzberg. The exectives must decide for themselves what's relevant. ''Our program doesn't take more work,'' he says. 

''It almost takes less work. But you have to have a lot of depth and understanding and then react to the class.''

The Royal Bank of Canada's McAuley set in on a session in Bangalore the day after the IMPM participants had visited several Indian companies. The next morning, like every morning,  began with a session called ''reflections.''  ''That was the most fascinating conversation in an academic setting that I had ever seen,'' McAuley says. ''We zoomed around the room discussing everything from political to economic issues, and then got into ethics and business.''

The  IMPM's  managerial exchange takes the  50-50 rule to is logical extreme. Between two modules, participant's spend a week at partner's office and then proceed to present a paper detailing their observations. That was the highlight of the program for Jeff Guthrie,and his partner, Helga, an Icelandic native and a team leader for West Africa for the International Federation of the red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, to a refugee camp in Sierra Leone   -her ''office.''

Apart from the shock he felt from seeing firsthand the extent of human suffering there.I learned a real management lesson. ''It was typical, if we had a problem, for our solution to be  'give me, give, give me the resources that I need to solve this,'' he says.

''What the Red Cross taught me was that people said this,'' How can I solve the problem with what I have?''

The  IMPM's  spirit of informality and on-the-fly innovation come straight out of Minzberg's worldview. He seems to find inspiration in any kin of conversation or event, such as the Montreal jubilation gospel choir that he saw at Christmas. ''It was the best thing I'd ever seen on stage in my entire life,'' he says. 

''Not that it was the most polished performance, it was just unbelievable energy. I watched that and said the role of a manager is to bring out the energy that's inherent in people.''

The honor and the post continues:

With respectful dedication to the Students, Professors and Teachers of Turkey.

See ya all on the World Students Society Computers-Internet-Wireless :     '' ! Facing Up To The Facts ! ''

Good Night & God Bless!

SAM Daily Times - the Voice of the Voiceless