Stacy Blackman’s Weekly Roundup of B-School Intelligence

In finance, risk is intimately related to reward, but lately too many investors and executives tended to downplay the downside of making a business gamble. That was one insight that emerged during the Nov. 20 Kellogg Risk Summit as experts discussed the drivers behind the recent financial markets meltdown.

For years, business schools have been working at increasing the number of women in MBA programs, with average female enrollment at most schools languishing in the mid-20% to low-30% range. However, for some schools, women-geared admissions events appear to be paying off, BusinessWeek reports.

Financial Times profiles the Prison Entrepreneurship Program, a four-month course taught by volunteer executives and business school students that shows inmates how to develop and launch enterprises and be productive on re-entering society.

The CFA Society of Los Angeles and the USC Marshall School of Business announced a ground-breaking free program that will enable on-duty U.S. military personnel around the world to study via the Internet to become Chartered Financial Analysts. Soldiers or sailors who are interested in an investment career can prepare now for a successful transition to civilian life.

Plans for a business incubator to help University of North Carolina researchers have been postponed, The Chapel Hill News reports. UNC officials had hoped to start building the Innovation Center next year, but the private firm developing the project — the California-based Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. — has put it and others like it on hold due to the lagging economy.

In the BusinessWeek Debate Room, professors from Harvard Business School and MIT Sloan School of Management hash out whether business schools are largely responsible for the U.S. economic crisis.

American International College (AIC) in Springfield, Mass., will launch an exclusive executive MBA program in commercial fitness next summer. The new MBA  was designed to apply a solid core of business knowledge to the unique demands of doing business in fitness.

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For a concise, thoughtful guide that will help you navigate the MBA admissions process with greater success, order our NEW book, The MBA Application Roadmap.

This week’s GMAT challenge from PrepForTests.com is a problem solving question.

Have a go at answering this and then review your answer.

Happy Thanksgiving to all who celebrate the holiday!

When you finally awaken from your tryptophan coma this Thanksgiving weekend and have a hankering for some food for thought, check out these illuminating B-school podcasts.

• New research shows that entrepreneurs are highly-adapted risk-takers, and that this functional impulsivity is key to their success. It can also be taught; Dr Shai Vyakarnam, Director of Judge Business School‘s Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning, explains how.

• In an interview with Knowledge@Wharton, Kenneth D. Moelis, founder of the Los Angeles-based investment bank Moelis & Co., discusses how the continuing financial turmoil will affect the fledgling investment bank’s business, what opportunities investors can find amid the wreckage, and more.

• The Darden Leadership Speaker Series spends some time with Chic Thompson, founding partner of Creative Management Group, Batten Fellow, and author of the books “What a Great Idea!” and “Yes, But…”, a guide to overcoming the bureaucratic language that stifles continuous innovation.

• In yesterday’s Reflections from the HBS MBA Program Chair podcast, Andrea Kimmel from MBA Admissions speaks with Joe Badaracco, MBA Program Chair, about how Harvard Business School is responding to the global economic crisis.

• The victory of Barack Obama, the first African-American to become president of the United States, could help the troubled US economy recover by the middle of next year, says Ilian Mihov, professor of economics at INSEAD.

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We are now on Facebook – please join the Stacy Blackman Consulting group, or become a friend of Stacy Blackman. I am posting news about MBA related events, job listings, and of course MBA news.

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For a concise, thoughtful guide that will help you navigate the MBA admissions process with greater success, order our NEW book, The MBA Application Roadmap.

IE Business School in Madrid, Spain is a top ranked international program that offers incredible flexibility in the curriculum and program options, as well as the ability to attend an exchange program. Like many European MBA programs, you will have the option to minimize your time away from work through a 15 month program. IE also offers an Online MBA option.

To learn more about the school, attend one of the many information sessions conducted throughout the world.

IE only asks three brief questions of its MBA applicants, and forgoes the typical “career goals” question entirely. Therefore, you will need to answer the question asked effectively, communicate your personal attributes, and provide any professional or personal information you think is necessary within the confines of these three short questions. Since it is a difficult task, make sure you are focused on your application strategy and are able to clearly articulate that you are a dynamic, professional and accomplished applicant who has the necessary interpersonal skills to interact with a diverse and international group of peers.’

The main objective of the following questions is to have more information regarding your candidature. Please answer each question on a separate sheet of paper with a minimum of 250 words, limiting each reply to one side of paper (1.5 line spacing).

All Applicants must answer the following essay questions:
A. If you had the opportunity, what would you ask the president or leader of your country, and why?

This question is straightforward on the surface, and requires you to have a fundamental understanding of your own country’s government, yet at the same time offers an opportunity to communicate something about yourself.

When choosing a topic you would discuss with your government’s leader, think about the core themes of your own life and career. Like Stanford’s “what matters most” this question may uncover the most important focus of your life.

Since IE does not ask the traditional career goals question, this is certainly an opportunity to raise an industry issue that is important to you, and will allow you to communicate a bit about your professional focus as you answer the question.

If your career is not the appropriate focus for this question, think about the pursuits of your extracurricular life. Is there an issue that is especially important to you? Even more effective would be an issue that feeds directly into one of your long-term goals.

Whatever topic you choose for this question, make sure you are communicating effectively about yourself and not solely focusing on the leader that you are posing the question to.

B. Cite the most difficult situation you have faced in your professional life and how your input helped to resolve it.

A clear example of a difficult situation, an explanation of why it was difficult, and an exploration of how you resolved it are the core questions for this essay. Similar to other situational questions you have encountered, this question is designed to reveal how you handle adversity and problem solving. Providing specific details will be incredibly important, and lessons learned from this situation will also be effective.

Applicants for MBA and General Management programs should also write an essay on the following topic:
C. Cite at least one example in which your leadership impacted or changed a situation and discuss how you think IE Business School will help you refine, focus, or enhance this skill.

This leadership essay is fairly standard and requires you to provide an example of a leadership quality that you excel at, and also would like to refine. A specific situation that you can explain concisely will be ideal. Make sure your situation clearly illustrates a distinctive aspect of your leadership style, and yet positions you to discuss how that aspect can be further refined through attendance at IE Business School.

This question also offers the opportunity to provide reasons that you want to attend IE. Ideally you will be able to cite specific classes or programs at IE that will help you deepen your leadership skills.
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We are now on Facebook – please join the Stacy Blackman Consulting group, or become a friend of Stacy Blackman. I am posting news about MBA related events, job listings, and of course MBA news.

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For a concise, thoughtful guide that will help you navigate the MBA admissions process with greater success, order our NEW book, The MBA Application Roadmap.

Dr. Jochen Runde, newly appointed director of the MBA program at Cambridge’s Judge Business School, brought up an unusual talking point for a business school function: the philosophical discipline of ontology—the study of what exists and modes of existence.

At the QS World MBA Tour Singapore Fair on November 23, Runde explained during the MasterClass in Management Seminar that the identity of all of the technological objects that surround us flow from both their physical form and social function. This seemingly esoteric topic cuts right to the heart of business in terms of user-innovation, and shows that disruptive technologies don’t always destroy markets.

Taking the case study of the rise of “turntablism” – the musical form of scratching records created by hip-hop bands and DJs in 1970s New York – Runde explained how a consumer group can radically change the way a product is used. In so doing, the users create a completely new identity for what is essentially the same object, offering opportunities for astute manufacturers.

Commenting on the MasterClass, Dr Runde says, “This talk is an example of the kind of multi-disciplinary thinking students can expect to benefit from at Judge Business School. In this particular case, starting from what appears to be quite an abstract philosophical question, one arrives at some interesting and unusual insights from a management perspective about the emergence and adoption of new categories of products.”

The MasterClass in Management Seminars is a series of lectures organized by QS as part of the World MBA Tour, which looks at themes such as strategy, entrepreneurship, marketing and leadership. Presented by leading professors from some of the world’s top business schools, the series offers potential MBA candidates a taste of the business school classroom and an insight into best practices drawn from case studies around the world.

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We are now on Facebook – please join the Stacy Blackman Consulting group, or become a friend of Stacy Blackman. I am posting news about MBA related events, job listings, and of course MBA news.

I am on Twitter too…click to follow me on Twitter! www.twitter.com/stacyblackman

For a concise, thoughtful guide that will help you navigate the MBA admissions process with greater success, order our NEW book, The MBA Application Roadmap.

Each week, we bring you news from the front lines with business school bloggers sounding off on life in the trenches.

Anand (Darden) confesses to enjoying this unique stage in life, aka business school, when spending a significant portion of time playing video games is possible, despite being considered a less-than-valuable activity by greater society. In this post, he delves into real game theory and how the elements of strategy and execution apply equally well to the MBA program.

N.A.S. raves that attending the Indo-German Business Forum in Dusseldorf last week was the most fun he’s had since starting at London Business School. The cross-cultural experience included a false fire alarm, Jack Daniels-marinated merriment, and fantastic keynote speakers that included Walter Bender from the MIT Media Lab, Amit Mehra from Reuter’s Market Light and Madhav Chavan, the founder of Pratham.

Reflections at LBS wonders whether an MBA is an expensive lesson in time management, and offers ramblings on alumni. “For those who would call me a skeptic,” he says, “I am neither casting doubt on the value of an MBA nor am I poo-pooing it in comparison to a medical or law degree. I mean come on, don’t we have more than enough lawyers already in the world?”

To MBA or Not to MBA (Chicago Booth) has logged many a post this quarter devoted to ranting about the economic crisis and a lack of faith in her chosen career. She lets us in on what else she’s doing when not griping with a recap of some of the more enjoyable (or at least non-academic/recruiting) moments of the fall quarter.

The Socialist Capitalist (Rotman School of Management) has been procrastinating, as anyone working full time while in a full-time program is wont to do. In addition to sharing highlights from this term, he shares an important lesson in these trying times: Your bonus is your job. Though he’d like to claim it was foresight that guided his decision to keep working during the MBA, in reality, it was avoidance of a massive financial anxiety attack.

Run Forrest, Run (Chicago Booth) takes a look at the economic downturn…as seen through the recruiting lens. Even thoguh dismal recruiting stories are the order of the day at consulting firms, big pharma and tech companies, he remains optimistic that he and his peers can fight their way through the process toward soemthing they enjoy.

The Naked MBA espouses the importance of shoring up your networking karma and shares a Chinese proverb: A wise man is one who knows everything, but a smart man is one who knows everyone. But that’s only part of the equation, she says. Networking is quid pro quo; it’s how you connect with them that really matters. Out of b-school for almost three years now, she should know.

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We are now on Facebook – please join the Stacy Blackman Consulting group, or become a friend of Stacy Blackman. I am posting news about MBA related events, job listings, and of course MBA news.

I am on Twitter too…click to follow me on Twitter! www.twitter.com/stacyblackman

For a concise, thoughtful guide that will help you navigate the MBA admissions process with greater success, order our NEW book, The MBA Application Roadmap.