A Kellogg class of executive MBA students
“The most important part of the test is developing self-awareness,” says Kaplan. “That’s a meta-competency, if you will.”
“Most of my fellow ECAP students are from Fortune 500 companies, so they’ve had experience doing assessments,” Lee says. “I think the general consensus is that the ECAP assessments really are something different.”
While Kaplan said that he can’t point to any particular competencies students tend to lack, he does sometimes see a need for better soft skills in finance professionals. The remedy is, again, agility. “Many leaders rely on what they did in the past to apply to different scenarios,” Kaplan says. “Sometimes you have to let go of the competencies you’ve used in the past and apply new ones.”
As for the 360-review component, students typically choose mostly raters from their workplaces. “The raters rate not only your skills but also the importance of those skills to your role and your success,” says Kaplan. “Raters know the path you’re on leadership-wise.” The 360 also helps students address such realities as whether they do a good job of managing upward or downward.
During their sessions with Korn/Ferry coaches, students receive 140 pages of results from their tests and reviews. “There are executives in their 40s and 50s who have never had a 360, so this is very powerful,” says Kaplan. “Talking to the coach makes for a kind of soft landing.” (The coach doesn’t reveal which rater in particular said what.) It’s not uncommon for students to find out they either severely overvalue or undervalue themselves relative to the esteem in which their colleagues hold them.
“I kind of broke even,” says Lee. “It turned out what I have of an ego is pretty much on a par with reality.”
After discussing the results with the coach, students put together a long-term career and personal development plan. Three months later, they meet again and talk about their progress. Toward the end of the program, another, abbreviated 360 takes place.
Of the current 350 EMBA students who started in September, more than 85 percent have enrolled in ECAP as well. Average age for Kellogg EMBA students is 38, with about 15 years of work experience.
The full EMBA program including ECAP takes two years and costs $166,500, including fees, tuition, housing, books, and food. “ECAP doesn’t cost extra. It’s completely funded by Kellogg,” says Rukieh. “That’s how strongly we believe in the program.” ECAP runs parallel to the EMBA program, so for those who elect to do both, it doesn’t take extra time.
Of course, ECAP’s efficacy from the standpoint of the EMBA holder’s employer or enterprise won’t make itself known for years to come. “Too many people think leadership and management are separate things,” Wartzman says. “In the end, good leadership means good results.”
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