Broad Hits 50 Year EMBA Mark

SOCIAL IMPACT AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP

More recently, the school has adopted a few new courses and a program to keep up with B-school trends. First, courses in innovation, creativity, and entrepreneurship were created. “They have been an important part of the curriculum over the past decade,” DeClercq says. These days entrepreneurship programming might as well be a requirement of schools at the full-time level but it has also been gaining traction at the EMBA level.

“Entrepreneurship in the EMBA didn’t exist 10 years ago,” DeClercq says. “But now it’s not just answering, ‘How can I launch this company?’ Many of the giant companies in the region are looking at problems from an entrepreneurial perspective. They also think about using that creativity and innovation on a small scale and then have it piloted in small parts of the organization before adopting it more widely.”

The program has also taken a page from full-time MBA trends by spending time developing socially conscious EMBAs. And the students have responded. “We have placed a focus on providing opportunities for our students to work hand-in-hand with nonprofits and call it Social Impact Projects,” DeClercq explains. “Students have the option of selecting into the project. Sometimes there are more ambiguous problems in the nonprofit world. Students can experience the nonprofit side of things and bring their business expertise to the organizations.”

The school is mainly partnering with nearby Greater Lansing Food Bank and Homeless Action Network of Detroit. But DeClercq says the school is partnered with a few other organizations to accommodate a burgeoning interest. “When we started we wanted to have five teams of five members, but we had over 50 students interested,” says DeClercq. The students are aware of the additional work it will require, but according to DeClercq, that hasn’t deterred any.

Sanjay Gupta, acting dean of the Eli Broad College of Business at Michigan State University addresses the audience at the MSU Executive MBA program’s 50th anniversary celebration at the Fillmore in Detroit, Thursday, May 14. Photo by Alan Piñon

Sanjay Gupta, acting dean of the Eli Broad College of Business at Michigan State University addresses the audience at the MSU Executive MBA program’s 50th anniversary celebration at the Fillmore in Detroit, Thursday, May 14. Photo by Alan Piñon

DIVERSITY LEADS TO CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION

The other main changes also address the issues that brought Eadie, who graduated from the program in 2013, to Broad. “Problems in today’s world have gotten messy and complex,” DeClercq says. “Our creativity and innovation courses are looking at different ways of approaching a problem. Students are placed in teams that are consciously designed to have differences. It’s so common to look at problems from the perspective you know. It’s looking at healthcare systems from a business perspective, it’s that form of creativity, not so much getting your coloring crayons out but exploring different ways of thinking.”

Eadie believes any physician wanting to head up a medical center should look toward B-schools. “Medicine does not teach you anything about the business aspect of your medical practice,” Eadie says. “Medical school does nothing from a business standpoint. The sooner you go back (to business school), the better you’ll be.”

And now Eadie is bilingual – in a sense.

“I can speak with people in the clinic and in finance because I can speak both languages,” he says.

A NEW VALUE POINT

The value Eadie gained from his experience is what DeClercq says students are increasingly demanding and what the school will continue to strive for as they move into the second half of their century of existence.

“People today expect hard value,” she says. “They want their time to be leveraged well. They have high expectations to what they will learn. That for us has been an excellent advantage. It has pushed us to add little touches. And the team I have the pleasure of working with is top-notch in providing those touches.”

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