Kellogg students working together on a challenge
After conducting a small pilot of the ECAP program using about 200 people, Kellogg launched it officially just last September. It is the first time a top business school has partnered with a major executive search firm to help differentiate an Executive MBA program.
The exercises begin two months after the students start their degree programs, when they complete an online self-assessment that takes about an hour. Then they invite 8 to 15 people – supervisors, subordinates, counterparts, friends, fellow ECAP students – to participate in a 360 review.
“It’s the self-assessment that is something that hasn’t been done in graduate business programs ever,” says Rukieh. “Studies show that 90 percent of leaders believe they’re in the top 10 percent of leadership, which of course isn’t possible.”
So how indeed do we assess ourselves when human nature dictates that we can rarely see ourselves as others do?
The solution lies in the specificity of the competencies and how they force students to think about themselves in new ways, Rukieh says. The competencies include such qualities as “ability to deal with ambiguity” and “managing vision and purpose.” They also heavily stress agility, with “people agility,” “results agility,” and “mental agility” ratings.
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