EMBA Grades - The Letters that Count

EMBA Grades - The Letters that Count

“Perfect is the enemy of good”  - Voltaire

As the quote from Voltaire suggests, an obsession with perfection can lead to poor decisions and even worse results. I think about this quote when I talk to Executive MBA students who seem obsessed with earning straight A’s in their studies.

Not too long ago I spoke with an Executive MBA student who was thinking about withdrawing from the program. I wanted to find out why and to see if there was any support we could offer to address the concern that led to this. After all, Executive MBA students sign-up for a demanding balancing act where being successful with studies, career, and family requires a lot of time and work. EMBA programs and faculty are always ready to be as supportive as possible to help students manage this balance. The rationale the student gave me was troubling: “I want to withdraw because I can’t get straight A’s.”

This student was only in his third course in the program (the first with a clear quantitative theme) and had earned A’s on the first two. In our conversation, the student confirmed that he was passing the course but the grades he earned on the first few assignments left it mathematically very difficult to earn sufficient marks over the balance of the course so as to get an A as a final grade. Because of the expectations he placed on himself, earning a B in this course was not an outcome he would allow himself to accept. As you might expect, I encouraged him to take a balanced perspective and think about the end goal of completing the program rather than be so focused on one course. In the end, however, he did choose to walk away from the chance to earn an MBA rather than face the prospect of something other than straight A’s on his transcript.

While an extreme case, sadly, this was not the first time I had this sort of discussion with an EMBA student facing the reality of earning something other than an A in one of the courses. The good news, of course, is that most EMBA students who sign-up for this pressure cooker environment figure it out, have reasonable expectations for themselves, and effectively allocate their attention to balance work, school, and personal life. This allocation process has to be flexible since the demands of each of these parts of an EMBA student’s life will constantly ebb and flow. As the discussion with this student shows, however, there is a subset of EMBA students who don’t get this dynamic balancing act right. One version of this is the student who is obsessed with grades and the pursuit of a straight A’s. Don’t get me wrong: as someone who has taught many course in Executive MBA programs over the past 18 years I enjoying having students who want to do well in my course. What I am referring to here is the student who is obsessed with grades, to the extent that the other parts of this balancing act suffer. Or, as in this case, by focusing on A’s has lost sight of the letters that really count in this endeavor: MBA.

While I am very concerned about this sort of obsession on grades, I understand its origins. The participants attracted to Executive MBA programs are hard working managers and professionals who have high expectations for themselves. I applaud and share a goal-setting sensibility that includes top-level results. That said, setting a self-imposed requirement to always earn an A in every course in a demanding program while simultaneously meeting the demands of your career and personal life is unrealistic.

To help EMBA participants adopt a more realistic and appropriate set of goals I think it might be helpful to offer an interpretation of a typical A/B/C passing grades system. Not all EMBA programs use this specific grading scale, but the interpretations I offer below can be mapped to every grading system when you consider what the range of grades is meant to represent.

A: The grade of “A” is awarded to students who over-deliver. These students do more than just meet the expectations for a course requirement: they exceed those expectations. When expectations are already set high, the only way to over-deliver is to work very hard and devote a great deal of time and energy to this goal. “A” students make a special contribution to the learning of their classmates by extending class discussions, reading and sharing additional material beyond what has been assigned, and urging fellow students to grow through similar efforts. Just like in one’s career, there is no published formula explaining how to over-deliver: exceeding expectations is based on one’s creativity, ingenuity, and dedication. While the participants in EMBA programs represent a highly motivated group of strong achievers, realistically only a minority of participants will choose, or can afford to dedicate the time, to rise to the challenge of over-delivering and earn a grade of “A” on a course.

B: The grade of “B” is awarded to good students whose solid performance has led to them meeting the expectations for a course. Earning a grade of “B” for one’s efforts is an honorable and appropriate result for devoting the time and effort necessary to meet the high standards of a reputable EMBA program. Students who earn a grade of “B” worked hard, carefully read and reviewed the assigned materials, and contributed to the learning of their classmates. These students deserve to be thanked and congratulated for all of their work. Earning this grade should not be a cause of disappointment nor seen as evidence of not having met the expectations for the course. While participants in EMBA programs represent a highly motivated group of strong achievers of which the majority are certainly capable of earning a higher grade by exceeding expectations, the majority of participants will choose to apply the time and effort in order to meet the stated expectations of a course and, as a result, will earn a grade of “B” on a course.

C: The grade of “C” is awarded to students who met only the most basic expectations for learning within a course. To earn this grade, there are several key concepts and techniques in the course – normally the more advanced and sophisticated – that the student failed to properly master. Earning the grade of “C” is normally the result of one or both of the following: (a) the content of the course posed a significant challenge for the student to overcome despite applying (at a minimum) the amount of time and effort normally required to master the material or (b) the student failed to devote the amount of time and effort necessary to properly master the material. Sometimes, demands in the personal or professional lives of EMBA participants require so much time that there simply is not enough left to adequately devote to studies. While such a compromise may be unavoidable, it does not moderate or change the results when a student’s work merits a grade of “C”. Given the high standards and commitment EMBA participants set for themselves, only a small minority of students to earn a grade of “C” on a course.

It may also be helpful for me to reiterate the goal of this blog at this point lest someone erroneously conclude that I am trying to dissuade EMBA students from ever striving for an A in their classes. Like any significant challenge someone might choose to undertake, a participant in an Executive MBA program will get more out of this experience as he or she invests more time and effort. That said, in order to complete this experience and earn an MBA degree it is equally important to approach this undertaking with a realistic plan to balance all the demands on your time. In order to strike that balance, a perfectly acceptable choice is to invest the necessary time and effort to meet the expectations of a course and earn the grade of B in recognition of that success.

Don’t take your eyes off the prize at the end of the race and don’t forget which letters really count when you set yourself down this path. 

EMBA Networking: Do the Math

EMBA Networking: Do the Math

Ask anyone thinking about joining any form of MBA program about what he or she hopes to get out of that experience and you will likely hear something about being part of a great alumni network close to the top of that list. That makes sense: networking opens doors, creates connections, and can lead to great career opportunities more effectively then just cold calling. So, if networking is a valuable goal for an MBA experience, why is that so many Executive MBA candidates seem overly focused on the people who will constitute their future classmates rather than the entire alumni network into which they can connect as a graduate?

I offer that observation as someone associated with Executive MBA programs, as a professor and program administrator, for 18 years and at four different universities. As you might imagine, over this time I have had the chance to speak with thousands (no kidding) of people interested in joining an EMBA program. Very consistently in these conversations, when the topic of networking is raised, the instinct of people looking at EMBA programs is to focus on the backgrounds of their potential classmates rather than the entire alumni network.

To demonstrate just how limited that frame of reference really is, here is the math I would share with people looking at the Cornell Executive MBA program when I was Associate Dean of Executive Education at the Johnson School (note: there are two EMBA programs at Cornell and this is one of them): there are about 250,000 living alumni of Cornell University around the world and the incoming Cornell EMBA class will have around 70 participants. (i.e., about 0.028% of the total alumni network). It should be obvious that the attractive networking resource is the entire alumni network, not just the tiny sliver that is one’s classmates.

While these are the Cornell numbers, every EMBA program can offer a similar comparison to underscore what should be the compelling characteristic of the alumni network a graduate joins: size. The typical mid-30’s EMBA student will spend about 20 months with his or her cohort in the program and then spend the next 30 years of his or her active career as an alumni of the university. As is the case with the Cornell numbers, a university alumni network is likely thousands of times larger than one cohort in an EMBA program. The likelihood that a classmate may turn out to be the right connection for your specific career advancement goals is much lower than finding that right connection in the much larger pool of university alumni.

To be fair, interest in the backgrounds of the classmates with whom you will navigate any MBA experience is not trivial. In an Executive MBA program in particular, where participants typically bring 10-15 years of organizational experience with them to class, the peer-to-peer learning that can take place is an important part of the overall experience. What is important to keep in mind, however, is not to confuse classmates’ contribution to the learning process with the key characteristics of a strong alumni network. These are, in fact, two separate considerations.

This issue grows in significance for candidates considering technology-facilitated Executive MBA programs. I have often heard candidates considering Executive MBA options express reluctance about joining a program with an online or videoconferencing facilitated learning model because of the lack of “networking opportunities.” Once again, do the math: as a participant in this kind of program you may spend little to no time in the same physical classroom as classmates but, ultimately, the benefits of networking are measured by the overall size of the community you get to join. Regardless of whether your MBA experience was in a traditional classroom or online, the vast majority of the alumni network are not people with whom you ever studied.

Here’s one final observation about MBA programs and networking: the benefits of being part of a great alumni network are not something that can be enjoyed passively. In interviewing applicants for both MBA and Executive MBA programs over the years, I always have a follow-up question for any applicant who mentions the importance of networking as a goal in earning an MBA. By definition, applicants to MBA programs already have at least one university degree so this opens the door to asking about how they have engaged with the alumni network (or networks) to which they already belong. Overwhelmingly, the response to that question highlights little to no engagement or activity with this existing resource. Such a response always elicits advice from me that if they are sincere about seeking out the benefits of alumni networking as a goal from an MBA experience then they must be prepared to actively engage in this network.

Networking with alumni is a real benefit for MBA graduates. Do keep it in mind and analyze it when considering MBA program choices. Be sure to consider the entire network you get to join and do not confuse that entire network with the tiny subset of people with whom you will study.

EMBA Sponsorship: Perq or Investment?

Recently, CLO Magazine has started a discussion thread regarding the retention issue for managers sponsored in Executive MBA programs. I contributed to that thread and I thought I'd copy that contribution here as an update as this is a topic about which I am frequently asked.

Whether as a professor, a Program Director, or as an administrator, I've had the chance to be associated with Executive MBA programs and students for almost 20 years. Over this period I have seen some clear patterns emerge with respect to sponsorship in Executive MBA programs and retention of managers. In a nutshell, too many companies create the retention problem by treating sponsorship in an EMBA program like a perquisite or employee benefit rather than as an investment.

A manager who wants to join an EMBA program wants to make an important investment in his or her career. This investment has two components: money (the cost of the program) and time (the effort to successfully complete the program). The ROI for that manager is career advancement. An employer considering sponsoring a manager in an EMBA program has to similarly consider the ROI for this investment. The worst case scenario is that the employer has no plan at all about how the manager, with his or her new skills acquired through the EMBA experience, will be assigned to new challenges and given new responsibilities.

No organization should be reluctant to sponsor an up-and-coming manager in an EMBA program if this is part of a plan to groom and develop that manager and leverage his or her new skills. On the other hand, no organization should sponsor managers in EMBA program if they expect that manager to keep doing the same job after they finish. Recently, I read the following:

Question: "What happens if we sponsor managers in an EMBA and then they leave?"
Response: "What happens if we don't and they stay?"

Relentlessly upgrading your team is a great way for an organization to succeed. The benefits a thoughtful EMBA sponsorship program will generate will far exceed the lost opportunity when a sponsored manager leaves. The best way to retain strong managers is not to keep them locked away or deny them development support, but to grow them, train them, develop them non-stop.