Tuck technology boot camp participants speak with Silicon Valley angel investor Steve Eskenazi at Facebook – Ethan Baron photo
MBAs Turn To Tech
As tech advances, MBA grads are increasingly competing to secure positions at tech companies. But the tech industry is continuously changing and that means MBA grads need to adapt their skills.
Seb Murray, a writer for Financial Times, recently discussed how business schools are preparing MBAs for a career in tech.
Tech MBAs
At New York University’s Stern School of Business, a new tech MBA will offer students a specialized one-year MBA that focuses on business and technology.
Peter Henry is the dean at NYU’s Stern. Henry tells Financial Times that the one-year format matches the employment model of tech employers since tech companies often hire on an ad-hoc basis due to the industry’s imminent pace of change.
At Cornell Tech, the Tech MBA focuses on experiential learning, where case discussion and lectures provide students opportunities to apply their knowledge.
Experiential learning
Doug Stayman is the associate dean at Cornell Tech. Stayman tells Financial Times that experiential learning can replicate a tech environment, where learning by doing is crucial.
“Some courses, such as business fundamentals, are better suited to lecturing because they are more individualistic,” Stayman says. “But when it comes to building technology products and services from scratch in groups, there is no better way to learn than by doing.”
In Cornell Tech’s Product Studio class, tech MBA students develop solutions to challenges posed by companies.
David Cheng is a previous student of the class. He worked on a project in response to a challenge posed by Google: user biased consumption of controversial news topics. Partnering with computer science and design students, he helped to develop WellRead—an app that “encourages unbiased consumption of news by using machine learning to build an ideological profile of readers, and recommending to them content from a wider range of sources.”
He says the project taught him the importance of working efficiently in a cross-disciplinary team.
“I don’t need to know how to code but, as a product manager, I will need to communicate with developers in order to accurately plan a project’s timing, budget and outcome,” Cheng tells Financial Times.
At MIT’s Sloan School of Management, students can pursue an entrepreneurship and innovation certificate. The program encourages students to launch and develop tech companies.
UC Berkeley’s Haas hosts an annual Haas Tech Challenge, a tech-focused case competition that brings MBAs together from some of the top programs across the country.
According to data by Financial Times, 36% of Stanford and MIT Class of 2013 MBA students founded a start-up during school.
Tech needs MBAs, but MBAs need tech skills
Tim Derdenger is an associate professor at Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of Business. Derdenger tells Financial Times that tech companies prefer MBAs who have technical backgrounds.
“These companies place a premium on technical expertise because, to be able to build the products which are the bedrock of their business, managers need a deep understanding [of] how technologies work,” Derdenger says.
Quartz recently reported that Amazon is the biggest employer of MBAs in the tech industry. The e-commerce company hires twice as many MBAs as Microsoft, according to US News & World Report rankings.
Yossi Feinberg is Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business. Feinberg tells Financial Times that MBAs are crucial to the growth and long-term sustainability of tech companies.
“As tech companies grow, there is increasingly a realization that they need managers who can think holistically about how to sustain success in the long run,” he says. “We need to train our students in the skills they will need to be technology leaders of the future.”
Sources: Financial Times, Haas Tech Challenge, Quartz, US News & World Report
What Areas Should You Focus On In An MBA Application?
When applying to an MBA program, many applicants fear their background or experience may not appear exceptional or unique to admissions committees. It’s more important, however, to focus on how you convey your story and what area you focus your application on.
Stacy Blackman is the founder of Stacy Blackman Consulting — an MBA Admissions Consulting firm. Blackman recently published a US News piece discussing four critical areas MBA applicants should focus on in their application.
1) Work Experience and goals
While admissions committees tend to prefer three or more years of work experience for applicants, Blackman says the quality of your work experience matters more than the length.
“Even if you’ve had the same title for years, you can differentiate yourself from other applicants by highlighting concrete professional growth, quantifiable achievements or examples of times when you embraced new challenges and took advantage of learning opportunities,” she says. “Whether your pre-MBA experience has been at Goldman Sachs or the family business, the admissions committee will look first and foremost for steady progression.”
For those applying straight from undergrad with limited work experience, competition is tough but it’s doable. Blackman says applicants with limited work experience should research business schools that are open to younger, less experienced candidates.
“Younger applicants must be able to point to a stellar academic record that includes an exceptional undergrad GPA and GMAT or GRE scores that are through the roof,” she says. “Any noteworthy scholarships or awards received in college should be included as well.”
It’s important to convey to admissions committees what area of study you are interested in. Blackman says applicants should pinpoint their career goals and explain areas of interest in their essays.
“Successful essays don’t include the statement, ‘I look forward to figuring out my future career path in business school,’” she says. “Make sure you define the role you envision in the future and explain the effect you want to have in the business world and on society.”
Your application will be stronger if you can sell your employability to an admissions committee. It helps to put yourself in the school’s perspective: “MBA programs want to launch graduates who will go on to become successful professionals and serve as active alumni,” Blackman says.
2) Leadership
Similar to work experience, leadership is not so much the level of the position you held, but how you led and motivated others. While management positions show some validity, Blackman says leadership can also include personal achievements such as times you’ve led ideas, sports teams, or student groups.
“Successful leadership examples should show how you motivated other people, bringing out their passions, educating them and helping them see organizational priorities in new ways,” she says. “A leader’s work energizes or improves others’ work, so find anecdotes in your professional and extracurricular background that illustrate this kind of behavior.”
Furthermore, Blackman stresses that applicants should define leadership challenges they faced. How you were able to lead and overcome those challenges is more important than your actual position.
“Collecting impressive titles does not make someone a great leader – helping a team overcome great challenges does,” she says.
3) Creativity and intellect
Creativity in your application is the ability to think outside the box. Some schools, according to Blackman, use creative essay prompts. At Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of Business, the essay prompt asks applicants to do the following:
“Imagine that you meet up with a member of the admission committee at an airport while on a layover. You have an opportunity to make a memorable impression. Use this essay to introduce yourself. Include any information that you believe is important for the committee member to know about you, both professionally and personally.”
The evidence you provide to support your essay’s points are crucial. Blackman says admissions teams will look for evidence in your essay that demonstrates a unique or creative perspective.
“Think beyond your obvious achievements and differentiate yourself by highlighting your most compelling stories and experiences,” she says.
Creativity is something that can be conveyed in an essay, but intellectual aptitude for applications is often based on your academic ability. In the case of the MBA, that’s your GMAT or GRE scores, undergraduate GPA, and college major.
“Admissions committees actively seek a diverse class, and that’s where schools will factor in a strong GMAT score or additional college-level math courses that prove you can handle the program’s academic rigors,” Blackman says.
4) Interpersonal skills and fit
A number of business schools now require applicants submit video essays, participate in team-based discussion, and meet for group interviews. These new requirements are meant to gauge a candidates’ interpersonal skills and whether or not they will fit in with the school’s culture.
“They want to see that you can play nice with others,” Blackman says. “Your application and interview should support the individual attributes that make you a great candidate and person overall, convey your understanding of the school’s culture and reveal how you will be a terrific fit, if admitted.”
By focusing on these four areas, applicants can strengthen their application and boost their chances of acceptance. Most importantly, focus on how you convey your story and what areas you want to focus on in your application.
Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of Business
MBAs With Environmental Specialties Will Become More In Demand
Some of America’s biggest corporations have collectively pledged to fight climate change as President Trump attempts to undo environmental regulations put in place by the Obama administration.
In March, Apple, Amazon, Google, and Microsoft signed a joint statement supporting the fight against climate change, according to Bloomberg.
“We believe that strong clean energy and climate policies, like the Clean Power Plan, can make renewable energy supplies more robust and address the serious threat of climate change while also supporting American competitiveness, innovation, and job growth,” the statement reads.
For Mirabelle Muûls, lecturer at the Grantham Institute and assistant professor in economics at the Imperial College Business School, change starts at the educational level. Muûls recently published a Financial Times article arguing that graduates with a strategic understanding of climate change serve as an asset to businesses. Fighting climate change, Muûls says, isn’t an option. It’s necessary.
“For businesses, cutting carbon footprint is a headache, but the process presents opportunities,” he says. “Any business must be sustainable in the long term, otherwise it has no future.”
Lack of information
Yet, not every company knows how to cut its carbon footprint. Muûls says there is a lack of information. “Companies do not know what type of investments they could make to become more energy efficient,” he says. “They are not sure what areas they should be looking at: supply chain, products or operations? We do not yet know the policies governments might choose when implementing the Paris climate agreement. All this creates uncertainty.”
This is where an MBA student with environmental expertise comes in.
“An MBA student with a strategic understanding of this interdisciplinary area — the risks, the potential solutions, and importantly the opportunities around climate change — can be a big asset to a company,” Muûls says. “Undoubtedly the government will introduce legislation in the coming years, but the biggest opportunities for innovation will come from the private sector.”
Increased demand in environmental expertise
According to Muûls, the Imperial College Business School is seeing increased interest in its MBA students from the financial sector, specifically from companies that are linked to green and sustainable investment. “This includes the whole ecosystem of finance, from asset managers to private equity, pension and insurance companies through to impact investment,” he says. “Start-ups linked to green innovation and new technologies also welcome MBA students, whose expertise and broad perspective can be a huge bonus as new ventures are launched.”
Of course, change will also come from government regulation. But Muûls says it’s a combination of both regulation and commercial pressure.
“For a market-based solution to climate change to be possible, companies need first to measure and disclose their climate-related risks,” he says. “New policies must be introduced and managed subtly.”
For business students, environmental expertise is going to become even more in demand as companies continue to look for future sustainability.
“Any business student will need to know and understand these are issues if they want to drive the corporate world of the future,” Muûls says. “They need to ask what kind of company they want to work for and understand that the limits of our resources is at the core of our economy and society.”
Sources: Financial Times, Bloomberg
Alibaba Founder and Chairman Jack Ma
Alibaba Is Hiring MBA Graduates
Twenty years ago, Alibaba was established in Jack Ma’s Hangzhou apartment. Now, the e-commerce grown into a $158 billion dollar company with more than 365 million customers and 50,000 employees across 200 countries.
Now, it is looking to hire MBAs as senior executives as it continues to expand.
Jonathan Moules, a writer at Financial Times, recently wrote a piece on the various ways Alibaba is seeking MBA talent.
“Ma’s company is focusing on an elite group — those who have studied at the world’s top business schools,” Moules says. “Business development managers from Alibaba’s headquarters in Hangzhou are touring campuses, meeting careers teams at the China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) in Shanghai, Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management in Evanston, Illinois, and the London School of Economics in the UK. The message is clear: Alibaba is eager to hire graduates from masters in management courses and MBA programs.”
Ma hasn’t always been fond of MBA grads and he’s been outspoken about his criticisms. But the shift in his attitudes may reflect Alibaba’s growth towards a global impact. In 2014, the company’s shares began trading on the NYSE.
Alibaba Global Leadership Academy
The Alibaba Global Leadership Academy is a talent development program focused on training the future international leaders of the company. Accepted participants live and work in China for 12 months as full-time Alibaba employees.
“Through job rotations at Alibaba core business units combined with classroom and experiential training, AGLA participants will graduate equipped to serve as Alibaba’s global business leaders and cultural ambassadors, linking international markets with what is soon to become the largest economy in the world – China,” according to Alibaba’s website. “AGLA graduates will comprise the foundation for Alibaba’s international business expansion.”
After the program, graduates are assigned to a role in one of Alibaba’s global offices based on their interests and career alignment.
According to Moules, the competition for AGLA is tough.
“More than 3,000 people applied for 30 places on the first program, which started in 2016,” he says. “This year applications doubled for the same number of places.”
What Alibaba seeks in its talent
Brian Wong is a Wharton MBA graduate and the creator of the AGLA program. Wong tells Financial Times that while a number of AGLA participants are MBA grads, the program seeks work experience in fields such as logistics, ecommerce, and finance.
“It’s important not to think that just because you have an MBA, you’re instantly valuable,” Wong says. “You have to think about how to adapt those skills.”
According to Wong, his plan in creating AGLA was to incorporate MBA skills to senior management at Alibaba.
“Jack [Ma] used to say the people he disliked most were professional managers and MBAs, because they are really good at doing what they are told, but rarely do they take chances,” Wong says. “But if you flip it, the great thing about MBAs is they have very structured thinking and they have got strong analytical skills.”
There’s a certain confidence in taking risks you know will pay off. And that confidence comes with experience. Wong says that Ma seek individuals who are confident in taking chances and don’t simply do as they are told. For Ma, he has his own special way of seeking that talent.
“Jack says the best way to identify a leader is to throw them in the battlefield and see who comes back alive,” Wong says.
Sources: Financial Times, Alibaba Group
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