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Preparing tomorrow’s leaders
Business schools recognize that their programs need to do more than train functional managers. They need to prepare leaders.
Judy D. Olian, Dean and John E. Anderson Chair in Management, UCLA
At UCLA Anderson, we have had a long tradition of creating a foundation for leadership by offering rigorous learning around the fundamentals of business, and blending analytical skills with intensive preparation for leadership in multi-cultural team environments. That’s the future of business, and our educational programs are directed toward that future horizon.
Our goal is to graduate students with “global brains”.
We believe in rigorous academics, and our faculty – among the most admired intellectual leaders in their respective fields -- set the tone in the classroom. Our students are attracted to UCLA Anderson because they expect to work intensively to stretch their understanding of the drivers of the global marketplace, and to develop the advanced analytical skills needed for complex business functions.
Yet much learning occurs, also, outside traditional classroom settings, so that our students learn to lead and obtain insights about their leadership impact. We’ve created new leadership modules – called Leadership Foundations – that examine our students as leaders in teams, in work settings, and into the boardroom.
Recruiters and industry partners collaborated with our faculty in designing Leadership Foundations. Across the board, employers seek “excellent leadership skills” among newly minted MBAs. Leadership Foundations kicks off each student’s UCLA Anderson experience and is the framework for individual development for the duration of the MBA program. Leadership foundations begins with an analysis of each student’s leadership disposition and proceeds to analyze the impact of leadership on groups and teams. Finally, students have an opportunity to observe and analyze executive leadership.
We also are mindful that business leadership must be seen with a global lens. UCLA Anderson’s geographic location on two rims -- the Pacific Rim and the rim of Latin America – and in the most culturally diverse city in America, positions us to be a global school of business. Added to our geography are extensive ties to the major financial centers of the US and Europe through our faculty and alumni. Our goal is to graduate students with “global brains.” They do, because of our location and the extensive global learning and immersion opportunities permeating our programs.
UCLA Anderson students are smart, achievement- oriented and well rounded in their interests according to the many top companies that recruit on campus. In addition, there are a number of qualities that define Anderson students and, we believe, set them apart.
First among these qualities is students’ strong team orientation. Learning to collaborate and lead within teams is a critical skill for organizational life. It also typifies the Anderson way – we call it “excellence without attitude.” UCLA Anderson students are confident but not arrogant, collaborative but not subservient, leaders but not egotists.
Second, our students are diverse in background and geography; they also are extremely heterogeneous in their employment interests and choices. No one or two industries dominate. This reflects the entrepreneurial drive of our students that is encouraged and amplified by the program, the faculty and students’ extracurricular activities. While finance-related careers are very popular, our students also are interested in fields such as entertainment, multimedia, gaming, biotechnology and high technology.
Last year (2005), 95% of our graduates had job offers three months after graduation. By April of 2006, 62.5% of the graduating class of 2006 had already received job offers and 52% of those were accepted. We anticipate employment results similar to last year as the offers continue to materialize after graduation.
UCLA Anderson MBAs continue to be among the very top students in the country. It’s a powerful combination: the talent of our students, the challenge of our academic program, the intellectual caliber of our world-renowned faculty, alumni that span the globe, an international location in a multicultural community, and stimulating learning opportunities embedded within and outside the classroom. What does it accomplish? At UCLA Anderson, our management education model prepares our students to lead and rise to the challenge of the inevitably shifting landscape of business in the 21st century.
