Rutgers Business School Professors Launch Experiential Learning Course ‘Think Like an Exec’ for Future Leaders
“For the things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them.” – Aristotle.
This Spring semester, Rutgers Business School (RBS) professors Joe Agresta and Erich Toncre launched ‘Think Like an Exec,’ a first-of-its-kind experiential learning course for master’s students. Ten students from different master’s and graduate programs joined the first-ever cohort.
Agresta is a highly accomplished global senior leader with a career spanning 39 years at companies such as Johnson & Johnson and Allied Signal. His experience includes Global Procurement, Supply Chain, Operations Management, Program, and Product Line Management. In 2020, he joined Rutgers Business School as an Assistant Professor of Professional Practice in Supply Chain. Toncre brings 20 years of management experience in sales, marketing, supply chain, corporate training, and consulting. He joined Rutgers Business School as a full-time faculty member in 2009 and currently holds the positions of Marketing Vice Chair and Director of Marketing Education.
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The idea for the course was born from the desire to give students a platform to connect with executive leaders, get challenged with real-life business situations, and recommend actionable solutions. Each week, an industry executive presents a significant challenge his or her company has faced. Students get less than two weeks to identify the critical issues, work together as a team and offer a coherent solution. Students consider how the company can deal with these challenges inter-functionally, with different departments contributing to the solution.
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The instructors ensure that along with the feedback on student recommendations, industry executives also share a lot about their professional journeys, which, they say, deeply interests students. Learning about these executives' often non-linear career trajectories helps these soon-to-be graduates create a guidebook for their path to becoming an executive. “Erich and I want to make sure that we are developing future leaders and that the future leaders have a plan”, said Agresta.
For the professors, the learning must go beyond solving business cases. To make it more personalized, they?also speak to students?one-on-one. Students are asked to assess how they influence different skill sets, strengths, and opportunities. “This is a unique experience. I could almost assure you that even if we bring the same clients next semester, it will be a different experience for different groups of students”, Toncre added.
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Agresta and Toncre wanted to simulate an environment executives regularly find themselves in, i.e., dealing with risk and uncertainty. One of the students, the professors proudly exclaimed, described the course as a “safe space to experiment with your learnings”. “There is no template or playbook to follow, something that makes the course equally challenging and enriching”, said Toncre.
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Vrunda Desai , a part-time MBA student with ten years of industry experience, enrolled in the first-ever batch of 'Think Like an Exec'. When asked how she thinks the course is different, she said, “The professors are very receptive to student feedback.??Within the first couple of weeks, we made some adjustments to the class. You do not see that happen in most classes.” Talking about some of the learnings, Desai said, “The feedback that we've gotten from our presentations the last few weeks is that we are starting to evolve in the way that we approach the problem solving, thinking more about the big picture rather than what everyone is looking for.” Desai also added that she thinks this course is a good summation of the MBA program. “Those of us who are in our last semester are essentially bringing all the skills we have acquired and consolidating them into one class. This course helps us see what we are getting from our degree”, Desai added.
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Paul C. Amajor, MD MS-HSM is a healthcare manager and physician consultant with a background in medicine, healthcare services management, and population health management. A Rutgers alum with significant teaching experience, he joined the ‘Think Like an Exec’ course as an industry partner. “You have to think like a leader to be successful in the business world. This is something many schools don’t teach. I wanted to be involved in the development of future leaders”, he said. ?The case Dr. Amajor presented involved building the right kind of team aimed at helping students understand the complexities of an organization while making critical business decisions. “I was impressed with the depth of their recommendations. They came up with structural plans that any organization can use. Some of the solutions the students proposed were actually implemented by us”, he said. When asked about the right fit for this course, Amajor noted, “Students who want to assume a leadership role in an organization and make a change must take this class.”
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The professors also said that the students come from different backgrounds and are at various stages of their careers, adding a diverse element to the class. “With time, they have also started to bond as a team. They are actually learning from each other and thanking each other in class. That is very powerful”, Agresta added. ?
The school has also partnered with Xavier School of Management in India (XLRI), to give international exposure to students taking the course. Agresta and Toncre think this could be the beginning of a new ecosystem, a community that expands each year and stays connected beyond the walls of the university. “Some things longer term can come out of this experience,” they hope.
Registrations for ‘Think Link an Exec’ in Fall 2023 are now open. You can look up the course using the code 22:135:587/Section 61/ Index 19375. The course format is hybrid, with many remote classes, giving students more flexibility. The class meets on Wednesdays 6-9 PM at the Livingston Campus. For more details, please get in touch with Professor Agresta and Professor Toncre or DM us.