The Transformative Power of MBA Education

The value of personal transformation is becoming increasingly embedded in the fabric of Sonoma State’s graduate business programs (Professional MBA, Wine MBA, Executive MBA, and Wine EMBA). The reason is really quite simple: students start our program at their given ability to manage and lead in organizational settings, in order to learn and grow to a significantly greater ability to manage and lead. That cannot happen by just filling up brains with information, tools and theories. They need to be able to effectively make sense of and apply the information, tools and theories. They need to develop the strategic and communication skills to chart well-reasoned courses of action, persuade stakeholders, present initiatives effectively, forge alliances, manage complexity and deal with crises. Developing those skills requires practice –they can’t be learned from books and lectures alone.

“Learning is the process whereby knowledge is created through the transformation of experience.” This is the definition of learning in David A. Kolb’s seminal book Experiential Learning (Prentice Hall, 1984). In our Professional MBA and Executive MBA programs, we are placing an increased emphasis on experiential learning, which includes simulations, project-based learning (often with real companies), case study analysis, learning games, leader interviews, and various other in-class and out-of-class activities. This type of learning results in a much deeper level of learning than can be gained by reading textbooks (although they have their place).

SSU’s EMBA programs include a four-day leadership and teamwork intensive organized around teams of students learning to sail together in San Diego Harbor. It is an intense process designed to accelerate students’ abilities to communicate authentically with teammates to improve performance during increasingly challenging drills and competitions. Students often describe the experience as transformational. The skills they develop are not “soft” or “feel-good” – they are important for career development. In the MBA rankings released by Bloomberg Businessweek in November 2014, Natalie Kitroeff noted the primary reason Duke’s Fuqua School moved to #1 in the rankings: “In our survey, recruiters noted that Fuqua students are exceptionally good at collaborating.” Fuqua’s dean observed “to be a great leader you need to be great in a team setting, and I think that’s where we get credit from employers” (Businessweek, November 17-24, 2014).

Developing our students into better leaders and managers is also important on a wider scale. Business is a transformational force in our world. We all know we need to be continuously improving our organizations, but we also need to be continuously improving ourselves. Developing the habits and practices required for continuous self-improvement can be fostered during a well-designed MBA program. This supports our students and alumni to develop into great leaders and managers who can have significant positive impacts on the world that we share.