Course teaches valuable skill sets

Executives approaching the mid-point of their careers already have considerable experience enabling them to tackle the various industry and corporate challenges that inevitably occur. What they also tend to have is one well-honed set of skills - perhaps in finance, marketing, operations or IT - and therefore, a rather one-dimensional view of the business world.

In different ways, this limits an individual's ability to solve new problems, think creatively, and understand the big picture, all of which are obviously key attributes for anyone who hopes to run a large division or major enterprise. And it explains too why the Kellogg-HKUST Executive MBA programme places such emphasis on offering an all-round curriculum taking students beyond their personal "comfort zone" and pushing them to consider business from wholly new perspectives.

"The global business climate is changing so quickly it demands leaders capable of agile, complex thinking," says Dr Sally Blount, dean of the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. "A focus on insights, problem-solving, and challenging the status quo are part of the programme's heritage and spirit."

In conceptual terms, Blount notes that the foundations of the highly-regarded EMBA course are built on an understanding of the power and importance of free markets. From that follows an exploration of the pragmatics of smart management - what makes companies and employees tick and how to effect change. In specific modules, it also entails discussion of the intersection of the public and private sectors, and where issues like compliance and corporate governance are having most impact on regulation and the broader business landscape.

It is a matter of not just teaching "the rules", but getting students to open their eyes and find ideas and inspiration from those around them.

"With this balance, our students are then equipped to lead wisely and to make positive impact in their organisations, industries and communities," Blount says. "Over the last decade, business has become more complex than ever, so the world needs programmes like this to educate, equip and inspire tomorrow's leaders."