Do nothing – it’s not the kind of leadership advice you would expect to receive from a professor in a top-ranked Executive MBA program.

But that’s exactly what award-winning Kellogg Professor J. Keith Murnighan encouraged current students and graduates of the Kellogg-Schulich Executive MBA program to do when he visited the Schulich School of Business to discuss his new book, ‘Do Nothing! How to Stop Overmanaging and Become a Great Leader’.

In the book, which has been hailed by CNBC as one of the ’12 Most Anticipated Business Books for 2012′, Professor Murnighan argues that too many managers are too involved in the day-to-day management of their organizations to do what they are supposed to do – lead.

At the end of Prof. Murnighan's presentation, a draw was held for an advanced copy of 'Do Nothing!' Congratulations to Kellogg-Schulich EMBA alumnus Alick E. Fernandes (KS07), CMA, Director, Financial Analysis and Merchandising Accounting, Toys "R" Us (Canada) Ltd.

“What you want to do is be an example in terms of values, commitment, ideology, love of the work, passion for what’s going on,” said Prof. Murnighan. “None of those traits require work. There’s a lot of people who are worried that if they do nothing people are going to say – ‘Aw, she does nothing, why should she get the credit?’ She’s going to get the credit if her teams are consistently successful. So if you’re doing nothing and your teams are unsuccessful, you’re not in a good spot.”

The title of the book, ‘Do Nothing’, is what initially sold the idea for the book to his publisher. “He thought the title might actually get people to pick it up off a bookstore shelf because it’s a little different, to say the least,” revealed Prof. Murnighan.

His publisher suggested he make each chapter title contrarian, such as ‘ignore performance goals’ and ‘de-emphasize profits.’ “I’m not a contrarian kind of guy,” said Prof. Murnighan. “But I thought about it a lot and he was exactly right because what I wanted to do was challenge what people think about leadership normally.”

One of the things Prof. Murnighan stresses in the book is that leaders should facilitate and orchestrate. “If you are a facilitator, you are the glue [of the team]. You’re the person people come to. Leadership is just like the internet – your leader should be the person you go to when you don’t have the answer – that’s what we do with the Internet, right? And in that sense, you want to facilitate, provide assistance, provide information, provide resources and be there. So, when you do nothing, it doesn’t mean you go play golf. You’re still at the office, you’re thinking, you’re strategizing, you’re facilitating, you’re orchestrating and, in that sense, you are magnetic.”

Relating his book back to what he teaches his students in class, Prof. Murnighan explained why he thinks too many leaders do too much. “We always talk about micro-managing, we always talk about trust. In fact, you have only those two choices -you can either trust people or you will micro-manage, in their eyes. So, do the unnatural thing, get away from micro-managing and trust more.”

Prof. Murnighan credited his students and colleagues in the EMBA program for giving him the inspiration he needed to write the book. “Part of this book is because of you, all of you. I can’t write a book like this unless I’ve had a chance to talk to hundreds of executives who have shared wonderful stories and tremendous insights with me.”

Do Nothing!: How to Stop Overmanaging and Become a Great Leader will be released on June 14, 2012.

Pre-order your copy now at Amazon.com or at Barnes and Noble

Visit the Do Nothing! Blog for the latest research on leadership

For more information on J. Keith Murnighan, please visit www.kellogg.northwestern.edu

Sandra Dias, a student in York’s Kellogg-Schulich Executive MBA program who is writing about her experience for The Globe and Mail‘s Careers section, described her choice of international placement at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology in her latest article on Monday, February 27th.

Through the Kellogg-Schulich partnership, EMBA’s have an opportunity to attend amazing electives around the world. The program includes a two-week session at Kellogg in Evanston, Ill. (in the summer), a choice of a one-week global elective (Hong Kong with HKUST; Germany with WHU; Israel with Recanati; Kellogg Miami Campus; and, of course, Schulich at York University in Toronto). Kellogg-Schulich students have the added advantage of taking their Module 4 electives during six alternating weekends at Kellogg in Evanston.

A majority of my cohort and I chose the Hong Kong elective at The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) in Kowloon. Reconnecting with a majority of the International Cohorts I had met at Kellogg reminded me of the exhilarating feelings we had when we were young children returning to camp after a long year away. The opportunity to connect again with the network we had formed at Kellogg over the summer was so special. We were no longer greeting peers but instead good friends with whom we had forged lasting relationships

HKUST is a modern campus set on the seaside in Kowloon, with majestic views over the ocean. Beyond the classes, I believe the appeal to students is HKUST is both the furthest location from North America, among the top-ranked EMBA programs in the world, and is 30 minutes outside of one of the most vibrant and exciting business centres in Asia: Hong Kong.

For many it offered an opportunity to visit a part of the world they had never been to, for others it was an opportunity to seek out new business or employment opportunities. Many tacked on additional personal travel (Shanghai, Beijing or Macau) or leveraged their trip to secure business meetings (Singapore, Malaysia and India).

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST)

As for our hosts, The Kellogg-HKUST Students lived up to their reputation of hosting incredible events. We enjoyed a spectacular evening at the exclusive Royal Hong Kong Jockey Club, founded in 1884; enjoyed drinks and amazing views off the patios of Ozone at the Ritz Carleton (on the 118th floor, and the tallest bar in Asia); blew off steam and reconnected with peers many a night at Lan Kwai Fong – a famous bar street in Hong Kong; enjoyed some shopping in Times Square (best spot to spoil yourself with a pre-graduation gift watch) and the famous blinding Night Ladies Market; visited the Tian Tan Buddha, also known as the Big Buddha on Lantau Island; and of course had a memorable boat ride and subsequent dinner in a fishing village called Sai King where every fish and seafood known to man was displayed in tanks, and later enjoyed in a private dining room overlooking the harbour.

These social moments allowed us to solidify existing connections, or make new ones: over laughter, over beers, over cigars, or simply taking in the views. This program is such a privilege: To be seated at a table with an entrepreneur from Germany, a junior mining executive from Canada, a financial adviser from Asia, an executive recruiter from Korea, and an operations executive from Italy is daunting. However, this program makes it seem effortlessly normal. And these are the experts you will call on when you graduate to give you advice, seek counsel, share best practices, start businesses with, or reach out for employment, should your circumstances change. It’s through these conversations that I began to understand my own capabilities and capacity to move my career forward. It was also through these conversations that I was also reassured that I would forever have a group of colleagues whom I could rely on in the future. Finally, it is through these conversations that I gained the courage, after 10 years, to make a recent change in my career, a move to marketing (still within L’Oreal) and away from sales.

If you can afford it, and a few have been able to, take as many global electives as you can. Many of my peers will have completed more than one international trip and many are attempting three. I am opting to do a global elective out of Kellogg called GIM. It is an elective that will take me to Brazil and Chile for a project – along with 50 other students – and promises to be an experience of a lifetime.

After this, the Kellogg-Schulich cohort began its six alternating weekends at Evanston. This time, it was only the Canadians (25 of us) descending onto the Evanston campus – I hope they are looking as much forward to us arriving as we are to attending.

SOURCE

When Nanditha Zuckerman (Schulich Executive MBA ’11) started working at Haggar Canada 12 years ago, she was one of three founding employees of the Canadian offshoot of the U.S.-based apparel company, reported the Toronto Star in the World of MBAs special section on Saturday, February 11th.

“I worked in every department, because I was every department when we started the company,” says
Zuckerman, who, at 39, is now Haggar Canada’s COO.

“I had always wanted to do an MBA, but there was never any time to stop.”

Pregnant with her third child, she decided to enrol in the Schulich School of Business’ Executive Master of Business Administration (EMBA) program in January 2010 and graduated in October 2011. She held down her full-time job the whole time (and just had a fourth child).

“It’s a huge commitment of time, but it was worth it,” Zuckerman says. “I wouldn’t say I was the first or highest in my class, but I did well.”

EMBAs, which were first introduced in Canada in the 1990s, used to be considered abridged versions of MBAs, aimed at people who already had careers who could afford to pay big bucks, but couldn’t afford to take the time off from work.

Because of their cost and the relatively short time they take to complete — they now cost in the $80,000-to-$110,000 range, and can take as little as 13 months of part-time study — some critics have considered them to be primarily cash cows for universities.

~

[Two trends are emerging in the EMBA journey.] First, more students are paying their own way… In Zuckerman’s case, it’s to avoid setting precedents and expectations that the company will pay cash. Although EMBA programs have always claimed they attract the brightest and the best, people who are paying out of their own pocket often have different expectations.

For example, in the last few years, most of the major schools have beefed up their career-counselling services for EMBA students as people paying their own way are more likely to be looking for a change.

Second, candidates have realized that the other students themselves are a big part of the EMBA package. MBA students, who are typically younger and without much senior level experience, are often coming at things from the same starting point. EMBA students often cite their fellow students as the most important part of their experience.

~

Schulich EMBA academic director, Andre de Carufel, says they have turned down students and been prepared to go ahead with a smaller class, rather than include students who aren’t fully engaged.

“We’ve resisted the temptation to take everybody with a chequebook,” he says.

When I was told Module 3 would be difficult by a member of the previous year’s cohort, I assumed it would be the classes, perhaps the amount of work or challenging professors.

It did not worry me as I had successfully manoeuvred through Module 1 and 2, which were similarly described to me.

What I did not consider was the looming physical exhaustion that was gaining speed, the professional workload deadlines that were looming, and that the left-over adrenaline from the summer Kellogg weeks was spent. Additionally, our week with international students (where we hosted their chosen global elective) was around the corner and I and three other peers had committed to helping organize the week’s events.

Sandy was not only busy managing her courseload at Schulich, but also her workload at the office. And this “ho-hum” module managed to highlight some important sentiments for her.

After coming back from a bonding experience at Kellogg, after sitting in with our Executive Services Director, and while planning the international week with some of my peers, I concluded my success after the program would be as much my responsibility as it would be Kellogg-Schulich’s.

The Kellogg-Schulich name has value, and when you start the program you innately have a “what’s in it for me” approach to the degree. That mindset stays with you for a while because you’re challenged by new peers, new classes, and new experiences. By Module 3, your love affair is over, the rose-coloured glasses come off and the impact of the program on your day-to-day life begins to weigh on you.

Sandy noticed it was around this time that her peers began to more openly challenged the professors, the program, the program directors, and the overall value of the Kellogg-Schulich EMBA. But something else happened, as well.

Conversations about how to improve the program, recruit high-calibre students, increase visibility of the program within and outside York University were more and more frequent. We understood the long-term value of the program was dependent on the future success of the program, and, in turn, the Alumni’s responsibility toward it.

And it was during this time we began planning events surrounding our International Week, and realized that, though the week was well-organized scholastically, there was room for improvement in terms of networking opportunities and activities to showcase our school and cohort.

In response, many pitched in to ensure the event’s success, which was later validated by the consistent feedback from the visiting students. Beyond that week, we had begun to make a special effort to stay connected, forge deeper relationships and rely on one another for support and solid career advice during this third module. Again highlighting the importance of remaining invested in the future success of the program.

For a small group of 25 (the program can accommodate about 35), KS10 (our cohort name) is considered very vocal, determined and committed by the administration. Personally, I am delighted with comments like that; they prove our commitment to the program and its future value. My peers and future fellow alumni have become true ambassadors over this third module … And, like true ambassadors, most of the class is off to Hong Kong for our global elective next month, so stay tuned!

Read this article in The Globe and Mail… 

MEDIA RELEASE

Financial Times Ranks Kellogg-Schulich Executive MBA #1 in Canada and #11 in World

TORONTO, ON – Monday, October 24, 2011 – The Financial Times of London has today ranked the Kellogg-Schulich Executive MBA (EMBA) at York University the #1 EMBA program in Canada and #11 in the world.

This is the fifth year that Schulich has been eligible to participate in the Financial Times ranking and the fifth straight year that the Kellogg-Schulich EMBA program has been ranked #1 in Canada.

In placing 11th globally in the 2011 Financial Times ranking, the Kellogg-Schulich EMBA program finished ahead of IMD, the Stern School of Business at New York University and the Berkeley/Columbia EMBA, and just behind London Business School and Wharton. Among EMBA programs based in North America or involving North American schools, the Kellogg-Schulich EMBA ranked 6th overall and was the only Canadian program to make the world’s top 25. Among Canadian-based programs, the Kellogg-Schulich EMBA placed ahead of the EMBA programs delivered by the Rotman School of Management, which ranked 28th; the Ivey School of Business, ranked 36th; the Cornell-Queen’s EMBA, ranked 44th; the Alberta-Haskayne EMBA (a joint program delivered by the University of Alberta School of Business and the University of Calgary’s Haskayne School of Business), ranked 73rd; and the Queen’s EMBA, which ranked 84th overall. For complete details regarding the Financial Times ranking, visit: http://www.ft.com/intl/business-education/emba.

Other Survey Highlights
The Kellogg-Schulich EMBA ranked among the top 15 in the world in the following categories:

• 3rd in the world in the “International Students” category, which measures international diversity and experience in the classroom;
• 8th in the world in the “Work Experience” category, which measures the seniority and international experience of the EMBA program’s students;
• 12th in the world in the “International Course Experience” category, which measures the percentage of classroom teaching hours carried out in countries outside of the country where the program is located;
• 14th in the world in the “Career Progress” category, which measures rises in the seniority of job positions held; and
• 15th in the world in the “Research” category, which measures the number of articles published by the entire faculty in leading academic and business practitioner journals.

Today’s Financial Times survey marks the third straight ranking in which one of Schulich’s MBA or EMBA programs has been ranked among the world’s best. Earlier this month, Schulich’s MBA program was ranked #9 globally by The Economist magazine and ranked #2 in the world by the Aspen Institute, a US-based leadership think tank.

“We’re pleased to have been rated the number one EMBA program in Canada for the fifth straight year by the Financial Times of London and we’re especially pleased that we strongly improved our overall global position this year and now rank among the very best EMBA programs in the world,” said Schulich Dean Dezsö J. Horváth.

About Schulich

Known as Canada’s Global Business School™, the Schulich School of Business in Toronto is ranked among the world’s leading business schools by a number of global surveys. Schulich’s MBA program is ranked #2 in the world by the Aspen Institute (a Washington, DC-based leadership think tank) in a global survey that identified which schools are doing the best job of preparing future business leaders for the environmental, social and ethical complexities of modern-day business. Schulich’s MBA program is also ranked among the world’s leading schools by The Economist, Forbes, Bloomberg Businessweek and Expansión (a Time Warner publication based in Mexico City). The Kellogg global network of EMBA partner schools, which includes the Kellogg- Schulich EMBA, is ranked #5 in the world by The Wall Street Journal, and the Kellogg-Schulich EMBA is ranked #1 in Canada by the Financial Times of London.

Global, innovative and diverse, Schulich offers business programs year-round at three campuses – its state-of-the-art complex at York University; its Miles S. Nadal Management Centre located in the heart of the Toronto’s financial district; and its facility at The S.P. Jain Institute of Management & Research in Mumbai, India, where the School offers The Schulich MBA in India, the first MBA program to be delivered in the country by a leading international business school from outside India. Schulich also operates a number of satellite centres in Beijing and Shanghai, China; Mumbai, India; Seoul, South Korea; and Moscow, Russia. Schulich offers undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate business degrees that lead to rewarding careers in the private, public and nonprofit sectors, and has more than 22,000 alumni working in over 90 countries. The School pioneered Canada’s first International MBA (IMBA) and International BBA (iBBA) degrees, as well as North America’s first ever cross-border executive MBA degree, the Kellogg-Schulich Executive MBA. Schulich’s Executive Education Centre provides executive development programs annually to more than 12,000 executives in Canada and abroad.

Contact: Elayne Shapiro at (416) 736-5546.

SOURCE

Last week, Research in Motion reported its quarterly results and the share price dropped 20 per cent. To talk about keeping employees motivated in the face of negative media coverage and stock performances, André deCarufel, academic director of the Kellogg-Schulich Executive MBA program, appeared on BNN’s Business Day on Monday, September 19th.

“Right now there are generally a lot of bad headlines – whether it’s the economic malaise in Europe, no jobs in the United States –how does that work through a management teams effort to keep employees motivated?” asked Business Day co-anchor Frances Horodelski.

“Well, I certainly think it’s something that they really have to take into account because people read newspapers, they read magazines, they watch television, so it’s not just the internal communications that make a difference,” said Professor deCarufel. “People hear these things and you can imagine some of the companies that were successful just a little while ago or the media darlings and everyone was so proud to work there, now suddenly they’re hearing ‘well, will they be around in two years?’ That certainly has to have an impact and there’s no question that these kinds of emotional reactions that you get are not simply private matters, they have very real consequences for organizations in terms of lowered commitment, possibly turnover, job dissatisfaction and things like that.”

“So what do you do if you are a manager at a company like Research in Motion?” asked Martin Cej, Business Day co-anchor. “Its still a multi-billion dollar company but the headlines are bad. The company has missed earnings expectations, you have an incredibly intelligent staff but how do you manage that negative flow of information and keep people motivated? It must be an extraordinary challenge”

“It is an extraordinary challenge and I think the first thing to do is actually recognize that these private matters is something to be managed, we call it non-market factors in management, and oftentimes managers tend to focus on the more tangible, visible kinds of things – financial results, technology, sales and things like that – and they either tend to ignore or regard as being almost illegitimate, some of these emotional factors,” said Professor deCarufel. “So the first step I think is to recognize that this is part of your job to manage these kinds of things. The second thing I think is that you need to have a real communication plan that works both externally – that it tends to protect the reputation of an organization – but also internally too – not just to reassure people but to give them the straight goods on what is likely to happen and why. I think those are two very important things.”

“Should those communications strategies, if they are coming from the CEO office, should they be done simultaneously inside and outside so that you tell the broader world and your people too so that everybody gets a comfort level?” asked Ms. Horodelski.

“Well, I think that you have to do both,” said Professor deCarufel. “I think it’s probably a good idea for the internal people to hear about it so they know what to expect, so they don’t get a surprise when they pick up the newspaper the next morning, and I think that there are a variety of different ways of accomplishing that. Some of it are communications from the top. I think visibility on the part of senior executives, where they actually go out and make themselves known – I think that there is a reason why you have only two ears and one mouth, so listening is always a good idea and there are a variety of different ways of doing that, whether its face-to-face through some kind of town hall meeting or whether or not you use some kind of internal survey mechanisms or something like that. But I think the notion of communication is important and I think the general rule with communication is its better to do more than less because not to communicate is also a communication.”

“What about the challenges of the communication?” asked Mr. Cej.  “Again, if we’re talking about timing, there are things that you need to tell the market because you have shareholders. For example, that employees might be losing their jobs. But if you let employees know that ahead of time, you have twitter, you have blogs, you have those issues, and it becomes disseminated into the marketplace without an official stamp of approval. How do you manage that timing aspect when we have technological challenges like this?”

“And that of course is a very new thing,” said Professor deCarufel. “Certainly you can’t have lags that are too long to prevent your messages from being undermined and its also true that you don’t necessarily have to spell out chapter and verse of everything but I think you need to give people the outlines of what’s going to happen and, to the extent that you know and to the extent that you have some control over some things, I think that you want to try to be straight with them, not just with the people that are going to be affected directly, possibly through job loss, but also for the people that are going to remain behind because the first question they’re going to ask themselves is ‘am I next?’ That’s the first thing they’re going to think about. So you need to have some idea or to try and give them the straight goods to reassure them if that’s going to be necessary but if not, to bring them into the loop about what’s likely to happen.”

To watch the interview, please visit BNN.ca…

Students in the Kellogg-Schulich Executive MBA program kicked off the return to the school year in Evanston, Illinois, at the Kellogg School of Management. Having the opportunity to take classes in both Toronto and Chicago was a determining factor for most students who applied to the Kellogg-Schulich EMBA program, wrote student Sandy Dias in her latest article for The Globe and Mail’s Inside an Executive MBA on Thursday, September 15th, and the classes at Kellogg did not disappoint.

Kellogg is located just north of Chicago. It’s situated on a beautiful, well-groomed campus along Michigan Lake with a lovely view of Chicago. Facilities are excellent and students are welcomed and taken care of very well. In two weeks we completed four classes: Negotiation Strategies (Prof. Jeanne Brett); Strategic Crisis Management (Prof. Timothy Fedderson); Strategic Marketing Decisions (Prof. Tim Calkins); Economics of Competition (Prof. Sandeep Baliga) taught by experts in the field. The classes were dynamic and engaging, with students encouraged to participate and challenge the professors.

Located on the western shores of Lake Michigan in the heart of Northwestern University's Evanston campus, the James L. Allen Center is the home of Kellogg Executive Education.

The Kellogg-Schulich students took classes at Kellogg with their peers from the Kellogg-HKUST program in Hong Kong, Kellogg-Recanati in Tel Aviv, Kellogg-WHU in Vallendar, Germany, as well as by cohorts from the Evanston and Miami campuses of Kellogg.

It was a definite change to what we were used to at Schulich, going from a 30-35 person classroom to 90-100 person classroom. And, as was to be expected, we also changed teams, being assigned a different one a week. We felt the comfort of our “home teams,” which we had finally become accustomed to, challenged by different cultural backgrounds, business practices, language barriers and work processes. However, there was a unifying underlying theme: the extreme pride we felt of being a part of such a rich network, and a top-ranking program.

Sandy felt she and her classmates had elevated expectations for the coursework at Kellogg.

We almost felt like a group of rowdy freshmen joining seniors in an advanced placement class. Many of us immediately felt the weight of the responsibility of being part of such an important network: Our classrooms became richer with more entrepreneurs, physicians, CEOs, vice-presidents, award-winning teachers, published authors, not-for-profit leaders – and, as a result, many of us sat up a little straighter in class.

But put 200 overachievers in a building for two weeks and work them to the bone, and there’s a need for well-deserved release. So, many nights were spent networking over beers and wine: on campus, in Evanston at the beloved Bar Louis or Nevins, and, of course, in Chicago proper. For two weeks, a small extended family of friends and peers was created, no one was ever left behind, all studied, partied, ate and slept (albeit very little) in the spirit of higher education, in the hope that this degree would help propel one’s career in the direction one desired.

Leaving Kellogg, Sandy left not only inspired but also wanting to attend more than one international elective (even if it meant paying for it out of pocket).

I must mention, however, the Canadian cohort is especially fortunate, as we will take Module 4 at Kellogg instead of at Schulich (six alternating weekends starting in January), which no other international partnership offers. This will allow us to further tap into the Kellogg network and definitely maximize an opportunity no other partnership will have.

Read the full article in The Globe and Mail…

Sandy (Sandra) Dias is doing a Kellogg-Schulich Executive MBA. She has more than 10 years of sales experience and has spent the past six years working for L’Oréal Canada. She is both a national key account manager and a district manager for Quebec and Ontario boutiques for the luxury brand, Kiehl’s Since 1851.

Boss, can you spare a hundred grand?

In these days of relentless cost-cutting, it’s not easy to persuade your company to cover your EMBA tuition, wrote The Globe and Mail on Friday, August 26th.

Here’s how to do it.

If you think asking for a raise in tough economic times is hard, try persuading your boss to sponsor an executive MBA. Given that EMBAs can cost upward of $100,000 (plus time off to pursue studies), it’s not surprising that the number of companies sponsoring EMBAs has dropped significantly. According to figures from the EMBA Council, an international body, roughly one-third of Canadian EMBA students are fully sponsored, compared with nearly two-thirds of students a decade ago.

But, as it turns out, getting to yes is not impossible.

Working for a company that values the pursuit of knowledge is a good start, according to Mary Ann Yule, vice-president and general manager of CDW Canada, a technology solutions provider. “We’re big supporters of learning and development and making sure our co-workers have all the tools at hand,” she explains. Yule discovered this sentiment extends across the entire company when CDW provided her with full sponsorship for her recently completed Kellogg-Schulich Executive MBA program. “We value education for our co-workers,” Yule says, “because they will be better, smarter and faster in what they do for a living.”

The only string attached to Yule’s sponsorship was a commitment to continue working at CDW Canada for at least two years after completing her EMBA. For companies that do provide sponsorship, such conditions are becoming far more common, as are minimum grade point averages.

For companies trying to justify the spending, it’s worth remembering that EMBA sponsorship doesn’t only benefit the executive in question. Yule has already taken advantage of her new network to explore ideas and solve pressing business problems.

Read the full article at GlobeAdvisor.com…