PURDUE Keeping Business Professionals Connected
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The ExecutivePURDUE Keeping Business Professionals Connected Save and Share the Dates Mark your calendar now and plan to join us for these upcoming alumni events. See From the Executive Director krannert.purdue.edu/executive/emba/ for-alumni and your email inbox for details. Dear Friends, I hope you all have been well since our last newsletter. So much has taken August 11 Live instructional webinar with Krannert management place since then. In the alumni area, we had our annual on-campus professor Karthik Kannan. Dr. Kannan will speak about Networking and Alumni Back to School day in May. This combined event the Internet of Things: How Smart Objects will will take place in May every year, so mark your calendars for 2016 (May 5-6). Transform our World. All are welcome. Keep in mind that for those who cannot come to campus, September 14 EMBA Class of 2017 launch dinner at Purdue – we also have our semi-annual Continuing Education webinar. The next executive education alumni welcome one is August 11, just a few weeks away. We also had a record number of October 13 projects (10) for our Active Learning Projects course. Thank you to alumni Krannert Executive Education Programs will host a who reached out to us to work with our EMBA teams. And one of our reception for all Purdue alumni in Shanghai, China, during the IMM 2015 residency. recent alums, Stacey Mueller (EMBA 2015), was selected by Poets & May 5, 2016 Quants as one of the top 30 EMBA students in the world. Guest speaker and networking reception at Krannert We’ve been keeping busy with our students as well. We’ve welcomed with current students, alumni and corporate partners our newest IMM cohort and took our IMM Global EMBA and Executive May 6, 2016 MBA students to Istanbul for their respective residencies. It was our first Annual Back to School day for all Krannert alumni time taking EMBA students to Istanbul and the success of the residencies Please share our special programs for prospective students. These events are sets a solid foundation for future visits. Our EMBA program introduced open to all who are considering an EMBA. new electives for our students – social media, adoption and INFORMATIONAL WEBINARS implementation paradox, brand management, and crisis management. Learn about our degree programs and get all your These ideas were initiated by our students and is just one of the ways that questions answered during our live online chats students are our partners in the program. August 20, September 22, October 20, November 12, and December 8. We were honored to have Purdue President Mitch Daniels address our EMBA EXPERIENCE EMBA Class of 2016 and reflect on university initiatives and the challenges Live the life of an executive MBA student for a day. of being Purdue’s president. And more recently, some of our IMM Class of Tour Krannert Center, attend a class, have lunch with 2015 students met Mitch when the Boilermaker Special went by his house current students, and get an overview of our pro- grams. Upcoming dates include July 31, October 23, and he came out to say “Boiler Up!” (see photo on page 10). and November 13. Even with these accomplishments, we are still looking at new academic ON THE ROAD and cultural immersion opportunities for our students. So, our IMM Class Schedule a face-to-face meeting with a member of the executive education team or a phone or virtual call to of 2016 will go to Santiago later this year for our first residency in Chile. discuss your career goals and how an EMBA from Alumni are invited to join that residency in Santiago and attend courses. Purdue can help. Contact Aldas Kriauciunas at 765- We plan to open up other residencies in the future to alumni. And I’ll be 496-1860 or [email protected] to set up a meeting. For updates and details on all our events, visit us online continued on page 8 at krannert.purdue.edu/executive. JULY 2 01 5 Research for Executives Working Across Cultures: Navigating the Janus Face or more than a decade, Professor Brent Jesiek has This suggests that many of their peers with less experiences been helping students and professionals learn how to working abroad may especially be at risk because they are cross cultural boundaries. His line of work could not be dangerously overconfident in their ability to work across Fmore relevant as globalization pressures continue to ebb countries. and flow, challenging companies to be adaptable in the The consequence? Increased probability of failure. face of uncertain and rapidly changing circumstances. In a recent global survey of more than 500 executives, Strategic moves that used to be rare – such as building nearly 50% indicated being aware of prior incidents globe-spanning supply chains, cultivating cross-national where communication misunderstandings had impacted 2 partnerships, and tapping into new national and regional cross-border transactions to the point of financial setback.6 markets – are the new normal. As the byline for a Harvard To help lower such risks, Jesiek had developed and Business Review article aptly declared, “In a world of delivered courses and workshops to hundreds of students constant change, the spoils go to the nimble.”1 and professionals, accumulating a large collection of best Yet many organizations are struggling to adapt. In practices along the way. At the center of his efforts are one poll of senior executives, 76% believed that further training sessions that challenge participants to expand development of global leadership capabilities was their awareness of how culture is deeply and inextricably needed within their organizations, but just 7% indicated intertwined with professional work, often illustrated that they were doing so very effectively.2 Another study through vignettes and case studies drawn from found that about 85% of Fortune 500 executives felt engineering and other technical fields.7 their organizations had a shortage of competent global The “Janus-face” of culture is another key concept leaders.3 In light of these somewhat dismal assessments, in these sessions. Just as the Roman god Janus is famous what can be done to cultivate globally competent for his pair of faces that look forward and back, Jesiek employees at all levels of an organization? reminds participants that the bifurcated nature of culture One fallacy that Jesiek has been challenging frequently stymies our ability to work with diverse others. through both his research and training efforts centers We often give in to the siren song of Janus’ most persua- on the idea that simply immersing someone in a new sive face, which tells us that people within a given culture culture will result in substantial gains in global – and especially a culture other than our own – are more competency. To the contrary, a growing body of alike than different. Recent research on “implicit bias” research on students who study abroad shows that shows that such cultural assumptions are pervasive, such gains rarely happen automatically, and instead largely unconscious, and highly resistant to change.8 require active support and intervention from capable Janus’ other face therefore serves as a critically important peers and facilitators.4 Still other scholars have shown corrective, reminding us that “within a culture, people that employees tend to self-rate many of their global are different.” To help professionals check their biases capabilities at lower levels after an assignment abroad.5 and identify flawed assumptions, Jesiek teaches a Professor Jesiek taught Krannert alumni during executive education’s annual Back to School day May 8, 2015, in Krannert Center. variety of participant-observation and critical reflection About Professor Brent Jesiek strategies adapted from the social sciences. Professor Jesiek is an Associate Professor For employees assigned to work abroad, Jesiek in the Schools of Engineering Education 3 additionally recommends a variety of best practices and Electrical and Computer Engineering that are already well established in the study abroad at Purdue University. He taught a course field. For instance, encouraging deep cultural immersion, on global competency in Krannert frequent reflective writing, and active mentorship from Executive Education Programs’ May 2015 Back more experienced colleagues have all been shown to to School day. He is also an Associate Director in enhance global learning and effectiveness. Purdue’s Global Engineering Programs office, leads Finally, he reminds firms that supporting global the Global Engineering Education Collaboratory (GEEC) learning is not a short-term proposition since meaningful research group, and is the recent recipient of an NSF gains in intercultural sensitivity and related constructs CAREER award to study boundary-spanning roles and often occur on multi-year timescales. Preparing employees competencies among early career engineers. Dr. Jesiek to work across cultures cannot be treated as a passing draws on expertise from engineering, computing, fad or discretionary line item. To be effective, it must be and the social sciences to advance understanding woven into an organization’s DNA. of geographic, disciplinary, and historical variations To learn more about research findings and training in engineering education and professional practice. practices related to global education, please contact Professor Jesiek at [email protected]. 1 Reeves, M. and Daimler, M. (2011). “Adaptability: The New Competitive Advantage.” Harvard Business Review, July-August 2011. 2 Ghemawat, M. (2012). “Developing Global Leaders.” McKinsey Quarterly, June 2012. 3 De Meuse, K., Tang, K. Y., Mlodzik, K. J., and Daig, G. (2010). The World is Flat … And so are Leadership Competencies. Los Angeles, CA: Korn Ferry Institute. 4 Vande Berg, M., Connor-Linton, J., and Paige, R. M. (2009). “The Georgetown Consortium Project: Interventions for Student Learning Abroad,” Frontiers: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Study Abroad, 18(Fall 2009): 1-75.