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Continued from previous page
The Grail: Lifelong
Education
The very term "master" in Master of Business
Administration implies a certain finality to the achievement.
Yet with rapid shifts in technology and globalization,
and even faster shifts in careers, earning a degree – graduate
or undergraduate – is often just the beginning of a learning
process. While the need for ongoing education has
become increasingly clear over the past few decades,
solutions are still emerging. Over the past few decades, life-long learning has become the
Grail of executive
education, and, like the Grail quest, the goal has
sometimes been vague and the path to it a winding
one. As the Economist observed in 1998, "As an ideal, 'life-long
learning' is up there with peace, justice, and motherhood.
Turning this fine idea into practice,
however is not simple."
Through a variety of formal and informal channels,
Rechtiene and many other Wharton alumni are continuing
to learn after earning their formal degrees. Some tap into
networks at work or among classmates. Some find that 10
or 15 years after earning their degree, they need a "refresher"
to stay ahead of business innovation or prepare for leadership
roles in their organizations through programs such
as the five-week Advanced Management Program (AMP).
Wharton has experimented with new models and technologies
to meet the needs of executives in developing new
educational platforms such as the Fellows program and
channels such as distance learning.
Why is ongoing education needed? Technology is
advancing rapidly. Information is expanding. Globalization
has created demands for new knowledge about cultures, languages,
and business practices. What is perhaps even more
significant, however, is that the work we do is changing far
more rapidly than in the past. "Organizational change happens
faster so there is a very good chance you will be doing
different jobs," said Peter Cappelli, George W. Taylor
Professor of Management and Director of Wharton's Center
for Human Resources. "Within the same job, you are asked
to do a broader range of things. Companies change directions
more quickly. The big consensus is that if you let your
own skills become obsolete, if you become a 'legacy employee,' you are in trouble."
While shifting work responsibilities sometimes requires
retooling of knowledge in new areas, sometimes what is
needed is more perspective. This is one of the reasons why
executives come back for a program like
the AMP. "They are often people who are maki ng
career changes within the same organization," said Cappelli,
who is one of three academic directors of
the Wharton AMP. "They are getting ready to go into senior
management positions and need to broaden
their perspectives because they have been in silos.
In this case, it is not keeping skills up to date as much
as broadening perspective."
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