Laurent Gil, WG'03, thinks the Wharton MBA Program for Executives has some of the best professors and most interesting classes in the world. So interesting, in fact, that he flew nine hours to Philadelphia from Brazil every other week to attend them.
Is the frequent sprint through the airport worth it? Is the biweekly ingestion of airline food a small price to pay for exposure to the business world's best and brightest? Is it really worth the ordeal every other week?
Absolutely, says Gil.
Invigorating and Practical
Whether traveling near or far, executive MBA students talk about a learning experience that affects them beyond the classroom and makes the hard work invigorating instead of enervating. Kemi P. Akinsanya-Rose, WG'03, made a shorter trip from northern New Jersey, but found the intellectual journey as enriching as Gil did. She cites Christian Terwiesch's operations management class as a specific example.
"The course is about understanding and improving business processes," explains Terweisch. "In the first three or four sessions, we looked at some relatively simple cases and discovered several 'laws' of how processes behave. We then moved on and tackled more complex processes such as financial services, call centers, and hospitals."
Akinsanya-Rose immediately put what she learned into practice in her professional life. "My company had just launched a credit card terminal product that goes outside drive-through establishments," she says. "The class made me think about the process: Where would be the best place to have these kiosks? Should we have them by the order board, or by the paying window?"
Terwiesch teaches his students that the skills they're acquiring are useful in a variety of fields. "The students realize that these process laws, which they thought of as being largely applicable in manufacturing settings, are even more important in service organizations – which is where most MBAs work."
Gil also appreciates the fact that many Wharton professors are practitioners and not just academics. "I can apply what I learn directly," he says.
Access to World-Class People
Gil speaks with particular enthusiasm about Terrence LaPier's Entrepreneurial Leadership Management class. He explains that, the night before the class, Professor LaPier invites the students to dinner with the guest entrepreneur, and they have an opportunity to discuss the next day's topic.
He recalls a class taught by the founder of one of the largest private equity funds in the country. "It's amazing," he says, "because we get access to world-class people. Nowhere else have I seen this kind of involvement." Doug Haws, WG'03, also cites in-depth interaction with Wharton faculty as a major benefit of the program. "Anything that Michael Useem teaches is great. He does a leadership trek in the Himalayas as well as an annual trip to Gettysburg to teach different leadership strategies." Haws believes that Wharton's hands-on learning is invaluable, as it helps him apply classroom theory to real-world situations at his job in Oklahoma.
The Art of Decision Making
Students also name Jack Hershey's course on decision models and uncertainty as a perennial favorite. Hershey emphasizes the need for adaptive thinking and creates a classroom environment conducive to practicing it.
"I suppose I spend somewhat more time on the art of decision making compared to courses that might be taught elsewhere," Hershey says. "The art comes in learning to adapt models to the application at hand. There's a tendency when using a model to short circuit the need to think through your own intuition. I don't allow this in this course. I push students to think about their intuition when deciding which model is most applicable to their situation."
The real-world expertise that students bring to the classroom also contributes positively to the overall executive MBA experience, and Wharton students note that a high level of practical experience among both professors and classmates enhances their ability to learn skills, share expertise, and apply insights.
We Bring Out the Best in Each Other
"My Wharton experience served to reinforce something I have always believed: Working with leaders is one of the best ways to learn about leadership," says Damon Harrell, WG'03. "You need to be at the top of your game, but people are not competing with one another. The environment is intense. The performance standards are very high, but the environment is also very positive. With the quality of the professors and camaraderie among the students, we all tend to bring out the best in each other."