Executive Skills Workshops

Michigan's Executive Skills Workshops consists of a series of intensive seminars that develop MBAs' skills in areas research has identified as making the crucial difference in leadership and managerial effectiveness.

The program transcends business functional areas, and is affiliated with Michigan's Office of Career Development—an affiliation that further sharpens the program's alignment with the latest demands of business. It draws on Michigan's prowess in executive education, bringing ideas that have been battle-tested with corporate executives from around the world into the MBA Program.

Among the Michigan faculty who have conducted seminars are C.K. Prahalad, considered one of the most influential "management gurus" in the world, who coined such paradigm-changing business terms as "core competence" and "strategic intent" and co-authored Competing for the Future; Noel Tichy, a leading authority on leadership, as well as a consultant to major companies and author of Control Your Destiny or Someone Else Will and The Leadership Engine; and Wayne Baker, an expert on networking and author of Networking Smart. The program also brings in leading experts on key topics from outside the Business School.

Executive skills seminars focus on a range of skills that are high on corporate recruiters' lists and vital to MBAs' success in business--things like transformational leadership, leveraging company resources through networking, leading and leveraging workforce diversity, and gaining power and influence. The seminars have also included offerings in areas like personal finance, time management, and balancing work and family. MBA students identify the skill-development areas most important to them through self- and peer-assessments conducted during the MBA pre-session, the Leadership Development Program.