Rethinking LTW

There is tremendous potential in having a capstone event that condenses the past two years and prepares us for reentry into the workforce. Very few schools have a program of this kind; therefore, it is definitely a feather in RSB's cap to even conceive of such an event. However, many of the students were dissatisfied with their LTW experience and felt that a complete reevaluation is necessary. To be fair, an online feedback mechanism was provided, but in view of our opinion that a complete rethink is required, we thought submitting a comprehensive article addressing all aspects of the program would be appropriate. At the outset, we would like to thank the alumni who took time out of their busy schedules and made it a point to be with the graduating students. The alumni interaction was highly appreciated, and their presence was an important and popular feature of LTW.

However, there were many other areas that need reevaluation to be more meaningful to the Class of 2006 and beyond, starting with the concept itself.

Concept & Content:

LTW could have been a module that prepared students for kick-starting a successful career, as well as evaluating their values, thinking about work-life balance trade-offs, and last, but not least, volunteering and giving back to society. Instead, we got a re-hash of MLP with a couple of corporate sales pitches and philanthropy mixed in.

Reflecting upon our business school experience:

To start with, we should be made to set goals during MLP that we then review during LTW. We could then reflect on our time here and what we accomplished vis-…-vis our goals, with enough time (5-6 weeks) to re-energize around certain aspects if we feel deficient.

Career jumpstart:

We could have interactive career panels with alumni to learn how to make an impact in our fields and achieve short- and long-term success. We should also develop an action plan for our first 90 days in our new organizations. We could review our courses compared to our upcoming jobs and think about the tools we gained that will help us succeed and to discuss the things that we actually use and those that we develop on the job.

The regional alumni breakouts were a great idea that should be retained, while involving alumni from more regions - for example, the Bay Area. Also, it would also be useful to have a brief mixer where we could go seek out those alumni we wanted to talk to specifically based on background or function.

Evaluate values & develop a life plan:

Bob Quinn's workshop on developing a personal statement was a good idea, however, we should be made to actually start to develop a life plan (similar to the Bob Quinn document). Without actually doing one, that part of the program loses its impact.

Work life balance

For many of us, this will be a key issue and a panel led by alumni in diverse fields with tips on balancing and prioritizing work, life, and hobbies and interests would be tremendously useful.

Community Service

It was a very powerful experience to participate in the mentoring and volunteering activities at Focus: HOPE. However, we have various ideas on how Ross could better combine corporate social responsibility and action-based learning.

First, we need greater exposure to the business model of Focus: HOPE so that we can learn about how to found, fund, and grow such an organization. We would also like to hear Eleanor Josaitis's perspective on what it takes to manage such an organization on a daily basis. This learning would stay with us, regardless of whichever geography or organization we end up in.

This next idea is not limited to LTW specifically, but is one way in which we can make community service a more important part of the Ross curriculum. We could have a seven-week long, for-credit project where teams of MBA2s implement social development projects in conjunction with a community outreach group of a sponsoring corporation. This would equip graduating students with the skills and tools needed to launch and manage social initiatives within their own future employers.

Corporate Social Responsibility & Ethics

The speakers in corporate social responsibility were not impactful or inspiring and made many somewhat cynical about what we perceived as lip service to the topic. In fact, the program made all ethical dilemmas appear to be black and white, though most issues we will face as managers have compelling reasons for choosing opposing actions. We would love to see speakers talk about their own ethical dilemmas, the choices they made and the thought process they used to make tough decisions. The company executives could present a case involving an actual ethical dilemma. We would discuss the issue at our table with our alumni advisor and draw up our own course of action. Finally, the executive would present his/her actual actions and defend his/her reasoning.

Marketing & Logistics

A much better job could be done to generate awareness and excitement. Knowing that 40 alumni were participating might have motivated more people to honor their commitment to attend. A schedule of the events should be provided before sign-up so that students can make an informed decision, and then be held accountable for their decision. The sign-up for the 2 days - LTW and volunteering-could be independent of each other. That way, the volunteering activities can be planned with a realistic number of expected students, instead of being faced with a situation where there is a danger of volunteering commitments not being honored.