Interview with MIT Sloan School of management Dean Schmalensee(2)
Xing Zong: The admission in the top B-school must be highly selective. What is the admission process like in Sloan? Who will decide which applicant to admit and what are the qualifications you are looking for on applicant’s resume?
Schmalensee: We have a complicated process that would take too long to describe here. It is run by a set of professionals, who make all final decisions. We of course look for applicants who can handle our rigorous and demanding curriculum. Within that group we look for applicants with the leadership and communications skills to make a positive difference in the world. The interview is an important part of our admissions process.
Xing Zong: The economic climate has changed dramatically over the past ten years. With the emergence of the internet, many traditional business strategy and management give way to new innovative electronic-based methods. Here is the issue I would like you to address, as the dean, how do you make sure MBA education can learn from past experience while keep updated with the modern fast changing business world?
Schmalensee: The key to this is to have a top-flight faculty who are working at the cutting edge of business. With great faculty, the dean mainly has to stay out of the way, as they will update the curriculum on their own.
Xing Zong: Last year, former General Electric CEO and corporate legend Jack Welch tried his hand as a classroom instructor for the first time at Sloan. He taught students how to implement the strategies they develop and how to lead organizations. The idea of inviting experienced practitioners to speak with students sounds great! How do you convince him to do that? How was the turn out? What were student’s evaluation regarding the course?
Schmalensee: We told Jack that we thought business schools needed to do a better job of teaching students how to get things done in and through organizations, and we asked for his help. He is a superb teacher and the students loved him. Next year we will blend his classes with sessions showing how his material links to some of the theories they students have learned in other courses.
Xing Zong: Beijing will host Olympics in 2008. This is a highly anticipated event and right now the sport industry is booming in China. I know that Sloan will host the first ever Sports Business Conference, which brings together leading sports industry executives from major U.S. professional leagues. What is the purpose of the conference and what are the issues to be addressed?
Schmalensee: This conference, like the many other conferences we host every year, is driven by student interest. One of our graduates taught a class in analytical sports management while working for the Boston Celtics, and it was well received by students. He moved to the Houston Rockets last year and didn’t want to commute hear to teach during his first year on the job. Instead he helped students organize and run a very successful conference that pulled together academics, students, and practitioners to discuss some of the newest analytical methods being used to manage sports teams.
Xing Zong: Sloan established the MIT-China Management Education Project in 1996 with two distinguished Chinese educational institutions — Tsinghua University in Beijing and Fudan University in Shanghai. In China, the Project has been endorsed at the highest levels. During a visit to MIT, the former Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji expressed his enthusiasm for the project and his confidence in MIT Sloan. Nowadays, almost all the top U.S. institutions are eager to go to China to establish strategic partnerships. It was so wonderful that Sloan can recognize that 10 years. Great vision, isn’t it?
Schmalensee: Lester Thurow, then dean, and Alan White, a senior staff member, had that vision and turned into reality. We are very proud of our work in China and pleased to see the impact it has had. What is so far unique about our work in China is its focus on building local capacity. We are helping our colleagues to improve their programs, not teaching for them.
Xing Zong: Chaoyang Zhang or Charles Zhang, the Chinese Internet pioneer, founder of Sohu.com, holds a Ph.D. degree from MIT. His legacy inspired many Chinese young people to become entrepreneurs. My question is, at Sloan, how does the school foster students’ entrepreneurial spirit?
Schmalensee: Entrepreneurship is in the water at MIT, and we attract students who want to drink that water. The MIT Entrepreneurship Center, housed at MIT Sloan, offers a variety of classes and supports a variety of student activities that attract students from all across MIT. We just launched a new option in the MBA program, Entrepreneurship and Innovation, aimed at attracting and training students who want to build technology-based businesses.
Xing Zong: Dean Schmalensee, it is good to have you here, thanks so much!
Schmalensee: My pleasure.
