The Full-time UST MBA Class of 2013

As another academic year comes to a close, Dean Christopher Puto takes a moment to reflect.

Perhaps the most motivating members of our student body are the military veterans who have chosen to earn their degrees after they complete active duty. Whether they choose to begin or continue an undergraduate business degree or pursue an M.B.A. or other graduate business degree, these individuals bring a wealth of experience, deeply held convictions and a great sense of responsibility to their studies. They also bring perspective. Most of the veterans in our programs have seen active duty overseas, have witnessed events that few of us ever will, and that few of us wish to dwell on, frankly. These types of experiences allow veterans to understand that the world of business is just one part of the world and that it should serve a greater good. This understanding is what makes them leaders.

Read more in B. Magazine

Two hundred and twenty Minnesota business and professional leaders gathered Wednesday, May 15, to honor four companies with the 2013 Minnesota Business Ethics Award (MBEA).

The MBEA honors businesses that exemplify high standards of ethical conduct in the workplace, the marketplace and the community. Recipients are recognized in three size categories: small (under 100 employees), medium (100 to 500 employees) and large (more than 500 employees). The 2013 honorees are:

• Small: Cresa Minneapolis/St. Paul
• Medium: Affinity Plus Federal Credit Union
• Large (two firms honored this year): Cummins Power Generation and St. Francis Regional Medical Center

Read more in the UST Newsroom

Having expectations is important, having a shared expectation is key.  Successful relationships, prosperous businesses and customer satisfaction are all built on shared expectations.  A consumer expects a product to fulfill its purpose for purchase, businesses expect employees and vendors to fulfill their work requirements, and partnerships are formed on shared expectations for love and happiness. Even a job description establishes clear expectations for what employees are hired to complete on a day to day basis.

Surprisingly, over 50% of marriages end in divorce, only a quarter of UK customers are repeat shoppers. In the hospitality industry alone, the turnover rate for employment is over 75%, leading to employers paying far more to hire a new employee, than to keep a current one.

So what can be done to limit unrealistic or unmet expectations?

Here are several factors that should be considered for any future personal or professional partnerships.

Get it in writing, get it up front

Job descriptions set clear expectations for employees, as does the salary and benefits package.  Employees and companies know exactly what is expected and what their return should be, i.e. salary.  But often times, more job duties are added, hours are extended and expectations become unclear.  Asking for an updated job description, or writing out a plan of attack for any future project are great ideas.  One can also utilize the SMART tactic of goal planning which includes establishing Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely goals. Creating SMART goals and having written documents ensures everyone has the same frame of reference to review while working towards the same goal or goals.

Meet frequently, review and revise

Managers and partners should continue to discuss how goals or expectations have evolved.  Unfortunately, and fortunately, nothing can be set in stone.  As organizations and needs evolve, so should the expectations previously set.  Setting aside time on a regular basis to ensure all parties are aware of the current and evolving expectations will allow open communication as well as the opportunity to re-engage in previously set goals.  During these meetings, it is also important to take the time to understand why expectations are important to a specific individual, a customer or the company.  This establishes a cohesive front that understands each other and the motives behind each partner.

Share the same goal

Common goals enable people to band together as well as feel motivated to complete large or small tasks together that can assist in achieving the big picture.  Employers should want their constituents to continue to grow and prosper; managers should seek to develop team members so that promotions are possible.

Celebrate successes 

Achievements take dedication and hard work.  Individual and team accomplishments should be celebrated as a group, no matter the circumstance.  Small achievements should also be part of everyday successes as they are important to the end goal.  This encourages progress as well as strengthens the partnership or community.

While it may be difficult to agree on each and every expectation, or understand a specific individual’s desires, these steps will assist with maintaining a successful partnership engaged with achieving the same goals together.  Creating individual, team and product oriented expectations will allow a cohesive workforce, partnership as well as raise customer return rates.  Transparent and well formulated expectations create a common front that is charged to exceed any goal, large or small.

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The finalists are:

• Small-size category: Cresa Minneapolis/St. Paul;  Douglas Scientific; and  Latuff Brothers Auto Body
• Mid-size category: Affinity Federal Credit Union;  Mintahoe Catering and Events; and  Premier Disability Services LLC
• Large-size category: Cummins Power Generation; and St. Francis Regional Medical Center

The awards celebrate Minnesota businesses that exemplify and promote ethical conduct in the workplace, the marketplace and the community. Keynote speaker for the awards lunch will be Gregg Steinhafel, chairman and CEO of Target Corporation.

Learn more in the UST Newsroom.

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The Julie Hays Teaching Award is given to an OCB faculty member for exemplary achievement in the classroom in the previous academic year. More than 30 faculty were nominated for the hays award this year, a sign of the passion our faculty have for teaching and engaging with their students.

Awarded since 2010, the Hays Award was presented today to Dr. Heino Beckmann. Beckmann announced earlier in the day his plans to retire after  28 years teaching in St Thomas’ Finance Department.

“As someone who views himself as a coach and mentor rather than a professor, Professor Beckmann pushes students intellectually, morally, and philosophically,” one student wrote.  ”One of the most interesting people I have ever met, he draws on his past experiences to not only teach us the subject, but to teach us how to become the best people we can be.”

Read more about Professor Beckmann’s teaching and honors »

The Susan E. Heckler Research Excellence Award recognizes outstanding faculty achievement in research. The Heckler Award was given this year to Daryl Koehn, Ph.D.

Koehn has had a significant impact on the field of Business Ethics. A survey of the top business ethics journals from around the world showed that she was the second most published business ethicist in the field during the period from 1999-2008, as well as one of the most cited authors in business ethics, receiving more than 1,000 citations. Along with Bob Solomon at the University of Texas, Koehn brought virtue ethics to the fore in the field of business ethics.

Read more about Professor Koehn’s research »

Congratulations to these accomplished members of our faculty!

Fatima Vite learns about UST and the St. Paul campus with tour guide, Beth Cummins. Next fall, Fatima will be a junior and will continue touring campuses and preparing to apply for admission to colleges or universities.

Cristo Rey Jesuit High School’s Hire4Ed, Work-Study Program, calls itself “A School that Works.” The Hire4Ed work-study program underwrites almost half the cost of education and exposes the student to a corporate work environment and the positive influences of the supervising professionals. In exchange, employers that participate in the Hire4Ed Work-Study program receive high quality, cost-effective workers and get to play an active role in students’ future success.

CRJHS is a private, Catholic, college-preparatory high school exclusively for under-resourced students. For Allie Bell and Fatima Vite, Cristo Rey and employers like the UST Opus College of Business (OCB) are why getting a college degree is a dream that will come true. The University of St. Thomas is one of more than 90 leading companies and organizations in the Twin Cities that provide high school tuition dollars for these young employees, in exchange for 5 days of work from each of them each month. The tuition OCB pays allows the students to support over 50% of their tuition at Cristo Rey (CR) and receive a college preparatory high school experience that would not be an option otherwise. At the same time, the jobs CR students do provide valuable work experience each year while in high school, which empowers them to take an active part in financing a major portion of their education.

The Cristo Rey vision is a good fit with the values of the University of St. Thomas and the Opus College of Business. Various OCB departments have employed 6 students over the past three years. Does your department have jobs they could do? Come and meet these extraordinary young women. On May 23rd at 10 AM in the TMH Fireside Room, Fatima and Allie will share stories about their year here at UST. Talk to their UST supervisors and find out how to participate in providing work for one or two CR students next year.

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Cristo Rey is increasingly receiving national recognition as a ground breaking model for urban education in response to the success of Cristo Rey, the Cassin Educational Initiative Foundation and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation invested close to $30 million toward replicating this educational model around the United States. Currently, there are 24 high schools throughout the country that are associated through the Cristo Rey Network and operate using the educational model named for the first Cristo Rey School in Chicago. Minneapolis is one of them.

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Founded by the Jesuits in 1996, the mission that inspired Cristo Rey is – to advance the human and intellectual capacities, as well as the religious and cultural heritage of all those it serves. The goal is to maximize the students’ potential to prepare them to assume leadership roles in the civic, religious, business and cultural life of our city and nation.

When Kieran Folliard was planning to enter the crowded and notoriously fickle bar and restaurant business in downtown Minneapolis, he knew exactly what he wanted to create. He wanted to develop a landmark, beautiful and handcrafted building, reminiscent of the grand 18th-century public houses of the Dublin he remembered from his youth. Of course he spent time raising finance, arranging suppliers, hiring staff and developing budgets, but his heart – and most of his days – were invested in sitting at a dusty desk in the middle of the construction site working with local wood carvers and artisans to try to create a thing of beauty that would last 100 years. Would his customers even notice that this section was handcarved or the stained glass handmade?

Read more about Folliard’s story and Putting Your Value System to Work in the Spring edition of B. Magazine »

Take a walk through the halls of the Opus College of Business and you’re likely to run into Corey Eakins ’09 M.B.A., director of the Evening UST MBA Program. In the morning, you may find him in the skyway with his iPad, on his way to meet with faculty members about a new study-abroad offering. In the afternoon he’s in Terrence Murphy Hall, meeting with the student advising team to understand a concern raised by one of their advisees. You might see him in the evening, too, networking with attendees at an event designed to provide students and alumni with the opportunity to learn from the local business community. Eakins is a man on the move, always thinking about how to improve the student experience.

Read my complete profile of Eakins in B. Magazine

Last month, I had the pleasure of attending the first National Association of Asian MBAs (NAAMBA) event hosted on the University of St. Thomas Minneapolis campus in the Opus College of Business Schulze Auditorium. The event focused on topic that resonated with all attendees, is consistently on the minds of business professionals, and is interwoven throughout the UST MBA program (and many other MBA programs’) curriculum: leadership.

To spark the discussion, NAAMBA-Twin Cities invited Robert C. Barnett, adjunct faculty member in UST’s Organizational Learning and Development department and principal and senior fellow in management consulting at Robert Barnett Consulting, LLC and MDA Leadership Consulting, to share his extensive research and findings about leadership.

Barnett educated the audience about the history of leadership theory, which was initially trait-focused (leadership is inherent in certain individuals; leaders are born, not made) and over many decades has moved to a developmental model (leadership is promoted by developing and practicing key competencies, critical reflection, and insight-building) – good news for all of us!

I found it fascinating that given the countless leadership theories across decades, several common themes persisted. Namely, the importance of challenging oneself to develop organizational skills, business skills (such as motivating, delegating, and decision-making), and both interpersonal and intrapersonal skills.

Many times, aspiring leaders leave intrapersonal skill development last on their to-do list – with heavy workloads and balancing home, friends, job, and family, who has an abundance of extra time to critically examine professional growth, experiences, mistakes, role models, strengths, weaknesses, and individual goals regularly? Likely, very few… but that is where the risk lies. Barnett enlightened us of the fact that successful leaders and leadership capabilities develop primarily through making meaning of one’s experiences. This means that unless we carve out time to reflect on our mistakes, gain insight from both good and bad professional experiences or assignments, and work on self-awareness and challenging ourselves with new, unfamiliar experiences, transitioning to a leadership role will become much more difficult. In fact, Barnett emphasized that leadership derailment, or “early stalled (or ended) career advancement in otherwise successful and promotable leaders” often happens due to individuals’ “significant flaws in themselves…inability to learn from mistakes…failure to take a broad view, lack of reliability, follow-through, or accountability…”

The night ended with an extremely open and insightful panel of five Asian business professionals working at top Minnesota companies such as Target, United Healthcare, Best Buy, Abbott Northwestern, and Chamilia, who offered their views about leadership in the workplace. Two panelists completed the Health Care UST MBA program and the Executive UST MBA program, a third panelist was a current student in the Evening UST MBA program, and all are putting their MBAs to work in their newly earned leadership positions. These individuals offered many insightful tips for enhancing one’s leadership potential, skills, and positioning in an organization. I found a few comments particularly interesting and helpful, especially given the backdrop of Robert Barnett’s presentation about leadership theory and development earlier in the evening. The first was “lean into discomfort.” Although new assignments and responsibilities can be unfamiliar and anxiety-producing, it is important to recognize that the discomfort means that you are part of a new, growth-building experience. These experiences can round out your skill set and make you a more marketable leader, and re-framing the way we approach these challenges can certainly enhance adaptability.

Second, several panelists highlighted the importance of feedback, tying back to the importance of inter and intra-personal skills Barnett addressed in his presentation. “If you don’t get feedback on a regular basis from your colleagues, team, or supervisor… ask for it,” offered the panelists. Feedback helps individuals to learn from experiences, and as Barnett highlighted, the majority of leadership competency-building happens from learning from real-life, on-the-job experiences (regardless of whether they are successes or failures).

Finally, the panel addressed racial and gender stereotypes and how they can advance or de-rail one’s leadership development or potential to access leadership competency-building opportunities. Although may be difficult to change others’ perceptions based on one’s outward appearance or culture, the best advice the panel offered in terms of professional leadership was simple and effective: be authentic, and true to yourself and your culture, do good work, and continue to be intellectually curious. As all attendees learned that evening, leadership development requires continuous learning, synthesis and reflection, and seeking out challenge. NAAMBA-Twin Cities and the University of St. Thomas MBA programs are indeed dedicated to supporting such continuous learning, and developing leaders who are engaged members of their workplace and cultural communities.