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Elevating Leadership: Inside the College of Charleston's Executive MBA Program

• Ron Magnuson • Season 2 • Episode 19

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Join host Corey Werkheiser as he sits down with Ron Magnuson, the Executive Director of Graduate and Executive Programs at the School of Business, to explore the newly launched Executive MBA (EMBA) Program at the College of Charleston. 

In this episode, Magnuson discusses his extensive experience in business and higher education, shedding light on the distinct features that set the one-year MBA apart from the new EMBA program. Listeners will learn about the innovative cohort structure, personalized executive coaching, and international opportunities that the EMBA offers, along with its family-oriented approach. Magnuson also details the rigorous selection process designed to cultivate a diverse and supportive learning environment. Tune in to discover how this groundbreaking program is tailored to meet the evolving demands of the business world and enhance career growth for working professionals.

Featured on this Episode:

Ron Magnuson is the executive director of graduate and executive Programs for the School of Business at the College of Charleston. He provides strategic guidance and direction for the MBA program in alignment with the College’s mission and values. He is dedicated to working closely with faculty, staff and students to continuously strengthen and improve the program. Magnuson earned his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Bucknell University. He received an MBA from Mount St. Mary’s University and completed the Advanced Management Program from Wharton.

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[00:00:00] Hello, and welcome to speaking of College of Charleston. I'm your host, Corey Werkheiser, Director of Career Success at the School of Business Student Success Center. And with me today is Ron Magnuson, Executive Director of Graduate and Executive Programs [00:00:20] at the School of Business. And one of Ron's roles is Director of the One Year MBA Program and our new Executive Master of Business Administration Program.

[00:00:29] And that's the focus of today's episode. So Ron, welcome to the show. Good to be here. Let's start off with you telling us a little bit more about your background in business and also in higher education. [00:00:40] Sure. When I graduated from engineering school, I joined an energy industry and I worked in engineering kind of roles.

[00:00:48] And then I later got my MBA and I ultimately had senior leadership roles in as a head of human resource and the chief customer officer. And then I pivoted later and [00:01:00] joined higher education. And I was at the University of Pittsburgh first as the Chief of Staff for the Dean of the School of Business, and then ultimately as a faculty teaching the MBA capstone course.

[00:01:11] So I worked at the University of Pittsburgh for over ten years, and I've been here at the College of Charleston for over six years. Again, mostly focused on the one year program, [00:01:20] but developing and very excited to talk with you today about the Executive MBA program. And the MBA you're talking about is a one year program.

[00:01:27] The college has just recently added the executive MBA program. What's different about that between the one year MBA program and the executive MBA program? Yeah, great question. There's two kinds of MBAs. There's [00:01:40] people that take it as a full time student and people that take it as a part time student and full time programs are either typically one year in length or two years in length.

[00:01:50] Part time programs, they're designed for working professionals. The most common one is an online program, and there's a ton of online programs out there. And there's the [00:02:00] traditional part time program, and that's where you take three credits here, six credits here. Maybe you take a term off. You do it at your leisure.

[00:02:08] I know I finished mine that way in four years. But an EMBA is a little bit different. It's a cohort based program where you start together, And you end together [00:02:20] and really it's designed for career advancement. And one of the things that the association that tracks this does is that they focus on career advancement.

[00:02:29] So they poll every EMBA student that graduates, and some of the statistics that they focus on are around career advancement. In fact, 133 percent ROI is the [00:02:40] most valuable degree. in the most valuable program out there. An MBA degree has been popular, the most popular degree, but this program has the highest ROA.

[00:02:50] They found out that over 24 percent of students, that's the amount of increase that they get in compensation. 42 percent of them get [00:03:00] promoted. 52 percent of them have increased duties. So they measure, if you would, how much career advancement these students actually get. So that's one of the differences of an EMBA.

[00:03:10] It's really focused on career advancement in that cohort experience of building a network. And this is the first EMBA program in South Carolina, correct? [00:03:20] Yes. Can you tell us really how that came to be? Yeah. So interesting enough, when we started our research, there were 14 states in the country that didn't have an EMBA, and South Carolina was one of them.

[00:03:30] And we had a full time One year program for 14 years and we really had a lot of people asking us about options for working [00:03:40] professionals And when we were investigating it, we decided we didn't want to go the typical online route We didn't even want to do the traditional Part time MBA we wanted to do something a little bit different and that's how we came up with the executive MBA option How does this stand out from similar programs?

[00:03:59] If I'm looking at [00:04:00] an EMBA program somewhere else, how does this stand out from similar programs at other institutions? Yeah so one is in structure. It's 18 months long total, and that's a bit accelerated compared to the average EMBA. The other one is how it's structured in terms of delivery. We deliver in a hybrid format.

[00:04:18] So we like to think that's the [00:04:20] best of both worlds. We like to think that we're together in person 50 percent of the time, building that community, building that network. But for convenience and for flexibility, the other half of the delivery would be online. So that's the biggest difference. If you would, in terms of features we [00:04:40] have executive coaching.

[00:04:41] Now that's not unique. 88 percent of all programs have executive coaching, but we've partnered with wisdom works. And they do two assessments, not just leadership effectiveness, but they also measure the leader's ability to thrive. They really look at wellness. They really look at their whole [00:05:00] being.

[00:05:00] They think that's really important to be an effective leader without really taking care of yourself is not sustainable in their eyes. And so we think that's a distinctive difference in the way we're going to deliver our executive coaching. Executive communications is a focus of ours as well.

[00:05:17] We are going to [00:05:20] have three one credit executive communication courses, and that's pretty unique. We think that's a skill that's really sought after at the C suite level. We have an international trip. That's not all that uncommon, but we're really proud that we've selected Panama as our destination. Panama has a lot of ties to the city of Charleston.

[00:05:39] It's [00:05:40] actually a sister city with the city of Charleston. It's easy to access. It's got a very diverse culture, if you would. And I think the students are really going to find a different kind of experience going to Panama. And finally, one of the other differences we have in features is we have a capstone course.

[00:05:58] that really [00:06:00] requires the students to run a C suite management team before they graduate. Just it's almost like a boot camp. We actually have real live boards of directors that they report to. So they apply for a job, CFO, CEO, COO, and they run this company reporting to this board of directors.

[00:06:19] And we feel like [00:06:20] combining the business acumen they learn in the classroom, along with practicing going through what it's like. to run a company and be held accountable for it really is the best way to prepare them. But probably one of the unique things that we're really proud of is that we're going to focus on that spouse as well as the individual going through the [00:06:40] program.

[00:06:40] These folks are probably working 50, 60 hours a week as it is, and that family is going to make a huge sacrifice for the 18 months they're in the program. So we plan to bring the spouses in and orient them and Tell them what the, what their spouse is going to go through in the program. Have them meet the other ones, build sort of a support [00:07:00] around that.

[00:07:00] So we're going to really focus on the family and the whole unit instead of just the students, that's a little bit different. And the last thing I'll share is that we're limiting it to 25 students. We a lot of our colleagues have 40, 50 students in an EMBA cohorts, and we really think [00:07:20] 25 is, Is the right size, it's big enough to build a community, but yet small enough to have that one on one attention And you've mentioned cohort system a few times.

[00:07:29] What exactly is that? What does that mean? And how does that approach benefit students? Yeah so they begin at the same time. They end at the same time. They take classes together We break them down into a sub [00:07:40] cohort into learning teams. And we build these learning teams to be a diverse sub cohort.

[00:07:46] And that's where assignments and projects are done. We actually change these learning teams each term. So that, we may work together this term, and then the next term I may work with somebody else. And really building that sense [00:08:00] of broader community, and that sense of local community, is really one of the most important aspects of getting an EMBA.

[00:08:06] When we talk to graduating EMBA students, We asked them what was the most meaningful thing to them. They all go back to that community. They all go back to that network. I've talked to them and they still stay in touch. They still meet with [00:08:20] each other on a regular basis. I think it's really important to go through this experience with like minded people that have, similar interests.

[00:08:27] You gave some great examples of how this program can potentially benefit a student. How is it going to also help meet the current needs of business? Thank you. Yeah, we were talking to a business earlier this week, and as we were [00:08:40] explaining the program to them, I was just thrilled because you could see the light bulb go off.

[00:08:44] You could just see them say, Oh, I've got the perfect person for this. And what they were really thinking about was their succession planning, their leadership development, their bench strength for the future. I think they were convinced that they were going to not only graduate with the business [00:09:00] acumen you get by taking the courses, But they're going to graduate with enhanced skills.

[00:09:05] And these skills can be brought back to the organization and cascade throughout the organization. I don't know if I mentioned it to you, Corey, but we're going to do two 360 assessments before the students arrive. And we're going to do two 360 [00:09:20] assessments before they leave at the end of the program.

[00:09:22] Seven one on one executive coaching sessions in between. And we're really going to measure that improvement of their ability to thrive. and their ability to effectively lead. And I think these businesses know that's just going to cascade throughout the organization. It's a [00:09:40] huge talent retention tool.

[00:09:42] These days with lower unemployment and it's really hard to attract talent, I think businesses see this as a great tool to really invest in their employees and retain that talent. How are you going to maintain, leverage these connections that you have within the business community to benefit [00:10:00] students in these cohorts of the EMBA program?

[00:10:02] Charleston is a unique city, as I think you know. It's not only has its own thriving and bustling economy and just businesses growing all the time and coming here, but I never thought about this, but it's also a place where former C suite people retire. [00:10:20] And they may not even retire here.

[00:10:22] They may just have a second home here. And I can't tell you how many people want to give back and be involved with people younger than them and still earlier in their careers. And so we've been able to maintain relationships with them in our one year program. And we expect to do the [00:10:40] same thing with the executive MBA program and really leverage that.

[00:10:43] relationship and have our students benefit from that relationship. Why would, you mentioned about succession and planning and the things that can help a business gain the benefit of this MBA program. Why would a business want to encourage an employee to get into this program? [00:11:00] Yeah, I think again, I mentioned employee retention, but I really think that a lot of people, look at their future leaders and they're somewhat nervous about, who they're going to be and they want to be more prepared.

[00:11:11] They want to have trained bench strength, if you were out there, because, in the old days, when I was first in, in management, they always [00:11:20] promoted the smartest engineer or the smartest accountant, and they, turned out, maybe they weren't the best leader. And I think now it's really important.

[00:11:27] Having a ineffective leader is very damaging, and I think businesses realize that, that they really have to invest and be very thoughtful about how they invest in their future leaders and how they develop them. Thank [00:11:40] you. What criteria are you looking for selecting candidates for this program? And how will that ensure a strong cohort of students?

[00:11:47] Do you want me to ask that question again without the motorcycle in the background?

[00:11:56] What criteria are you looking at in candidates for the MBA [00:12:00] program? All right, I'll try that one again. What criteria are you looking for when selecting candidates for the EMBA program? And how does that help to ensure that you have a strong, cohesive cohort of students? That's a great question, and you know it's one I spend an awful lot of time on.

[00:12:17] I, I want each and every student to bring [00:12:20] something different to the table, but I want them to uplift each other. I want somebody in there that's going to uplift the person next to them, to challenge them, to, to make them a better person. And so we interview everyone that applies, and We ask them a battery of questions.

[00:12:35] We're really looking for Now they're going to be just successful in the classroom. [00:12:40] Yes, that's important but what are they going to bring to the cohort in terms of their experience in terms of their perspective? Because we really want them to uplift each other. I literally look for diversity I was sharing with some colleagues the students have already applied and just the variety of backgrounds.

[00:12:57] It was very interesting to me and [00:13:00] I'm very excited about having a diverse your community. uplifting kind of a cohort when it's all done. And so these one on one interviews and the time we spend on that we're really excited about the 25 students we're going to bring in January. Do you see a trend with more specific industries?

[00:13:17] Like maybe marketing is more interested in this or [00:13:20] supply chain. Do you see a trend developing and who's interested in this program? No, I think that, as a matter of fact I don't know. Students I've been working with, they all have different, they all do want to advance their career.

[00:13:30] And their career may be in the entertainment industry. Their career may be in medicine. Their career may be in non profits. They come from all I think we [00:13:40] have private equity person, somebody that worked at a couple of different local companies in supply chain. So they all come from different industries, but I think the one common thing is that they're looking to improve themselves and advance in their careers.

[00:13:52] And they're hoping that. Or they're planning on getting that kind of a skill set here so that their careers can be [00:14:00] advanced. And a good opportunity for networking within the cohort. Absolutely. What trends are you seeing in executive education, and how are you creating, designing, implementing this program so it'll stay ahead of these trends and make sure students get that education experience that's innovative?

[00:14:15] That's an interesting question. We measure people's effectiveness now with [00:14:20] A's, B's, C's, etc., right? And we go through great pains to have these assessments to grade them. I see and I predict that businesses are going to want. to see skill set improvement. And I think we're going to be measuring skills improvement rather than grades.

[00:14:39] If you can get an [00:14:40] A in something and still not be able to do creative problem solving, that's a problem. And a grade serves our needs in terms of higher education. But I think from a company's perspective, if they're going to invest in it, they want us to be held accountable for producing someone that actually has measurable [00:15:00] improve skills.

[00:15:00] So I think that's really going to be the trend and we're excited that this EMBA program is going to measure their leadership skills before and after, is going to measure their communication skills before and after. A lot of our program is taught through case studies, experiential learning. I know the capstone course is an example where they [00:15:20] actually run a C suite organization for a little while and report to them.

[00:15:23] So We really think that the assessment of their board, for example, is a better indicator of how successful they're going to be. in their company more so than a letter grade. The MBA cohort that's starting this summer, is this 15th or 16th? This will be MBA 15. [00:15:40] Okay, MBA 15. If we could look ahead to EMBA 15, what would be your hopes and dreams for that program at that point in the future?

[00:15:48] A cohesive alumni group, for sure. We plan to stay in touch with them and have them stay in touch with each other and, build on that network. I would love to see specialty EMBAs grow out of this. [00:16:00] And, maybe an EMBA that focuses on supply chain or an EMBA that focuses on healthcare or an EMBA in hospitality or, I, cause I could see that as being an offshoot where we have some specialty EMBAs, but really that staying in the network, I'm really even hoping to see spouses stay together.

[00:16:19] [00:16:20] I'm curious to see how our orientation goes and our focus on the family goes, because. I would love to see EMBA 15, if you would, stay together, not just as students, but as a unit. Do you have some faculty already committed to the program? Can you give us some, a sneak peek of who that might be?

[00:16:36] Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. They're the best of the best. We've some of [00:16:40] them have taught in the one year program. Some of them have been voted faculty of the year and have won various awards. And we've got some outstanding adjuncts. We've got a former judge from New Jersey and former executives from different walks of life.

[00:16:53] So we're very blessed. We've got, adjuncts that have gone to Harvard, Kellogg. So we're blessed to have a great [00:17:00] combination of academic faculty from our own roster who have a proven track record and some adjuncts that have had outstanding careers and can share that with our students as well.

[00:17:10] If I'm interested in the program, where do I go to get more information? It's an easy website. It's go. charleston. edu [00:17:20] backslash EMBA. Go. charleston. edu backslash EMBA. Any last thoughts you want to share with us, Ron, about this new EMBA program? Super excited about it. I can't wait for it to get started.

[00:17:31] And, I really can't wait to develop relationships with companies. I really think once the companies begin to understand what we're doing, this is [00:17:40] not just another MBA degree opportunity. This is really something where we can be a strategic partner with them and really be a tool for them.

[00:17:47] I've told them that, we'd be happy to be involved with how they announce, the admissions approval and, make a big deal out of it and follow up with them, years out on terms of the improvement and what can we do to [00:18:00] tweak our program. I really think in the long run corporations are going to find this to be a really interesting tool and so I'd love to advance partnerships with them in the future.

[00:18:11] Ron, thank you for taking the time today to speak with us. It's been my pleasure. And thank you for listening to this episode of speaking of college of Charleston with [00:18:20] today's guest, Ron Magnuson from the school of business for show notes and more episodes, visit the college of Charleston's official news site, the college today at today.

[00:18:31] charleston. edu. And you can find episodes on all major podcast platforms. This episode was produced by Amy Stockwell with recording [00:18:40] and sound engineering by Jesse Kunz from the division of information of technology. Let me say that again. I think I said, did I say that right? Division of information of technology.

[00:18:50] I think that's what I said. I think I said of in there twice. Let me do that one more time. This episode was produced by Amy Stockwell with recording and sound engineering [00:19:00] by Jesse Kunz from the division of information technology. Alright. That was awesome.