Developing Practical MBA Skills for Today’s Job Market
By: Dr. Karen Terry, WGU Adjunct Faculty
How do you visualize an MBA program? Are you focused primarily on learning critical business principles and technical skills?
As the climate in business is constantly evolving, the traditional MBA curriculum needs a serious update. Intense globalization, the rise of remote work, and a rising generation that brings different values to the workforce are all pointing to gaps in the current business education.
Practical MBA Skills
A successful business today must look and function differently than the successful business’ of a generation ago, which means today’s business leaders must function differently, too. Where we once used words including “powerful,” “competitive,” and “hard charging” to describe successful leaders, today we might use words like, “collaborative,” “empathic,” or “transformative.” In fact, instead of “the boss,” we might call C-level managers “coaches” or “servant leaders.”
Bottom line, effective leaders today need a new set of skills in their repertoire—skills in rapport, inspiring people, building teams, and then drawing the best out of them.
Organizations are looking for new qualities when hiring top talent, but not all business educations are helping students foster the skills needed to become the authentic, successful leaders’ businesses need today. Too many emphasize the “left brain” side of performance—metrics that focus primarily on numbers, compliance, and output.
To facilitate a deeper, meaningful, long-term impact on students, universities must consider a “whole brain” approach.
Wright Graduate University’s MBA Program
In the MBA program offered by The Lyons School of Transformational Business at Wright Graduate University, we honor those “left brain” business education standards… and then we go one step further.
Wright Graduate University simultaneously honors the “right brain” skills that business leaders need right now. These include skills such as Social and Emotional Intelligence, team building, principled leadership, visioning, and authentically living.
It is critical that business educations foster growth and deliver value from day one. In the WGU MBA program, students practice coaching, leadership, teaming, financial and operational effectiveness, and foundational elements of sales immediately. Students learn business by doing business, living what they learn and applying their developing skills in their own settings. They do this in doable, bite-sized daily changes they can apply anywhere, whatever their role may be.
The Lyons School of Transformational Business at Wright Graduate University has filled the gap in business education by creating a culture where students consciously engage in their own transformation and leadership as they influence and support others.
The result? A new kind of leader, ready to excel in a transformed business environment.
If you are looking to get more value out of your business education, take control of your career and life with an MBA from Wright Graduate University.
