CIMBA Newsletter
                                 
WAKE UP THE
   LEADER IN YOU!
 
March 2012
In This Issue
Meet the Alumni
Alumni Updates
CIMBA MBA
CIMBA: Meet the Author
ABC - Al's Book Club
Meet the Alumni

Chris Ancona, former CIMBA MBA student, is now a full-time professor at the undergraduate campus.  He is teaching International Marketing and Consumer Behavior.

   

You received your MBA from CIMBA last year and now you are back again as an international marketing professor for the undergraduate students.  How did you end up back here and how do you feel being back in a different role?

Before I came to CIMBA for my MBA, I had a growing career as the Manager of a Global Technical Center in China and had managed and invested in a number of businesses around the world, but I always wanted to teach. I knew that I needed to get my Masters degree to be able to teach and I also knew I was getting a bit "old" to go back to school. I found the CIMBA MBA through a friend and, through some investigation, realized this was the only program that was going to add value for me considering my experience. Going through LIFE and the leadership training at CIMBA allows a person to identify their values and mission very clearly and my mission is to help people go beyond their barriers and live a life they love. After graduation, I took some time and toured around the US and spent some time in Europe and China and started building a company of my own.  When some problems happened with investors and some portions of the company became delayed, I suddenly had some free time. The stars aligned and Dr. Ringleb needed a professor right at that time! Since he knew my goal was to teach, he offered me the position. Now I have a chance to teach and help students find their passions in order to create lives they will love. Mission accomplished and a great example how of how God works in mysterious ways.

 

What are you most looking forward to this semester? What are your concerns?

I am most looking forward to seeing the students grow. Being overseas and having an experience like this one is life changing and many students will remember this experience for the rest of their lives. I am happy and honored to be a part of such a great experience.

My concerns are that I want to give every piece of information in my brain to everyone so they can learn from both my successes, mistakes, and experiences, but I know that is not possible. I will just need to make the best of it while I can!

 

How do you feel that being a previous MBA CIMBA student will benefit you or hinder you as a professor?

I really think this is an advantage since I understand what the students are going through because I went through it as well. We are able to share fun stories and feelings about the LIFE experience, coaching, and studying in Italy.

 

What do you want your legacy will be for the students and CIMBA as a whole?

I really hope that I can help students view the world as something full of endless possibilities while conquering their fears and creating a life they are passionate about. I hope the perspectives I can offer will give them ideas of ways they can pursue those dreams.

 

What did you miss the most about Italy when you left and excited about when you returned?

I moved to Italy for the first time in 1999 and stayed for a year. From 1999 until 2009 I had traveled to Italy more than 30 times. I still have friends here from 1999 and have developed more friends since my experience in CIMBA last year. Italy has wonderful, caring, passionate people, and the thing I miss the most when I leave is the people and the times we share together. Every time I come back, I look forward to seeing them again, sharing, a pizza and prosecco, and bonding with a heavy dose of talk and laughs.

 

Chris enjoying a hike on Mt. Grappa

20 Anniversary
On Saturday July 14, 2012, in Iowa City, we are planning an MBA Alumni meeting. Save the date!! Start planning for it!
It is going to be an opportunity to network and catch up with the members of the various classes. We are looking for class representatives to help us coordinate the event and contact classmates. Write to Cristina at [email protected].

Alumni Updates

 

NEW BABIES:

Alok Tiwari, MBA class 2009  and Nidhi had their first baby girl on February 25

 

Gino Villani, MBA class 1992, had his second baby on march 2, Daniel Joseph

 

Alejandro Gonzales, MBA, had a baby boy Jeronimo

 

 

NEW ENGAGEMENTS:

Michael Jolley and Abbie Keleher are engaged and will be getting married in Kansas City, KS on October 20th, 2012. They both attended the undergraduate program in the Spring of 2010. 

  

NEW MARRIAGES: 

Jay and Melissa Hughes got married in September 2011 and Jay took a new job as a consultant to orthopedic and neuro-spine surgeons selling devices and implants for a Swiss company Synthes.  They now live in Richmond, Virginia.  

  

New job? Moving somewhere new? Getting married? Other life changes? Want to volunteer your profile for the Meet the Alumni section?
 

Keep your fellow alums in the loop! Send your news items to
[email protected] and they will appear here the following month.

 

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Calendar of Events:
April 2012

Executive Programs 

April 13 and 14: Human Resource Module with Professor Dominic Standish

April 18: Workshop - Use your strengths at work.
Please register at [email protected]  to attend

April 24: Workshop - Coaching skills for managers.
Please register at [email protected] to attend

MBA Program

April 4: Managerial Economics first exam

April 11: Ethics and Law exam

April 13, 15 and 17:   International Economic Environment of the Firm with Dean Charles Whiteman

April 21 and 22: Product Lifecycle Management with Professor Michael Grieves

April 26: International Economics Final exam

April 28 and 29: Managing Information System with Professor Pierre-Marjorique Leger

April 30 to May 4: SAP - ERP certification with HEC Montreal

CIMBA Open Door

April 21 

10.30AM: MBA presentation

11.30AM:Executive Certificate in International Management and Strategy presentation 

   


Dear ,  

 

Another beautiful spring has arrived and we can hardly believe that we are one quarter of the way done of 2012! Time sure flies, which is why we are constantly reminded to make every day count and make the best of each moment that we are given.

 

In this March newsletter, you will find inspiring stories from a CIMBA alumni, an MBA student, and Dr. Al's book recommendations.  Also, please remember to take a look at alumni updates and mark your calendars for the July 14th graduation in Iowa!

 

As always, please keep in touch with any updates in your lives.  We love hearing from you!  Have a wonderful April and a Happy Easter!

 

Sincerely,

CIMBA Staff

 

 

 

 "Italy is a dream that keeps returning for the rest of your life." --Anna Akhmatova

CIMBA MBA
 

Jessica Johnson is a full-time MBA student from San Antonio, Texas.  She will graduate in Iowa in July 2012. 

 

You are a full time MBA student and came from a long background of work experience in the States. Do you feel like the program is furthering your knowledge of business so that you can apply it even further after you graduate?  If so, where do you see this leading for you?

I came specifically for the Leadership Training Program of this MBA.  I had decided to help setup my mother's business before I left and realized I needed a focus on leadership to help expand this company.  When I found out exactly what this program entailed I was ecstatic and very humbled to say that this program has taught me a lot about myself- both things I wanted to know and things I didn't!

 

What do you find the most challenging and the most rewarding out of the CIMBA MBA experience?

Living with 15 people in one house is challenging.  We come from 7 different backgrounds and getting us all to agree on how things should be run or what time we should eat is a hard one!  But really getting to understand each other and find the absolute best the others can give is a special and rewarding prize. 

 

What will remember most when you leave here about yourself and Italy?

That I should always appreciate the great times I have.  Whether it is doing a consulting project, a new venture idea, a drink with friends, late dinner or just the pleasure of a great conversation, these are the moments in life that make it special.  Treasure those and you will always be happy in life. 

 

What is your favorite part about the Italian culture that you will bring back with you to the states?

The pizza for sure!!! Nowhere in Texas have I found such wonderful food!  Also, it is really lovely sitting back and having a nice glass of wine and taking the time to enjoy the company one is surrounded by.  Sometimes, eating in Texas is only a necessity, not a pleasure. 

    

 

CIMBA: Meet the Author
 

Virtually perfect cover Michael Grieves, author of books like "Product Lifecycle Management" and brand new "Virtually Perfect" will be at CIMBA in April to teach a Product Lifecycle Management class to the MBA students.  

 

As an IT expert and one of the founders of the Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) concept, he lectures world-wide on PLM, engineering, manufacturing, and product sustainment. He is also a consultant for a select number of prestigious organizations worldwide, the most notable and exciting of which is NASA. He is also been a board member of a number of public companies, the most recent being a Chinese steel company located in Xintai City, China.

 

"Without products that create value for potential product buyers, companies cannot exist" says Professor Grieves. "In addition, companies now must concern themselves with the performance of the product throughout its life and into disposal. Product manufacturers can no longer wave goodbye to their products as the products leave the factory door. Maintaining a connection with these products while customers use them is also a new source of revenue. In addition, companies can no longer produce a product and ride it into the sunset. Continual product innovation has to occur".

 

"Generally students in my class are quite surprised to see all the pieces of PLM put together in a holistic concept  and it is also somewhat of a surprise for students to understand how executives really make decisions against how the textbooks describe how that happens".

 

"My course is intended to give students the concepts and make them understand why executive leaders will not only need to analyze the capabilities of their organization and environment, but they will also need to innovate, especially in developing and sustaining products that customers will value and acquire".

 

 

We are proud of having him teaching again soon at CIMBA. If you are not an MBA student and wish to attend his class, please email [email protected].  A few seats are available.

 

  

SAVE THE DATE
 

convento

 
Saturday, April 21st at the Asolo campus there will be a presentation of CIMBA programs for 2012-2013.

 

 

 

Local CIMBA alumni, you are welcome to attend and to tell about your experience at CIMBA. Please spread the voice and feel free to bring some friends or colleagues with you!
At 10.30AM there will be the presentation of the MBA and at 11.30AM there will be the presentation of the Executive Certificate in International Management and Strategy.
Please register here to to attend the event.   

 


A-B-C's Al's Book Club

 

 

Mind coverOn a recent trip I had the opportunity to reflect upon our activities here at CIMBA over the past 15 years. It has been 15 years ago almost to the day that the first neuroscientist walked into CIMBA and gave a lecture on the brain and its functions. Depending upon your point of view, it was clear that the great search for the science behind "soft skills" was either over or just beginning. Back in those early ancient times, there were less than 10 neuroscience-based articles written in journals that could in any meaningful way be tied to business, management, or leadership. Today, I am reasonably confident in saying there must be at least 10 per day. I look around my office at more than 1000 books written for non-neuroscientists that explain everything from your money and your brain, your brain on music, your brain at work, your emotional brain, rewiring your brain, your executive brain, your mindful brain, your naked brain, your telltale brain, a user's guide to the brain, your moral brain, fear and your brain, exercise and your brain, and the future of your brain among many other titles. In the past, it was quite easy to point the curious to the three or four books that talked about the functioning of the brain at a level that allowed them to gain a basic understanding of the terminology. Now, a response to the seemingly simple request: "What would you recommend that I read to understand more about neuroscience?" is far from simple. The reasonable response must carry with it questions about your specific interest in the brain, and we can be quite specific: Are interested in the brain and how to raise your children? Are you interested in making better decisions? Are you interested in changing habits? Are you interested in changing your brain's ability to pay attention? To more fully appreciate music? To become more creative? To increase happiness? To better understand who you are? You can even find neuroscience research to explain to you why your brain does not differentiate between sex and chocolate!

 

If you have ever had the opportunity to pick up an academic book on the "Principles of Neuroscience," you very quickly come to the realization that neuroscience is one of the most complicated subjects. In the 15 years we have traveled this amazing journey of discovery, truly remarkable advances in technology are providing us with insights into the neural code that is the brain beyond our wildest imaginations. Like any other major subject, the more we study the brain, the more we need to know to grasp its breath and application. But the insights into the brain are opening up frontiers in our thinking here in our studies of leadership and in virtually every other field, overthrowing long-held theories in some cases and reaffirming theories in others. Our own unscientific survey of newly-admitted PhD candidate in business found that an interest in neuroscience and its relationship to the "human" side of business was very much at the forefront of the energy mix driving their intellectual curiosities. One can only imagine what the future will bring in business education alone. Without question, those schools truly interested in being on the cutting edge of delivering the next generation's leaders will be requiring its undergraduate and graduate students to be well-versed in the language and principles of neuroscience. Those new PhDs will be the drivers; social scientists will find themselves in the back of the bus. We are already seeing its influence in both the economics and marketing fields, with important discussions on emotions (something the old, diehard behaviorist social scientists of the 50s had said were inconsequential and irrelevant) taking a strong foothold in organizational behavior. A very interesting recent neuroscience research article in the area of finance showed that the most successful traders were those who could best reappraise their emotions. Leading management journals are finally beginning to openly encourage works involving brain-imaging data. I was quite pleased (if not even a little amused) to find an appendix in a recent article in a top-level management journal providing a discussion on what I would call "Brain Basics," providing information that we were teaching here more than 10 years ago.

 

So how does one stay abreast of all of these incredible discoveries and their applications? In a deviation from past ABCs, I would like to suggest a magazine instead of a book in order to assist in addressing this specific need. I strongly recommend a subscription to Scientific American Mind. (For my Italian readers, look for Mente & Cervello). Although I subscribe to several journals both in paper and online forms, Mind is one of the very few that I make a point of reading cover-to-cover. Of particular applicability to us, for example, is an article in the current March/April 2012 issue entitled "I Know How You Feel" which takes you through a very interesting discussion of the social brain. I found it particularly interesting because we often refer to our "theory" of leadership as the Social Brain Theory of Leadership. If we return to that first neuroscientist in 1997, while we found his discussion to be inspirational and provocative, we were concerned about his focus on one brain, how one brain functions, how one brain makes decisions and solves problems. In leadership and management, we are interested in those situations when there are more than one brain in the room. In fact, at that moment in time the birth of social neuroscience was waiting for the arrival of professors Matt Lieberman and Kevin Ochsner - the fathers of the field. We were very much influenced by their work in the early to mid-2000s as they clearly (and unknowingly) defined this very important space in the field of leadership. Through our long-term relationship with Prof. David Rock and Jeffrey Schwartz, those two scientists and many others have made significant contributions in their own way to the leadership system here at CIMBA. All of this is quite amazing when you realize that when it all started the word "neuroleadership" did not exist. I can recall in the mid-2000s when a Google search of the word generated less then 20 hits; now it generates thousands!

 

In Mind, you will find a treasure trove of articles written in a very understandable way - often by the scientists themselves. You will find references to books and original research that will allow you to be taken in the direction of your greatest interest. I assure you Mind will provide you with interesting insights into both neuroscience's discoveries and its previews of what is in need of discovering. In that sense, I saw an interesting article in Scientific American which stated the following: "But scientists remind us that current brain scans only show areas of brain activity in response to stimuli. For instance, knowing that the anterior cingulate cortex lights up when we love something, doesn't necessarily help us understand the experience of loving." While certainly true, those discoveries are taking us down the right path to gaining that understanding.

 

In the final note, I would like to introduce you to something I find both complexing and intriguing: cosmetic neuroscience. In both Mind and other places (for fun, make a quick search of it on the Internet), there is a rapidly growing interest coupled with an equally rapidly growing body of research in this area. The surgical alteration of the human body for aesthetic reasons was long something that perhaps "movie stars" or other celebrities undertook in the never-ending search for a "fountain of youth." Now, it is a mainstream activity. In this regard, neuroscience raises an interesting question: Is there a mental equivalent of Botox? Can we find a pill or other brain stimulant that reduces the 10,000 hours required to gain expertise in the violin, piano, or other similar activity? Believe it or not, research is showing that the answer appears to be yes. Among other things, scientists are currently exploring transcranial direct current stimulation, which essentially involves zapping your brain with a small current. Results indicate measurable improvement in mathematical and motor skills. In essence, the technique boosts the speed at which the brain forms new neural pathways during the time the new skill is being practiced. At nearly $10,000 a session (and the possibility that if the connection is somehow broken, the voltage passing through your brain will blind you for several seconds), it is arguably a research tool at the moment. That said, it does not require a skilled futurist to see that neuroscience will be providing a wealth of interesting consumer products in our futures. Think for a moment of the questions that prospect raises.  

 

Potter's coverIf the thought of cosmetic neuroscience leaves your brain a bit clouded (as it does mine), let me bring you back to the simpler joys of life. We at CIMBA, wish all of you a very happy Easter. In keeping with past traditions in this ABC column, let me suggest a simple read for over the holiday. Cristina and I had the good fortune to travel to Sicily prior to the Easter holiday; Sicily and its spectacular Easter pageantry has been our traditional Easter destination for many years but scheduling conflicts this year made that not possible. I carried with me a copy of the new Andrea Camilleri Montalbano book, The Potter's Field (I do not know the title of the original Italian version). It was great fun to escape to Vigata for a few hours.

Happy Easter!

 

PS: Thanks to all those people that offered suggestions for my summer readings!