 |
As September comes to a close so too does our first month of the 2015 - 2016 academic year and boy what busy month it has been! From the arrival of this year's undergraduate and MBA students, to the graduation of our two most recent LIFE Classes; life at CIMBA has kicked into high gear.
Things began to pick up on campus with the coming of the MBA class of 2016. This year's class is a diverse one with members from the United States, Italy, and even Peru. We welcome you all to take a quick minute and meet our new class in this month's Academic Spotlight!
Across the Istituto we have also been busy hosting a number of CIMBA Advantage Programs and excursions to assist our new students acclimate to Paderno and to get to know one another. Check out the website under Leadership Institute for more info on our recent LIFE graduations and under the CIMBA Experience to learn more about fun hike Professor Bigolin lead through the rugged hills south of campus.
September also proved to be a big month for a number of our fellow Alumni celebrating new promotions, weddings, and, for Patrick and Lindsay Drake, the birth of their first child. Here at CIMBA we wish them all the best in these brave new chapters in their lives and encourage everyone to reach out and congratulate them as well!
We also encourage you to get up to speed with your fellow alumni by checking out our alumni updates. Finally take a minute to brush up on your understanding of CIMBA's concept of character through Dr. Al's ABC's.
Like what you see? We would love to get an update from you, too! Be sure to fill us in on your own stories - we can't wait to hear from you! Love to Hear from You, CIMBA Staff |
LIFE Happened!
Last week classes 1063 and 1064 graduated from LIFE with great passion and enthusiasm! Each day was challenging and difficult but lead to important and transformational experiences. Needless to say, the students deserved a restful weekend at the end! For those who would like to participate in this life-changing experience, LIFE will be held the weekend of October 15th for Italian executives and for native English speakers mark your calendars for the weekend of November 26th!
|
Say Hello to the Full-Time MBA Class of 2016!
It has been nearly a month since the first MBA's arrived in Paderno del Grappa with all of their expectations and excitement! They have settled in Crespano del Grappa and the surrounding area, taking the time to prepare for the year ahead or exploring places like Venice and Milan in their free time. Consisting of students from Italy and North and South America, their backgrounds vary from finance and sales to mechanical engineering and nuclear energy! This group is ready to hit the ground running and will be sure to celebrate with a spritz afterward.
|
MBA and Undergraduate Students Traverse the Due Rocche Hike
Fresh off the plane and having conquered the first week of classes and orientations, MBA and Undergraduate students alike took to the hills around Asolo. CIMBA's resident hiking guru extraordinaire, Prof. Simone Bigoline, led the intrepid crew up into the hills along the Due Rocche hike, which winds across the horizon south of campus from Rocca Cornuda to Rocca d'Asolo - a distance of more ant 10 km and 22,000 Fitbit steps! Despite the busy week, it was all sunshine and smiles for everyone as they got a chance to meet new friends.
 MBAs Alessandra, Hannah, Marta, and Maela take a photo break with Professor Quitmeyer. Way to sport the CIMBA swag GQ!
Halfway through the hike everyone took a breather at St. George's shrine.
|
Pizzeria Cornaro turns 25 Years Old!
From the very beginning of CIMBA in Asolo, Pizzeria Cornaro has been an important part of th eCIMBA Experience. Severio and Maria have embraced many homesick MBAs and created a second home for them. They truly live at the very heart of the CIMBA family. The CIMBA history would be very differetnt without them. For undergraduates, Pizzaria Cornaro has played host to many a pizza making classes and many a fond memory. This September we joined them in celebrating 25 years of making the magic happen. Congratulazioni!
|
|
The Road to Character
By: David Brooks
|
I would like to begin with a simple notion. Our most admired business and political leaders, athletes, and military personnel such as the Navy Seals or Delta Force share something in common: They have the ability to quickly appraise a situation, make a decision, and take effective action - under pressure, under stress. They get the most out of both themselves and others in important but stressful situations, and thus distinguish themselves from others who would be equally if not more competent absent the stress. What makes them different? Within our System, we give them credit for having a high-functioning Social Brain - their mental complexity gives them elevated levels of self-awareness, social awareness, and self-regulatory abilities. It gives them leadership character.
Those of you familiar with the CIMBA Personal Development System know that we place considerable emphasis on character and character development. We define character as that essential to effectiveness combination of critical thinking, decision-making, and behavior, and particularly behaviors influencing our ability to get along with others. A person's behavior reflects his or her character.
The origins of our usage of the term character derive from our emphasis on knowledge, rational process, and behavior as core competencies for effective leadership and followership. We constantly make the point to our program participants that while they may be hired on the basis of their knowledge or technical skills, they will very likely be promoted or fired on the basis of the effectiveness of their process and behavior traits and attributes -- so called soft or adaptive skills.
Yet, in large measure, neither process nor behavior as components of effective leadership are expressly taught in school or professional development environments. More specifically, assessments of these traits and attributes - significant ingredients defining character - are all too frequently made on the basis of observation rather than through actual measurement. What is worse, educators and trainers often make the same mistake in believing that what is observable is also explainable and is therefore learnable. As a consequence, individuals whose workplace assessments are of concern are sent to training courses where the emphasis is on knowledge, something we refer to as a technical solution, when in fact the issue is more behavioral, demanding an adaptive solution with the assistance of a coach, mentor, or other trusted adviser. With our corporate clients, we often advise them that such a technical "solution" approach to a workplace concern often leaves the individual worse rather than better off as they come back from such a course overconfident only to have that confidence shattered when the new-found knowledge fails to alleviate the concern. Knowing cannot be translated as doing. Theoretical understanding cannot be translated as practical understanding.
This line of thinking is not revolutionary. The legendary Peter Drucker first made this linkage more than seven decades ago in a quote he attributed to Mr. Alfred P. Sloan, CEO of General Motors in the 1940s: "The chief executive must be ... absolutely tolerant and pay no attention to how a man does his work, let alone whether he likes a man or not. The only criteria must be performance and character." But much like psychologists who more than 100 years ago found character to be too difficult to measure and so began to place their research attention on the seemingly less volatile notion of personality, so did the business world chose to avoid character and focus upon performance. More specifically, they chose to focus on observable measures of performance such as revenue, sales, or, of particular interest here, leadership where performance is measured by 360° information on the leader's observed ability to emulate a list of competencies deemed relevant to performance. Not surprisingly, it is this latter application that garnered our interest and attention.
Leadership competencies are those leadership skills and behaviors the organization or social group has identified as contributing to superior performance. The acquisition of such leadership competencies through behavioral adaptations has predominated thinking in leadership and talent development circles over the past 20 years. Competency models have certainly offered a vast improvement over prior models, which placed near universal emphasis on an individual's technical and administrative skills. However, the lack of dependable and non-intrusive measurement technology has necessarily confined competency models to behaviors observable by others. Within these technological constraints, an individual's development needs are based largely on data derived from the subjective observations of superiors, subordinates, peers, and mentors. Typical performance appraisals tools in use for such purposes include 360° feedback approaches, ranking methods, checklists, paired comparisons, and others. As an unfortunate consequence of the absence of measurement technology, leadership competencies essentially degenerate to a list of specified behaviors. Leadership development efforts then focus on closing any gap between behaviors observed and behaviors desired.
Not surprisingly, within such a construct too many individual efforts at leadership improvement focus on closing the gap by being an "actor." Essentially, the notion of change in this sense focuses on emulating, acting out, the desired behaviors making up the expected leadership competency. This approach will work right up until the pressure, the stress, builds and then we find ourselves back to the hardwired behavior that raised the workplace concern in the first place - whether you are a business leader, athlete, or first responder (I encourage you to read the first paragraph again). That is, you cannot develop character if you choose to avoid the "char" part of the word and focus only on the "actor" part.
|
|
If you aren't a member of our Alumni LinkedIn group, join now! You'll gain valuable career connections created by alumni, recruiters, companies, partners, and our powerful consortium of more than 35 U.S. universities.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Scott Newton, Alumn
MBA Class 2002
Hailing from Vancouver, British Columbia, Scott Newton joined the CIMBA MBA class of 2002 after working with Avis Budget Group for 8 years. Like many of us, Scott's time at CIMBA was transformational and today he is now managing partner of Thinking Dimension's Italy, which he helped open in 2006.
Recently we sat down with Scott to ask him how his time at CIMBA helped shape his career path and he was kind enough to share some of his experiences with us.
Looking back on your experience in the CIMBA program; What were the most transformative experiences for you? How have they impacted your life and career?
Introduction to process had a very large impact on me! I was introduced to the Kepner Tregoe processes and today I am a partner in a global management consultancy founded by Chuck Kepner. I had found in my work experience prior to the program that poor decision making had a huge impact on company performance and, although, this was well recognized, very few organizations had invested in addressing this issue. The introduction to rational process at CIMBA encouraged me to confront this challenge.
Secondly, the introduction to Veneto industry was very revealing to me - I was taken by the Northern Italian work ethic and ability to anticipate and solve challenges that seemed to confound others. This is a reason that Veneto companies are so successful around the world and particularly in new and challenging markets. Furthermore, I am now fortunate to have several Veneto companies as long term friends and clients - and it was through CIMBA that I was first able to see what was different about the companies and why they had such potential for success.
I also found that excellent classmates and a very high quality of teaching led to personal insights that allowed me to grow internationally.
What was your favorite moment in the MBA/CIMBA Program? Favorite class?
My favorite class was Operations Management with Professor Karwan. In addition to the rigor of the program and the important knowledge of Operations Management, he also took time out of his busy schedule for a bit of fun.
As an example, he had this joke he played about someone having stolen a sandwich from a class housewarming party that was so well executed even many later we look back fondly on it.
My favorite "moment" was learning about my colleagues, with all of us developing together.
What was the impact of the program on your life / career?
Huge Impact - I relocated to Italy, changed my profession, and developed new friendships and lasting relationships. I would not have been in the position I am without CIMBA. I can say that the CIMBA program not only offers the important content and process pieces of learning, but also offered for many of us, and particularly myself, a changed way of approaching many things in life which have enriched my personal as well as professional life.
What advice would you give to a current or perspective student?
To current students I say, "Don't focus only on class work - it's all the activities that go on around CIMBA that make the difference." To perspective students I say, "Sign Up Now!"
Can you share a dream/future goal?
Yes - to develop a strategic system that companies can use easily
What inspires you?
There are so many opportunities. Every day I find new things. Definitely working around the world is a big part of this.
Is there something else you would like to add?
CIMBA is a once in a lifetime opportunity. If you haven't already signed up - do it!
|
|
James Di Giuseppe, MBA Class of 2010, married Jackie Eagle on September 20! Best wishes to you and your families from the CIMBA staff!
|
Patrick Drake, full time MBA 2007 and Lindsay, former UG of 2005, had a baby girl on September 18.
Her name is Lila Sharon Drake. Congratulations! We are sure Lila can't wait to follow in the footsteps of parents. Congratulations to your entire family!
|
|
Mauro Schiavon, became partner at Deloitte USA in Dallas, TX this summer. Congratulations Mauro for this huge achievement! He and his wife, Shanna are both former MBA of class 2001 and they met at CIMBA.
|
Laura Wurtz, former UG, summer MBA and former employee at the CIMBA office at Kansas University got married to Matt Kruse on September 19. Congratulations you two!
|
|
Matteo Badalocchi, Part time MBA 2014, just got promoted to USA General Manager for Bellelli SpA's North and South America business hub in Houston, TX! Well done Matteo!
|
Charlie Sirridge, UG 2006 and MBA 2013, just got married to Christine Hall on September 8th. The day after their wedding, Charlie ran into a fellow 2006 UG classmate getting married in the same place! It's a small CIMBA world!
|
|
Taylor Dorman, former UG of spring 2011, got married to Madison on August 22nd! They chose Italy for their honeymoon and visited us! We immediately took them to Pizzeria Cornaro to make their own pizza and celebrate! Grazie ragazzi for this nice surprise!
|
|
Antony Pecoraro, former UG and RA of Spring 2013 just finished a 65-day backpacking adventure through 12 countries around Europe. He stopped by the campus to visit and it was an amazing surprise!
Checkout his blog to know more about him and his trip!
|
|
|
|
