WANTED: The Business Renaissance Man

WANTED: The Business Renaissance Man

Richard Branson once said that his biggest motivation was to “…keep challenging myself. I see life almost like one long University education that I never had – everyday I’m learning something new.” Learning in business, just like learning is school is necessary. At the same time the education and learning that you do, it requires a return on investment (ROI). This ROI is based on getting valuable information in the form of a practical education with real world application – this is the next required step in educational evolution.

Many schools and training programs around the world were founded to “professionalize business” and to give a practical education. These programs gave students the required and necessary skills to compete and succeed in business – basic accounting, manufacturing operations, and business law. These are skills that were not only imperative to advance personally, but necessary to drive business. Over the years schools changed the programs to take a more scientific approach to education, by basing courses on theory and research. As it stands today some institutions are only doing business research, with business courses being led by people who haven’t experienced the world outside of academia, largely by scaled data with prescriptive business applications. Education removed from business.

Due to the high intensity focus on research and specialization, people leaving University education were highly focused and specialized. Though the knowledge is deep, the education and thus the person becomes a silo in a role and lacks real world knowledge; a knowledge that every student assumes that they will get “on the job”. Interaction and the idea of what I would consider being, a “business renaissance man” has been lost. This is a business person who has real experience in solving complex problems with evolving variables and interactions, cross-disciplinary thinking and decision making skills, one who can see the big picture, but also complete a thorough analysis of a business situation within the structure of a business’ political, economic and socioeconomic parameters. This should be the requirement of Universities and training programs alike.

Learning programs need to match the shifting educational needs of students, employees, managers and businesses to create, address and teach true business value. The way to address the needs of businesses: involvement.

Involve and Immerse: Getting “on the job training” from any classroom environment, so one can apply different theories and actions requires the involvement and immersion of students and employees into the complexity of business. Create situations with different groups and skill sets in a landscape in which an individual is required to design, test and re-test a situation, market, economy or world. Add the complexity and viewpoints of different business groups, boards, managers, stakeholders, profit/ revenue/ growth/ return goals. Create complex situations with similar situations viewed from different functional areas, viewpoints, objectives, and actions. Diagnose problems, create solutions, involve and react.

Integrate Technology: We don’t live in a world without software, computers, and references, so why learn in one? Use technology that would be required in business: SAP, salesforce.com, Access, blogs, apps, Outlook and a deep dive into Excel.

Address Realistic, Personal Needs: Just how business requires Voice of Customer (VOC) to meet the needs of a market and consumers, learning should meet the needs of the students. What do they desire, want, fear and worry about? How do you bridge that gap? Do not separate the student from what knowledge that have accumulated in their life, but enhance and advance. Involve their background and teach them to advance and optimize their decision, behavior, thinking and interactions. Create alternate lenses for them to create an even better business outcome.

Create Interaction: Business requires a comprehensive knowledge and application of both hard and soft skills. To be successful in business you must support a factual analysis with human interaction, emotions, sales and communication. An idea is just an idea without support and action. To do this, it means teaching about personality, social graces, communication, language, habits, interactions, emotional intelligence, self reflection, sales, and the like.

The results create a well-rounded business person: the Business Renaissance Man. This is a businessperson with diverse capabilities, holistic thinking, global perspective, change management skills, strategic agility, economic tradeoff familiarity, political awareness, higher engagement. This is a business person who is creative, technologically integrated, entrepreneurial, familiar with complex situations, innovative, satisfied employee/student. If these are achieved, the result is a value-add education and a value-add employee. Students and employees will gain more than an education; they will gain a strategic knowledge and mindset, a business experience.

-thePonderingNick