Haas Newsroom
Strategic Plan Update
by Associate Dean Steve Tadelis
February 14, 2008
Dear Students, Alumni, Colleagues and Friends of the Haas School of Business,
As you heard many times before, we have differentiated ourselves by attracting and developing students who lead through innovation. Our definition of Leading Through Innovation is a combination of two complementary elements: a mindset and a set of capabilities that together enable our graduates to create and foster business environments where innovation flourishes. These skills are infused by a unique educational experience in a unique business ecosystem that our peer schools would be hard pressed to offer. Furthermore, creating and fostering innovation is much broader than Steve Jobs pulling out the next cool gadget from his jeans pocket; beyond technology, innovation can, does and should happen in every part of an organization that strives to move forward: in business processes, in marketing, in finance and in procurement relationships to name just a few.
The mindset, which is our main distinguishing feature, is achieved by a host of unique experiential learning activities, seminars, and the daily interaction that our students have with each other. Our admissions team selects and attracts an unbelievably diverse and brilliant group of students who learn how to innovate themselves by interacting with peers who share different backgrounds, training and outlooks. This too adds to the unique mindset of implementing change in one’s own behavior and adapting to the environment, a necessary component of any leader in dynamic and innovative organizations.
The set of capabilities, which any top business school should provide, is delivered by offering world class courses to the cream of the crop of business students admitted to Haas. Our strong history of research and teaching in the areas of business innovation include an outstanding set of electives that are second to none in offering our students rigorous and serious training in understanding what it means for an organization to succeed and grow through innovation.
A key component to ensure the success of our strategic plan is to put a programmatic infrastructure in place to supports the new activities that are being implemented. This is being done by an ambitious plan to create the Institute for Business Innovation, the operating hub of our new strategic plan vis-à-vis our host of new teaching and learning activities. This new institute is under the directorship of Adam Berman, who previously held the title of Director for Curriculum Innovation.
The most notable progress we have made this past year is in implementing two revolutionary experiential learning programs: Haas@Work and Peers@Haas. The Haas@Work program brings students together with businesses in order to design and implement innovative solutions to pressing business needs. Our first three clients were Hotwire, Cisco Systems, and Sunpower Corporation. Our clients for which programs will begin n the next month are Lam Research Corporation, and Disney. I am confident that after the Haas@work program is brought up to full scale under the leadership of Adam Berman, it will be the envy of every MBA program in the world, and it will not easily be replicated elsewhere. The Peers@Haas program helps develop the leadership skills of our students, and our second round began last month, after a successful close of last year’s crop of participants. Please turn to our website to learn more about these unique educational programs: http://groups.haas.berkeley.edu/instituteforbusinessinnovation/
Strengthening the experiential learning programs and creating the infrastructure to support them was identified as a key step in picking the “low hanging fruit.” Enhancing our outstanding offering of courses will be the natural next step. I have been exploring ways in which our core can be enhanced to include topics that deal more closely with creating and sustaining innovative business environments. That said, curriculum changes should be done with care so that they don’t fall short of our high standards. I have been, and will continue to be consulting with many faculty members about how to best achieve these goals. The Institute for Business Innovation will house a center dedicated to curriculum development that will assist our faculty in updating existing courses and creating new ones.
Our successful progress owes thanks to many in our distinguished school. More than a dozen Haas faculty contributed to the special issue of the California Management Review that culminated in an impressive Innovation Conference last November. Students too have initiated conferences that focus on exploring innovation such as the >play Digital Media Conference, and the upcoming Business of Health Care Conference and UC Berkeley Energy Symposium. Our quest for pushing innovation is also inward looking where our own COO, Jennifer Chizuk, is pursuing programs to infuse the innovative spirit across Haas’ administration team.
Last but not least, I want to thank all of you for your support of the school's strategic plan as it is being implemented. The recent trend in our rankings is a powerful reinforcement, as are the many comments I receive from internal and external constituencies who agree that we're headed in the right direction.
Sincerely,
Steve Tadelis
Associate Dean for Strategic Planning
