As a student in the Global OneMBA® Program, Marc Ross (’08) received a first-hand, in-depth look at China and its role in the international economy. Five years later, he is helping ensure that the U.S.-China commercial relationship thrives in his role as director of communications and publications for the U.S.-China Business Council (USCBC).

With offices in Washington, D.C., Beijing and Shanghai, USBC is a private, nonpartisan, nonprofit organization of 220 American companies that do business with China. Its members are large, well-known U.S. companies, smaller companies and service firms. It is governed by a board of directors of distinguished corporate leaders, and chaired by Robert McDonald, CEO of Procter & Gamble Company.

Ross, who joined USCBC in 2010, is charged with raising awareness and public support for policies that improve the two countries’ commercial partnership, making it easier for both Chinese and U.S. companies to do business abroad. In addition to overseeing the council’s government and global media relations, he works with his team develop content and news that has an impact on U.S.-China commercial relations for USCBC’s flagship publication, China Business Review.

“I’ve always been really intrigued by China, and also global business overall,” said Ross. “This topic is obviously front and center every day.”

Before joining USCBC, Ross gained extensive experience in communications, national political campaigns, fundraising programs and business development. His previous work in government relations allowed him to work on a number of diverse public policy issues, including passage of permanent Normal Trade Relations for China in 2000. But even with this impressive work portfolio, Ross knew he needed another degree to advance his career.

He was drawn to OneMBA for its global curriculum, which exposes students to international business perspectives and best business practices, and integrates from developed and emerging economies. The program design engages students from around the world and they build a global network along the way. The international nature of the program combined with its focus on global leadership made OneMBA the perfect fit for Ross.

OneMBA students study with faculty from five leading business schools on four continents. In addition to attending classes at UNC Kenan-Flagler, Ross completed global residencies at partner schools in Europe, Latin America and Asia. An excursion to mainland China during a Hong Kong residency was a particularly powerful experience for Ross, and it contributed significantly to the wealth of country-specific knowledge he needs on the job.

“Seeing the country up close gave me a better understanding of the challenges and opportunities of doing business in China,” he said.

In addition to the international exposure brought by a global faculty and global residencies, OneMBA requires students to collaborate with teammates around the world on each class project. Ross learned to work across different time zones and cultures, which affected everything from punctuality to interpretation of the course material. He credits much of the resourcefulness and creativity needed to navigate his current position at USCBC with the lessons learned during those assignments.

“I wanted to be exposed to as many different people as possible,” Ross said. “Having access to not only a robust U.S. network, but
also a truly global network was an amazing experience.”

Ross comes back to Chapel Hill often to meet with UNC Kenan-Flagler students, attend Alumni Weekend and, share his expertise. He recently gave a keynote address at conference on China. He also was back in the classroom at George Washington University this spring semester, teaching “Globalization 3.0 and Public Affairs.”

He always has considered himself a connector, and his latest project builds upon that passion for relationships and personal connections. Earlier this year he founded Brigadoon, a three-day professional networking and learning event at the Sundance Resort in Utah. He brought together a diverse group of leaders ranging from doctors to entrepreneurs for a weekend of mountain sports and workshops designed to drive creativity. Somewhere between TED and summer camp, Brigadoon encourages professionals to share experiences and learn from each other, and grow a global network in the process.

“OneMBA allowed me to meet so many interesting people, and I wanted to continue that after school,” said Ross. “I’ve always been a connector. With Brigadoon I wanted to bring interesting and creative people together and just see what ideas came out of it. The ultimate goal is to get you out of your usual circle and leave the place smarter.”

Ross envisions Brigadoon as a multi-decade project that will one day engage and connect creative leaders around the world. Future plans include developing an online presence, expanding the number of events and providing educational grants to promising MBA students.

Despite the relative slowdown in its rate of growth recently, it seems more than possible that China can expect to become the world’s leading economic power at some point in the foreseeable future. But if the country is to achieve its full potential, it will need to reach out beyond its traditional markets into new and increasingly competitive ones around the world. And, along the way, it will almost certainly need to build and sustain corporate structures that do not just embrace Chinese nationals, but individuals from a very wide variety of other nations and cultures.

However, one factor threatens to hold China back – an ongoing shortage of managers and professionals, who can combine technical expertise with the necessary complements of commercial awareness, international experience and the softer skills vital for effective staff development and retention.

Faced with this challenge organisations and individuals have been turning to business education for some time now with a view to speeding up the development pipeline. And, despite the growth of such highly respected schools as CEIBS in China and the immediate surrounding region, most of these potential buyers of business education programs have headed to their traditional home in the USA or Western Europe.

But while a one or two year MBA program in one of these locations can provide invaluable exposure, not just to best practice management techniques, but also to the knowledge and experience of fellow students, can they provide everything needed to help Chinese companies become truly global players in the years to come?

A growing number of authorities in the field are now taking the view that one of the most important skills for the next generation of business leaders will be the ability to create, work in and develop international teams. And, in their view, such a skill cannot be developed on one campus, even if supplemented by study trips to other countries. Instead, they maintain, students need to get exposure to as many of the world’s key business markets as possible during their program, and not just to local academics, but to local entrepreneurs and corporate leaders too.

One example of this relatively new breed of multi-site programme is the GEP or Global Entrepreneurship Program, run by China’s
Zhejiang University, Purdue in the USA and EM Lyon in France, which moves students across the three campuses during its one-year duration. At a more senior level, the IMPM executive program – known in some circles as the ‘anti-MBA’ because of the philosophy of one of its chief proponents, Henry Mintzberg, takes more experienced managers and professionals to Brazil, China,
Canada, India and the UK.

Jay Swaminathan, associate dean of the OneMBA program, which embraces schools in the US, Latin America, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region, believes that multi-site programs also help to get away from the western-centric view of much traditional business education. “What these sort of programs do is allow participants to see everything on an even basis – there is no presumption that an approach is somehow better because it originates in a particular place,” he says. “It means that they can evaluate methods and
techniques without any ingrained prejudice, assessing them objectively on their inherent robustness and worth. Perhaps equally importantly they allow managers and professionals from the key emerging markets to share experience and knowledge without the filter of practice in more established economies.”

And that could be something that will be invaluable to any Chinese professional who sees themselves helping to build the next generation of global businesses.

This past weekend, over a hundred global OneMBA students from Europe, Hong Kong, Mexico, and the US descended upon Amsterdam. I say descended, because it’s not like a hundred plus executive MBA students come quietly into a city like Amsterdam. We’ve been here for about three days and are now headed to Istanbul to finish up our European residency. We’re not traveling to Amsterdam and Istanbul though to learn about Dutch tulips and Turkish carpets.

These trips are designed to get us out of the articles and text books and enable us to experience the global economy first hand. It’s an interactive experience where we attend lectures from political leaders, professors and business professionals, as well as visit local businesses. We meet and collaborate with our OneMBA counterparts from around the globe, and finally get to spend time in-person with our global teammates. Up to this point, our interaction with our global teammates has been limited to weekly video conferences. Much bonding occurs among the global teams through the toil and labor of three global projects, and now that the pressure of due dates has passed, we celebrate our success together – through boat rides on Amsterdam’s canals and dinners off Amsterdam’s brick streets.

Most of our discussions and lectures in Amsterdam centered around the European Union and its difficulties and future. Such discussions and lectures in a US classroom among US students with knowledge acquired only from articles and essays lacks the impact such discussions and lectures have when led by a European business professional or political leader with an audience of students from four continents. We spent much time discussing the sovereign debt crises and its role in the West’s current economic malaise. The conversations over breakfast or dinner with my global colleagues were a highlight of the residency. It was interesting to hear their perspectives on the EU’s problems. Some are resentful they’re funding the bailouts for countries whose irresponsible budgets created their insolvency. It was evident that such sentiments are wide spread in Europe causing talk of abandoning the Euro to be serious enough to concern EU leaders. On the other hand, I was speaking to some European colleagues who were more pragmatic about the sovereign debt crises. While not liking the situation, they viewed it as the only alternative to a
total collapse.

Our time in Amsterdam was capped off with a visit from former Dutch prime-minister, Jan Peter Balkenende (2002-2010). Talk about first-hand knowledge and expertise of doing business in the EU. The prime minister first asked for us to give him topics and questions we wanted him to address and then wrote them all down (there were more than a dozen). He then spoke extemporaneously for over an hour covering all of the questions and issues we raised, from sustainability to the debt crises to the future of the EU. Coming from a country where the teleprompter often tells our political leaders what to say this was quite refreshing and impressive.

U.S. citizens in general are very U.S. centric, and these international residencies serve to awaken our awareness and understanding of global issues. Next time I see or hear news regarding Europe, I will be engaged much quicker and have a new context and perspective through which to see and listen. I’ve always appreciated that what happens in America matters in Europe,
but after four days in Europe I appreciate more that what happens in Europe matters in America.

Lee Lowder is an attorney who is pursuing his MBA at the University of North Carolina’s Kenan-Flagler’s Business School. HIs previous posts:

Introducing Lee Lowder, A Lawyer Working On His EMBA

Becoming Immersed In An Intense EMBA Program

Is Work-Life Balance in an EMBA Program Possible?

Jack Welch famously said there’s no such thing as work life balance, only work life choices. Having been married three times, it appears Jack may have chosen work one too many times. I must say though, I believe there’s truth behind what Jack is saying.

People often use work-life balance as a euphemism for saying “I’m working too much!” It’s funny; I’ve never heard anyone use the phrase work-life balance in the context of “I’ve been relaxing too much! I need to start working more!” In the professional world, work-life balance means your life should be more than just about work, which is true. However, I don’t think it’s as much about achieving a balance as it is making choices based on priorities.

During my Executive MBA program so far, “work-life balance” means spending less time with my family than I would like. It’s a conscious decision based on the priority of getting an MBA. My wife is behind that decision 100%, which is absolutely crucial (although sometimes I’m sure she wants a mulligan on it). An EMBA student who’s a year ahead of me recently said that once she decided to give up her personal life, the EMBA program became less stressful. Was that achieving “work-life balance?” I’m not sure. Was it the right decision? Probably.

My OneMBA colleagues and I are just finishing the first module in our EMBA program at Kenan-Flagler Business School and currently have three take home exams and a global operations project that are all due in less than two weeks. You could see the stress beginning to simmer at class a week ago, and it’s downright palpable now when we talk to each other over the phone. So much for work-life balance this week and next week! We are almost at the top though (of the first module that is) and a week residency in Amsterdam and Istanbul awaits us not too long from now.

Please don’t think my family or personal life is not a priority to me. I hardly touched a school book for about two weeks in December, and my wife and I are taking a week in Europe just before my residency starts in Amsterdam. My thought here though is that we shouldn’t focus on achieving some ideal “balance.” Instead we should think about making tough choices based on our priorities, choices that are rewarding in the end but may require some imbalance for a while.

Lee Lowder is an attorney who is pursuing his MBA at the University of North Carolina’s Kenan-Flagler’s Business School. His previous posts:

Introducing Lee Lowder, A Lawyer Working On His EMBA

Becoming Immersed In An Intense EMBA Program

You won’t find many MBA candidates with a background like Denise Eikelenboom, part of Rotterdam School of Management’s 2013 Global Executive OneMBA cohort. Up until the turn of the century, she was a helicopter pilot in the Dutch navy. She, however, left that career path behind at the turn of the century and started her own business as an aviation consultant in 2003.

What motivated her to make the transition? “The reason I stopped flying is because I like being creative,” she answers. “Being a pilot is anything but – you have to follow so many rules and regulations. For me, business is a lot more exciting.”

Despite having no formal business training, she says she did not find running her own enterprise particularly challenging. “I was just working for myself – I never had any intentions of building a big company, and because I was working in such a specific industry, getting assignments was not difficult.”

She caught the eye of the outgoing director of ANWB Medical Air Assistance when working with them on a project, and stepped in to fill the role in 2009. Two years on, a desire to gain an academic qualification and an offer of sponsorship from her manager convinced her to enroll an MBA program. “It just came together, and I realized that this is what I wanted to do.”

Away from intuition

Eikelenboom’s business school options came down to the Rotterdam School of Management and Nyenrode Business University. She opted for the former based on the in-depth theoretical underpinning of the course. “It’s definitely a different experience,” she states. “Before I started I did a lot of things based on gut feeling or intuition; learning by doing, really. The MBA really helps you to put a name to things, and see their basis. It also equips you with a bigger toolkit and gives you a lot more depth on the financial side of things.”

Despite this added depth, the financial and economical side of business education comes naturally to her. “I know I’m good with numbers – my father was self employed and my sister is an accountant, so I suppose it runs in the family. What is more challenging,” she continues, “is soft skills, and developing myself as a leader. I went into the military after high school; not known for being a place to develop soft skills!”

The personal leadership development program at RSM helps in this regard, she says: “It forces you to reflect on yourself. The atmosphere in the group is very open too, so it’s not difficult to show your real self and share your weaknesses.” The fact that the average age of the cohort is of a similar age to Eikelenboom helps, she feels: “They have the same life and work experience, which makes it easier to connect.”

Another challenge for the formerly self-employed student is working as a part of a team, particularly international ones (the OneMBA program is run at five premier universities on four different continents). It is, however, a welcome one. “It’s very new to me, working with people in Brazil or Mexico for example, but it really opens up your world. It’s an excellent add-on, I would say.”

Lessons from the mountaintop

Another colorful addition to Eikelenboom’s résumé is her participation on the Kilimanjaro Leadership Project 2012, which saw an all-female team of RSM students scale Africa’s tallest mountain. “I read about the expedition, and thought, that is so cool, I have to do this. Coming from a male-dominated military background, I thought it would be good to do something exclusively with women. So many people are prejudiced, and think a group of women can’t work together, and they’d just end up fighting.”

This was far from the case, she says, and speaks highly of the experience. “It pushed us beyond certain limitations. A lot of the women had never camped before or tested their physical limits, so it was good to show how strong we could be, individually and as a team.”

Altitude sickness forced Eikelenboom to abandon the trek before reaching the top, but that in itself provided her with an invaluable business – and life – lesson. “The guides said it wasn’t about reaching the top, but you think, why else am I here? I’m going to reach the top, so it was a disappointment. But when I came back and told people, they were still impressed. It was an eye opener, and really helped me lose the fear of failure. If sometimes you don’t make it, it doesn’t matter. People still respect you, and it doesn’t matter if now and then a task proves too big for you.”

A valuable lesson indeed. What other advice would she give those considering business school? “If in doubt about doing an MBA, just do it. It really opens up your world,” she reiterates. Coming from a former military helicopter pilot, that’s a pretty glowing confirmation of the potential excitement of business education!

It was mid-September this past year and I was on my way back home from Chapel Hill, having just completed Immersion Weekend for the Class of 2014. Before I arrived, I thought it interesting they called it “Immersion Weekend,” as if we would be submerged in a pool all weekend. Immersion Weekend, as it turned out, was an appropriate title, because we were immersed completely in what is the breadth and height and depth of earning an EMBA through Kenan-Flagler’s OneMBA program.

During my five-hour trip back from Chapel Hill, I thought several times, “Wow, I’m actually going to have to work for this EMBA.” I had only seriously considered two schools for my EMBA, Kenan-Flagler and Darden, partly because I was looking for strong programs with excellent reputations in the southeast.

However, I confess that as a lawyer who went through a Tier 1 law school in the evening, I viewed earning an MBA not as difficult as a law degree. My thoughts of earning an Executive MBA were meeting for class once per month, reading a few business cases in between, maybe writing a case brief or two, and then of course networking with other business professionals. The school takes a nice bit of change out of your pocket, awards you an MBA, and, voila, you’re all finished. Well, after Immersion Weekend all illusions were removed and I knew there would be no coasting through UNC’s OneMBA program. And I’m glad there won’t be.

WANTING TO BE CHALLENGED, PUSHED, STRETCHED AND INSPIRED

There are plenty of programs you can choose from if all you’re interested in is adding the acronym MBA behind your name. But if you’re interested in being challenged, pushed, stretched, and inspired, then don’t settle for just any MBA. I would’ve cheated myself had I chosen a less demanding program. Too often we take the least difficult route for short-term ease at the expense of long-term gain.

During Immersion Weekend, we were assigned to a local team consisting of six other UNC EMBA students, which was essentially designed to be our support group throughout the 21- month program, our AA group if you will. My fellow PoetsandQuants blogger, Lindsay Stewart, referenced in her latest post how she was at first skeptical of the value of her local team, but now finds her local team invaluable, her “school family.”

A MOTLEY BAND INCLUDING A NAVY SEAL, A WALL STREET BROKER, AN ONLINE STOCK BROKER

Like Lindsay, I was skeptical at first of the need for a local team, but now find my team absolutely necessary, not only for academic success, but also for my sanity! We are a motley band of diverse professionals made up of a Navy SEAL, a Wall Street broker, a corporate lawyer, a PhD engineer, an online stock broker, and an IT executive. And no that’s not the beginning of a joke, those are the professions represented in our group. We talk together weekly, help each other out on assignments, and keep each other updated on upcoming due dates.

I referenced in my prior post that I went to business school to fill gaps in my business knowledge. Well, after Immersion Weekend it was clear there were more “gaps in my business knowledge” than I realized. Fortunately, OneMBA has a comprehensive program to fill in those gaps. For the last few months I’ve been taking General Management & Strategy, Leading & Managing Global Organizations, Global Operations, Analytical Tools for Decision Making, and Financial Accounting (all total, 15 credits). These classes do more than provide you with knowledge – they help shape your framework of thinking. Business is more than just technical knowledge, there’s an art to it as well. And much of business school to date has been teaching me how to put an objective framework around subjective processes, whether it’s leadership, strategy, or even regression analysis.

So if you’re looking to go back to school (or at any new endeavor for that matter), don’t just look for the easy road. Plenty have taken that path. Take the one less traveled by, as Robert Frost said, for that will make all the difference.

Lee Lowder is an attorney who is pursuing his MBA at the University of North Carolina’s Kenan-Flagler’s Business School. HIs previous posts:

Introducing Lee Lowder, A Lawyer Working On His EMBA

The following article was originally written by Stephen Hoare.  The article was published in The Independent.  You can find an original copy of the article here.

Women have long been underrepresented in the higher reaches of management and in the boardroom. But a Dutch business school is determined to break the glass ceiling once and for all. Rotterdam School of Management runs an international women’s leadership MBA elective that prepares its participants to scale the corporate ladder by challenging them to climb the highest peak in Africa: Mount Kilimanjaro.

Last October, 17 women between the ages of 25 and 56 undertook a 10-day trek to Kilimanjaro’s summit, Uhuru Peak, 5,895 metres above sea level. Of the climbers, 13 made it to the top. The expedition was led by Rebecca Stephens, the first British woman to have scaled Mount Everest and the Seven Summits, the highest peaks on each of the seven continents.

Expedition members are drawn from RSM’s full- and part-time MBAs, its executive MBA and the Global One executive MBA. They span 50 nationalities, including Japanese, Koreans, Chinese, Dutch, South Africans and South Americans. Working as a team is part of the challenge.

“We run a debriefing session after the women return and I’ve had a few say to me, ‘Oh, I failed because I didn’t reach the summit’. But that wasn’t the aim,” says Dianne Bevelander, RSM associate dean of MBAs and a specialist in women’s leadership. The goal is taking risks, and pushing yourself past your comfort zone. There may come a point when you realise that by continuing you are putting yourself and your team in danger. You’ve got to know when to stop. That also is a valuable lesson.”

The dangers are real. Beyond 3,000m there is a danger of altitude sickness, the symptoms of which include dizziness and stomach cramps. Heat, fatigue and hydration are an ever-present risk, especially to people unaccustomed to climbing.

Denise Eikelenboom, 40, who made it to base camp Kibo Hut at 4,700m describes her climb as an emotional rollercoaster. “I could not reach the top due to altitude sickness but I learned some really good things about myself,” she says. “First of all, I lost my fear of failure. And I used the practical tips from our guides to take it slow and to live one day at a time. It’s no use worrying on a Monday about your busy schedule on Thursday and Friday. I was touched by the fact that some of the younger women said to me I inspired them as a leader.”

Set to complete her Global One executive MBA in June, Eikelenboom, director of the private air ambulance service ANWB Medical Air Assistance, reckons the gruelling climb was a lesson in leadership. “My employer who is sponsoring my MBA was really excited about the Kilimanjaro experience, which they regard as a part of my personal development. My company has a strong strategic plan which I am focused on. But I still have a lot of career moves left. I haven’t reached the point at which I can say, ‘OK, this is it. This is the level I have to stay at.’”

There are no rules governing fitness, but applicants are selected on the basis of a video presentation and essay on their motivations for making the climb. Spread over four sessions, preparations for the trip include practical advice on equipment and help in writing a “team chapter”, a set of rules which will guide the women in how to respond to emergencies and resolve conflict once they are up on the mountain. There was also some handy tips on blogging. A detailed personal blog forms part of the assessment. The video and the essay play an important part in subsequent lessons in leadership. “It’s about storytelling and how we see ourselves,” says Bevelander. “It’s about developing a narrative around who you want to be when you come down the mountain. It makes them think a little deeper.”

The idea for linking a climb to the summit of Kilimanjaro to an elective in women’s leadership came to Bevelander when she was researching a paper on student hierarchies within the MBA. Published in 2011 under the title Ms Trust: Gender Networks and Trust – Implications for Management and Education, the research found that while women were happy to socialise and network with other women, in a risky professional environment they tended to trust each other less than they trusted men. “I started out looking for evidence of how the various nationalities were interacting but this deep seated deference to male leadership came as a bit of a shock,” says Bevelander.

It was here that the idea of challenging the women took root. After brainstorming a number of situations which would encourage female bonding, the idea of a mountain climb emerged as a frontrunner. Rebecca Stephens, who runs motivational expeditions, was the obvious choice to lead it. “MBA students are ambitious young people, more so than any other audience I talk to,” she says. “They challenge themselves not only in their careers but also in every other aspect of their lives.” Bevelander agrees. “As the mother of three young children, Stephens is a wonderful role model for women.”

Feedback so far suggests that the women MBAs are now much more likely to set more challenging career goals and to leave careers that they feel are undemanding.

The Kilimanjaro experience, she believes, will kickstart a new awareness of women’s leadership. “Picture a woman at a job interview who can say, ‘I climbed a mountain’. It’s a lot more interesting than saying ‘I did an elective in brand management!’ It gives you a pride, a confidence in your decisions. If you have climbed Kilimanjaro you are phenomenal. You are powerful!”

I’m not one to just sit around. Give me a challenge or a new adventure and I’ll probably say yes.

The OneMBA program at Kenan-Flagler Business School is my latest adventure. I’m an attorney by trade and currently work as an in-house lawyer for K2M, Inc., an up-and-coming medical device company outside of Washington, D.C. My current position is director for global compliance, which means I’m responsible for leading and managing my company’s domestic and international compliance program (anti-kickback/anti-corruption laws, FDA regulations, etc.). Prior to going to K2M, I cut my teeth as a lawyer at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP working as an associate on complex commercial real estate transactions.

And yes, working in Big Law was as strenuous and rigorous as it’s rumored to be. Sort of like boot camp that never ends. It’s invaluable training and preparation, however, and I wouldn’t trade the experience. Preceding Big Law, I worked for the FBI as a forensic accountant on the white collar crime squad. At this point people usually ask “Did you carry a gun?” Alas, I did not. I had a blue jacket though that said FBI on the back, and I worked closely with federal agents and prosecutors in putting white collar criminals in jail. By the time I left, I had testified at trial and before grand juries on behalf of the government and did a lot of interesting things in between. It was while I was with the FBI that I embarked on my legal career, going through evening school at George Mason University School of Law.

So why an MBA? Funny you ask. So did my wife. And my three kids. Well, besides being somewhat of a masochist and delighting in heaping a bit more stress upon an already busy life, I knew there were gaps in my business knowledge. And since I hope to stay in business, business school would help fill those gaps and build my credibility with the business leaders I work with. Plus, my company’s sponsoring me, so it’s hard to not to take advantage of those free tuition dollars.

The OneMBA program at Kenan-Flagler is a rigorous 21-month program that takes you to at least six different countries, exposes you to multiple cultures through dynamic global teams, and connects you with engaging professors who delight in finding your limit and pushing you a little past it. Ok, the last part is a slight exaggeration, but not much. I’m with the OneMBA Class of 2014, and we’re scheduled to graduate in 16 months and [18] days, but who’s counting.

We’re just finishing up our first module in February, and will have 19.5 credits under our belt when that’s done. Our most significant assignment these first few months has been a global leadership project with colleagues in the Netherlands, Mexico, Brazil, and Hong Kong. For this project, each of us was assigned to a team of six or seven, and we had to analyze various leadership functions, such as decision making styles and conflict management styles, and see how culture played a role in shaping the styles of leaders in different countries. Each team chose a global company with offices in each of our respective countries and then interviewed leaders within that company. It’s been an illuminating project that culminates with our team paper that’s due within the week.

To date, the executive MBA experience has been demanding but rewarding. Plus, I’m still married and my kids still recognize me. So far, so good.

Lee Lowder is an attorney who is pursuing his MBA at the University of North Carolina’s Kenan-Flagler’s Business School.

As Director of Creative Innovation Works and a founding member of the global Internet of People consulting group, Lorna Goulden predicts how our everyday lives could change now that more and more devices are being connected online. She proposes that we need to fundamentally change the way we think as well as the way that we create in order to enable people to design an internet of things that they really want.

Watch Lorna’s talk here.

Hurricane Sandy hit home – literally – for UNC Kenan-Flagler student Mike MacIntyre (OneMBA ’13), global head of intra group sales, wealth management at HSBC in New York.

MacIntyre lives in one of the hardest-hit areas of Queens:  the Breezy Point, Rockaway Park and Far Rockaway neighborhoods.  With his home uninhabitable and his office destroyed, he is living in a Brooklyn hotel. He hopes to be back in his home by February 2013.

But his housing woes are not what he wants to talk about: he’s concerned about the more than 1,400 neighborhood children under age 12 who are displaced by Hurricane Sandy, and whose schools are closed until February. 

He decided to channel his emotions and energy into helping these children.  He “adopted” 25 children and is leading “Rockaway, NY Toys for Tots” to provide them with gifts of toys during the holiday season.  His efforts stem from a larger “Toys for Tots” initiative organized by Xaverian High School in Brooklyn, where MacIntyre is an alum and member of the board of trustees.

In November, MacIntyre reached out to his classmates in OneMBA®,  UNC Kenan-Flagler’s global executive program, asking them to contribute to the cause by purchasing toys on an Amazon.com wish list. 

“The response has been tremendous,” said MacIntyre.  “Since I reached out to my OneMBA network, I have received seven to eight boxes a day for the children.  I’ve actually become good friends with my postal carrier, who delivers to my hotel.  My classmates will never know how impactful their donations are for children who have lost everything.”

To support “Rockaway, NY Toys for Tots,” visit the Amazon.com wish listand follow the instructions for donations.  Send questions to Mike MacIntyre.

UNC Kenan-Flagler and its partner schools celebrate the 10^th anniversary of the global executive MBA program, OneMBA, this year. Over the past decade, the partnership has built a unique global program boasting more than 1,000 alumni in senior leadership positions in more than 50 countries around the world.  Nearly 300 of those graduated from UNC Kenan-Flagler.