Also, I was quoted in a story on MBA Alternatives.  A digital version of the story can be accessed here.   Carlson Executive Education’s Minnesota Management Institute, a trhee-week program targeted to high potential managers and directors, is often viewed as an alternative to a traditional MBA.  The mini-MBA market has been very hot lately.  So much so, that some are overselling what you can accomplish in a very short time (e.g., some mini-MBAs are just 5 days…!).  We have takent the perspective that it is better to offer a strong program to build skills that high potential managers and directors need than to offer a sampler of MBA topics.  Our MMI program is an intensive, three-week transformational program.  You don’t get a “mini-MBA” credential from the program, but you do get a powerful, perspective-shifting experience that can accelerate your career.  Enough said.  you can check it out on our website if you are interested…

I highlighted the Minnesota Executive Program (MEP) and the Minnesota Management Institute (MMI), our two robust general management programs.  While some view these programs as “MBA alternatives,” many who attend these programs are actually looking to refresh skills acquired during an MBA some 5-7+ years ago. 

The Carlson School has been offering these general management programs for well over 30 years.  The programs have evolved over the years, but the impact that they have on participants has not changed.  The clear message from every person I have spoken with about these programs is very clear: their lives have been changed–new perspectives on how organizations run, new career opportunities, advancement, and new levels of success.

Sorry for my blatant advertising here.  I generally don’t like to take your time to push brochure-speak at you, but these are some pretty powerful programs!

The article, titled “Beating the Recession 101″  mentions that Carlson Executive Education is offering 4- and 8-hour courses for $495 and $995 this spring.  Our timing for this set of offerings has turned out to be pretty good, given the economic environment.  We actually decided to do this back some time ago, when the general consensus was that the fundamentals of the economy were strong.  At that time, we wanted to provide shorter format offerings in order to connect with a broader audience from the business community.  When I reflect back on my recent experience as a corporate talent executive, I recall how difficult it was to get time out of the office for anything, especially time for my own development! So, one of the first things I wanted to do when I started at Carlson was to experiment with our program formats.   

Of course, the reality is that you can only cover so much ground in 4 or 8 hours.  So, these programs in the Momentum Series have a very targeted and focused set of learning objectives.  These programs also need to strike the right balance between content and application.  As a rule of thumb we figured that the 4-hour sessions would probably have about 1 hour of exposure to new ideas and content, and 3 hours of application and practice.   So, we worked with the instructors from that starting point and encouraged them to design each session to be highly interactive, provide hands-on experience with a focused subject or skill, and deliver concrete learning outcomes–new skills, frameworks, tool sets, etc.  

If you want to learn more about the Momentum Series, the  program page is here , and we have short audio interviews and flash presentations here for some of the programs.

As I noted in the article, we are introducing a new set of short, “bite-sized” courses this spring. This is actually an idea that we started kicking around in June.  Having come from industry myself, I know how hard it can be to carve out time to get out of the office.  Our core offerings require a pretty significant time commitment–at least 2 to 4 days.  I realize that there are probably a fair number of people who don’t come to our programs simply because they can’t get out of the office for that long.  So, we started thinking about what we could offer that would still provide participants great value, yet be delivered in a more compressed timeframe. 

What we decided was to pilot a set of much shorter-format courses.  The spring/summer programs will range in length from 1/2-day to full day, and will be very targeted to specific skill areas of interest to business managers and executives.  For example, if you are interested in identifying sources of financing for a new business opportunity, we have a course specifically on that.  If you are being asked to do more with less, we have a program focused on “personal operations management.” The full catalog of 20 short courses will be available soon. 

We will of course continue to offer the bulk of our educational experiences in the more traditional, 2-4 day  format, but these shorter programs offer a smaller, compressed experience for those who are not able to take advantage of the more robust programs we typically offer.