One of the Tuck blog readers, SM, has posted what I think is one of the most important questions ever asked on this blog (and I am paraphrasing it here) – “How has Tuck MBA helped you in creating self-awareness? How has this experience challenged you to follow the paths less traveled or discover new paths?”
SM, thanks for asking such a fundamentally important question. I am not claiming that this is a great question simply because it has to do with Tuck or about business school. Rather, it has to do with personal development and personal leadership. And one of the first steps in developing oneself personally has to do with self-awareness. It’s not just about knowing what you know, but more importantly, being aware of what you don’t know so that you can surround yourself with people who can complement you in those areas in which you may be lacking so that the group accomplishes things that wouldn’t have been possible at the outset.
And you couldn’t have asked this question at a more opportune time. Just today, Dean Paul Danos and Prof. Pino Audia announced the launch of Tuck’s new Center for Leadership which extends the functions performed by Tuck’s Cohen Leadership Development Program (CLDP). Here, I quote from the press release: “The Center will support the intellectual foundations of Tuck’s current leadership development course offerings, with a focus on overcoming barriers to self-awareness and on understanding the match between leadership strengths and the demands put on leaders in different work settings. Professor Pino Audia, founder and faculty director of the new Center for Leadership says, ‘While most leadership teaching in business schools is still done through the case method, the Center at Tuck will embrace a personalized approach to leadership where the lens shifts from other leaders onto the students themselves.’”
So how does Tuck facilitate a student becoming more self-aware? I mentioned in my previous blog on international business that it’s up to the student to really set a goal and then the school will provide the resources to make it happen. It’s similar here as well. Personal development comes from giving and taking feedback. And at Tuck, you will get lots of it. From an academic angle, there are courses that are focused on developing one’s leadership skills. “Becoming a Leader,” which is taught by Prof. Audia, is all about identifying gaps in your leadership profile. Each session in the course aims to explore a different aspect of one’s personality. In the end, you develop a personal leadership development plan based on personality-specific feedback you get from your fellow classmates. If you are serious about developing yourself, this course will get you started on that journey (60 of my classmates, including yours truly, took this class last spring).
The Cohen Leadership Development Program at Tuck offers opportunities for students to develop their leadership skills outside of academics. As part of this program, second year students become mentors for first year students and in that process, discover more about themselves through the give and take that happens as a result. This is made possible through the Leadership Fellows program (I am one of the fellows) under the aegis of CLDP. There are any number of activities that are unrelated to the above (such as leading student clubs, etc. that provide a different angle of leadership development and self-awareness). It’s fair to say leadership development is woven into the Tuck MBA directly and indirectly.
Your second question – how becoming self-aware has given me the strength to take up paths less traveled – requires a more detailed answer which I will make the subject of my next blog.
Until then, au revoir!
Read the full article: Leadership @ Tuck