The Olin MBA programs: Enhancing leadership agility in an era of change

Today's leaders often claim that the business landscape has become more volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) than ever before.

The past few years certainly attest to this. Businesses were not only navigating a pandemic but also grappling with market uncertainty, geopolitical issues, talent shortages, supply chain disruptions, emerging technologies, discussions of an impending recession and many other factors.

This environment can challenge many long-standing beliefs and compel leaders to pivot, often with imperfect information, for the company's benefit. Achieving such a feat—successfully—demands courage, perseverance, creativity and, most importantly, agility. Although it has become somewhat of a buzzword, agility in leadership is essential for navigating this new "normal."

In fact, agile leaders can transform increases in volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity into opportunities for their companies. It all lies in their capacity for adaptive decision-making. They establish a framework that leverages available information, enhances their understanding of the situation, mitigates potential risks and allows them to respond to changes with less uncertainty than before.

Beyond the enhanced capacity to react to uncertainty, the importance of agility in leadership can also be seen and felt within an organization's culture. Agile leaders tend to foster continuous learning and experimentation, which can swiftly result in more skilled teams and innovative solutions. Rallying a team around an untested initiative becomes much easier when its members have a history of adapting to change.

Nurturing agility in leadership

While agility in leadership is a quality all businesses strive for, elaborating on what agility entails and how to foster it at the team level—or across the entire organization—can be challenging. It requires implementers who possess an agile mindset to realize this goal and do so at scale, which is a fundamental aspect of the Executive MBA coursework at Olin Business School. 

For leaders to embody an agile mindset, it means having sufficient humility to absorb all available information, question their assumptions and continuously revise their perspective on a given situation, while still relying on their instincts to guide their next steps.

A significant component of this approach stems from the three-stage curriculum that emphasizes leadership, beginning with leading strategy and transitioning into execution. Each stage functions as a foundational block, where candidates are exposed to various concepts and learn how to transform these concepts into practical applications across different contexts.

Leaders can expect to explore these concepts throughout the Executive MBA coursework, including:

• Financial accountability/language classes
• Market and consumer-focus classes
• Analytics and business decisions classes
• Operations classes
• Supply chain management classes
• Innovation in entrepreneurship

Another important aspect of the Executive MBA coursework at Olin Business School is the combination of classroom instruction with real-world residency experiences. Leaders can participate in a Washington, DC, residency, offering a wider view on business and enhancing their comprehension of the program's teachings. A second residency will come toward the end, providing a global perspective to help tie everything together.

Olin Business School operates with the conviction that no individual possesses all the answers. Consequently, candidates are integrated into a five-person core team. This cohort experience proves to be incredibly formative throughout the learning journey. Moreover, the cohort experience is vital for applying acquired knowledge in varied contexts and developing a transferable skill set to real-world scenarios.

Going through an MBA really puts you in a position where you have to work with people who you're not used to working with—people who are from different companies, who do different things.  

Vanessa Okwuraiwe

"You're working with attorneys, lawyers, people in the manufacturing sector, people who work in the pork industry. I have such a variety of people in my class, and it will help you think differently—and thinking differently means that you make better decisions," says Okwuraiwe, Olin Executive MBA student.

Most candidates enter the program while already employed, making the material highly accessible and applicable in real time. For instance, if someone is taking one of the financial accountability classes and it coincides with a real-life budget meeting, they can directly apply their coursework insights. Should any questions emerge, they can bring these inquiries back to the faculty or their cohort team members, working through them together to gain a deeper understanding.

Throughout the Executive MBA program, candidates will undergo a transformation in their approach to leadership. The combination of the curriculum, practical experiences and interactions with peers will enlighten them on the crucial role of agility in today's business world. They will gain a deep understanding of what agility means, how it can be applied effectively in their work environments, and how they can emerge as resilient leaders in times of change and uncertainty. The program aims to equip professionals with the skills to analyze information critically, apply an adaptive decision-making process for navigating the complex business environment and develop the interpersonal skills required to motivate and guide their teams effectively.