gmatpapa
scorpionz
gmatpapa
Hey! What would you say about Booth's LEAD program and its potential to "transform" students?
On seeing your question, I instantly remembered a post by
rhyme where he had given a very honest perspective about LEAD..I looked it up and it was in the HBS vs Booth thread..Here you go -
https://gmatclub.com/forum/the-toughest-decision-of-my-life-hbs-vs-booth-full-ride-108405.html#p860235It's a fairly long post, you need to scroll down to a section he has especially written up for LEAD. (Thanks
rhyme for such awesome write-ups!!!)
Again, this is not my opinion and I'm not disputing anything what
Michmax3 said, but just thought presenting another viewpoint would be beneficial to the entire group..
WOW! That is a ZOMG perspective! Rhyme sure has a strong viewpoint on LEAD..
Thanks for sharing!
So I had previously read Rhyme's writeup on LEAD and after having gone through it, I think I can give my perspective on it now. They're several points in no particular order.
1) LEAD is a "living" course.So one of the things I heard over and over again from 2nd years is that the course changes from year to year. Not in a major way, but every year's facilitators get some say in both the content and the presentation. So Rhyme's examples of the cases didn't happen this year (in fact I think the only "role-play" we did was in providing someone feedback, which was actually really neat). This is both good and bad--it means that it recognizes that you can't just be orthodox and prescriptive, but by logical extension it could mean that the value of the course varies year to year (though I would say the chances of the latter are slim).
2)LEAD is not a graded courseReally. It's pass/fail. They just want you to show up. And you will show up, because it's your cohort, right when school is starting, when you want to meet people and the modules are interesting. I didn't see people purposefully skipping out on it or bitching about having to go to it. I can't think of a single module where more than 5 people (out of 60 or so) missed--and even then it was because of valid reasons. The vast majority of people actually like LEAD and don't need to be motivated to attend.
3) LEAD is not about LeadershipSeriously. It's counter-intuitive, but having gone through a lot of "leadership" courses from high school through college and work, I would say only about 20% of LEAD is about traditional leadership as we see in the corporate world. 80% of it is about self-awareness: how you deal with people, how people see you, your personality, etc. There's stuff ranging from ethics to presentation skills. I think a fair statement would be to say that taken as a whole the LEAD program focuses on leadership, but its individual parts do not. In fact I'm pretty sure the only time I heard the facilitators talking about leadership were in the introduction lecture and the wrap-up lecture. This is why people aren't turned off.
4) Actual results may varySome modules are really cool and captivated me--the ones dealing with personality and how others see you, for example. Others were kind of bland. I've heard people who said the exact opposite about the modules I really liked and disliked.
5) It's true, the facilitators are the ones who get the most out of it.Which is not to say that I didn't find LEAD incredibly worthwhile as a student. But the amount of training and coaching you get as a facilitator is very intense. So their experience, I think, is far more beneficial than that of the first-years, which is also why so many people want to be facilitators in their second year.
Finally:
6) LEAD is not a "capstone"I will disagree with Rhyme on this. LEAD is about providing you with a tool set. What you do with it, is up to you. Booth is the least prescriptive place I've ever been in--to a shocking level even after having read the "brochure" (which is something to think about). This course is not about turning you into a "Chicago guy" or about teaching you the "Booth way" of dealing with others. It's the exact opposite of that, which is why I think LEAD is structured in the piecemeal way that it is. The overwhelming philosophy at Booth is about giving you the tools to figure out your own way forward, not about "normalizing" your abilities and knowledge. I think LEAD is a great reflection of what Booth is about: they're not teaching you recipes and information, but giving you the tools.
Nutshell:
I thought LEAD was phenomenal, but I can absolutely see why it would turn some people off.
Nov 20
20 Oct 2011, 14:50
