Columbia Business School is launching a program of courses and extracurricular activities to enhance students’ abilities as leaders throughout their careers. The Program on Social Intelligence (PSI) will impart techniques and frameworks for managing individuals, teams, organizations and networks in dynamic, global contexts. This program, led by Professor Michael Morris of the Management Division, draws on the School’s growing expertise in psychology and related social sciences. PSI activities are grounded in a proven blend of empirical assessment, experiential learning and executive coaching. This combination helps students sharpen their self-awareness, judgment and decision making and expand their abilities to solve problems. The PSI activities, which will continue through the MBA experience from orientation to alumni reunions, have been integrated into such core management classes as Creating Effective Organizations and Leadership. Streams of thematically related PSI activities, focused on different aspects of leading, will be offered throughout the MBA Program. The focus starts with managing oneself and one’s peers and then shifts toward managing from a position of authority within an organization.
Navigating Careers: Assessment feedback on personal interests, motivators and strengths is used in combination with coaching to help students’ career planning. Experiential workshops provide practice in networking and interviewing successfully.
Leading Teams: Assessment feedback on teamwork styles, experiential exercises and peer advisor coaching are used to help study groups develop effective team processes.
Managing Organizations: Workshops and interactive presentations by thought leaders from the faculty and the New York community highlight contemporary management challenges and techniques.
Advanced Leadership: Continued training and practical experience is offered to second-year MBAs serving as club leaders or peer advisors.
PSI offerings in the EMBA programs, premised on the same educational methods but keyed to the differing needs of EMBA students, are being planned this year and will be rolled out soon.