Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
(music) I’ve gotten an education plus real life experience. I think that is what employers
are really looking for these days. >>As a business owner, as a manager, you don’t
wake up on a Thursday and say “That’s right today is Thursday, I’ve got that finance
problem because I don’t have that marketing problem until a week from Tuesday”. They’re
all interrelated, you pull one string and it pulls on another string. >>The life in
business can rarely be plotted on a straight line, but the accomplishments that drive a
successful career forward and upward are often rooted in where they begin. At one university,
business careers begin by owning a business. >>I actually have an opportunity to go out
and be an entrepreneur when I’m only 20 years old. It’s pretty fantastic that they
let us do this. >>And working in a business. >>And so we expect you to come in and try
a lot and learn a lot, but also add value to our organization. >>And advising at business.
>>Being in a client project you can see how that affects the real life operations of that
business that I’m working with. So it feels like my education has come full circle. >>Sure,
the classroom is important, but real business doesn’t fit neatly inside a class, so one
university fits itself inside business. Real business, this is the College of Business
Administration at Butler University. >>I could sit here and make an argument and say “Let’s
just make a very selective process, but I think what makes Butler different is every
student has the opportunity to participate in the real life real business through the
four years. >>It’s a nontraditional model, with an intuitive power that’s evident from
the first days on campus. >>We run them through a series of events, activities, over two days
whereby they will have to work as a team to creatively solve problems, overcome obstacles.
>>We take our grade, if you will, and we give 50% content, 50% on process. A normal class
is probably 90% content and 10% process. >>Process, you’ll hear a lot about process here. In
real business, process is often called execution, and it’s what drives consistent growth.
>>It is general exploration, respecting what people say, making sure you accumulate a lot
of ideas, trying to foster creativity. >>It’s a process that animates the Butler MBA right
from its beginning. >>We had to consult with HH Gregg and they brought in their executives
to present us with a task. Number one priority was in fact making a specific product recommendation.
>>“You know like with the high-end audio, I like having it on display in one major store
in each major market” >>As long as you follow the process and can tell them “this is the
process” and this is what led to us to that recommendation, that’s all we care about.
>>“So what we recommend is that you bring high-end audio in several key stores to compliment
your high-end theater” >>Butler is committed to realities of business. >>We’re learning
how to make business better and be consultants in our business and to other businesses, so
this is exactly what needs to happen in a program like this. >>The Butler MBA is one
expression of real life, real business. Sophomores say it too, in the form of a business they
build and they run. The money is real, and the lessons endure. >>“Strike-A-Pose is
a photo booth rental service. We rent photo booths to events such as bar mitzvahs, proms,
weddings, and corporate parties.” >>“The most enjoyment we get out of it is actually
seeing the looks on all the people’s faces; you know when they get in and when they take
these pictures. They absolutely love it.” >>I think it also helps them be aware of why
they need all their classes their junior and senior year. >>When I go into managerial accounting,
I know a lot of the concepts. You know this is a budget, this is how our turnover works,
concepts such as that you don’t really have a name for it but you understand them just
from running this business. >>Along the way real business intersects with real life. >>A
lot of people have different opinions on how the booth should be run or just the overall
aspects of the business. >>Teamwork is a very complex issue, it’s not really something
you can teach someone, you just have to gain experience with it. >>This is my responsibility
and this is how I’m part of the team. Really powerful stuff which will last a lifetime.
>>Career development isn’t an afterthought here. It’s integrated from the first year
forward with classes, workshops, seminars, and not one but two internships required for
credit. Real business is everywhere here. >>We feel that it’s important from the minute
the students walk in the door to begin thinking about the fact that in four years they’re
going to be ready to start a career, and they’ll talk right there about the importance of networking.
>>Through a network contact I was able to get a job at J.P. Morgan as an investment
analysis. >>By getting our students in this framework beginning freshman year, they’re
a step ahead of the competition. >>It’s a structure that not only works for students
and employers, but also for Indiana businesses that are poised for growth and are ready to
accelerate. >>The Butler business experience accelerator is a consulting practice aimed
exclusively at Indiana based companies, five to fifty million dollars in sales. We exist
to consult with them and jump-start their growth. >>Our sales were up about 30%. One
of the things that interest me about Butler business accelerator is that they actually
helped you do the work, and they stayed with you until the job was done. >>All of our engagements
are led by full time, professional consultants. >>It’s always bringing that learning experience
back into the classroom. Just because we’re teachers or professors doesn’t mean that
we know it all, by any stretch. We have to learn right along with our students. >>The
students that are working on these client engagements are definitely not students that
have been only been working in a classroom. You can tell that from the moment they step
into the client’s location. >>Being able to work with the professionals, the project
managers that we’re with, and picking up on their core competencies, and incorporating
that into what we do as students. I can connect the classroom with the real world, and I’m
a better business person for it. >>Across the curriculum, Butler is creating better
business people. Our processes also attract businesses, and business owners, who want
to play a role in shaping their next generation. Some also come here to get better themselves.
>>I came to Professor Dolvin and his class with a fund that was geared to raise five
million dollars in equity. >>They run the process of their fundraising and they provided
us with the private placement memorandum. >>This was a live deal. And the projects that
they looked at were live projects. >>We had a general partner and total cash distribution
of 7.699 million dollars. >>Is this fair? Based on our findings, based on these percentages?
no. >>The most impressive thing was in their qualitative skills. They were all able to
grasp exactly what we were looking for. And I think that they will be well equipped going
out into the workforce. >>Business people ready to succeed in real businesses. That
is our product. And like all products, it’s how they are made, the formative processes
that define their character. >>The small class sizes, along with the experiential learning
piece, and then marrying all that with running a business… wow. What better learning experience
can you have as a student? >>If you’re the kind of student who likes to sit in the back
of the class, and take notes, and be lectured to, this is not the place for you. But if
you want to be hands on, get involved, be engaged, experience, and challenge yourself,
then that’s what our curriculum is about. >>At Butler our commitment to every student
is to provide each student with a real life real business experience while you’re going
through those four years. That is the competitive advantage, the differential at Butler.