System
Design and Management Program:
Leadership
for Leaders
By
Lois Slavin, ESD Communications
Director
Leadership
training in ESD’s System Design
and Management (SDM) program proves that it’s never to late
to learn more.
SDM,
which offers an SM in Engineering and Management granted jointly by
MIT Sloan School of Management and School of Engineering, is geared
for successful mid-career executives who want to lead, not leave, engineering.
Consequently, SDM students, many of whom have been targeted as their
companies’ next generation of leaders, find that studying leadership
within SDM’s rigorous curriculum adds a new dimension to their
perceptions of what leadership is all about.
According
to Jan Klein, Senior Lecturer at MIT Sloan School of Management who
teaches leadership in SDM, the program’s leadership content, aka
the Leadership Roadmap exists to promote the
leadership development of each and every SDM fellow in the three fundamental
components of the SDM curriculum: classes, business trips, and thesis.
This provides a framework for use not just during the SDM program curriculum,
but throughout the SDMer’s career.
Here
are some thoughts shared by SDM students on their leadership curriculum.
 Robin
Rivard, SDM ’05
Part-time, distance learning student
Requirements and Systems Engineering Technical Specialist
Electrical and Electronic Systems Engineering, Product Development Organization
Ford Motor Company
What
was your concept of leadership before coming to SDM?
Prior to my SDM experience, I believed that leadership should be shown
by example. My view was that for leaders to be effective they should
have already experienced what their teams were currently going through.
How
did this change?
“It changed in two ways. First, regarding technology. The increasing
speed of technological change makes it impossible for a leader to already
have gone through the process because the process evolves with the technology.
This led me to understand that a leader must be flexible, embrace change
and be willing to experience things for the first time along with the
team.
Second,
regarding a systems approach. This leads to searching out diversity
of thought. The need for this diversity drives an effective leader to
seek out and embrace different views in order to ensure that the team
considers all aspects of the challenge. Leaders who surround themselves
with "yes-people" end up doing things the same way, therefore
creating an average team environment and substandard team performance.
What
was your most important learning to-date and why?
The group projects with high performing peers are one of SDM’s
most important leadership learning experiences. These projects allow
SDM students to "try on" different leadership styles and feel
how they "fit".
How
do you intend to apply your leadership learnings at SDM and after graduation?
I’m not waiting until graduation – I’m applying
the different leadership concepts now in my everyday professional life
as a part-time SDM student who also works at Ford.
How
I interact with superiors, peers, and subordinates has been changed
since I began the SDM program and I hope will continue to evolve. Understanding
and accepting other people's perspectives is a big part of this change.
 Vineet
Thuvara, SDM class entering in 2005
Full-time, self-sponsored student
Former Head, Marketing Communications and Research
Amway, India
What
was your concept of leadership before studying it at SDM?
As CEO of a design company and later as head of marketing communication
for a US multinational, for me leadership was all about leading and
motivating. It was something that was easy to demonstrate but difficult
to describe.
How
did it evolve?
The Sloan Leadership model was a refreshing change. I now have a framework
to apply in every leadership context – that is, viewing leadership
in terms of sensemaking, visioning, relating, and inventing.
What
was you most important learning to-date and why?
On the first day in my prior job, my manager told me that there would
be many times when I would have to make decisions without checking with
him. He urged me to go ahead and make those decisions to the best of
my ability. He told me “if you fail, I will back you to the best
I can and if you do well, you will take the kudos.” That’s
a great example of leadership and it gave me the courage to take risks
and soar.
How
do you intend to apply your leadership learnings at SDM and after graduation?
Now I can both demonstrate and communicate the Sloan Leadership model,
which enables me to accommodate several definitions of leadership without
confusion. This will help me in my role as a general manager, as well
as a mentor.
 Student:
Varun Parmar, SDM ’05
Full-time, self-sponsored student
former Technical Marketing Director, Korea IT Promotion Agency
Winner, Cisco Achievement Program Award
What
was your concept of leadership before studying it at SDM?
I believed that leadership was something privy to and practiced by a
select few who were part of an organization’s highest echelons.
I thought that leadership was a top-down phenomenon where the rank and
file was expected to merely execute, with little or no contribution
to the leadership process.
How
did it change?
In the SDM program, I learned that leadership can be practiced at any
level within an organization. In addition to offering faculty-run sessions
on leadership, SDM encourages students to demonstrate leadership by
getting involved in various student-run committees. I feel privileged
to have helped start a new SDM committee focused on establishing relationships
with industry and spearheading professional career development activities
for self-sponsored students.
As
the chair of the Industrial Relations Committee (IRC), I learned how
to work effectively as part of a team to drive positive change, attract
leading companies to campus for panel discussions, engage alums to mentor
students, and initiate professional career development activities. My
perception of leadership changed when I received positive feedback from
students and administration that they consider the IRC a role model
for other student-run committees.
What
was your most important learning to-date and why?
Isaac Newton once said, ‘If I have seen further, it is by standing
on the shoulders of giants.’ My most important learning has been
realizing that working as part of a team of smart, committed, and focused
individuals is critical to the success of any task.
The
goal of any leader should be to focus his/her efforts on setting up
an environment that fosters teamwork and accountability. If able to
create such an environment then s/he will be amazed to see the creativity
and ingenuity of a team. However, often leaders can’t self-restrain
themselves from meddling with execution. This, to me, is a recipe for
failure.
How
do you intend to apply your leadership learnings at SDM and after graduation?
Upon graduation, I plan to work in the corporate development or strategic
planning department of a large information technology organization.
I plan to apply the leadership learnings from SDM in tackling, and hopefully
solving, some of the complex challenges that executives at multinational
organizations face. I strongly believe that my SDM education has prepared
me well for these future challenges.
SDM
Leadership Roadmap
The
SDM Leadership roadmap takes students on a journey to self-mastery during
the time they spend in the program. It consists of the following:
January
Session
-
SDM Leadership Vision & Roadmap session including Leadership Frameworks
- Distributed
Leadership & Leadership Development Plans (360 degree feedback)
- Cohort-building
exercises
-
Class: Human side of Technology
- Class:
Universe Within
- Leadership
in Action: Design Challenges 1 & 2
Spring
Business Trip
-
Keynote speaker with emphasis on Leadership in Practice
-
Leadership session & revisit of Leadership development plans
Summer
Business Trip
-
Keynote speaker with emphasis on Leadership in Practice
-
Leadership session & revisit of Leadership Development Plans
Fall
Business Trip
-
Keynote Speaker with emphasis on leadership in practice
-
Leadership session & revisit Development Plans
Throughout
program
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