Executive MBA EXL: Bridging business challenges and student innovation

The Broad College of Business’ top-ranked Executive MBA program offers a transformative, team-based educational experience designed for working professionals. This collaborative program empowers students to learn on Saturday and apply those learnings on Monday. EMBA students refine their existing skills while building new ones in leadership, innovation and global learning — delivering unmatched career advancement and an excellent return on investment. 

As part of EMBA’s experiential learning program, students in PIM 804: Strategic Vision participate in an experiential learning (EXL) project. Sarah Gretter, director of the Apple Developer Academy at MSU and senior specialist in the Office of the Provost, teaches PIM 804 and emphasized the innovative approach of the EXL project.

“PIM 804 is a truly experiential course that merges consulting practices with design thinking to prototype innovative solutions to complex, human-centered business challenges,” Gretter said. “The course is unique in that it calls on a broad range of concepts like marketing research, conversation design, mind mapping, prototyping and storytelling to guide students from ideation to execution.”

The intersection of these methods is intentional, acting as a catalyst for impactful design-centered thinking. Design thinking encourages students to focus on the needs of who they are creating for, rather than relying on traditional linear problem-solving. “Applied design thinking uses strategic innovation techniques,” Gretter explained. “By identifying and making sense of complex human-centered challenges, it drives creativity and guides long-range strategic planning.” These long-range strategic planning and design thinking skills are refined through this project and become tools students can use in their careers.

The components of design thinking in PIM 804 are altering how students tackle everyday challenges. The lessons in strategic vision they learn through the EXL project gives students an innovative framework to create imaginative solutions. And PIM 804 students are passionate about the benefits they receive from the class.

“My introduction to design thinking has been transformative, equipping me with a human-centered framework for addressing complex challenges,” EMBA student Josh Johnston said.

EMBA student Jack Guttenberg agreed. “Studying design thinking through the strategic vision class has significantly broadened my perspective on how to transform and imagine solutions to complex scenarios.”

“The introduction to design thinking has been a transformative experience, particularly in its emphasis on empathy, iterative problem solving and customer-centric innovation,” Mariah Mayberry, also an EMBA student, said.

The benefits extend beyond the students who participate. The EXL project offers businesses a chance to work with the class and experience these transformative impacts firsthand. In this hands-on project, partner organizations leverage students’ expertise to solve real-world business challenges through a true partnership.

SC Automotive Engineering USA was a recent client and partner. Justin Isaacs, the company’s vice president and principal — as well as a Broad EMBA alumnus — highlighted the dual value of the experience.

“Having been a student in this class in 2021, I understand the immense value of working on real-world problems and applying newly learned perspectives and tools,” Isaacs said. “The best part of the EXL project is that it’s a real-time, actual case study. This is where academia and industry completely align.”

Isaacs praised the students’ contributions and their dedication throughout the recent project.

“They were invested to extract as much information as possible to generate the greatest value-add solution,” he said. “The students were very passionate and diligent throughout the process. I could tell that they wanted to really help my company, not only going through the motions for the grade.”

Another recent EXL project client, Tennant Company, praised the students’ ability to deliver practical value-add solutions.

“The solutions the students proposed were thoughtful and showed a true appreciation of who we are at Tennant Company and what makes the Holland plant unique,” said Sarah Mauragis, Tennant’s global manufacturing principal engineer. “Both teams we worked with embraced the discovery process, asked insightful questions and presented solutions that were not only practical but felt ‘real’ by including recruitment material and website mockups in their presentations.”

Mauragis also noted the positive impression the project left on her team: “Overall, the feedback from the Tennant team on both MSU EMBA teams has been overwhelmingly positive, and partnering with the program on this project has been a great opportunity for us.”

The EXL project is a prime example of how Broad’s EMBA program bridges the gap between academia and industry to foster meaningful partnerships that provide practical experience. Partner organizations and students alike have the opportunity for mutual growth and success.

Learn more about the EMBA experience or contact Cheri DeClercq, assistant dean of graduate programs and strategic partnerships, at declerc2@msu.edu.