New UofL grad student Ravi Monangi anticipated a program with tough academic exercises and plenty of challenging outside assignments, but after spending a day balancing on wires, swinging on ropes and scaling a 13-foot wall with the aid of his classmates, the notion of intense coursework suddenly seemed less daunting.

     “I wasn’t expecting this, but it’s a great way to start,” he said.  “It eased me into the program.”
     Monangi is one of 39 students enrolled in the 15th edition of UofL’s nationally ranked MBA for entrepreneurial thinking—the IMBA.  The program is a rigorous, two-year, cohort-based experience for working professionals who want to invent new businesses or help re-invent the companies where they currently work.
     An IMBA focal point is the creation of teams that hope to participate in collegiate business plan competitions, developing innovative concepts that compete for thousands of dollars in prizes and awards and may ultimately become new businesses. In 2006, U.S. News & World Report named the UofL program one of the Top 10 in the U.S. for entrepreneurs.
     Just a week after a high-spirited graduation ceremony for IMBA 13 students, the all-new IMBA 15 class gathered last weekend at Wooded Glen, a Southern Indiana retreat center, for a day of discovery, competition and orientation.  The exercises they shared required teamwork, risk-taking and leadership, and provided metaphors for virtually every other business skill a successful professional might ever need.
     The Trust Walk, for example, required two teammates to alternately support and lean on each other as they balanced above the ground on wobbling, non-parallel cables, and inched toward a finish line. In the Channels exercise, combined teams had to plan a detailed strategy and then scramble to move a small ball from point A to point B by assembling and disassembling small pieces of channel without dropping the ball. The Nitro Walk, with its simulated lava pool and full-to-the-brim glass of nitro glycerin, demanded flexibility, creativity and boldness. With each challenge, snippets of the students’ personalities, skills and innovative thinking blended to accomplish the goal.
     IMBA Program Director Dr. Van G.H. Clouse believes the orientation sets a perfect tone for the 24 months of concentrated work to follow.  “Everyone here comes looking for something special, and they each bring something unique to the program,” he said.  “The more they each know about each other, the better they will work as teams.”
     Monangi, an IT architect at Humana, enrolled in IMBA in search of leadership skills.  “I want to dial up my confidence and communication abilities,” he said.  “At work I deal with like-minded people all day, so the diversity of this group will really test me.”
     That’s exactly the point MBA Administrative Director Kevin Kane hopes to make with the orientation.  Kane plans and coordinates the day with Academic Counselor Jennifer Philpot and Program Coordinator Paula Sacher.
     “The world of business is all about teams working together, making each person better,” he said.  “So from the beginning we create teams that require each student to grow.”
     The night before the orientation, Kane and Philpot cast the teams, carefully mixing ages, ethnicity, occupations and personalities. After a meet-and-greet reception and dinner, the students huddle to choose their team colors and create a name and identity for their group.
     Gary Degan, a practicing podiatrist and consultant at ZirMed, was a member of the purple team.  As its “spokesdude,” he cleverly rapped his way through his team’s positioning, identifying the squad as “the M-B-A—More Bling Association.  We’re going to turn $27K (approximately the cost of IMBA tuition) into the Fortune 500.”
     Originally enrolled in a health care-related MBA at another college, Degan got bored with the program and looked at other options before settling on the UofL IMBA.  He wanted a program that would provide applications for virtually everything he did, every day. “This has everything I imagined an MBA offering,” he said.  “And besides, it’s been Top-10 ranked—you can’t do much better than that.”
     Kane believes as a whole the IMBA 15 class—the largest and perhaps most-qualified ever—could set new standards for the program.  The average age is 31, but the students range from 23 to 55. All 39 have full-time professional experience, averaging eight years on the job.
     With a BA in philosophy from Vanderbilt, Will Terry hopes the program will be his ticket to innovation and business savvy.  He’d like to tap into his leadership abilities and start or be in charge of business development for a small batch brewery operation.
     “It’s been great watching how everyone approaches problem-solving a little differently,” he said.  “But this also means we won’t be walking into class with a bunch of complete strangers. I like that.”
     Sara Jackson jumped to IMBA after originally pursuing the college’s traditional MBA. A billing and enrollment specialist with Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, she was drawn by the prospect of dealing with new ideas.  “I’m really looking forward to focusing on creativity rather than just processes,” she said.  “This group seems to be full of great ideas.”
     Commercial insurance agent Amy Fisher found nuggets of new insight in several of the exercises.  “Your instincts can be exactly the opposite of what’s needed to create success,” she said.  “And you have to adapt to each other’s strengths, or you wind up making the same mistakes over and over.”
     With a BA in liberal studies and a background in theater, Fisher wants to develop the entrepreneurial instincts and business foundations necessary to re-invent the family insurance business.  “My father started it in the carbon paper days 28 years ago. Our future is going to be very challenging.”
     Personal growth was the primary item on Sheetal Desai’s list of IMBA goals. Currently in a physical therapy position with HealthSouth, she wants to use the program to discover her weaknesses and overcome them.
     “I have to grow personally before I can grow professionally,” she said.
     Cara Silletto, a singer in a rock and roll band, started in the MBA program at Butler University, but a friend who had been through the UofL program quickly sold her on IMBA’s unique benefits, including the value of the college’s AASCB accreditation.  She believes it’s a perfect match for her philosophy of continuous improvement.
     “I have no interest in starting a new company—I want to help others make the most of their companies,” she said.  “My goal is to be a better person as well as a business leader.”
     In conquering the Trust Walk on the first attempt, Matt Wilson set the bar high for those that followed. But as a salesman for NuTek International, it’s what he works toward every day.
     “If you’re a partner or associate and you’re not providing the support your organization needs, you’re not going to be successful, and neither is your company,” he said.  “I want to come away from this completely confident that any feasible project I start I can be successful at—doesn’t matter if it’s for me or for others.”
     Other members of the IMBA 15 class are Ryan Little, Laura Zanewicz, Joshua Sickles, Rusty Dean, David Noack, Bryan Sapp, Paul Blackwell, Nisha Thomas, John Weis, Chad Barras, Daniel Herrmann, Michael Lipp, James Bahe, Sarvagya Bhatnager, Colin Lippy, Eunice Salazar, Cohin Kakar, Aaron Welenken, Martin Brown, David Hartman, Brent Hurst, Joseph Rotella, Melissa Taylor, Sameer Ghare, Diego Montoya-Durango, David Polonitza, Charles Mingus, Nathan Andaya, Sham Kakar, Viji Sundar and Paul Rollins.

(Posted 5/20/08)