MBA Basics, a new offering from our school for MBA aspirants, launched this past week with a two-hour session on Creative Thinking led by Professor Hoe Chin Goi. Sowing the conceptual seeds vital to success in any MBA program, this course guides uninitiated participants through a series of digestible sessions on the foundational topics studied at the best business schools around the world.
Kicking off the first session with the question "Is Apple innovative?", Prof. Goi gently coaxed participants into sharing responses, seeing both agreements and disagreements develop amongst them. Working through some of the varying viewpoints helped with identifying how the participants felt about Apple's decision-making as consumers, before the discussion turned toward innovation in their own workplaces.
Lamenting how innovative efforts are met with resistance in the public sector, one participant offered her reflection at the session's conclusion: "Innovation is needed to survive. This is something I would like to share with my colleagues in education." Others agreed, citing how people change, and organizational practices must evolve in response.