Fostering Ideas and Innovation with Radical Collaboration Week
An experiential learning opportunity that brings together Foster MBAs and Seattle’s iconic companies to innovate solutions for pressing business problems
Written by: Chirag Chinmay, contributing writer, Foster School of Business
One of the experiential opportunities of the Foster Full-time MBA Program is the annual Radical Collaboration experience during the Fall Career and Community Week. This unique program provides first-year students an opportunity to dive deep into current business challenges with alumni and business representatives and build an understanding of design thinking principles as tools for creative thinking.
Now in its sixth year, Radical Collaboration took place from October 21 to 24.
The event kicked off with a keynote from Amelia Landers, Vice President of Innovation at Starbucks. Amelia shared experiences from her 17 years of innovating and growing $billion+ businesses in CPG and Retail and how Starbucks leverages a design thinking approach at their Tryer Center. Students learned about the rapid decision-making and critical thinking capabilities required to spearhead bold, impactful strategies and innovations in a fast-paced, developing business environment.
Students get first-hand experience in assembling business cases
After a session where the MBA Career Management team provided an overview of ideation exercises and design thinking mindsets to promote creative thinking, Foster alumni from Microsoft, Salesforce, and PwC introduced student teams to a business case that ranged from growth and marketing opportunities to innovation and workflow transformation challenges.
The company leads included PwC’s Matthew Lutz, Microsoft’s John Turk (MBA 2019), Mallory Monsma (MBA 2020), and Salesforce’s Visanthi Neelagiri (MBA 2021).
Students then had the rest of the day to design their solutions and create a presentation that they delivered the next day at the company. More than 25 alumni and business representatives participated in panels to evaluate student presentations and provide feedback.
“Radical Collaboration gives our students first-hand experience diving into real problems so they can engage their creative thinking in solutions that work,” says Assistant Dean, MBA Career Management Kay Dawson. “We are so grateful for our engaged alumni who actively support our students as they apply their learning to real problems; that’s part of the culture here.”
Here is some of the feedback students received from our alumni:
- “Super impressive that you could put together this amount of research in just a few days!”
- “I have been doing a lot of hiring over the last few months, and these students showed more knowledge and understanding of our company than many of those I have interviewed.”
- “One of the presentations I saw could actually be presented to our executive management right now and would probably get a go-ahead!”
Here’s what our Foster MBAs said about the experience:
- “The simulated experience of presenting a solution to C-suite executives in a short time was the best part. It was important to be thorough with your slides and ensure the deck comes out as coherent and not a work of 6 individuals as senior leadership gives importance to these points.”
- “It was an amazing experience to work on a challenging business problem in such a short timeframe. We had to do market research, ideate, design, and present a solution to the company facing the challenge.”
- “I liked how engaged and passionate the company representatives were about the project!”
- “The alumni were so engaged in the process! They gave us really good feedback on our ideas and suggested improvements. These will definitely help me in future presentations!”
- “It was great to apply learnings from our core classes of Marketing and Strategy. It was a first-hand experience to see how core frameworks come into play in real-life situations.”
“There are a lot of behind-the-scenes efforts in cultivating these partnerships with not just our alums, but also recruiting partners to sustain these programs/events,” says Foster School Senior Associate Director, Corporate Recruiting Bronica Sam. “Radical Collaboration is a great example of where professional development programming leverages these corporate partnerships to deliver high-impact engagement opportunities for our students.”
“Events like this are an essential part of the Foster MBA experience,” adds Foster School Senior Associate Director Leslie Meagley. “These programs where students work directly with our alums and representatives from top companies to learn by doing have a huge positive impact on what they take away from Foster, building strong bonds with each other, and helping them expand their own networks.”
Learn more about the Foster School of Business Full-time MBA program.
