2018-08-03Northwestern Universit

Today our destination is Evanston, Northwestern University. Been there once in May, I was still looking forward to this tour, not only because I like the beautiful campus along the Michigan lake, but also because I learnt that Kellogg School of Management is among the M7(7 best business school across US). When I found the father of modern marketing, Philip Kottler worked there, I was exciting. In my perspective, anyone who studies marketing should be quite familiar with that name, because all the marketing books in my home country mention him. I was hoping I could take a picture with my ideal!

I was flattered when we arrived at the James Allen Center. In the lobby, there were beverages, snacks, and Kellogg arranged white board and screen to show their welcome. We were greeted by Jaclyn, Kristi and David, whom all dressed as professionals. 

After a short introduction, Kristi and David gave us a walking tour around the campus. Of course, at the very beginning, we were showed the Allen Center. This building was designed for MBA and EMBA program, which aimed at high-end management teams. The inside of the Allen Center is very well decorated, there are living area and studying rooms and all the necessary equipment to get group discussion. From the dorm window of second floor, you can even see the lake view! The only thing that some trainees complained about was no TV. It is obvious that Kellogg did that on purpose, to encourage the trainees to talk to each other and work as a group.

After the walking tour, we came back to the lobby and had buffet in Atrium Dining Room, which was wonderful. All the MBA and EMBA students could enjoy the food for free. We had chance to ask David more questions on our mind. 

According to our tight schedule, we had another literary at 1:00 pm. The Associate Dean, Paul gave us a short introduction of Northwestern University and Kellogg School of Management. NU was established in 1851, 16 years earlier than UIUC, and was ranked 12 in US universities by US News and World Report. There were a few Nobel medal winners like Dale Mortensen and Sir Francis Stoddart. Among its trustees lists, I found Northern Trust former CEO William Osborn. Kellogg had a very successful MBA and EMBA program. Its global EMBA network covers many countries. Kellogg also provided services to many world class corporations like Cocacola, Microsoft, Citi bank, HSBC and so on. The professors are also world famous like Leigh Thompson and Mohanbir Sawhney. 

We were lucky to have Mohan to give us a lecture of the perspectives on business innovation in financial services. He dressed formal suit and a traditional India Hat. During his speech, Mohan covered what is business innovation, taking a broader view of innovation, overcoming barriers to innovation and best practices in managing innovation. We had a very good lecture and learnt quite a lot of new ideas on business innovation from him. 

I was not surprised by the grand building and decoration, but by the details of their reception. Each poster, each name tag, seat tag, lecture notes, pencils and note paper, even the bottle water. I believe that is also part of what made their business school among the bests.