Our guest today is Peter Johnson, Assistant Dean of the Full-Time MBA Program and Admissions at Haas School of Business. He has been on the admissions team almost continually at Haas since 2004, becoming the director in 2006 and the Assistant Dean of Admissions in 2012. Welcome, Peter!

Can you give us an overview of the full-time MBA at Haas? [1:30]

It’s a traditional two-year full-time MBA, with an internship between the first and second year. We’re located in Berkeley, which if you’re not familiar is 12 miles NE of downtown San Francisco.

We have a special focus on developing entrepreneurial leaders who can make a positive impact on their organizations. We’re one of the smaller programs in the top-10 – we just welcomed an incoming class of 252 students.

Haas’s mission is “leading through innovation.” What does that mean, practically, to students? [2:55]

“Purposeful differentiation” is what makes organizations successful. We give students a strong b-school foundation (fundamentals of management, etc), plus opportunities to explore areas of specialization – an understanding of the changing dimensions of business and changing technology, so that they can explore ways to become entrepreneurs (or intrepreneurs, within established organizations).

You don’t become successful by doing what’s always been done – the key is to bring new ideas into your organization.

How does Haas take advantage of its connection to UC Berkeley and Silicon Valley? [5:35]

When people talk about Silicon Valley, they’re really talking about the Bay Area innovation ecosystem, which encompasses San Francisco and the whole area, both established tech companies and disruptive startups. We have faculty and adjunct lecturers who come from that environment; we know what those companies are looking for in employees.

We are on the Berkeley campus, and we’re fully part of the grad environment there. We have ties with engineering, etc. One example of that is our Clean Tech to Market program, where our students work directly with students in the sciences. Another collaborative project is the Blum Center for Developing Economies – our students work with students from Public Policy and other programs.

What does “global focus” mean at Haas? [8:30]

Cases in class connect to a global focus; businesses’ growth strategy is a global strategy.

Some things that are most impactful are experiential, such as our International Business Development Program. Through this program, over half of our full-time students work on a project for an international company or organization – they spend a semester on the ground in Berkeley and then go overseas to produce a deliverable for the client company.

Students can also spend a semester abroad with a partner school, and can go abroad during breaks. We also offer joint programs in business and International Area Studies.

“Leading Through Innovation” – what does it mean to applicants? [10:50]

People assume it means they need to be planning to launch a startup, but that’s not the case. We’re looking for people who challenge the status quo – who can become innovative leaders.

We have a course called “Problem Finding/Problem Solving.” We’re interested in students who are interested in developing themselves as this type of leader.

And what does the mission (“leading through innovation”) mean to alumni? [14:37]

You’re connected with a network of people who have a similar “innovation” skillset. Fellow alumni can become partners for cross-company collaboration ...