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Custom MBA students tee up to learn leadership

Korean business executives in a custom MBA program at Thunderbird stepped out of the classroom June 10 to practice their leadership skills on the golf course.

The LG Electronics managers and engineers played an 18-hole scramble in foursomes at Legend at Arrowhead golf course in Glendale. Afterward, the teams discussed their leadership strategies during a debriefing session on campus led by Thunderbird professor Caren Siehl.

“Leadership, like golf, is a mental game,” Siehl told the students. “You need to be focused, you need to believe in yourself and you need to prepare yourself. You need to be ready to lead.”

The 26 students arrived May 29 in Arizona to complete their MBA in Global Management coursework before graduation on June 28. They are the third cohort of LG executives to participate in a multiyear, multimillion-dollar partnership with Thunderbird that started in 2006.

Under the agreement, Thunderbird customized its global curriculum for 150 of LG’s top managers and engineers, who complete most of their training at the LG Learning Center in South Korea in 10 five-day modules every four weeks. Thunderbird faculty and program managers travel to the center to deliver the courses.

The LG students identified several leadership lessons from the golf course on June 10.

“You have to work with the talent that comes with your team,” said Young Sik Khang, and LG group leader.

Young Huan Choi, an LG general manager, said leaders sometimes hurt morale when they coach with harshness. But he said the coaching that occurred on the golf course was well-received.

“The chief factor was trust,” he said. “We trusted each other.”

LG senior manager Tae Kweon Baek said the lesson he learned was tolerance.
“It’s not easy to change your swing,” he said. “We should accept each other’s differences.”

LG chief research engineer S.D. Chang participated on one of two winning teams that shot an even par. He said none of the golfers on his team could have shot par by themselves.

“The power of the team is better than your best player,” he said. “That’s the leadership lesson I learned.”