Focus on: Recognizing Patterns

Take Your Career to the Next Level

The 9/11 Commission noted that the biggest failure in the days leading up to the terrorist attacks was a "failure of imagination." The pieces of the puzzle were there, but no one had connected the dots. In this issue, we examine how participants in Wharton's Advanced Management Program look to diverse disciplines to help them hone their pattern recognition. We examine a new program on customer-centricity that helps managers identify and capitalize on patterns of their most profitable customers. In a review of a new book from Wharton School Publishing, we look at patterns among employees and how "enthusiastic" workers contribute to performance. And finally, we examine how a group of NFL players are learning to recognize the plays that will help them in their post-game careers through a new program in finance and entrepreneurship.

We hope these insights will help you improve your own ability to make sense of and act upon the patterns in your own careers.

Best regards,
Mary-Anne Smith
Director of Communications
masmith@wharton.upenn.edu

"...and, wearing number 52, at vice-president-for-sales...Brad Redinger!..."

© 2005 Mort Gerberg from cartoonbank.com. All Rights Reserved.

Senior Management Programs
Recognizing Patterns

In his best-selling book Blink, Malcolm Gladwell examines how experts can recognize instantly that a statue is a fake or tell in a few minutes that a couple may be headed toward divorce. The ability to recognize patterns is critical to business leadership. Wharton's Advanced Management Program has looked to urban history, poetry, and even ancient mummies to hone executives' skills in connecting the dots. More

Thought Leaders
Which Customers Add Value to Your Business?

Amazing but true: In any business, the top 20 percent of customers typically generate 150 percent of the profits, while the bottom 20 percent generate losses equal to 100 percent of profits. The academic co-director of Wharton's new Customer-Centricity™ program discusses how companies can increase shareholder value by thrilling their most profitable customers and rethinking their relationship with the losers. More

In the Classroom
Wharton Program Prepares NFL Players for Post-Game Careers

NFL players gather at Wharton in April for a new training program in entrepreneurship and investment to help prepare for competition off the field. More

Wharton School Publishing
The Enthusiastic Employee

Motivated employees contribute positively to company performance, but how do companies encourage this enthusiasm? A new book, based on surveys of millions of employees over more than three decades, offers a set of solutions for cultivating "enthusiastic employees." More

Education à la Carte
See the Big Picture

Wharton's executive education programs offer an opportunity to step back and gain fresh perspectives on your work. This big-picture view, or new insights from different disciplines, can help you see new patterns and new solutions for your business challenges.

• Pension Fund and Investment Management
  June 20–24, 2005
  
  
• Executive Negotiation Workshop: Bargaining for Advantage^®
  July 24–29, 2005
  
  
• The NASD Institute at Wharton Certificate Program
  August 21–26, 2005
  
  
• Leading and Managing People
  September 19–22, 2005
  
  
• Wharton Fellows Master Class: Design, Innovation, and Strategy
  September 22–27, 2005
  Copenhagen and Milan

Any comments or suggestions? Please send us your thoughts at masmith@wharton.upenn.edu. We want to make every effort to respect your confidence, so please let us know if you don't want us to share them in future issues of Wharton@Work: E-Buzz.

"Take a haiku, Miss Lee..."

© 2005 Jack Ziegler from cartoonbank.com. All Rights Reserved.

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