EDGE Educational Offerings to Businesses and Students

MBA UltraLite: A Crash Course in Business & Leadership

Companies are asking more of their employees to be leaders and think like business people, usually with limited experience or education in either leadership or business fundamentals.

EDGE created the MBA UltraLite to solve this issue — to give people a holistic understanding of all areas of business so they make better decisions and have better ideas about creating value in their roles.

  • “Taught” by a unique combination of dynamic professors from the top regional universities, proven business leaders and peers.
  • Participants gain:
  • Fundamental understanding of the language and practice of business

(Strategy, Finance, Marketing, HR, Operations and IT)

  • Basis for leadership development

(Communication, Negotiation, Learning and Project Management)

Leadership Alchemy: A Leadership Education Course

Leadership Alchemy is designed for mid-market business professionals who want or need leadership education (tools and exercises, i.e. “learn how to learn”) and real experience of personal development, which has great implications for one’s ability to lead others.

The course content focuses building supervisory skills rather than technology or business decisions. Thus, coaching, communication, and team building will take priority over visioning, creativity and strategy exercises.

This is a “Leadership 2.0″ class. EDGE has synthesized “best of the best” practices to make this experience hard-hitting without being a huge time sink. Instructors are a mix of top-notch coaches and prominent business and civic leaders. Participants are people who are currently working or developing as team leaders and may have functional business or technical expertise, but could benefit from development in the aspects of managing people.

InnoQuest: Innovation Management Program

The bi-monthly class sessions feature one or two executive-level leaders and practitioners of innovation. The program provides best practices examples, practical methods to implement, valuable networking opportunities, and a greater perspective on innovation.

The sessions address innovation issues like:

  • Drivers of Innovation/Business Case for Innovation
  • Leadership and Culture
  • Where and How to Innovate
  • Filling the Pipeline of Ideas/Managing Creativity
  • Ideas to Implementation / Allocating Resources
  • Marketing and Launching Innovation; Return on Investment (ROI)

Bi-monthly facilitated roundtables for CEOs/Presidents, and leaders

in Operations, Finance, Human Resources, Information Technology, Marketing and Sales.

Annual Economic Forecast: geared specifically towards middle market organizations.

Annual keynote presentation from a nationally-recognized business author.

Past speakers include Marshall Goldsmith, Bob Herbold (Microsoft), Anthony Williams (Wikinomics). Dan Heath comes April, 2013.

Executive All-Stars:

Annual panelist-led discussion for business leaders from across the functional spectrum.

EDGE Fellows Summer Intern Program

The EDGE Fellows Program provides business leaders with affordable due diligence in a confidential manner by a proven program that has helped leaders make informed business decisions on new initiatives and launch multiple new ventures.

This two-month paid summer intern program identifies talented primarily graduate-level students that are interested in business development and innovation to conduct feasibility analyses on new business ideas submitted by CEOs and other NEO leaders.

The EDGE Fellows Summer Program:

  • Pairs student teams with experienced business mentors.
  • Assigns teams to work with CEOs or other idea generating business leaders.
  • Drives value for participating businesses and their leadership teams.
  • Provides students with:
  • a meaningful educational experience,
  • exposes them to new opportunities and new relationships,
  • helps them network with professionals throughout the region, and
  • ideally keeps them working in Northeast Ohio beyond graduation.

Findings:

  • EDGE Fellows consistently rate their overall experience as a 9.0+ (out of 10).
  • 30% of projects studied turn into new business revenue for NEO within 2 – 3 years.
  • 70% of EDGE Fellows choose to stay and work with NEO companies following graduation – creating a network of EDGE Fellows in a variety of industries.

Program Sponsors:

  • The Burton D. Morgan Foundation, GAR Foundation, Harvard Business School Club of Northeast Ohio, and The Knight Foundation

EDGE Scholars Concept (new)

Goal:

Create a premier entrepreneurial student program to engage more talented undergraduate, graduate and potentially recently graduated students (from all disciplines) with Northeast Ohio entrepreneurial and innovation-related business opportunities (i.e. 50+ more per yr).

Objectives:

  • Utilize area schools to help identify top performing students interested in entrepreneurship (i.e. 5 schools identify 10 – 20 to participate).
  • Create framework which allows students with varied/busy schedules to participate

(i.e. may need to commit to a minimum number of hours from a selection of events).

May include research, strategic networking, academic, or social components.