Shop Talk: Q&A with Mark Rice, WPI
Photo/Christina H. Davis
Mark Rice, Dean, School of Business, WPI
Worcester Polytechnic Institute is undergoing a bit of a reorganization as it establishes for the first time in its 145-year history three separate schools in business, engineering and arts and sciences. At the helm of the newly formed school of business is Mark Rice, who comes to WPI from Babson College, where he served as dean of the business school for six years. Here, Rice talks about what the formation of the business school means in practical terms, as well as his insights into how to avoid being a bad salesperson.
>> What attracted you to this position?
Primarily the attraction was the opportunity to be an entrepreneurial dean and build a new enterprise. We were going from a management department to a school of business, so it was not coming in and incrementally changing something, it was really a dramatic shift.
>> What’s the difference now that WPI has a business school? Is it just a change on the letterhead?
At some places it would be simply changing the same, but that wasn’t the case here. We’ve gone from 14 departments to three schools. The departments still exist, but they’re now within a school, which is the normal model. The idea is to have three relatively senior academic leaders who can do all the things that deans are supposed to do — not only be responsible for the internal academic teaching and research service, but also to be externally focused. For example, talking to the media, helping raise money, dealing with accreditation issues, helping develop corporate relationships, developing the alumni networks, all those kinds of external things. It was not an incremental change. It’s truly a game changer.
>> What are your top priorities?
The first thing on the list is: What can we do that enhances the connectedness between the three schools — engineering, arts and sciences, business? One of my challenges is how do I get a significant percentage of the non-business undergraduate students to take at least a course or two in the business school and even more particularly in entrepreneurship and innovation. The second thing on the list addresses image. WPI has, in the school of business, this self image challenge. It is the hidden gem problem. We’re thrilled that we’re a gem, but we’re annoyed that we’re hidden.
>> What kind of classes did you teach at Babson?
Primarily entrepreneurship and innovation classes. But I also I taught for eight years a course called Business Development through Professional Selling. I’d start my classes by asking the students, How many of you get a warm and fuzzy feeling when you hear the term sales? Now why is that? The reason we have a negative attitude towards sales is because we’ve been subjected to really bad salespeople. And a really good salesperson is a joy to work with because they help you buy something you need to buy. I don’t care if you’re an editor trying to sell something to your publisher, an engineer trying to sell a project, a dean selling something to provost, we’re always trying to sell our ideas. If you don’t want to use the term sale, just use communicate. That can be done poorly or that can be done well.
>> What are the characteristics of a bad salesperson?
I think the easiest way to contrast the two is the following: Are you being subjected to manipulative selling, or to consultative selling? A bad, manipulative salesperson is trying to get you to buy something you may or may not need because it’s all about them and meeting their sales quotas. Whereas a consultative salesperson is really trying to help you create value for yourself and for your enterprise.
>> Don’t you think the reality of business and quarterly goals forces people into being bad salespeople?
I agree, but that’s part of the problem. Bad organizations lose sight of the fact that there’s almost no sale that’s not a repeat sale. If you’re really thinking about long-term relationships with your customers instead of a one off to meet quarterly numbers, then you’re thinking about how to do the right thing by your customer.
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>> How do you teach entrepreneurship and innovation? Aren't some people just born with it?
I'm the first person to say that people have different tendencies and inclinations, but I do think that it's a fundamental characteristic of human beings that we have the ability to be creative. Therefore anybody who opts to take an entrepreneurial or innovation class has the capacity to respond to a really dedicated and knowledgeable instructor who says, Lets walk through the process and help you think through how to go from an idea, to a proposal, to a startup, to a company that you can sustain, to something that might grow. You can really learn a lot about the process of starting and building an enterprise. There's also a lot of skill that comes from practicing the various parts of that process.
>> What's the toughest management lesson you've had to learn?
I'm saying this a little bit tongue and cheek. By far the toughest thing was realizing how much of my time as a manager was going to end up being spend with SHB: stupid human behavior. When I was the dean at Babson I found out very quickly that the really thorny human issues can't get resolved at a lower level, they tend to rise. When I say stupid, I mean something messy, yucky, ugly, difficult - you know, the difficult human problems that tend to rise to the most senior person in the organization. I've spent more time doing that than I expected. Also from a management perspective, keeping laser sharp focus on the key priority tasks is a huge challenge because there's just so much pressure in the day-to-day operations that try to crowd out time and attention.
>> How have you managed to cope with that?
When it gets really crazy, I will send myself an e-mail with a list of the three or four things that are critical that I don't want to lose track of when I'm dealing with run of the mill work. I try to make sure that I create teams that are focused strategic priorities, so it's not just me by myself. Other than that it's just sort of mental discipline. I just am willing to accept the fact that some of the run of the mill stuff isn't going to get done.
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