März 17, 2008
Berlin School Alumnus Ralf Zilligen to lead BBDO Düsseldorf
Promotion follows shortly after graduation from the Berlin School Executive MBA in Creative Leadership
Zilligen described his experience and rationale for attending the Berlin School in a recent article published in DIE WELT:
Going Beyond Your Limits
A creative executive in his forties that decides to attend a €45,000 MBA program must have one objective above all: to learn.
By Ralf Zilligen
DIE WELT - KarriereWelt - 08-March-2008
If the saying “you live and learn” is true, I can arguably claim that no one has discovered this truth the way I did during the past 18 months. At the age of 45 I can look back on a good quarter century of work. Provided I remain in good health and airily considering current demographic trends as they shift in shape from an age pyramid to a mushroom, I most likely have another 25 years ahead of me. So far I can’t really say life has been unkind to me. As the creative leader of the Düsseldorf office of Germany’s leading advertising agency, BBDO, I am surrounded by excellent art directors, copywriters and designers. I have worked for top industry leaders. Greats like Tim Delaney, Konstantin Jacoby and Jean-Remy von Matt I count among my mentors.
That is not exactly what I call an educational deficit. But still - education has its limits. It is true the support for young talents in the German creative industry has never been better. The educational system, however, is not laid out to ensure that outstanding creative talents make outstanding executives as well. Is there another way to explain why agencies - after years of vocational development and training - promote employees to creative executive positions without taking a closer look at their leadership skills? It is leadership, not ideas, the industry needs. The Berlin School of Creative Leadership has set out to satisfy this very need. Now in its third year, the school offers the first Executive MBA in Creative Leadership for executives in the media and communication industries. When the founders of this management program asked for my opinions in the early stages of program development, I was so thrilled that I promised to sign up straight away the moment the school opened its doors. I would later feel a little hasty, euphoric and imprudent.
After indulging in my enthusiasm I was overcome by gnawing doubt. Would my investment of €45,000 prove worthwhile after all? Would I be able to encourage my partners in the agency to do without me for six 14-day modules spread over 18 months? Would my customers forgive me for neglecting them? Would my employees be insulted by this VIP-training in tough economic times? Would I be able to convince my wife that this lavish study course makes sense? And what would my friends say - friends I would, no doubt, have to neglect?
Looking back, even the very first day at the Berlin School was an event. There could not have been a better metaphor for the time ahead than the real life situation in which we students found ourselves: applauding and cheering runners in the Berlin Marathon. Our way led us past the audience through the crush barriers to the interim Berlin School building at the Brandenburg Gate. And indeed, an MBA-program is not a good choice for sprinters focusing on good shortrange results. During the 18 months that followed the words of our president, advertising icon Michael Conrad, kept crossing my mind. At the kick off he prepared us for “a time during which you as a group, but also each and every one of you individually, will be reaching your limits.”
I have to admit that I cursed my choice and my hasty decision more than once. First and foremost every time I had to interrupt my work at the agency in order to play the part of the listener and ignoramus for another two weeks. Suddenly my deficits were drawn to my attention and I could not simply take shelter in my usual patterns and structures. One actually has to learn to take in and adopt new ideas. This becomes an appealing condition only when you have achieved it. You discover how you react to unfamiliar situations, how you deal with uncertainty. Breaking can cause pain and uncertainty but finding success in new territory is truly inspiring when you work with other people and find personal development.
Presently the Berlin School offers the only Executive MBA in the world specifically designed for creatives. Champions League academics share lecture rooms with top stars of the international creative industries. This provides a rare privilege for students at the Berlin School. In case heroes are not your thing, the program also offers extensive field studies taking place at Tokyo-, London- and Chicago-based innovation centers. For example, the lectures at the renowned Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University are top flight, and among the best offered at US business schools. A two-week crash course on the American media market and management culture is rounded off by a visit to the Chicago Art Institute. At the end of this module which participants feel like a rocket readying on a launching pad.
From the very beginning our newly found academic knowledge had the value and purpose of producing skepticism among us. This is not unusual – after all the natural reaction of most creative people to theory is rejection. Our initial pessimism was countered by high quality teaching and the entertaining nature of most sessions. This is one of the special merits of the Berlin School faculty.
One of the undisputed advantages of the curriculum is the division of the program into six modules each starting with a synopsis of the preceding course and individual accounts of how each student put his/her new knowledge into practice. In this way the knowledge taught does not simply fall into oblivion but every idea is put to the acid test and examined for its suitability in everyday business life. After a course on process management, for instance, the next module starts off by asking for first implementation results. In this learn-and-do model students usefully apply theoretical knowledge in their professional careers.
Central to the Berlin School MBA is the team project in which students learn a great deal about cultural differences between executives. Also, the master thesis project allows participants to make a major contribution to the burgeoning field of creative leadership studies. The thesis proposal is an integral part of the application process. One must submit a provocative thesis on leadership in the creative industries. Academic rigor mixed with the practical knowledge gained through the many courses test and strengthen the final master thesis.
In the final examination students present and defend their thesis as their last grand entrance before graduating. It cannot be denied that there was a certain wistfulness in the air. While my classmates presented I contemplated the past months. I did it! Life goes on – in my case at BBDO in Düsseldorf – full of knowledge and new experiences, more confident to find the answers in our changing business, encouraged to stand up for my own ideas with greater confidence. And, yes, also a little proud to have seen the program through right to end as part of the pioneer class.
Following his graduation from the Berlin School of Creative Leadership, Ralf Zilligen was promoted from Chief Creative Officer to lead BBDO Düsseldorf.
Links:
Original Article in German: An eigene Grenzen stoßen - [DIE WELT - KarriereWelt]
Horizont article announcing Zilligen
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