SMU EXED…
We give you
your money’s worth

The best way to determine the effectiveness of an executive education program is to observe how executives use the information once they get back to the office. Only then can companies assess the real value of their investment in management training.

Seeing the big picture

Wick Allison, D Magazine founder and CEO, experienced this first-hand when he sent eight employees to a custom program SMU Cox Executive Education (EXED) developed for the City and Regional Magazine Association (CRMA). "I saw an immediate change," he says. "They were excited and charged. Before they focused on their own business units, but after the program, they saw the company as a whole – and with that, they saw possibilities."

Allison was so impressed that he decided a broader group of his managers (30 to be exact) could realize even greater benefit from a program tailored not just to the magazine industry, but to Allison's specific business objectives and operational challenges. He contacted SMU to develop a custom program that would create alignment and understanding about his organization's current business challenges and strategic responses within his growing group of managers and give them the business tools to implement the strategies.

Tailored to fit

Taught over the course of six modules, this program comprised 11 sessions covering topics such as:

•Financial Reporting and Financial Statements
• Motivation and Performance Management
• Leadership Versatility
• Journalism and Media Ethics
• Negotiations
• Strategy

SMU Cox faculty worked with leaders at Allison Publications (D Magazine parent company), as well as a journalism professor from SMU's Meadows School of the Arts, to adapt program content to the business of magazine publishing.
Allison says he plans to make the Executive Management program an annual exercise. "Because of the program, our managers are growing the company," he says. "As we grow, new managers will need the program. In our minds, it's a virtuous circle."

Read more about how Allison Publications and D Magazine are preparing managers in the upcoming issue of CoxToday, the alumni magazine for SMU Cox School of Business.

Students Speak Up

"The Executive Development program that the Cox School of Business customized for our company was outstanding. Over three intense sessions, I saw the best and brightest in our company transformed into MBA students feverishly taking notes and questioning everything. The experience was a wake up call that you are never too accomplished to learn."
- Jay Spence, Associate Publisher, The Land Report.

"After finishing the SMU Cox Executive Management program, I no longer fear the balance sheet or cower when I hear the term 'cash flow.' I have a greater appreciation for all the business that goes on in our business. And I'm more confident that as I advance in the company, "I'm capable of tackling the increased responsibility placed on my desk."
- Jason Heid, Executive Editor, People Newspapers.

"The Executive Management program somehow crammed semesters worth of accounting, marketing, strategy, and more into a mere couple of weeks. While I don't think I'm quite ready to take over the entire company, I do have a better sense of how each department influences and relies upon the rest of the organization. If nothing else, the program gave me a better picture of the bigger picture of our business, which was no small feat."
- Adam McGill, Executive Editor, Dallas CEO