Making Business Accessible:

Everything you wanted to know about business but didn’t have time for!

Do you wish you or your staff had more understanding of business?  Don’t have the time (or money) to complete an MBA?  Still want to understand (and use) the key concepts of an MBA?  Then the 8 Hour MBA is for you!

The 8 Hour MBA was designed for managers, professionals, and business owners who want to develop a broad perspective to deal more effectively in today’s rapidly changing and increasingly complex business environment.

The 8 Hour MBA is made up of four 8 hour presentations that capture the essence and applicable take-aways of six different topics.  The topics can also be mixed-an-matched for a customized presentation suited to your specific needs.

1. The 8 Hour MBA: Value Added

•  Better Budgeting and Forecasting
  • Instead of “banning the budget”, turn it into a planning process that helps your organization achieve its strategy.   Learn how to use a rolling forecast to continually improve performance, respond to a changing environment, and take advantage of opportunities.
• The Basics of Business Law
  • Do you know how to keep your company and your clients on the right side of the law?  How can management and directors protect themselves from liability?  In this session, we will cover the most common legal issues with corporate management, employee manuals, intellectual property and contracts.
• Faster Disaster Recovery
  • We often think about hurricanes and tornados as disasters but have you thought about the impact of new technology, a product recall, or even fraud?  Could your business survive 6 weeks without power?  Learn how to identify and rank potential threats, how to develop an emergency response plan, and what to consider to get your business back to normal operations.
• Financial Analysis 
  • There are a number of reasons why you would conduct a financial analysis, from investment decisions to career management.  This module will review the step necessary in order to conduct an effective financial analysis and spend time discussing the key components in the step of financial statement analysis.
• Fraud 
  • Fraud costs US companies $400 billion annually.  Do you know where the fraud is in your organization?  Don’t let your company continue to be a victim. This session will explain the fraud triangle, review a risk-based approach to fraud prevention, and discuss over 40 warning signs of fraud.
• Nuances of Negotiating 
  • When negotiating, there needs to be conversation that leads to an exchange – something gained for something given up. In this module, you will learn ways to improve your negotiating strategy and skills through new techniques that will lead to greater confidence in any negotiation situation.

2. The 8 Hour MBA: Powerful Communication

• The Art of Effective Writing
  • Your company is only as good as your writing.  Despite all your efforts, are you still trying to explain the difference between good and bad writing?  Learn 12 rules to produce effective writing with increased clarity and stronger impact.
• Building a Stronger Professional Network
  • Networking is one of the most powerful tools accountants can develop, but it takes time, energy and commitment in order to build a strong network.  Having a strong network will assist you in launching a new idea or plan, developing new business and clients, reducing costs in recruiting, and leveraging your career.
•  Personality Styles & Communication in the Workplace
  • How you communicate with your clients can make or break your career! This module will discuss different personality styles and demonstrate the different ways to communicate information to them. See how recognizing their personality style(s) can turn communication breakdowns into breakthroughs.
•  Success with Social Media
  • Twitter, Facebook, YouTube – great fun personally but what good are they for your business?  Learn about the business benefits of social media, specific uses of specific sites, and how to get started in social media in a way that fits your business.
•  Public Speaking and Presentation Skills
  • America’s greatest anxiety, public speaking, is a necessity in today’s business world. Those who can speak in front of crowds and have effective presentation skills tend to move up the corporate ladder more swiftly.  Learn how to stand in front of an audience, project confidence and knowledge, all the while making a connection and capturing your audience’s imagination to be powerful and persuasive.
• Presenting Financial Information
  • Have you ever presented financial information to a group of non-financial people only to get the glazed-over and under-whelmed look from your audience?  In this module, you will learn techniques that you can use to turn accounting language into the English language to create financial presentations with impact, comprehension, and retention.

3. The 8 hour MBA: Leadership Strategy

• Building High Performing Teams
  • The popular TV show, “Who’s Line Is It Anyway” is a form of improvisational comedy. Did you know that the core principles of improvisational comedy are the same core principles in efficient, effective, and productive teams? This interactive, high-energy workshop will introduce and reinforce these core principles into your team.
• EQ is More Important Than IQ
  • Have you ever made a bad decision when you were angry? Emotional intelligence (EQ) has a greater impact on our decisions than our knowledge (IQ).  Learn how to control your EQ and how to use EQ to make better decisions.
• Encouraging Entrepreneurship
  • In order to thrive, companies need to innovate. To innovate, employees need to think like an entrepreneur.  The best employees want to, and will do, more than their job description if they are provided the right environment.  This session will discuss the skill set of entrepreneurs and how to encourage and develop entrepreneurial employees.
• Dynamic Decision-Making
  • What is the most critical role in every job? Making good decisions!  Unfortunately, too many employees have no formal process, leaving decision-making subject to too much risk.  In this session, you will take an assessment to understand your decision-making style and review a six-step decision-making process.
• Greater Governance Through Ethics
  • In today’s fast-paced environment, we are constantly faced with ethical issues and dilemmas. It’s not only what we do that matters but how we do it is just as important. With the increasing popularity of social media and internet access, ethical missteps can become an instant public relations nightmare. This module will help you learn to think about ethics from a pro-active perspective to avoid becoming tomorrow’s top story.
• Leveraging Leadership
  • We can all list a variety of leadership skills but how do you develop them into your own leadership style? This program will explore leadership through a different lens by evaluating your leadership style and how to capitalize on your own personal strengths.

4. The 8 Hour MBA: Business Strategy

• Risk Assessment
  • An effective internal control system provides for reasonable assurance not absolute assurance. Which lead to questions like these: What could go wrong? What decisions require the most judgment? What activities are the most complex? This course will illustrate different ways to identify the impact of these risks, along with ways to help mitigate the risk.
• Strategy
  • Michael Porter defines strategy as “choosing to perform activities differently than rivals do.” What are your strengths, weakness, opportunities, and threats? How are your products and services different from your competitors? This session will illustrate different methods and techniques to develop and refine your business strategy.
• Sustainability
  • According to Harvard, companies with strong sustainability initiatives have 4 times the sales growth, 8 times the employee engagement, and a 47% greater increase in stock value than their non-sustainable competitors. This session will explain the 6 benefits of sustainability and 6 steps to building a sustainable business.
• Creativity & Innovation
  • Are you stuck in a rut of “Same As Last Year” and missing potential opportunities or not asking the right questions and missing potential areas of risk? 
Do you wish you were more creative in your thinking so you can uncover opportunities or potential area of risk? This session will demonstrate proven methods that will unlock you creativity and discuss the process of innovation.
• International Business
  • Business is not always business – do you understand the differences between conducting business in the US versus India or Japan? Learn about the four levels of international business and the unique challenges of each, as well as the questions you need to ask before stepping into the global business world.
• Marketing
  • As a professional, you have developed a strong technical expertise. But what about those skills necessary to grow and expand your business. This module will discuss the four P’s of marketing (product, price, place, and promotional), the importance of branding, the book “The Experience Economy” and the use of social media.