The curriculum is structured into ten modules of 3 ½ hours each. Each module will be highly specialized, interactive, and based upon real-world business and technology best practices. Instructors will be top-rated Rutgers faculty members and experienced industry practitioners steeped in engineering, science, and technology. Topics include:
Managing New Product Development
Product management is a critical discipline for effectively and efficiently creating new products. Rather than focus only on the building, the best product managers recognize that most new products fail not because they don't do what the creators intended them to do, but because they don't meet customer needs. By using customer feedback data early and often, you can avoid these costly missteps.
Key Takeaways
- Don’t pit agile vs. waterfall. Instead, get customer feedback early and often.
- Efficient product development is about continual progress, not perfect plans.
- Customers will tell you what they want if you know how to ask and if you allow them to test your ideas.
- AI is changing product management, not replacing it.
- Long-term product planning requires understanding of both business and technical trends.
Negotiations
An introduction to negotiations that hightlights the differences between integrative and distributive negotiations. We will primarily focus on distributive negotiations and how we can protect ourselves from the use of power and misdirections. We will explore the concept of framing and pitching in the domain of losses. Lastly, we will discuss tips for negotiating your compensation package.
Key Takeaways
- Difference between integrative and distributive negotiations.Power: where it comes from and how to protect yourself
- How to negotiate a raise or job offer
- How to deal with lies and misdirections
- Negotiating the relationship.
Sales and Marketing in Practice
Engineers and technology managers don't need to become marketers. Nut they do need to understand how sales and marketing actually work, because they're already doing it. Whether pitching a roadmap to leadership, justifying headcount, or positioning a product internally, their success depends on sales & marketing acumen.
This session converts sales and marketing into practical frameworks: how positioning, channels, and budget decisions actually connect to revenue and growth, how AI and LLMs are reshaping discovery and customer behavior right now, and how businesses use sales and marketing to create a customer.
Key Takeaways
- A simple, reusable framework for how sales and marketing actually work. Not jargon, just the mechanics of how businesses find and keep customers.
- How positioning really works, and why it applies as much to your career and your team's internal credibility as it does to a product or company.
- How to evaluate channels (paid, earned, owned) with the same rigor you apply every day to technical decisions, including where AI/LLM discovery now fits.
- The math behind marketing budgets including cost-per-conversion and lead value modeling so you can read and question a marketing plan, not just approve one.
- Where sales and marketing actually connect, so cross-functional friction with those teams gets easier to diagnose and fix.
- A direct takeaway for your own career: you are the product too, and the same positioning and communication principles apply to how you're perceived internally.
Customer Experience: Creating and Executing Effective CX Strategies for Any Business
Customer Experience is no longer simply about improving service—it is a strategic business capability that enables organizations to create lasting customer relationships, drive organizational performance, and achieve sustainable growth. This executive education module provides practical frameworks for designing customer-centric organizations through journey management, customer insights, experience design, and performance measurement. Participants will explore how artificial intelligence, personalization, and customer-centric leadership are reshaping modern customer experience while developing actionable strategies that make organizations easier to do business with.
Key Takeaways
- Customer Experience is defined as the complete sum of experiences that customers go through when interacting with your company and brand. Said another way…While brand represents a promise made to customers, best-in-class customer experience represents a promise kept.Aligning people, processes and tools is important to creating an effective customer experience strategy.
- A customer journey map identifies the experiences your customer will have with your company and brand through the phases of the customer lifecycle.
- There are 3 types of CX metrics: Descriptive, Perceptive and Outcomes. The strongest CX programs measure operational performance, customer perception, and business outcomes together.
- Sustainable growth requires balancing employee, operational, customer, and business performance.
Business Strategy
For technology firms, business strategy is about how to create value for shareholders. This module provides the tools necessary for you to make key decisions about which markets to compete in and how to win against the competition in those markets. Gaining a competitive advantage is critical to winning. This module will also help you determine the capabilities and management systems that are necessary for you to execute the strategy.
Key Takeaways
- Business Strategy is critically important to set the direction and focus the resources for a company’s future. Most large multi-national corporations make Strategy Development a formal exercise that includes all functions
- Elements such as the Product Strategy, Commercial Strategy, and Partner Strategy combine to strengthen a company’s offering to its consumers.
- For Technology managers, this is made challenging by the speed of change, levels of competition, and uncertainty for the future
- Strategy is not static – it is always a work in progress!
Business Ventures and Innovation
How do you move an innovation from idea to adoption? How does one properly manage the new product development process? In this module participants will learn the differences between traditional and entrepreneurial management techniques and gain insight into why good managers are often bad innovators. Participants will learn to use methodologies such as the Innovator’s Method and Lean Startup principles. They will then understand how to apply those methodologies to the development and adoption of new ideas. Participants will also learn a framework by which to evaluate an innovation in order to determine if it will create long-term value for their organization. Key concepts in innovation such as disruptive innovation, open innovation, as well as lean and agile methodologies will also be covered.
Key Takeaways
- How do you move an innovation from idea to adoption?How does one properly manage the new product development process?
- How do we know if an innovation is the right fit for your organization?
- How can we identify and mitigate the critical risks associated with new innovations?
- How do we go about consistently achieving innovation?
Artificial Intelligence: Technology, Regulation, Business and Ethics
Narrative Description (3-5 sentences): The module is designed to provide participants with an understanding of the interplay between AI and modern business principles. The module explores the technology behind AI, the regulatory and cross-border challenges of implementing AI, and the impact of AI on corporate decision-making. It also introduces the concept of Ethics related to the decision to adopt and implement AI.
Key Takeaways
- Participant should be more prepared to consider the ethical and legal implications of using AI in your business.
- When mapping your career path, participations should be able to account for AI’s impact.
- Participants will develop an understanding of how to adopt best practices at the C-Suite level.
- Participants will gain a deeper understanding of the impact to bias and computation errors in AI; and
- Participant should recognize that AI is an ever-changing and fluid concept, so monitor technological, governmental, and societal developments in the area.
Financial Statements
An overview of the three principal financial statements: balance sheet, income statement, and statement of cash flows. The focus will be on understanding the firms financial condition and on the four factors that drive profitability. We will have an excellent short case at the end that will allow the students to apply their knowledge.
Key Takeaways
- What is a balance sheet? Why do we look at it? What are the assets, liabilities, and equity? What is an income statement? What are the four drivers of profitability?
- What is the statement of cash flows? What are the three sources and uses of funds?
- There will be a final case assignment that will allow the participants to apply their new found skills.
Macroeconomics
This highly-applied and 'real world' module is designed primarily for participants who have technical backgrounds. It will demystify the role of the Federal Reserve and of national fiscal policies in the US as well as in the Eurozone, India, and China. Given the global supply chains, any macroeconomic analysis that is not global would be seriously deficient. Engineers and scientists today "wear many hats" and are key players in the design of global R&D strategy, which necessitates a thorough analysis of the global/monetary backdrop. This module will ensure that technical professionals and engineers alike will be well-equipped to thrive in today's multi-faceted workplace.
Key Takeaways
- `How will large Keynesian macropolices affect growth? That is, how will national stimulus plans (large deficit speeding funded by huge money creation) affect inflation and interest rates? And wages and earnings? And jobs and asset prices in your sector?
- Or instead of large stimulus plans should the focus be on the Supply-Side? This would include huge corporate and personal tax cuts and less government regulation, all aimed at increasing Productivity and fostering Innovation.
- How would you, as an executive in the "corner office on the top floor" (or in your virtual office) spot signs of domestic or global overheating? Of bubbles in certain key sectors such as housing, stocks, cybercurrency, or SPACs? Or conversely, how would you as a business leader steer your company/sector/personal finances from a soft-landing economy by spotting the warning signs early?
- Instead of taking the macro "backdrop" of Federal Reserve (monetary) and Government policies (fiscal policies) as a "given" as most Strategy plans do, how would you leverage your macro knowledge obtained here, to quickly steal a move on your competition?
Leadership: Developing High-Impact Leaders for Organizational Success
As organizations navigate rapid change, uncertainty, and increasing complexity, effective leadership is a critical driver of success. This module explores four evidence-based leadership concepts that help leaders develop themselves, empower teams, and create high-performing organizations. Participants will examine Growth Mindset, Two Leadership Gears, Leadership That Gets Results, and Level 5 Leadership through research, case studies, and practical application. Emphasis is placed on translating these leadership principles into actionable behaviors that enhance team performance, innovation, and organizational culture.
Key Takeaways
- Cultivate a Growth Mindset by viewing talent and leadership capabilities as skills that can be developed through learning, effort, feedback, and continuous improvement.
- Master Two Leadership Gears by knowing when to take charge and provide direction and when to empower others, encourage collaboration, and share decision-making authority.
- Adapt Your Leadership Style by understanding and applying different leadership approaches, including coaching, visionary, affiliative, democratic, pacesetting, and coercive styles, based on the needs of the situation.
- Demonstrate Level 5 Leadership by combining personal humility with professional will, creating lasting organizational success while developing future leaders and fostering a culture of discipline and accountability.
Program Overview
For an overview of our Mini-MBA for Engineers and Technology Managers program plus program benefits and outcomes, please click here.