Education – Croixstone

Croixstone Recommends: The Harvard Business School Club of Charlotte’s “Management Development Program”

It’s that time of year again when registration has opened for one of the Charlotte region’s best professional development and networking programs – the Harvard Business School Club of Charlotte’s “Management Development Program.”

Croixstone’s co-founders, Patti Weber and Mark Weber, are both graduates of this mini-MBA course that is conducted “Harvard style.” Taught by 26 Harvard Business School alumni from the Charlotte region, the course curriculum utilizes Harvard’s famous case study method and Harvard publications. Croixstone’s leaders especially enjoyed the rigorous debate of real-world business challenges that are embedded in the program.

The Management Development Program classes begin September 21 for 13 consecutive Monday nights and are open to the public (space is limited). And new for 2021, you have the option of participating in person at Queens University in Charlotte or remotely.

Learn more here.

So How Is The Labor Market Looking?

Given our connectivity with middle market and large corporations across the greater Charlotte region, the Croixstone team is asked this question almost every day.

Our answer? It’s simple.
The story varies greatly based on education level attained.

As of May 2020, the unemployment rate for those with a Bachelors degree or higher was significantly lower than the 15.0% rate for high school graduates with no college degree:

Bachelors Degree: 8.4%
Masters Degree: 5.6%
Professional Degree: 5.9%
Doctoral Degree: 3.5%

Keep in mind that economists have long believed that the overall economy is at “full employment” at a rate of around 5%.

Based on our understanding of these rates and ongoing discussions with c-suite leaders, the Croixstone team believes ample career opportunities continue to exist for highly-educated professionals in today’s workforce.

That said, the market is certainly more competitive in 2020 than the past several years. For that reason, professionals in career transition mode are wise to focus on their personal branding and professional networking strategies to ensure a competitive edge.

Online MBA Programs

Croixstone has built its practice around a group of elite, senior level top-tier MBA consulting professionals who thrive on tackling the toughest industry challenges to help propel businesses forward.

Recently, Forbes released a list of MBA programs they say are just as good or better than those ranked by U.S. News & World Report. Click here to read more.

Where Top CEOs Earned Their MBAs

There are 23 business schools whose MBA alumni are leading one of the top 100 companies on the Fortune 500 list. A handful of these schools have more than one MBA recipient in this position. Click here to view of map of where the USA’s top CEOs got their MBAs.

Mainstream Mindfulness

Last week, members of the Croixstone Consulting crew attended an educational seminar hosted by HopeWay Foundation, a Charlotte-based 501(c)(3) that supports mental health wellness. The guest speaker was Dan Harris, ABC News anchor and author of 10% Happier and Meditation for Fidgety Skeptics.

Dan Harris has become a huge advocate of mental health wellness, and meditation, following his personal experience with a nationally televised panic attack.

Meditation has become fully mainstream, and companies like Google, Nike, and Apple are proponents of mindfulness training. Learn more here.

World’s Best MBA Programs

Croixstone has built our consulting team around highly-experienced professionals – most with MBAs and many from the very best business schools in the USA and beyond. So who ranks at the top of the world’s best MBA programs in 2019?

According to the annual QS World University Rankings, there is a new #1 MBA program in 2019. And the world’s best MBA program is…

Education Innovation

Did you know that Charlotte is one of six cities in the USA identified by The Brookings Institute (a nonprofit public policy organization) as a “major-emerging immigrant gateway“? With more than one quarter of a million immigrants, Charlotte’s ability to integrate immigrants (especially when it comes to education, occupational training, and English language ability) is critical for our city to make the most of its immigrant population and their mostly U.S.-born offspring.

Croixstone’s founder, Mark Weber, serves as Board Chair of ourBRIDGE for KIDS, an innovative, nonprofit afterschool program that serves more than 100 CMS families representing 20 cultures on Charlotte’s east side. Sil Ganzó, ourBRIDGE founder and Executive Director, was recently profiled by StyleBlueprint as a “FACE of Charlotte.”

Best Business Schools

According to the Financial Times, these are the 10 best business schools in the world. And new to the #1 ranking is…

Seed20 OnStage!

Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?'” Today, we focus on an upcoming event dedicated to those in the Charlotte community that are “doing for others” each and every day…SEED20 OnStage!

SEED20 is the annual program of Social Venture Partners Charlotte (a nonprofit organization) to identify, highlight and connect the community to the region’s most promising social entrepreneurs tackling pressing challenges.

Croixstone’s Mark Weber is serving as the Lead Partner for this year’s powerful program, best known for its high-energy SEED20 OnStage event where ten members of the SEED20 class compete to win cash awards by making three-minute “pitches” to a panel of judges and a community audience.

This year’s event takes place at the Bechtler Museum and Knight Theater in front of an audience of 1,000 guests on April 16, 2018. We invite you to view the SEED20 video and website to learn more.

Tickets for the event are now on sale. To purchase tickets, Click Here

Books That May Change Your Life

Did you know that one of the core habits that highly successful people have in common is reading? Socio-economist Randall Bell spent 25 years studying success and found that, “Those who read seven or more books per year are more than 122 percent more likely to be millionaires as opposed to those who never read or only read one to three [books].” Reading is not only a great source of knowledge and inspiration, but reading reduces stress and feeds your imagination.

Billionaire Warren Buffett has been known for saying that a single book, The Intelligent Investor, written by Benjamin Graham changed his life. In Buffett’s 2013 annual letter to shareholders he stated, “Of all the investments I ever made, buying Ben’s book was the best.” Now, Buffett spends up to 80% of his day reading. Billionaire Richard Branson once stated that the book that changed his life was Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie. “I’ve drawn a lot of inspiration from the book. I’ve never really wanted to grow up and I’ve always wanted to fly!”

Maybe one of the books from the below links may change your life!

Check out 24 books successful people read here.

Learn about 9 books Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos and Warren Buffett think you should read here.

Looking for a great business book? Check out the latest Financial Times & McKinsey‘s book list for 2017 here.

Finally, here are 13 must-read books on success according to the Young Entrepreneur Council.

Here’s to your next great book!