As part of the mission of the Professional Science Master’s program, we provide our students with innovative tools to succeed. Abbe Rosenthal, MA, PCC, DYL Coach, hosted a thrilling two-part workshop for MBS students to use the Design Your Life (DYL) framework to design an individualized, goal-driven pathway toward the future. Rosenthal is a Certified DYL Coach from Stanford University, the home of DYL. She offers these workshops to MBS students and other organizations, and she incorporates DYL elements into her executive coaching when appropriate.
DYL was brought to MBS in 2019 by PSM executive director Dr. Deborah Silver. This framework teaches students to approach problems using a designer’s mindset. It’s used by our executive coaches to help students develop actionable plans to define career goals, achieve work-life balance, and chart a path to success. From its first introduction to new MBS students at orientation, students were hooked. However, we don’t keep this method to ourselves—Rosenthal also hosts DYL workshops for other organizations.
Rosenthal’s workshop was filled with activities to engage students and support their development of future plans. This included out-of-the-box thinking, breakout rooms (which allowed students to network!), and even drawing. Yes, that’s right—Rosenthal introduced new activities to engage students, asking them to write and draw their favorite childhood activity, past interest, or favorite thing to do when not at school. Even Rosenthal herself uses design thinking to keep improving DYL workshops, finding new ways to help students make the most of them.
These workshops provided opportunities for student engagement, introspection, and learning. Here are some ways to take advantage of the DYL framework.
Connect it back to MBS.
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Figure out how MBS can help you fulfill your plans and reach your career goals. This can include examining specific skills needed for desired roles and which MBS courses can help you acquire these skills.
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Consider how to gain real world experience through our internships, externships, colloquiums, and alumni-student mentoring network.
Build your professional network.
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Connect with alumni from your undergraduate institution or from Rutgers (especially MBS alumni). MBS classmates and alumni are always willing to help each other out.
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You can also join professional associations, LinkedIn groups related to roles you’re interested in, and see what meetups are in your area via Meetups.com.
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Continue to seek exploratory and leadership interviews—keep the momentum going from your Communication and Leadership class. People love to share what they’ve learned and give tips to young professionals.
Create actionable items—and stick to them!
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Break items down into small, actionable steps. Include specifics, such as due dates. You can also report to a buddy to help hold yourself accountable.
The DYL framework works in tandem with other fundamentals of an MBS education to help our students prepare for their careers. Everyone can use this framework at any point—whether you’re an undergraduate student, in the PSM program, or mid-career.
If you’d like to learn more about design thinking, check out our blog post on the superpower of design thinking—it also contains course recommendations.
To stay up to date with all of our events and workshops, you can follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn. You can also find them on our events page.