When business students stroll into class at the Ringling College of Art and Design, they aren’t just there to study accounting and finance.
They are taking writing and drawing classes and meeting executives from Disney, Cirque du Soleil, Dreamworks and Nickelodeon.
It’s business with an attitude, teaching students who are headed into the business world that creativity and critical thinking skills are just as important as understanding the principles of finance and investment.
The Business of Art and Design, a four-year bachelor of arts program designed for business majors, is in its second year at Ringling. Students preparing for careers in banking, finance and management are taking courses in finance — and the psychology of marketing and the behavior of creative business organizations.
The program’s philosophy: Strong business leaders come from liberal arts backgrounds, where they receive a well-rounded education and are taught to hone their analytical thinking skills for problem solving.
New College in Sarasota, designated as an honors college for the liberal arts, also has been touted by business leaders as a good liberal arts school to attend for those with a business focus in mind.
New College is known for its focus on independent research and student-driven curriculum.
New College associate professor of economics Richard Coe thinks students develop analytical skills needed in the business world.
“What you need is problem solvers” in business, Coe said. “A small liberal arts school is an ideal educational background for someone entering the business world.”
Wanda Chaves, lead faculty for the Business of Art and Design program at Ringling, agrees.
“Our program is designed to train and prepare students to be highly creative thinkers and strong business leaders,” she said. ”When you look at all the economic changes and the way technology has changed companies, you have to have a strong approach and look at business ideas from a different perspective. To stay competitive, you need to bring something new to the business world.”
Chaves thinks Ringling’s program “marries the right and left brain approach,” exposing business students to a wider range of experiences than the traditional business school.
She describes herself as a business person with a liberal arts background. She has her doctorate from USF in industrial organizational psychology, focusing on the psychology of work behavior. She worked at Disney for eight years in leadership and management.
Devin Lee Ostertag, a Ringling student in the program, thinks he is getting a unique degree that will further his goal of becoming the creative director of a magazine.
“Normal business students are taught and programmed a certain way,” Ostertag said. “But at Ringling, I feel I am being taught to always push myself and look at things from creative perspectives. I don’t have to choose between being business savvy or a creative mind at a company, I can be the link connecting both.”
Ostertag knows his accounting and finance skills may not be as strong as his cohorts at traditional business schools, but he isn’t worried.
“That’s fine with me because I don’t want to be an accountant,” he said. “However, I do want to know how these things work, and I have a good basic understanding of the more technical side of business. I know how to use Excel, I know how to make graphs and charts, I know how to read an income statement.”
Mary Ruiz, president and chief executive officer of Manatee Glens for the past 22 years, was a 1978 New College graduate and is glad she has a liberal arts background.
“I had an insatiable curiosity, I wanted to learn everything and then find my passion,” she said.
Ruiz knew she wanted to be a leader in health care, education or public service, so the internships and mini-courses at the college exposed her to a variety of experience in different fields.
After graduation she concentrated on public service with jobs in Sarasota and Manatee governments’ social service departments. But Ruiz finally decided health care was her passion.
In the early ’90s, she decided to get her master’s degree in business administration from the University of South Florida. What she discovered was that her liberal arts background put her ahead of the CEOs and CFOs in her classes.
“I had to work harder in finance, but I was the best negotiator in class,” she said. “In the study group, I was the thinker and writer.”
Coe thinks the only disadvantage for business-bound students at New College is that the school doesn’t offer training in accounting. “But I encourage them to take some of those courses in the summer at other institutions,” he said.
Coe says he has seen an increase in New College grads majoring in economics. He expects 20 will graduate this year instead of the usual half-dozen.
Next week, students in Chaves’ class will hear from an executive from Cirque du Solei, a artistic entertainment company with more than 4,000 employees including 1,000 artists.
Chaves describes the company as the perfect marriage between art and business.
“It was started by a circus performer who wanted to reinvent the circus, to turn it into a theatrical performance,” she said. “Today they have 18 shows around the world, and the man is a billionaire.”
