Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/56805
from the editors What's Your Superpower? M ost of us have imagined which of all possible superpowers we'd like to possess. Invisibility? Super strength? The ability to fly? Personally, I've always thought telekinesis would come in pretty handy. But let's say we actually had super- powers. How could we use them to do the most good? If we look to fictional superheroes, we find two primary role models. First, there are the loners. Think of Superman taking a stand against Lex Luthor, or Spider-Man facing the Green Goblin. These two have only themselves to rely on. To drive that point home, Super- man even calls his hangout the "Fortress of Solitude." After their fights are over, these cru- saders retreat into their almost invisible alter egos, Clark Kent and Peter Parker. As much as mortals glorify the superhero lifestyle, it can be lonely at the top. But then there are the superteams. Think of the X-Men, Avengers, League of Extraordi- nary Gentlemen. They meet in mansions to strategize about how they can collaborate to fight evil; after each successful battle, they celebrate together. Sure, invisibility or super strength has its benefits, but sometimes one skill set isn't enough. It might take invisibility, strength, X-ray vision, and the ability to manipulate weather to bring the bad guy down. While solitude has its place, it's likely that business students will be emulating the X-Men more than Superman after graduation. As more employers discover that many of the best solutions come when employees with different skill sets work in concert, more business grad- uates will find themselves on multidisciplinary "superteams" among colleagues with techni- cal, artistic, legal, social, and business expertise. In this issue, we look at how business schools are preparing students for the multidisciplinary workplace. In the feature "Collaborative Efforts," four schools discuss their best strategies for implementing cross-disciplinary initiatives. In that story, Garrey Carruthers, dean of New Mexico State University's College of Business in Las Cruces, shares how the leaders of NMSU's six colleges have their own League of Extraordi- nary Deans. They meet every two weeks to dis- cuss challenges and identify collaborative learn- ing opportunities for students. These deans and educators like them recog- nize that students spend their entire programs discovering what superpowers they possess. Perhaps it's the ability to analyze, observe, write, talk, listen, interact, or discover. Sadly, as far as I know, none of them will have the power of telekinesis (as awesome as that might be). But when they join forces with their counterparts across the university, they might find that, together, they can move mountains. That might be almost as great. 6 March/April 2012 BizEd RAQUITA HENDERSON CORBIS/GLOW IMAGES