Guest Speakers And Networking In Silicon Valley: The SJSU MBA Advantage

A year after LinkedIn’s 2003 launch of its professional network, it had 1 million members. Today, that number is upwards of 1 billion, a testament to the ever-growing influence networking has on the business world. In San José State University’s Lucas Graduate School of Business (LGSB), professors like Nathaniel Lupton, Kezban Yagci Sokat and Lucille Headrick use the power of networking to invite impactful guest speakers to their classroom while also driving home the importance of social connectivity to their MBA students.

Lupton, an associate professor of global innovation and leadership, is spending his summer teaching Strategic Thinking in the Early Career MBA program. Lupton’s approach to recruiting dynamic guest speakers starts with his students. As he begins to understand them more, he tailors his guest speakers to what students are looking for at the time. His students recently had the opportunity to learn from Annette King, founder of Splicer Films, and the professional journey that ultimately led her to a career grounded in passion and purpose. 

“Purpose is really the reason we do what we do. Empower the audience and inspire them to make an impact around the world,” King said during her talk with Lupton’s students. 

A takeaway for students was King’s adaptability and flexible mindset, as well as the strategic thinking she used when making a career pivot. 

“It revealed that you aren’t constricted to your degree or field that you originally went into,” observed Karanvir Singh, ’24 Early Career MBA. “When it comes to taking risks, I learned that you shouldn’t fear failure. Usually, the fear of failing is a common reason why most people’s ventures don’t come to life because they never start them.”

Amrik Atwal, ’24 Early Career MBA, shared a similar sentiment about having flexible career alternatives.

“As someone who is still very early in their career field and yet to work my way up within a company, it really helped illustrate how being flexible and keeping an open mindset can lead to a fulfilling job,” shared Atwal. “Something else that she talked about and that I feel like I should make more of an effort at is making connections. The importance of making connections cannot be understated as it can open doors you didn’t even know were there.”

Aside from Splicer Films, his current students can look forward to speakers from Cadence Design Systems, Intel Corporation and Asana.

“I don’t bring in only tech, but also a variety of different subjects, like social entrepreneurship,” said Lupton. He added that it is also helpful to find a common link with professionals who may have an existing affiliation with SJSU, including alumni, or simply want to support the LGSB program. More often than not, Lupton says, people are receptive to the invitation.  

He has noticed, in particular, that students are often most curious about how to go from student to employee in their desired field, or even from an entry level position to the next tier.

“I think people that I bring in to speak to the students are the best source of information on that,” said Lupton. “In general, I really emphasize the importance of networking for them.”  

Lupton is not alone when it comes to customizing the type of guest speakers to invite based on student input. 

Yagci Sokat, assistant professor of business analytics and a 2024 AACSB Influential Leader, puts a lot of thought into the speakers she invites to her Managerial Decision Analysis and Forecasting for Business Analytics courses in the MBA for Professionals program. She strongly believes in the importance of real-life examples, and field-driven questions and solutions in the curriculum. 

“I aim to find guest speakers who use the analytical concepts in their work continuously and who can be an inspiration and a mentor to our students,” said Yagci Sokat. “Each semester in the beginning of the class I survey the students about their interests, choice of industry, etc. Based on students’ responses, I choose them.”

While part of Yagci Sokat’s own professional network is based on her educational and work experience, she says that some of it is simply based on reaching out to local experts in the area. 

Guest speakers in her course have included professionals from Amazon, Inc., SAP and Thrive Technologies. This upcoming year she expects to have a speaker from LinkedIn Corporation.

Students have shared with Yagci Sokat that they find these speakers to be beneficial, inspirational and meaningful. She says students value seeing the applications, challenges and potential solutions by experts in real life, especially with the use of quantitative tools. 

Yagci Sokat says she frequently reminds her students about the importance of developing a network of contacts, emphasizing that they should remain open to opportunities as there are many different paths where they can end up in the next five to ten years. 

“Maybe someone from this class, or the contacts they have through MBA classes, will facilitate unexpected yet life-changing opportunities for them,” she added.

Echoing this advice is Lucille Headrick, an assistant professor of management and one of Poets&Quants’ 40-Under-40 Best MBA Professors Of 2024. She encourages her students to “get to know your classmates because you never know what people are going to end up doing in the future, and having that strong network with your peers in your master’s program can give you so many future opportunities and you can seek each other out for advice and support.” 

Headrick, who teaches Developing and Managing People in the Early Career MBA program, incorporates around four to five guest speakers per class term. She has multiple reasons for this approach, one of them being so students can see how the theories they are learning in class have real world applications. Another reason is so her students can be up to date on current trends. In her opinion, the best way to do that is by talking directly to people in industry. Lastly, she thinks it’s important to have guest speakers for MBA programs because it gives students a chance to network.

“A lot of the speakers I have are interested in helping to mentor and give advice to students in our MBA program, and it also gives students a chance to learn about the different career paths that they can take once they finish the program,” said Headrick. 

She notes how the MBA program is set up so that everyone has a chance to create a strong network, which is accomplished in part by guest speakers, special events and LGSB’s Silicon Valley Experience. She finds network-building to be especially important with first-generation students so they have support and resources they can draw on throughout their career.

From her observations, Headrick can tell how captivated students are by a guest speaker based on how long the Q&A session goes, adding that LGSB students have “endless questions for industry people.” She says her students have found some speakers to be especially relatable once they learn about their career journeys and find out that it’s normal to struggle, and not every career is linear. Many students want to know what it’s like to be in the industry, and others want to know how to make the leap into tech if they don’t have a tech background.

Headrick’s guest speakers have come from a variety of industry sources such as Cisco, McKinsey & Company and Pinterest. She has already lined up a guest speaker from Meta for her class this fall where she expects students will learn about the increasing use of analytics in decision making, as well as the rise of AI.

With the privilege of being located in Silicon Valley, LGSB faculty are able to draw on a landscape fertile with industry experts for the benefit of their students. Networking not only amplifies the SJSU MBA student experience by way of accomplished guest speakers sharing knowledge, but also serves as a catalyst for success beyond the degree.   

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Yvette Trejo has been part of San José State University’s Lucas College and Graduate School of Business for 15 years. Her current role is SISTech and Communications Analyst. To learn more about our MBA programs, email lucas-school@sjsu.edu.