XBA：性价比更高的速成MBA课程？

    学生们每六人一组，认真学习财务知识，起草投资者报告。在波士顿的欧米帕克豪斯酒店（Omni Parker House），华丽的会议室中回荡着学生们敲击键盘的声音。这家铺有桃心木地板的酒店源自19世纪。虽然地方是老的，但这里的学习班模式却是全新的。

    这些学生全都是赋桥集训营（Fullbridge Program）的学员。这是一种全新模式的商学院，与MBA类似，但更加注重速度。赋桥创始人彼得与坎蒂斯•卡朋特•奥尔森夫妇【丈夫曾担任兰登书屋（Random House）CEO；妻子是女性社交网站ivillage.com的创始人】，甚至为集训营的毕业生们设计了一种全新的认证：XBA。

    XBA将理论与实践相结合。学员们分成若干小组，每天用八个小时学习如何阅读资产负债表、损益表和现金流量表。他们会根据这些报表中的数据评估全球各大公司的策略与绩效，并在集训营结束时分组陈述评估结果。集训时间约为四周，通常安排在寒、暑假。赋桥招收的大多是二十岁左右的学生和职场新人。集训营的吸引力不仅在于它可以帮助学生们提升在职场中的个人价值，而且能帮助学生们在事业上获得成就感。

    奥尔森夫妇于2010年创立了赋桥，当时的目的是为了帮助解决七个孩子的朋友们遇到的难题：学术教育让他们掌握了批判性思维的技能，但却并没有让他们做好面对现实生活的准备。62岁的彼得回忆起自己刚从大学毕业时的情景时表示，那时候，雇主“有大量培训计划，而且耐心十足。”如今，情况发生了变化，许多毕业生没有任何经验就开始承担期望值很高的工作，结果给学生和雇主都造成了困扰。

    奥尔森夫妇认为，他们并不想取代传统的本科教育或MBA教育。他们认为，XBA是一种全新的教育类型——21世纪人文科学教育的点睛之笔。他们利用自己在商界的人脉，邀请成功的朋友前来授课，比如凯鹏华盈（Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers ）合伙人兰迪•科米萨和市场调研公司Communispace的创始人兼CEO戴安•赫森等。课程通过简明易懂的讲解来解决学生的问题，诸如工作中如何平衡聪明和高效的关系，抑或是如何充分利用Excel等。此外，课堂中还会研究苹果（Apple）和星巴克（Starbucks ）等公司，讨论这些品牌如何在竞争环境中生存下来。而且，彼得还提供了自己担任兰登书屋CEO时阅读现金流量表等财务报表的简便方法。第一年的试点合作成功之后，赋桥与世达律所（Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom）针对本科生对课程进行了微调。

    虽然彼得仍然在哈佛商学院（Harvard Business School）教授工商管理课程，但夫妻两人均表示，赋桥集训营迫使他们不得不重新思考传统的教学方法。60岁的坎蒂斯非常重视赋桥学习材料的设计。为了设计出视觉上更具吸引力的环境，她聘用了Tank Design与Mechanica等设计公司，设计能够吸引学生眼球的内容。坎蒂斯笑言：“我们可能被叫做教育/科技公司，但我们最大的两笔开支却是支付给了设计公司。”集训营以简短易懂的视频教学和团队活动为主。

    根据学生上课的日期和地点，赋桥的学费在5,000至6,000美元之间。学生额外支付1,250至1450美元还可以获得集训营提供的住宿。集训营自2010年成立以来已有584名学生报名参加。

    Students, six to a table, pore over financials and craft investor presentations. The click-clacks of their laptops fill the ornate conference rooms of Boston's mahogany-paneled 19thcentury Omni Parker House. The space is old, but the class is brand new.

    The students are all in the Fullbridge Program, a new kind of business school, akin to an MBA -- a baby brother, perhaps, but with a speed addiction. Fullbridge's founders, husband and wife Peter and Candice Carpenter Olson (he a former CEO at Random House; she a founder at iVillage) have even developed a new certificate for graduates of their program: the XBA.

    The XBA mixes drills with a bit of theory. Participants learn to read balance sheets, income, and cash flow statements in small groups for eight hours a day. They evaluate global companies' strategies and performance based on those numbers, and then present their findings in teams at the end of a 20-day, four-week boot camp -- typically over winter or summer break. Fullbridge recruits students and early-career professionals in their late teens to late twenties. Its appeal is that not only will the program help students be more valuable at their jobs, but it will also help them find fulfillment in their careers.

    The Olsons founded Fullbridge in 2010 to address a problem they saw their seven children's friends struggle with: Academia gave them critical thinking skills, but left these young people unprepared for real-life work. When Peter, 62, first graduated from college, he recalls that employers either had "extensive training programs or almost unlimited amounts of patience." That's no longer the case and graduates are entering high-expectation jobs with little experience, proving problematic for both parties.

    The Olsons say they have little desire to replace the traditional undergraduate or MBA experience. They see the XBA as a new category of education -- the finishing touch on the 21st century liberal arts degree. They enlisted their network of successful business friends -- from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers partner Randy Komisar to Communispace founder and CEO Diane Hessan -- and put together bite-size presentations that address topics like being smart versus being effective at work and how to make good use of Excel. The lessons also dive into companies like Apple (AAPL) and Starbucks (SBUX), talking about how these brands have thrived in competitive environments. And Peter gives an abbreviated step-by-step of how he examined cash flow statements and the like while he was CEO of Random House. After running a successful pilot with Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom first-year associates, the duo fine-tuned Fullbridge's curriculum for undergraduates.

    Though Peter still teaches business administration at Harvard Business School, the pair say that the new program has forced them to reevaluate traditional teaching methods. Candice, 60, has focused on how Fullbridge's learning materials are designed. To create a visually appealing environment for Fullbridge participants, she hired firms like Tank Design and Mechanica to create eye-catching content for the students. "We could be called an education-slash-tech company, but the two biggest checks we've written have been to design firms," she laughs. Short video lessons and team activities serve as the program's foundation.

    Students pay between $5,000-6,000 to attend Fullbridge, depending on date and location. Students can also access housing at an additional cost of $1250-$1450. Since the program's 2010 launch, 584 students have participated.