Dr. Jeffrey Van Detta

Dr. Jeffrey Van Detta -- "Dr. V" to his students -- spent years working with and observing mid- and top-level managers in a wide variety of corporations from the near-yet-safe distance afforded by consultancy. A former lawyer with one of Atlanta's top firms, for 12 years Dr. V worked with various departments in major corporations including Frito-Lay, PepsiCo, The Home Depot and Lockheed. Now Dr. V shares everything he learned from these companies – both the good and the not-so-good-but-still-valuable – with BBA and MBA students at AIU Online.

Dr. V's father had been a teacher for 40 years and, while the teaching profession always intrigued him, he didn't think it appropriate to start his own career as an educator until he had accrued some real-world experience. "I wanted to be able to share more than what was in textbooks," he says. And now he can, be it about getting a promotion or the business world.

Dr. V most often teaches Legal Aspects of Business Decisions, Legal & Regulatory Environment in International Business and Employment Law – each in AIU Online's MBA program -- and Fundamentals of Business of Law, in the school's AA/BBA degree programs.

Whether in the AA, BA or MBA program, Dr. V says his students are often back in school so they can get a new job or a promotion. He loves being able to help students reach their goals.

Since he is most familiar with watching people make the jump from mid-level management to more strategic, executive positions, Dr. V is particularly well-poised to help his MBA students take the next step in their careers. Such a promotion – from mid-level to a top executive position – is what students working towards an MBA might hope for.

"I worked with Human Resources departments, middle management and executives in corporations for years, watching as people made the transition from mid-management to executives," Dr. V says. "I saw that an MBA, or more specifically, what you could learn in an MBA program, is a great way to start on a trajectory pointed towards an executive position no matter what industry you work in."

While being able to put an MBA on your résumé is a good first step, Dr. V says having the degree itself isn't enough. "You have to actually have the skill set that having an MBA implies: the confidence and know-how to be a planner and innovator rather than merely a follower. You also have to be able to understand not just your job, but where it fits in with other jobs and the strategic plan of the company. You have to communicate effectively. You have to know how to deal with complex technical information. You have to understand how to best manage and utilize your resources."

Dr. V says that as a consultant he was able to observe promotion and hiring practices in a variety of corporations and that, regardless of the particular industry, it was usually those who had the above abilities who got the better jobs or were on a faster track to a promotion.

"AIU Online students have the opportunity to learn all these things," Dr. V says.

Dr. V says AIU Online is a good place to pick up another key skill (and a skill that underlies nearly everything mentioned above): confidence. "It takes confidence to communicate well. It takes confidence to manage. It takes confidence to be a planner and to come up with your own ideas," he says. "There's no doubt it is easier and safer to keep quiet and to follow someone else, but that's not going to lead to a promotion."

"Confidence doesn't necessarily come easy, but it is something that can be learned. Having taught both at ground campuses and online, I've seen online students really blossom in the virtual classroom."

Dr. V says this could be because the interaction between online teacher and student is much more intimate and available than it is in a physical classroom, or perhaps because the online classroom, its chats and discussion boards are less intimidating than speaking out in a physical classroom.

"I started off back in 2000 very skeptical about online education, but wanted to give it the benefit of the doubt," Dr. V says. "It didn't take long for me to see its potential and the great power that lies in reaching people in ways outside the traditional classroom."

Now that he's been teaching online courses for seven years, Dr. V says the only things he thinks online students are missing out on are the distractions and hassles associated with sitting in a physical classroom.

As further proof of online education's legitimacy, Dr. V offers up a former AIU undergrad student of his who was accepted at UNLV law school, one of the more competitive law schools in the country. "UNLV is highly selective and highly competitive and this student, with his AIU Online education, had no problems getting in."

But let's get back to the business side. Dr. V has seen many of his AIU Online MBA students become more successful in their careers or realize a dream of starting their own business as well.

"I have no doubt, both from my own experience and from having seen where my students have gone, that an MBA can point you on the way. It is important and it is looked at. An MBA can make a distinction between you and someone else. But you have to carry, and know how to use, the skill set that having an MBA implies. And that is what I think AIU Online really succeeds at. You don't just graduate from this school with a piece of paper."

Think an MBA might be what you need to make the next step at work? Dr. V advises to look for a program (and then courses within that program) that force you to analyze information. "You don't want to learn only how to collect information – that's what followers do -- but also what to do with it. That's what leaders do. You want to learn how to read data and how you can apply it."

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' 2006-2007 Occupational Outlook Handbook, in 2004 -- the most recent year for which there is data -- there were 2.3 million top executive positions across all industries in the United States. General and operations managers accounted for roughly 1.8 million of these positions; chief executives another 444,000; there were 66,000 legislators. Eight out of ten top executive positions were in service-providing industries, a group that includes the government. The BLS reports the employment of top executives will grow about as fast as average through 2014, although it warns competition for these jobs will be fierce as top executives are among the highest paid workers in the country. In 2004, the average annual salary of general and operations managers was $77,000 while chief executives earned an average of $140,000 per year.

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