First-year MBA students gained a career’s worth of advice in management process and careful yearly planning when former Emerson CEO C.F. Knight stopped by Mays in mid-September. “Set tough targets, develop plans and programs, set up measures to make sure it’s working, and then pay people for the results,” Knight said of the annual planning reviews held for each of 80 Emerson subsidiaries. “It really is that simple, don’t let politics get in the way.”

Knight’s 27 years as CEO included dividend returns each and every year. The Emerson visionary was also on hand to sign copies of his 2005 book Performance Without Compromise: How Emerson Consistently Achieves Winning Results.