Leadership training does exist outside the core
Eric Redline, WG'08
Issue date: 10/1/07 Section: Perspectives
- Page 1 of 1
One of the biggest concerns I have heard
students voice over the past year is the
lack of leadership development as part of
the core curriculum and while I too would
like to have more "soft skills" embedded
in the overall program there are other
opportunities for structured leadership
throughout Wharton.
Two such examples of these experiential learning initiatives are the "Leadership Development Coaching Series (LDCS)" and the "Non-Profit Board Leadership Program" (NPBLP). The LDCS is a year long program that started during the spring semester and continues through the end of the current semester. The Leadership Development and Coaching Program is focused on student leaders and helping them to develop their leadership skills in real time. This is accomplished primarily through feedback and coaching. The program incorporates the small group dynamics workshop, self-assessment, time with a professional coach, connections with an alumni mentor, and a communications workshop.
The NPBLP's goal is to create an experiential learning environment for students that would also support local nonprofits. More specifically, the NPBLP seeks to provide second year MBAs with a greater sense of how their leadership skills can be used to make a significant contribution within the non-profit sector. Together, it is envisioned that both Wharton and local non-profits can help each other succeed and achieve a rich understanding of the growing intersection between business and non-profit activities.
I had the good fortune to attend training for each of these programs over the past week and although not part of the core courses, they offered a great deal of professional and structured learning. The NPBLP seminar offered insights into the difference between non-profit and for-profit boards presented by a Wharton alum, Katherina Rosquetta, who has been involved with a number of non-profits and is currently the Executive Director of the Center for High Impact Philanthropy in the School of Social Policy and Practice. Then Lynn Krage from the Center for Leadership and Change Management provided a great overview of the impact of teams, workgroups, and the power of sharing information in making group decisions.
Lynn, having taught and studied at NYU, shares students' passion for learning and is able to convert theories to real-world examples. To end our day long session, Professor Mike Useem got us out of our comfort zone and resurrected the Salomon case with John Meriwether (remember him fellow 2nd years). We role-played various scenarios designed to highlight the difference between leading-up and managing-up.
For more details read Professor Useem's book - 'Leading Up' - but as a quick overview the difference is thinking in terms of what's best for the company (leading up) versus thinking about what's in your best interest (managing up).
I think all of us in the room appreciated the time and efforts put forth by these amazing resources and are looking forward to trying and applying these concepts not only with our non-profit boards but in all leadership positions. Over the course of the next few months the NPBLP will be providing more training ranging from corporate governance to conflict management. The other training I attended this week was the capstone seminar for the Leadership Coaching Development Series, entitled Executive Communications presented by the Omnicom Group and Fleishman Hilliard.
The intent of this training was for students to respond to various groups (media, board of directors, shareholders, employees, and the government) in defense of your company's decision during a time of crisis. Fleishman Hilliard (FH) presented a set of tactics and strategies to develop a key message platform to deliver your message and avoid giving them something you didn't want them to hear. After this overview, we were broken into small groups and put on the spot to present (on video) to our peers who acted as the audience along with staff from FH and a few distinguished alumni. We received feedback from our peers as well as the professionals. I found this session highly informative and valuable and will hopefully give me a leg up when I have the opportunity of representing my future employer to outside parties.
Overall, the Non-Profit Board Leadership Program and the Leadership Coaching Development Series are among my most valuable experiences here at Wharton. The professional coach I have been working with since last spring has really helped me find my own leadership style as well as provided guidance on communication skills and increasing my overall confidence level. My work with the Schuylkill Center (the non-profit I am working with) although just getting started is already creating openings where I will need to use all of these skills, effective communications, leading up, and leveraging a team to be successful.
Although leadership opportunities abound in the various clubs and other extra-curricular activities sometimes we need to be taught concepts, approaches, and strategies first and then go out and put them to use. I highly encourage the class of 2009 to apply for these programs because, as I and many of my colleagues can attest, leadership training can be found outside the core in structured yet experiential manner which I firmly believe is the best way to learn.
Kudos to all those involved in making these great programs available to students, especially Lynn Krage, Paula Greenberg, Jeff Klein, Michael Useem, The Omnicom Group, Fleishman Hilliard, Sadaf Kazmi and Albert Lee.
Two such examples of these experiential learning initiatives are the "Leadership Development Coaching Series (LDCS)" and the "Non-Profit Board Leadership Program" (NPBLP). The LDCS is a year long program that started during the spring semester and continues through the end of the current semester. The Leadership Development and Coaching Program is focused on student leaders and helping them to develop their leadership skills in real time. This is accomplished primarily through feedback and coaching. The program incorporates the small group dynamics workshop, self-assessment, time with a professional coach, connections with an alumni mentor, and a communications workshop.
The NPBLP's goal is to create an experiential learning environment for students that would also support local nonprofits. More specifically, the NPBLP seeks to provide second year MBAs with a greater sense of how their leadership skills can be used to make a significant contribution within the non-profit sector. Together, it is envisioned that both Wharton and local non-profits can help each other succeed and achieve a rich understanding of the growing intersection between business and non-profit activities.
I had the good fortune to attend training for each of these programs over the past week and although not part of the core courses, they offered a great deal of professional and structured learning. The NPBLP seminar offered insights into the difference between non-profit and for-profit boards presented by a Wharton alum, Katherina Rosquetta, who has been involved with a number of non-profits and is currently the Executive Director of the Center for High Impact Philanthropy in the School of Social Policy and Practice. Then Lynn Krage from the Center for Leadership and Change Management provided a great overview of the impact of teams, workgroups, and the power of sharing information in making group decisions.
Lynn, having taught and studied at NYU, shares students' passion for learning and is able to convert theories to real-world examples. To end our day long session, Professor Mike Useem got us out of our comfort zone and resurrected the Salomon case with John Meriwether (remember him fellow 2nd years). We role-played various scenarios designed to highlight the difference between leading-up and managing-up.
For more details read Professor Useem's book - 'Leading Up' - but as a quick overview the difference is thinking in terms of what's best for the company (leading up) versus thinking about what's in your best interest (managing up).
I think all of us in the room appreciated the time and efforts put forth by these amazing resources and are looking forward to trying and applying these concepts not only with our non-profit boards but in all leadership positions. Over the course of the next few months the NPBLP will be providing more training ranging from corporate governance to conflict management. The other training I attended this week was the capstone seminar for the Leadership Coaching Development Series, entitled Executive Communications presented by the Omnicom Group and Fleishman Hilliard.
The intent of this training was for students to respond to various groups (media, board of directors, shareholders, employees, and the government) in defense of your company's decision during a time of crisis. Fleishman Hilliard (FH) presented a set of tactics and strategies to develop a key message platform to deliver your message and avoid giving them something you didn't want them to hear. After this overview, we were broken into small groups and put on the spot to present (on video) to our peers who acted as the audience along with staff from FH and a few distinguished alumni. We received feedback from our peers as well as the professionals. I found this session highly informative and valuable and will hopefully give me a leg up when I have the opportunity of representing my future employer to outside parties.
Overall, the Non-Profit Board Leadership Program and the Leadership Coaching Development Series are among my most valuable experiences here at Wharton. The professional coach I have been working with since last spring has really helped me find my own leadership style as well as provided guidance on communication skills and increasing my overall confidence level. My work with the Schuylkill Center (the non-profit I am working with) although just getting started is already creating openings where I will need to use all of these skills, effective communications, leading up, and leveraging a team to be successful.
Although leadership opportunities abound in the various clubs and other extra-curricular activities sometimes we need to be taught concepts, approaches, and strategies first and then go out and put them to use. I highly encourage the class of 2009 to apply for these programs because, as I and many of my colleagues can attest, leadership training can be found outside the core in structured yet experiential manner which I firmly believe is the best way to learn.
Kudos to all those involved in making these great programs available to students, especially Lynn Krage, Paula Greenberg, Jeff Klein, Michael Useem, The Omnicom Group, Fleishman Hilliard, Sadaf Kazmi and Albert Lee.
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