A few weeks ago, I was talking with our Marketing team here at Lynn University, and I told them about the way that we were now teaching ethics in the College of Business. As a result, they developed an information piece and placed it on our website on Thursday. The timing of the piece (which I’ve placed below) couldn’t be more relevant. In just this weekend alone, we’ve seen stories published about ethical lapses at organizations as varied as Lockheed, the BBC, and the US Government. Lance Armstrong’s issues were raised in another story, while the sports page discussed an athlete leaving a school because of alleged abuse from the coaching staff. Clearly since these five stories were topics of the news in just the last two days, then whatever we’re currently doing to instill ethics into our leaders isn’t working.
So take a look at the article below, and learn about the new model that we’re using to integrate ethics into business education. (Here is the link to the Lynn University news page: http://www.lynn.edu/about-lynn/news-and-events/news/business-dean-says-ethics-are-guiding-values-for-decision-making)
Published November 8, 2012
Business dean says ethics are guiding values for decision-making
“It seems the traditional separate ethics class method isn’t producing the optimum result,” said Kruczek. “We’re trying to change that.”
Unlike many business schools across the nation, Lynn University’s College of Business and Management does not offer stand-alone courses on business ethics, business communications and/or sustainable enterprises.
“We believe ethics – and other key business values – are such important topics that they should be embedded into all of our business courses,” said Thomas Kruczek, dean of Lynn’s College of Business. “The discussion of ethics, both personal and business, warrants far more in-depth attention than a one-semester class that meets twice a week.”
Lynn’s College of Business is working to change the outdated model of having only one or two courses specifically dedicated to guiding business principles. The university’s core curriculum, the Dialogues of Learning, also works to buck the trend by embedding life lessons throughout all Lynn classes.
“As educators, our hope is that we are helping to make the world a better place by training our students to enter the world as productive, contributing and ethical business leaders,” said Kruczek. “Our ethics and guiding values are at the root of every decision we make.”
ETHICAL DECISION-MAKING
Ethical decision-making is the foundation for building a successful business. However, in the wake of the financial crisis, unethical business agendas seem to garner the most attention.
“Enron, Global Crossing and WorldCom are key examples of the poor choices we hear about,” said Kruczek. “That’s one of the reasons we emphasize ethics so strongly here at Lynn. We are seeing questionable decisions in too many businesses, so it seems the traditional separate ethics class method isn’t producing the optimum result. We’re trying to change that.”
Sunday, November 11, 2012
Monday, November 5, 2012
Leadership...The Carrot or the Stick? I Vote for Salami!
Part of leadership is being able to motivate people to do what you want them to do. It’s not (always) about ‘barking’ out orders…but it can be useful to treat your staff like, well... dogs. Just the other night I put my leadership/management skills to work to get my wife’s dog off the bed after he climbed up during a thunderstorm. Believe me, that was harder than it sounds. This is no labradoodle, her beloved boy is a 160 pound man-stopper, and I’m not a dog guy. I walked into the bedroom after a late football game, my wife was fast asleep, and her canine shadow was snuggled next to her with his head on my pillow! Sigh, thunder makes him nervous.
Now here’s the leadership lesson: I had a couple of choices, I could go for strong-arm dictatorial tactics or work towards collaboration. Trying to force the situation could result in opposition. The dog had his own agenda that didn’t coincide with mine. If I pushed hard he could growl (scary) and a confrontation would wake my sleeping wife (scarier.) Since I was dealing with a 160 lb immovable object with teeth, I was leaning towards negotiation and persuasion. I needed to consider both our needs, but my management goal was clear…I wanted that damn dog off the bed. The options were the classic carrot or the stick. Instead of the carrot, I went with a slice of salami. It worked, and both big boy and I were happy. For that particular situation that style worked. It wasn’t weakness... it was a win-win. In my current field (higher education) this style is a go-to choice. But leadership works different ways in different businesses, and sometimes a tougher style can be more effective. If the dog had been chomping on my cat, for instance, my management style would have been more hands-on!
Good leadership involves influencing those you lead, not about constantly dominating them. You’re not the hall monitor at school, it’s in your best interest to consider your employee’s concerns and desires (which unfortunately are not as simple as a slice of salami!) so that you can inspire and motivate them to help you succeed. When you have a choice in a situation, aim for the win, not just for you but for the other person. You can still be the “alpha” by making that choice.
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
From Bloomberg Businessweek About Lynn and the Presidential Debate
This post is an article that was published in Bloomberg Businessweek on October 22, 2012...the day of the final presidential debate which took place at Lynn University. The author of the article is Alison Damast
About a year ago, Lynn University, a sleepy private liberal arts school in Boca Raton, Fla., learned it was going to be one of three schools in the U.S. hosting a presidential debate on its campus. Tom Kruczek, dean of Lynn University’s College of Business and Management, knew immediately that he wanted the debate to have lasting impact on the school’s 1,000 undergraduate and graduate business students, rather than pass as just an “eventful day or week in the life of our students,” he says. He challenged the school’s faculty last year to come up with creative ways to embed the third presidential debate into their existing classes, a charge they took on enthusiastically.
“It is a wonderful opportunity to capitalize on the interest by integrating the debate and election into our classroom discussion and assignments,” Kruczek says. “It really shows students the intersection between government and business.”
Kruczek and his faculty’s efforts have paid off this fall. Students in the business school have been busy studying the debate and its economic implications in many of the school’s electives and core classes during preparations for the third and final presidential debate on foreign policy, which will take place at Lynn tonight, Oct. 22.
For example, students in the Managing Organizations class were asked to pick a presidential candidate and then write a paper that described what would happen in their prospective career field if their choice were elected. Accounting students studied the first debate and then examined the candidates’ differences on economic policy, as well as some possible tax consequences if the policies the candidates support go into effect. Even students taking the school’s aviation-management and sport-management courses have organized class projects around campaign issues that impact their sectors, Kruczek said.
Lynn’s business school is one of several capitalizing on holding presidential debates on campus. Business schools at the University of Denver and Hofstra University, which respectively hosted presidential debates on Oct. 3 and 16, have also used classroom time to study the debates. Students there spent the season analyzing candidates’ leadership styles, studying campaign finance, and examining the impact that proposed economic plans will have not only on the country’s economy, but on their own wallets, school administrators said.
For example, at Hofstra’s Zarb School of Business, finance students in the school’s investment courses were asked to analyze what impact the economic plans of each candidate would have on the value of their simulated class portfolios. In another class, undergraduate and graduate management students researched leadership styles and then posted clips of the debates online that illustrated examples of those leadership aspects, said Gioia Bales, the Zarb School’s associate dean, in an e-mail.
At the University of Denver’s Daniels College of Business, accounting professor Hugh Grove discussed the second presidential debate as a capital budgeting project with his students, analyzing what some of the monetary and non-monetary benefits were for the university, the school says. Daniels also organized a number of panels around the election, including discussions on such topics as campaign finance, restoring fiscal responsibility, and the issues that will most influence swing states this year.
At Lynn, the lead-up to tonight’s debate has busied students with class discussions, in-class debates, and research presentations on debate topics related to the economy. Professor Farideh Farazmand, a professor of international business, asked students in her macroeconomics class to break into teams and research socioeconomic topics she assigned to them, such as tax cuts for working families and whether every American should have affordable heath insurance, and then debate these issues in front of their classmates. She is also having her students conduct an economic survey on the impact of the debate on the local community.
“They can now follow the campaign and debates closer because they are much more informed,” Farazmand says. “It also enhances their citizenship and personality development because this way, they will get involved. Hopefully they will vote and they’ll be more involved in community and national issues.”
Akash Isrania, 19, a freshman at Lynn’s business school, participated in one of the debates in Farazmand’s class last week, with his team tackling the issue of whether government spending on social programs should be cut. The assignment opened his eyes to many of the most pressing economic problems that Republican nominee Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama face.
“I didn’t know too much about these issues until this class, but now I can finally sit back on Monday, watch the debate, have my opinion, and know exactly what is going on,” Isrania said.
John Cipolla, another Lynn professor, is hoping the work he’s done this fall with his introductory global management class will make his students pay closer attention to candidates’ positions on international economic issues. He has asked students to select three statements made by each candidate about global trade, fact-check them, and pinpoint what economic theories they are based on. The students then made class presentations about what they believe will happen to the U.S. and global economy if some of the policies come to fruition.
Says Cipolla: “It has opened their eyes to what realistically can and can’t be done, and how much of what the candidates are talking about is actually bluster.”’
About a year ago, Lynn University, a sleepy private liberal arts school in Boca Raton, Fla., learned it was going to be one of three schools in the U.S. hosting a presidential debate on its campus. Tom Kruczek, dean of Lynn University’s College of Business and Management, knew immediately that he wanted the debate to have lasting impact on the school’s 1,000 undergraduate and graduate business students, rather than pass as just an “eventful day or week in the life of our students,” he says. He challenged the school’s faculty last year to come up with creative ways to embed the third presidential debate into their existing classes, a charge they took on enthusiastically.
“It is a wonderful opportunity to capitalize on the interest by integrating the debate and election into our classroom discussion and assignments,” Kruczek says. “It really shows students the intersection between government and business.”
Kruczek and his faculty’s efforts have paid off this fall. Students in the business school have been busy studying the debate and its economic implications in many of the school’s electives and core classes during preparations for the third and final presidential debate on foreign policy, which will take place at Lynn tonight, Oct. 22.
For example, students in the Managing Organizations class were asked to pick a presidential candidate and then write a paper that described what would happen in their prospective career field if their choice were elected. Accounting students studied the first debate and then examined the candidates’ differences on economic policy, as well as some possible tax consequences if the policies the candidates support go into effect. Even students taking the school’s aviation-management and sport-management courses have organized class projects around campaign issues that impact their sectors, Kruczek said.
Lynn’s business school is one of several capitalizing on holding presidential debates on campus. Business schools at the University of Denver and Hofstra University, which respectively hosted presidential debates on Oct. 3 and 16, have also used classroom time to study the debates. Students there spent the season analyzing candidates’ leadership styles, studying campaign finance, and examining the impact that proposed economic plans will have not only on the country’s economy, but on their own wallets, school administrators said.
For example, at Hofstra’s Zarb School of Business, finance students in the school’s investment courses were asked to analyze what impact the economic plans of each candidate would have on the value of their simulated class portfolios. In another class, undergraduate and graduate management students researched leadership styles and then posted clips of the debates online that illustrated examples of those leadership aspects, said Gioia Bales, the Zarb School’s associate dean, in an e-mail.
At the University of Denver’s Daniels College of Business, accounting professor Hugh Grove discussed the second presidential debate as a capital budgeting project with his students, analyzing what some of the monetary and non-monetary benefits were for the university, the school says. Daniels also organized a number of panels around the election, including discussions on such topics as campaign finance, restoring fiscal responsibility, and the issues that will most influence swing states this year.
At Lynn, the lead-up to tonight’s debate has busied students with class discussions, in-class debates, and research presentations on debate topics related to the economy. Professor Farideh Farazmand, a professor of international business, asked students in her macroeconomics class to break into teams and research socioeconomic topics she assigned to them, such as tax cuts for working families and whether every American should have affordable heath insurance, and then debate these issues in front of their classmates. She is also having her students conduct an economic survey on the impact of the debate on the local community.
“They can now follow the campaign and debates closer because they are much more informed,” Farazmand says. “It also enhances their citizenship and personality development because this way, they will get involved. Hopefully they will vote and they’ll be more involved in community and national issues.”
Akash Isrania, 19, a freshman at Lynn’s business school, participated in one of the debates in Farazmand’s class last week, with his team tackling the issue of whether government spending on social programs should be cut. The assignment opened his eyes to many of the most pressing economic problems that Republican nominee Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama face.
“I didn’t know too much about these issues until this class, but now I can finally sit back on Monday, watch the debate, have my opinion, and know exactly what is going on,” Isrania said.
John Cipolla, another Lynn professor, is hoping the work he’s done this fall with his introductory global management class will make his students pay closer attention to candidates’ positions on international economic issues. He has asked students to select three statements made by each candidate about global trade, fact-check them, and pinpoint what economic theories they are based on. The students then made class presentations about what they believe will happen to the U.S. and global economy if some of the policies come to fruition.
Says Cipolla: “It has opened their eyes to what realistically can and can’t be done, and how much of what the candidates are talking about is actually bluster.”’
Sunday, October 14, 2012
Thursday, October 11, 2012
Thursday, October 4, 2012
Bringing Innovation to the Ivory Tower
Here is my blog that appeared today in the Huffington Post:
A college campus should be an exciting interface between the academic and the real world, an institution at the cutting edge of social and technological change, an incubator for new ideas. We’re educating our students for the future…and many of our graduates will have careers that we couldn’t have imagined during our college days. To prepare them for a rapidly-changing world, we have to stay ahead of the curve.
If we expect our graduates to be leaders and innovators, then we need to model that by finding cutting edge real world opportunities to bring back to our campuses. We have to take learning beyond the classroom and give our students the chance to put theory to work.
The bad news? It’s not easy, it means shaking up the old “but that’s the way we’ve always done it.” The good news is that it’s fun, exciting, empowering and satisfying. If you are passionate, dedicated and creative, these opportunities can be found anywhere, even in your hometown!
Lynn University just finished a great student project with a hot tech startup, because the president of our school grew up in Boca Raton, home of the university, and happened to be friends with an entrepreneur with an interesting idea.
Sidebar: What many may not know is that this would not be the first new idea for our town or Lynn for that matter. Boca Raton was birth place of IBMs PC, in fact Lynn is across the street from where it was built and helped test the prototype keyboards. And Boca continues to be a fertile place for new ideas.
The idea our president heard about was a new venture called Voispot, and he was intrigued with the potential for a link to the university. Did he have an instant plan? No, but he saw possibilities…and he acted. There was no committee—just a quick email inviting the company’s founders, local business people, and campus leadership to a brainstorming session.
From that first meeting, we made the development and launch of Voispot a get-your-hands-dirty project for an MBA class, and our students worked with the founders to learn first-hand what it means to start a real-world business on the forefront of technology. Voispot is a brand new social talk platform that allows people to have group conversations about common interests. Voispot is a free, cloud-based, mobile app where users can speak, listen, ask questions, and engage in discussions using voice (no typing or texting needed) in real-time. The technology allows organized conversations with a virtually limitless number of people—think of the digital version of an audience participation panel event, except your audience is not limited by the number of seats.
Too often we’re accused of sitting in our ivory towers, out-of-touch and out-of-date. And, yeah, sometimes it’s true. But it doesn’t have to be. The “ivory tower” gives us access to the best and brightest, and can give us a vantage point that allows us scan the horizon, always searching for the newest and best educational experiences for our students. It’s about fostering a culture of innovation on our campuses, and it can begin in small ways but can make a big difference!
A college campus should be an exciting interface between the academic and the real world, an institution at the cutting edge of social and technological change, an incubator for new ideas. We’re educating our students for the future…and many of our graduates will have careers that we couldn’t have imagined during our college days. To prepare them for a rapidly-changing world, we have to stay ahead of the curve.
If we expect our graduates to be leaders and innovators, then we need to model that by finding cutting edge real world opportunities to bring back to our campuses. We have to take learning beyond the classroom and give our students the chance to put theory to work.
The bad news? It’s not easy, it means shaking up the old “but that’s the way we’ve always done it.” The good news is that it’s fun, exciting, empowering and satisfying. If you are passionate, dedicated and creative, these opportunities can be found anywhere, even in your hometown!
Lynn University just finished a great student project with a hot tech startup, because the president of our school grew up in Boca Raton, home of the university, and happened to be friends with an entrepreneur with an interesting idea.
Sidebar: What many may not know is that this would not be the first new idea for our town or Lynn for that matter. Boca Raton was birth place of IBMs PC, in fact Lynn is across the street from where it was built and helped test the prototype keyboards. And Boca continues to be a fertile place for new ideas.
The idea our president heard about was a new venture called Voispot, and he was intrigued with the potential for a link to the university. Did he have an instant plan? No, but he saw possibilities…and he acted. There was no committee—just a quick email inviting the company’s founders, local business people, and campus leadership to a brainstorming session.
From that first meeting, we made the development and launch of Voispot a get-your-hands-dirty project for an MBA class, and our students worked with the founders to learn first-hand what it means to start a real-world business on the forefront of technology. Voispot is a brand new social talk platform that allows people to have group conversations about common interests. Voispot is a free, cloud-based, mobile app where users can speak, listen, ask questions, and engage in discussions using voice (no typing or texting needed) in real-time. The technology allows organized conversations with a virtually limitless number of people—think of the digital version of an audience participation panel event, except your audience is not limited by the number of seats.
Too often we’re accused of sitting in our ivory towers, out-of-touch and out-of-date. And, yeah, sometimes it’s true. But it doesn’t have to be. The “ivory tower” gives us access to the best and brightest, and can give us a vantage point that allows us scan the horizon, always searching for the newest and best educational experiences for our students. It’s about fostering a culture of innovation on our campuses, and it can begin in small ways but can make a big difference!
Monday, August 6, 2012
A Chef, Some Vodka and a Tweeting Teddy Bear
Some interesting articles from this weekend’s papers:
From the Sunday NY Times, an interesting article on developing a brand, especially when considering the incredible story of chef, Marcus Samuelsson. It’s a great story that tells of his incredible journey as a child in Ethiopia, to his adoption by Swedish parents, to Aquavit in NYC…to the development of his current restaurant Red Rooster. From the article:
The question for Mr. Samuelsson and other rising stars is how far and how fast they can push a personal brand. The more business ventures they start, the less they can personally control the quality. It is a quandary that any successful entrepreneur faces as a business grows.
“We constantly have to edit, curate, sift through our brand,” Mr. Samuelsson says. “Where is the stretch? Where is the perfect fit? Where does it make sense?”
An equally interesting piece about the evolution of a career by Tito Beveridge, the CEO of Tito’s Handmade Vodka. From the article:
I saw a motivational speaker on TV who suggested that people at a crossroads consider what they enjoy doing and what they’re good at doing — and to to find a job where the two intersect. I had been making infused vodka to give to friends at Christmas, and I really enjoyed that. I thought that was my answer.
First, I tried selling my infused vodka to liquor store owners. They said the market was too crowded, but that if I could make a smooth vodka that young women could drink straight, I’d have something. I asked how. They said they didn’t know, and told me to figure it out.
My friends and I built a shack, and I constructed a small still, boiler and copper condenser. I tried cooking potatoes, rye, sorghum, wheat and other bases for vodka and decided that I liked corn best. My science background was perfect for this field.
I found a distributor, invested all I had and took out 19 credit cards. I expanded the shack and the still as necessary and sold the first case in 1997. It took eight years to make a profit, so, to support myself, I also sold commercial mortgages. Last year, we sold more than 500,000 cases. We distribute in all 50 states and two Canadian provinces.
Fear of failure paralyzes some people when trying something new. As in sailing, you have to set your course — and it rarely follows a straight line.
And from Friday’s Wall Street Journal, the fascinating story, Twitter Goes to the Movies about the selling of the movie Ted along with success (and failure) of other movies thanks to social media. The marketing of Ted through twitter reminds me of the early days of Twitter when Sea World’s whale, Shamu, was an equally interestingly irreverant tweeter. From the article:
The teddy bear's first tweet, from an account called @WhatTedSaid set up by the Universal Pictures marketing department, was "Hello, Twitter. Kindly go f— yourself."
The author of the greeting was Alec Sulkin, co-screenwriter of the R-rated comedy "Ted," who together with his collaborator Wellesley Wild was paid extra by the studio to build buzz on social media ahead of the film's June 29 release. Who better to embody the random musings of a foul-mouthed stuffed animal than the writers of the script? The suits left them alone.
"The parameters were, 'Just go to town,' " says Doug Neil, Universal's senior vice president of digital marketing. The tweeting started March 30, two days before the "red band" (uncensored) trailer appeared online, depicting the namesake bear smoking weed, cuddling with co-star Mark Wahlberg and pantomiming suggestive acts for a supermarket checkout girl.
From the Sunday NY Times, an interesting article on developing a brand, especially when considering the incredible story of chef, Marcus Samuelsson. It’s a great story that tells of his incredible journey as a child in Ethiopia, to his adoption by Swedish parents, to Aquavit in NYC…to the development of his current restaurant Red Rooster. From the article:
The question for Mr. Samuelsson and other rising stars is how far and how fast they can push a personal brand. The more business ventures they start, the less they can personally control the quality. It is a quandary that any successful entrepreneur faces as a business grows.
“We constantly have to edit, curate, sift through our brand,” Mr. Samuelsson says. “Where is the stretch? Where is the perfect fit? Where does it make sense?”
An equally interesting piece about the evolution of a career by Tito Beveridge, the CEO of Tito’s Handmade Vodka. From the article:
I saw a motivational speaker on TV who suggested that people at a crossroads consider what they enjoy doing and what they’re good at doing — and to to find a job where the two intersect. I had been making infused vodka to give to friends at Christmas, and I really enjoyed that. I thought that was my answer.
First, I tried selling my infused vodka to liquor store owners. They said the market was too crowded, but that if I could make a smooth vodka that young women could drink straight, I’d have something. I asked how. They said they didn’t know, and told me to figure it out.
My friends and I built a shack, and I constructed a small still, boiler and copper condenser. I tried cooking potatoes, rye, sorghum, wheat and other bases for vodka and decided that I liked corn best. My science background was perfect for this field.
I found a distributor, invested all I had and took out 19 credit cards. I expanded the shack and the still as necessary and sold the first case in 1997. It took eight years to make a profit, so, to support myself, I also sold commercial mortgages. Last year, we sold more than 500,000 cases. We distribute in all 50 states and two Canadian provinces.
Fear of failure paralyzes some people when trying something new. As in sailing, you have to set your course — and it rarely follows a straight line.
And from Friday’s Wall Street Journal, the fascinating story, Twitter Goes to the Movies about the selling of the movie Ted along with success (and failure) of other movies thanks to social media. The marketing of Ted through twitter reminds me of the early days of Twitter when Sea World’s whale, Shamu, was an equally interestingly irreverant tweeter. From the article:
The teddy bear's first tweet, from an account called @WhatTedSaid set up by the Universal Pictures marketing department, was "Hello, Twitter. Kindly go f— yourself."
The author of the greeting was Alec Sulkin, co-screenwriter of the R-rated comedy "Ted," who together with his collaborator Wellesley Wild was paid extra by the studio to build buzz on social media ahead of the film's June 29 release. Who better to embody the random musings of a foul-mouthed stuffed animal than the writers of the script? The suits left them alone.
"The parameters were, 'Just go to town,' " says Doug Neil, Universal's senior vice president of digital marketing. The tweeting started March 30, two days before the "red band" (uncensored) trailer appeared online, depicting the namesake bear smoking weed, cuddling with co-star Mark Wahlberg and pantomiming suggestive acts for a supermarket checkout girl.
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