71 - 80 of 84 results for: GSBGEN

The course explores the role of compassion in the workplace, and the contribution of compassion to leadership. Topics addressed will include: Is compassion in the business world a strength, or a weakness? Are compassion and profit motives fundamentally incompatible, or can they support each other? What does compassionate leadership look like? Can compassion be trained at the individual level, and built into company policy? How does self-compassion support effective leadership and recovery from setbacks?nnnEach class meeting will feature a guest speaker. Guests from the corporate or non-profit sectors will discuss the challenges of integrating compassion into business strategy and the work environment. Guests from the scientific field will discuss research on compassion as it relates to real-world challenges.nnnStudents will be expected to respond in writing to lectures as well as relevant readings, and actively contribute to in-class discussion.nnnThis course is offered in partnership with the Stanford Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education.

This course is designed to expose second-year MBAs to research on creativity in problem-solving. The course has straightforward practical goals: it will explore ways in which individuals, groups, and organizations can become more creative, in useful ways. In order to do this effectively, we will study hardnosed research on problem-solving. We will not read articles entitled "The five-fold path to creativity." If there really were recipes or algorithms for reliably increasing creativity, I would certainly teach them. (Or more likely, I wouldn't need to: they would routinely be taught in the core curriculum of every MBA program.) Instead, we will study what cognitive and social scientists have discovered about novelty and effectiveness in problem-solving. Some of this work---e.g., Scott Page's examination of the value of cognitive diversity in teams---will have relatively direct action-implications. The pragmatic implications of other research---e.g., on organizational norms for resolving conflict---will be more indirect. Because the course's practical goal is easy to state but hard to achieve, some patience is required. nnnAs indicated above, we will study creativity at three levels: individuals, groups and organizations. Because there is pretty good evidence that different kinds of factors are prominent at these different levels, the course's approach is multi-disciplinary. We will read articles and books by cognitive psychologists and cognitive scientists, social psychologists, organization theorists, and perhaps historians who have studied industrial innovation. Disciplinary boundaries are irrelevant: any work that articulates a significant claim about pragmatically useful creativity and backs up that claim with a good argument is grist for our mill. nn nnBecause the course focuses on creativity that makes a difference---i.e., that ultimately makes some organizational stakeholder better off---we will also study how innovations get selected. This inevitably means studying how new ideas get criticized and sometimes discarded. This process is less fun than generating new ideas, but given that brand-new ideas are usually flawed in one way or another, critical and hard-headed scrutiny of innovations is vital. Hence, we will examine psychological, political, and organizational obstacles to the effective criticism and evaluation of novel solutions, and we will also look at some ideas on how these obstacles might be reduced. nnnClasses will be run seminar-style: they'll focus on examining the readings closely and critically. Understanding what a study does not establish is sometimes just as important as understanding what it does establish. Hence, I will expect everyone to read carefully; skimming won't cut it. This effort will probably result in a rather deep and sophisticated comprehension of the topic. Given the importance of creativity and innovation in modern organizations, that should be adequate return for hard effort.

It is commonly believed that experience is a great teacher. But is it? Do we always learn what we can or should from experience? Research on this question suggests that the answer is no. Often we do not learn all that experience has to teach us and often the lessons we draw from experience are the wrong ones. This seminar examines what research suggests about how managers and others learn and don¿t learn from experience. Among the questions we will consider are: (1) How does experience teach? (2) What are the impediments to learning from experience? (3) How can we learn better from our experiences? (4) How can we have better learning experiences; that is, design and structure our experience and that of others so that it produces better learning?

"Tell me the facts and I'll learn. Tell me the truth and I'll believe. But tell me a story and it will live in my heart forever."nnnStories are all around us. Stories move us, make us feel alive, inspire us to be more than we would be otherwise. As famed screenwriting coach and author of the screenwriting bible, Story, McKee says: "Story is not only our most prolific art form, but rivals all activities - work, play, eating, exercise - for our waking hours. We tell and take in stories as much as we sleep - and even then we dream." ** Despite our love for stories, most of us leave stories to "storytellers" - fiction writers, journalists, and film makers. But we all have this skill. We simply need to hone it. The question is - how can we hone it? In this seminar, we will break down the basic elements of storytelling, elucidate the power of the verbal as well as the visual, and discuss how storytelling helps build brands and organizations. For the final project, you will create tell a 3 minute story about (a) your organization, (b) your brand, or (c) you. Thus, the goals for this class:nnn(1) Understand what makes bad stories, okay stories, and great stories.nn(2) Learn how to create storyboardsnn(3) Gain practice in crafting and telling a compelling 3 minute story about yourself. You will get feedback by filmmakers on what went well, went poorly, and how to take the story to level further.nnn** Robert McKee, Story, (Regan Books: 1997), p. 11.

This new seminar explores how the "life stories" we tell ourselves influence the choices we make in life, including the personal and professional choices we make, the ambitions we pursue - and, ultimately, our very success. Together, we will look at the science and art of what might be called "generative autobiography" - finding the particular life story that helps you pursue a more consequential and meaningful life. In developing this idea, you will learn to identify the essential elements of a great life story. You will learn how to craft a better, more creative life story for yourself, and you'll learn also how to tell your life story more effectively to other people in order to engage them more deeply and lead them more effectively. nnnThe course will include a series of outstanding readings from psychology, philosophy and literature on how to think more creatively about the life you are living now - and the life you hope to live going forward. One distinctive feature of this new seminar will be the extensive use of materials from award-winning films to illustrate the major themes and dilemmas of telling a good life story. We will examine the lives of a number of fascinating high achievers from business, science, politics and the arts. The course also includes several exercises designed to help you craft, refine, and project your life story. The seminar will be very discussion-oriented and very engaging!

Growing and scaling a successful business demands familiarity and comfort with financial principles and decision-making. Yet particularly in developing countries, where the need for growth is greatest, a large fraction of the population, and entrepreneurs and managers in particular, lack this basic knowledge. The goal of this project-based seminar is for teams of students to develop education modules for teaching financial literacy to entrepreneurs in developing economies. We will partner with on the ground organizations who work directly with these entrepreneurs, and who can provide feedback on the user's needs and market validation for project teams' approaches. We will examine research on the effectiveness of credit-linked training and review some existing programs offering similar training. Students will be expected to deliver a short training video at the end of the course.

In the Information Age, there are two kinds of leaders, institutions, and organizations: those who have been hit with a crisis and those who haven't been around very long. And of those who have confronted a crisis, the landscape has a few winners, but is crowded with losers who simply did not have what it took to survive the crisis.nnnCrisis is a constant state of nature in our age and if you do not effectively fight back, in the modern spin cycle, you will no longer have your brand, your image, or your reputation. This course will cover the strategies, techniques, and art of damage control.nnnThe course will also explore the five fundamental elements responsible for why we live in a state of crisis: the proliferation of media outlets communicating information; the speed in which information travels; the erosion of trust from society related to the quality of information received; the capacity to selectively leverage information; and the community nature of how information is developed and shared. Building from an analysis of these elements, we will explore methods of surviving and thriving in this environment.nnnThe course will also offer detailed approaches to managing one's way through a crisis. We will provide case studies of those who failed to master the art of damage control whose mistakes endangered the survival of their company and/or their careers. We will also study cases where those in a crisis handled it deftly. By considering, analyzing, and reviewing these techniques, it is hoped the students will learn how best manage the crisis - and what it takes to survive.nnnThe course will co-taught by Chris Lehane and Bill Guttentag. Chris Lehane is one of the nation's leading political consultants with a particular expertise in damage control. He was a Special Assistant Counsel to President Bill Clinton where he was responsible for helping to manage the Clinton White House's damage control operation and later served as Vice President Al Gore's Press Secretary, and has been a top advisor to many who have run for President, Senate, Governor or other elected offices, both in the US and internationally. He consults for numerous Fortune 500 Companies, professional sports leagues and teams, Hollywood studios and high profile individuals. Bill Guttentag is a narrative and documentary film writer, producer, director who has been teaching at the GSB since 2001. He is a two-time Oscar winner, his films have played extensively in the US and internationally, and have premiered at a number of prominent film festivals inducing Sundance and Cannes. Lehane and Guttentag are the co-authors of Masters of Disaster: The 10 Commandments of Damage Control. The book will published this fall by Palgrave/Macmillan and will serve as the principal text for this course.

How should you decide between now and the future? This course will cover the descriptive and prescriptive theories of intertemporal choice in psychology and economics. Topics will include financial decision making, social (who should you marry?), environmental, and health. The goal of the course is to maximize the long term happiness and effectiveness of yourself and others. Grading will be based on: class participation, a decision diary (in three parts), and an exam.

This course accepts that the (CSR) movement linking business, communities and sustainability has moved past the stage of debate. The last decade has seen an increased awareness in regard to environmental and social issues that has found its way up the corporate ladder and into company boardrooms. How companies incorporate CSR programs and strategies, however, is varied and diverse. The course will utilize reading assignments, case analysis and/or company presentations to provide an overview of CSR, the frameworks and models for developing a CSR strategy and the growing utilization of cross-sector partnerships in CSR and innovation efforts. Particular focus will be on cutting edge business strategies for squaring social and environmental responsibilities with competitive demands. The latter part of the course will examine the role of cross-sector partnerships as a critical lever. Cross-sector collaboration is increasingly desirable as a strategy for addressing many of society's problems; however, research evidence indicates that it is hardly easy. Guests will bring to life the challenges and rewards in working collaboratively to implement social change.