Business School changes curriculum
The Wharton School is teaching increased integration of careers and personal lives to future leaders?
No way.
Yes way.
Management professor Stewart D. Friedman teaches that leadership potentially exists in everyone, no matter his or her job level, and extends to all aspects of their personal life.
What a breath of fresh air.
A concept of 24/7 leadership that I can embrace.
Core Values And Leadership
My heart (and brain) sings at the thought of some business schools teaching that core values:
- ought to permeate a person’s life
- need to be aligned in all actions at work, at play, at home, in one’s community
- are parts of leadership and we all can be leaders no matter what are job.
This viewpoint isn’t original. I taught workshops in the late 1980s and early 1990s based on Stephen R. Covey’s books The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People and Principle-Centered Leadership.
But, I think the precepts are being embraced at a different level than they were previously.
Why Teach Them Now? What Changed?
First, business schools are integrating courses like Friedman’s into their curriculum. During the course, students talk about the importance relationships to their lives. Relationships. Not just business theory. Not just business processes.
Second, the importance of core values and relationships are being taught as more than concepts. They are being identified and discussed through experiential learning exercises and supported outside the classroom and after graduation with networking groups, alumni coaches and mentors.
Third, the business climate is ready for it. They’re ready because as Allan R. Cohen, the dean of Babson College’s graduate business school says “We have seen a lot of unethical leadership, and all of a sudden devoting your career to just making money isn’t looking so attractive. So different kinds of courses become more interesting.”
All these points are valid.
I also believe the change in emphasis related to leadership is marked by a different attitude, overall, of the younger generations – Gen Y and the millennials. They don’t accept that career takes automatic precedence over family and personal life. With the new workforce having different ideas about the number of hours one should be expected to work and how employees should be treated while on the job, businesses are forced to change.
Couple that with more women in the workforce who, for the most part, have different attitudes about the importance of relationships and collaboration. They recognize their value to productivity and success.
Just ask the women of 3 Plus International.
by Cherry Woodburn
Cherry is owner of Borderless Thinking LLC, a paradigm shifter, welcoming a world of possibilities, Speaker on Women’s Issues. Connect with Cherry on Twitter.
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