April 13, 2015
4:00 PM - 5:00 PM, Reception Immediately Following
The Colloquium, 6th Floor, Ross Building, Stephen M. Ross School of Business
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Lynn Perry Wooten is the Associate Dean of Undergraduate Programs at the Ross School of Business, University of Michigan. In this role, she is responsible for developing and implementing transformational educational experiences for Ross undergraduate students inside and outside of the classroom. She teaches organizational behavior, nonprofit management and strategic consulting courses. Professor Wooten conducts research in four primary areas: (1) positive organizing routines; (2) diversity management; (3) crisis leadership through resilience and organizational learning; and (4) educational and leadership development of undergraduate students. Her research appears in academic journals, monographs, and popular press outlets.
Erika Hayes James was appointed Dean of Emory University’s Goizueta Business School on May 19, 2014. Prior to this prestigious appointment, James served as Senior Associate Dean for Executive Education at the Darden Graduate School of Business (Virginia). James is a published researcher, award-winning educator, admired administrator, regarded speaker and proven consultant. Her expertise in workplace diversity and crisis leadership has led to recognition in scholarly journals and mainstream media. She has also taught and consulted on topics including decision making under pressure, trust and change management.
Born in Bermuda, James grew up in Texas and completed her undergraduate work at Pomona College (Calif.). While fulfilling coursework James started in the field of organizational psychology and pursued an M.A. and Ph.D. in the subject at the University of Michigan. She served as an assistant professor at Tulane University’s Freeman School of Business and Emory before joining the faculty at Darden. James also spent one year as a visiting professor at Harvard Business School.
Session Description: Some organizations run from situations that threaten their well-being. Other organizations embrace them. Why? In this session, learn the key principles associated with crisis leadership as we tell you the story of one organization that engaged in positive organizing to manage a crisis that had the potential to threaten its reputation and credibility. We highlight the importance of preparation and building trust with stakeholders before a crisis occurs in order to mitigate its adverse impact, followed by the need to lead authentically during the most intense part of crisis handling. We conclude with examples of how this organization adopted reflection and learning practices post crisis and the positive impact all of these behaviors had for the organization and its constituents.
The Positive Links Speaker Series 2014-15 season features contributing authors of How To Be a Positive Leader: Small Actions, Big Impact.
Positive leaders are able to dramatically expand their people’s—and their own—capacity for excellence. And they accomplish this without enormous resources or huge heroic gestures. Leading scholars describe how this is being done at organizations such as Wells Fargo, Ford, Kelly Services, Burt’s Bees, Connecticut’s Griffin Hospital, the Michigan-based Zingerman’s Community of Businesses, and many others. Like the butterfly in Brazil whose flapping wings create a typhoon in Texas, you can create profound positive change in your organization through simple actions and attitude shifts. Please join us to learn how.
Free and open to the public.
The Center for Positive Organizations thanks Diane and Paul Jones (Ross School of Business MBA 1975), for their generous gift in support of the 2014-2015 Positive Links Speaker Series.