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October 22, 2014
Shirli Kopelman in Inc.:
“But over the last decade we’ve witnessed a new trend, especially amongst the men and women attending business schools. These people no longer are satisfied with only collecting paychecks and ascending the proverbial corporate ladder; now they want meaningful jobs.
They yearn for what is called a Career with a Heart. They want work to be aligned with their personal values. They want their jobs to positively fuel, sustain and energize their work over the long-haul. And instead of aiming for the often unattainable work-life balance, negotiating a career with a heart allows their personal and professional lives to complement and nourish one another.”
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October 3, 2014
By: Christopher Myers
Chris Myers–the Center’s Doctoral Research Fellow–on the positives of failure:
“We experience failures and setbacks quite regularly at work, and the question of how to make these negative events an opportunity to boost resilience is an important one. The environment that we create at work can have a tremendous influence on our ability to ‘bounce back’ and respond resiliently to a failure.”
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October 2, 2014
Dave Mayer–the Center’s Faculty Co-Director–quoted on the link between testosterone and high levels of greedy behavior:
“From the Lausanne study, it’s not clear whether testosterone levels control corrupt behavior, or whether high levels of it are linked to the presence of some other physiological feature that does. But even if it were definitively the case that testosterone is the root of greed, some are skeptical that anything can be done with that information.
“David Mayer, a management professor at the University of Michigan, points out that this research is similar, in spirit, to fMRI studies indicating which parts of the brain light up when a certain decision is made. But establishing these physiological underpinnings does little to solve the problem of antisocial behavior. ‘I wonder how these findings can be used to help leaders be more ethical,’ he says.”
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September 18, 2014
By: Adam Grant
Several years ago, I was invited to give my first public speech, and I made the mistake of saying yes. I was terrified: as a student, my heart used to race at the mere thought of raising my hand in class. For weeks beforehand, I had nightmares about forgetting my lines, waking up in a cold sweat. No matter how much I practiced, for the three days leading up to the speech, I could hardly breathe.
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September 2, 2014
Managing Director Chris White in the Huffington Post:
“But it is not all doom and gloom. At the Ross School of Business, our mission is to develop leaders who make a positive difference in the world. We define “positive” in this context as creating economic value, building great workplaces, and being good neighbors. While the three are completely interrelated, the work of the Center for Positive Organizations at Ross emphasizes the catalytic importance of architecting places where people can bring their best selves to work. We look primarily at the organizational architecture: how structures, systems, strategies, processes, practices, and culture can all be re-imagined to help people thrive. Financial success and impact on our communities are two other sides of this virtuous triangle of Positive Business.”
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August 19, 2014
Writing for Fortune, Anne Fisher quotes CPO Faculty Co-Director Dave Mayer on the difficulty of achieving true workplace diversity:
“People have all kinds of assumptions about what ‘affirmative action’ or ‘diversity programs’ mean,” notes David Mayer, one of the study’s authors, who teaches management at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business. “Unfortunately, plenty of employees think it’s about hiring people who are less qualified, just because they’re a member of a minority group.”
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August 1, 2014
By: Allison Sheehan
One of the things that I value most about the Center is the people. As I wrote in my initial blog about first impressions, right away what caught my attention about the Center were the bright-colored walls and the collaborative set up of each room. However, I quickly realized it’s the interesting people and conversation that make this place so unique. It has only been eight weeks since the Summer Fellows started at the Center, but I have built high quality connections with my fellows much faster than I have in any of my other jobs. I think this is due to the focus on recognizing and sharing positive identities with one another, and our weekly celebrations at the beginning at every Lunch and Learn.
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July 31, 2014
By: Kathy Kram, Wendy Murphy
Today’s career environment is very different than it was two decades ago. The pace of change is ever increasing. Globalization is inevitably requiring most of us to work effectively and learn from individuals who are from different countries and ethnic backgrounds, requiring well-honed communication skills. And, technology has significantly changed the way we work and the way we create and sustain relationships with others. These trends make us all novices over and over again, as we necessarily move to a new job, new organization, or new country. It is almost impossible to be an expert for very long.
So what does mentoring look like in this new context? Our review of three decades of research and our own observation and experiences clearly indicate that rather than seek out one mentor who can provide all of the guidance that is needed at a particular point in time, we all need to build a network of developers that can help us to continuously learn, innovate, work with others, and realize our goals.
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July 31, 2014
In her leadership column for Forbes, Ruth Blatt mentions Oana Branzei’s chapter in Jane Dutton and Gretchen Spreitzer’s new book, How to Be a Positive Leader:
“Leaders who are able to truly have a long-lasting influence are those who give us hope. In a chapter in the recent book How To Be A Positive Leader, professor Oana Branzei of the Richard Ivey School of Business at Western University defines hope as the belief that people and situations can and will change for the better. Political leaders such as Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela or religious leaders like Mother Theresa and Archbishop Ddesmond Tutu had their powerful impact because they convinced others that a better future was possible and doable.”
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July 25, 2014
By: Allison Sheehan
I’m always amazed when I walk into a store and read the label on a piece of clothing to see the size, and the tag simply reads “one size fits all.” I specifically remember the first time I saw one of these labels–I was young, with my mom. The piece of clothing was a Disney nightgown, and there was only one size that claimed to “fit all.” I remember looking up at my mom, wondering how this gown could possibly fit both her and me. There was no way it was going to fit her adult body and my eight-year-old body. The only way she could describe it was that there was only one size made for everyone to fit into, and it would just fit everyone differently, or realistically, some wouldn’t fit into it at all.
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July 24, 2014
On Tuesday, July 29th (7:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time) Gretchen Spreitzer will be interviewed on Work and Life (SiriusXM Channel 111, Business Radio Powered by The Wharton School).
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July 21, 2014
While debates over education reform pick up steam across the country, Ross professors Robert Quinn and Gretchen Spreitzer hope to add a little analytical rigor to the discussions with their new book, The Best Teacher in You, out this month from Berrett-Koehler in partnership with Battelle For Kids.
In the book, Quinn and Spreitzer (along with co-authors Mike Thomas and Katherine Heynoski of BFK) explore interviews, workshops, and studies with more than 350 highly effective teachers from across the country and reveal some interesting details.
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