Robert E. Quinn
Co-Founder and Faculty Advisory Board, Center for Positive Organizations; Margaret Elliott Tracy Collegiate Emeritus Professor in Business Administration; Emeritus Professor of Management and Organizations, University of Michigan
February 7, 2024
About the talk
Fear is an emotion. So is loneliness. The dread of social isolation is ever with us. It can influence imagination and logic, producing strategies that result in increased loneliness and spiraling patterns of social decay. In organizations, people at every level live in fear. Apprehensive authority figures use rational persuasion to call distrusting employees to optimal performance. The result is increased anxiety, inauthenticity, silos of self-interest, and spiraling patterns of corporate decay. In 2019 Anjan Thakor and I published a book called The Economics of Higher Purpose. Since that time, we have participated in many conversations with people trying to create organizations of optimal performance. In this presentation, I will draw from science, and from the most sacred moments in these conversations regarding higher purpose. I will share a set of micro-messages designed to infuse you with increased positivity, increased consciousness, and increased courage. My hope is to improve how you live and how you die.
Robert E. Quinn
Co-Founder and Faculty Advisory Board, Center for Positive Organizations; Margaret Elliott Tracy Collegiate Emeritus Professor in Business Administration; Emeritus Professor of Management and Organizations, University of Michigan
Join us to support the development and administration of the “The Robert E. Quinn Award for Positive Change.” If you have ever been touched and inspired by Bob’s work, we invite you to join us in honoring his impact by becoming part of this legacy award given in his name. One ticket to attend this exclusive in-person session with Bob will be allocated for each $250 donated by February 5, 2024, up to a maximum event capacity of 200 people.
About the workshop
Creating an Organization of Higher Purpose When organizations are driven by an authentic, higher purpose, employees become more fully engaged, and performance increases. Yet how to create a purpose-driven organization remains a mystery to most executives. This half-day workshop, based on the book, The Economics of Higher Purpose: Eight Counterintuitive Steps for Creating a Purpose-Driven Organization, is designed to help leaders create such organizations. The first hour will focus on personal purpose. We will then turn to the topic of organizational purpose. Participants will leave with clear ideas on how to find purpose and create a more engaged workforce.
Robert E. Quinn’s life mission is to inspire positive change. As a teacher, author, consultant, and speaker focused on purpose, leadership, and culture, Bob nurtures the expansion of consciousness and performance in individuals and organizations. Bob is a co-founder of the Center for Positive Organizations and one of the leading thinkers whose work has advanced the domain of Positive Organizational Scholarship as it has grown into a recognized global focus for management and organizations. Since his start as an applied behavioral scientist who hungered to understand change, Bob’s focus has never wavered. As the Margaret Elliott Tracy Collegiate Emeritus Professor in Business Administration at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business, Bob continues to inspire leaders around the world with his teaching and writing.
Bob is the author of more than 18 books, among them one of the world’s best-loved books on organizational change. His writing and teaching have inspired leaders around the world to strive for forms of excellence they may not have believed possible, and his Harvard Business Review article entitled Moments of Greatness: Entering the Fundamental State of Leadership is one of their 10 Must Reads. Bob is perhaps most beloved, however, as a teacher. Speak to any student who has been in his presence and you will hear a story of greatness being born. Bob is known widely for his ability to adapt moment-by-moment with his audience in order to deepen their mutual encounter with leading a purposeful life. Bob leaves his students inspired to act with greater courage.
“It is a great joy for us at the Center for Positive Organizations to announce a new award that captures Bob’s spirit and honors his legacy as a teacher, writer, and thinker. This award is dedicated to elevating the work of those who push the boundaries of leadership practice, inspire excellence, and continue to seek change for themselves and those around them.” – Monica Worline, Faculty Director of the Center for Positive Organizations
The Center for Positive Organizations will present The Robert E. Quinn Award for Positive Change at its biennial gathering for leaders, the Positive Business Conference.
As Bob himself says, “I have always believed that leading with purpose creates dramatic transformations. This award represents the enduring power of positive organizational scholarship and I hope it also encourages those who lead with courage and strive for excellence to continue sharing their ideas and raising their voices about the power of positive change.”
If you have ever been touched and inspired by Bob’s work, we invite you to join us in honoring his impact by becoming part of this legacy award given in his name.
Donations will directly support the development and administration of this prestigious award.
Robert E. Quinn
Co-Founder and Faculty Advisory Board, Center for Positive Organizations; Margaret Elliott Tracy Collegiate Emeritus Professor in Business Administration; Emeritus Professor of Management and Organizations, University of Michigan
About the talk
Fear is an emotion. So is loneliness. The dread of social isolation is ever with us. It can influence imagination and logic, producing strategies that result in increased loneliness and spiraling patterns of social decay. In organizations, people at every level live in fear. Apprehensive authority figures use rational persuasion to call distrusting employees to optimal performance. The result is increased anxiety, inauthenticity, silos of self-interest, and spiraling patterns of corporate decay. In 2019 Anjan Thakor and I published a book called The Economics of Higher Purpose. Since that time, we have participated in many conversations with people trying to create organizations of optimal performance. In this presentation, I will draw from science, and from the most sacred moments in these conversations regarding higher purpose. I will share a set of micro-messages designed to infuse you with increased positivity, increased consciousness, and increased courage. My hope is to improve how you live and how you die.
Student Watch Party: Watch this streamed session together with other students for an in-person community experience followed by a structured discussion about how to put insights from Positive Links into practice. Registration for the Student Watch Party is included as an option when registering for this session of Positive Links.
About Quinn
Robert E. Quinn is the Margaret Elliot Tracy Collegiate Professor Emeritus at the University of Michigan, Ross School of Business. His work focuses on purpose, leadership, culture, and change. He is one of the co-founders of the field of Positive Organizational Scholarship and of the Center for Positive Organizations. He has published extensively and loves teaching. He has 45 years of experience in helping organizations to change.
Ranjay Gulati
Paul R. Lawrence MBA Class of 1942 Professor of Business Administration, Harvard University
About the talk
A revolutionary approach to business exists, one that delivers game-changing results for both organizations and society alike: the serious and deep pursuit of purpose. When organizations practice deep purpose, furthering their “reason for being,” it can revolutionize how they do business and deliver impressive performance benefits that reward customers, suppliers, employees, shareholders, and communities.
Join us for a conversation with Ranjay Gulati, Harvard Business School Professor and author of Deep Purpose, hosted by Robert E. Quinn to learn why organizations need to embed purpose much more deeply than they currently do, treating it as a radically new operating system. They’ll discuss ways to conceive of and relate to purpose and how to execute it. You’ll learn how you can use the power of purpose to unlock hidden potential in yourself and your organization.
About Gulati
Ranjay Gulati is the Paul R. Lawrence MBA Class of 1942 Professor and the former Unit Head of the Organizational Behavior Unit at Harvard Business School. Until recently, he chaired the Advanced Management Program, the flagship senior leader executive program, at the school. Professor Gulati studies how “resilient” organizations—those that prosper both in good times and bad—drive growth and profitability. His work bridges strategy (establishing clear strategic pillars for growth), organizational design (reimagining purposeful and collaborative organizational systems), and leadership (fostering inspired, courageous, and caring execution).
Professor Gulati was ranked as one of the top ten most cited scholars in Economics and Business over a decade by ISI-Incite. The Economist, Financial Times, and the Economist Intelligence Unit have listed him as among the top handful of business school scholars whose work is most relevant to management practice. His research has been published in leading academic journals of business, the Harvard Business Review, and a range of other outlets. He is the author of a number of books. He has been a frequent guest on CNBC and other media outlets.
Professor Gulati advises and speaks to corporations large and small around the globe. He also frequently leads small-group workshops focused on helping leadership teams of high-growth companies enhance the growth trajectory of their businesses. Some of his representative speaking and consulting clients include: Abbott Laboratories, Adidas, Aetna, Allergan, Bank of America, Bank of China, Baxter, Berkshire Partners, Blackrock, Boston Scientific, Bristol Myers Squibb, Brown Brothers Harriman, Caterpillar, Credit Suisse, Expedia, Ford, GE, General Mills, Google, Henkel, Hitachi, Honda, Hospira, IBM, Iron Mountain, Kellogg Company, KeyBank, KPMG, LaFarge, Lockheed Martin, Merck, MetLife, Microsoft, Mitsubishi, Novartis, Ochsner, P&G, Qualcomm, Sanofi, SAP, Target, Temasek, Unilever, and Vertex. He has served on the advisory boards of several entrepreneurial ventures and has appeared as an expert witness in business litigations.
Professor Gulati holds a PhD from Harvard University, a Master’s Degree in Management from M.I.T.’s Sloan School of Management, and two Bachelor’s Degrees, in Computer Science and Economics, from Washington State University and St. Stephens College, New Delhi, respectively. He lives in Newton, Massachusetts.
Their article breaks down the biology behind our natural fight-or-flight response during stressful situations and lays out a framework for how leaders can hack it.
The CPO researchers, along with co-author Stephen W. Porges, say the key is to listen to your body so you can identify when you’re feeling stressed. A knot in your stomach or a racing heart are signals that you need to self-regulate.
Self-regulation involves tuning in to your higher purpose and remembering past challenges that you transformed into successes, the researchers write.
David Fessel
Once you’ve consciously shifted from fear to hope, your body will release oxytocin, a hormone associated with empathy. You will be able to move from defensiveness to connection and, in turn, collaboration.
“Understanding our biological reactions in high-stress situations gives us a path to follow; it is then our choice if we walk this path or fight it,” the researchers write. “And the choice we make is often the difference between our success and failure.”
Quinn is the Margaret Elliott Tracy Collegiate Emeritus Professor in Business Administration and Emeritus Professor of Management and Organizations at the University of Michigan.
Fessell is a Professor of Radiology at the University of Michigan. He also co-directs the leadership curriculum for medical students at the University of Michigan.
Vic Strecher
Professor, University of Michigan Schools of Public Health and Medicine
Founder and CEO, Kumanu, Inc.
Hosted by:
Robert E. Quinn
Margaret Elliott Tracy Collegiate Emeritus Professor in Business Administration
Emeritus Professor of Management and Organizations
University of Michigan
About the talk
Creating a strong purpose is essential to wellbeing in our lives and our organizations during times of uncertainty. With an authentic purpose, individuals and organizations become more resilient, creative, and engaged with their work and the world around them. And employees realize a greater sense of meaning and empowerment.
Join us for a conversation with Vic Strecher hosted by Robert E. Quinn to learn more about the science and practice of building purposeful, thriving organizations. Together, they’ll explore the current scientific research illustrating the positive impact an authentic and well-communicated purpose can have on individuals, teams, and organizations, as well as some keys to help you unlock your own potential.
About Strecher
Victor J. Strecher (pronounced Streker), PhD, MPH is a visionary leader and expert in the fields of behavior change, digital communication, and wellbeing. His pioneering research led to successful ventures, reaching millions of lives. He’s Founder & CEO of Kumanu, a next generation wellbeing company, Professor at the University of Michigan School of Public Health, renowned speaker, and author.
In 1995, Vic founded the U-M Center for Health Communications Research, studying the future of digitally-tailored health communications when fewer than 15% of Americans had Internet access. In 1997, he founded HealthMedia, a digital health coaching company that was sold to Johnson & Johnson in 2010. More recently, Vic created Kumanu (Maori for “nourish” and “cherish”), a digital platform designed to help individuals and organizations live more purposefully.
Vic and the organizations he founded have won numerous national and international awards, including two Smithsonian Awards, the Health Evolution Partners Innovations in Healthcare Award, the National Business Coalition on Health’s Mercury Award, and the Health Enhancement Research Organization’s (HERO) Mark Dundon Research Award. In 2010, Vic won the University of Michigan’s Distinguished Innovator Award. In late 2017, Dr. Strecher was the Donald A. Dunstan Foundation’s “Thinker in Residence” in Adelaide, Australia to develop a “Purpose Economy” of business, government, and communities. His 2009 TedMed presentation has been cited by MPHonline as one of the “Top 10 Ted Talks on Public Health.”
His latest neuroscience, behavioral, and epidemiologic research; his two books, Life On Purpose and the graphic novel On Purpose; his free massive open online course Finding Purpose and Meaning in Life, which in its first six months has over 75,000 enrollees; and the Purposeful application his business (Kumanu) created are all focused on the importance of developing and maintaining a transcending purpose in life.
About Quinn
Robert E. Quinn’s life mission is to inspire positive change. He does this as a faculty member, author, consultant, and speaker. He is a professor emeritus at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business and one of the co-founders of the Center for Positive Organizations.
As an author he has published 18 books. His best-selling volume, Deep Change, has been used across the world. His book, The Best Teacher in You, won the Ben Franklin Award designating it the best book in education for 2015. The Harvard Business Review has selected his paper, “Moments of Greatness: Entering the Fundamental State of Leadership,” as one of their 10 Must Reads on Managing Yourself.
As a consultant he has 35 years of experience and is best known for the competing values framework, a tool that has been used by tens of thousands of managers. As a speaker he is recognized for drawing on research, opening minds to possibility, and arousing the desire to grow. He is a fellow of the Academy of Management and the World Business Academy.
This Positive Links is presented by the Center for Positive Organizations at the University of Michigan Stephen M. Ross School of Business and the Managerial and Organizational Cognition (MOC) Division of the Academy of Management.
Why leadership approaches rooted in service, inclusion, and authenticity will replace command-and-control models
Strategies to dismantle, disrupt, decolonize (and rebuild!) obsolete organizations and structures
How to build better relationships and create stronger teams
How to care for yourself and your team to build resilience and encourage innovation
What it means to be a leader who serves, unifies, and empowers others
Each session includes a leadership exercise, practice or technique, and practical tools you can start using immediately
Learn groundbreaking new leadership models that will lead to unparalleled results
Get practical tools and exercises to shift perceptions and build support in your organization
Develop skills to build resilience, adapt to change, and cultivate innovation and growth
Maximize your impact with approaches that create alignment and awaken purpose in your team
Discover actionable, proven strategies to build inclusive, just, and equitable organizations
Learn from Kim Cameron, Robert Quinn, Ken and Margie Blanchard, Sonya Renee Taylor, Tami Simon, Mary-Frances Winters, Otto Scharmer, Edgar Villanueva, and more…
Monica Worline invites Bob Quinn, Professor Emeritus of Management and Organizations and the University of Michigan, and the third of the three co-founders of the Center for Positive Organizations, to share a story that illuminates why dark times can call us into becoming beacons of light. As you listen, remember that we all are artists of light and shadow. How are you working with your palette of light and shadow right now?
This video is part of a series produced for the Thrive in Trying Times Teach-Out. Learn more about the teach-out and watch other videos here.
Center for Positive Organization (CPO) co-founder and core faculty member Robert E. Quinn discusses higher purpose on the Everybody Matters Podcast.
Quinn examines how setting and communicating a clear higher purpose to employees at all levels can create positive corporations. “When purpose is the arbiter of every decision, every single person’s empowered,” he says.
The Everybody Matters Podcast episode also features insights from Quinn’s talk on higher purpose in a socioeconomic context during the Organizational Higher Purpose conference.
“When we understand purpose, we move into a new realm that other people don’t live in. And then you and I engage in exponential learning,” Quinn says. “… It’s logical, emotional and conscience-driven, not culturally driven. When I’m purpose-driven, I bring conscience to culture. That’s a key phrase, you won’t hear it anywhere else. I bring conscience to culture. Inspiration breathes life into a system. Conscience brings inspiration, which breathes life into a system, and everything changes.”
Guidance from Michigan Ross faculty on dealing with coronavirus dominates most-read content.
A review of the most popular Ross Thought in Action posts of the just-concluded academic year reveals that half of the top 10 were about the COVID-19 pandemic. The other most popular topics included women in leadership roles, the impact of online grocery shopping, and the importance of learning to ask for help.
RTIA is a platform to showcase the ideas and research of Michigan Ross faculty for the business community.
Here are the year’s top 10 RTIA articles, as measured by page views, starting with the most popular:
WEMU host Lisa Barry interviews Center for Positive Organizations (CPO) co-founder Robert E. Quinn about how we can use the stay-at-home experience to identify our strengths and use them to support a worthy purpose.
Quinn recommends we take this time to clarify our purpose and values and reconnect with high-quality connections from our past.
“The key is to shift the focus from the sense of loss to where it is I want to go and what is it that’s supporting me in this process,” Quinn says. “It’s a reorientation and when we make that reorientation, we begin to function well.”
Science suggests that when we know our purpose and live it, we’re healthier, our networks are stronger, we make more money, we have better interactions and a richer life experience, Quinn says.
“This can be a golden opportunity, a great moment in our lives in the middle of a major crisis, to make a difference in the world,” Quinn says.
Quinn is a CPO core faculty member and serves as the Margaret Elliott Tracy Collegiate Emeritus Professor in Business Administration; Emeritus Professor of Management and Organizations at the University of Michigan. He is hosting an online program called “Becoming Who You Are: How to Grow Yourself and Your Organization.”
