Leadership Topics
Tuesday, March 26 - The Art and Science of Storytelling
Presenter: Dr. Don Marinelli
The importance and power of storytelling for leaders has been a topic of great interest of late. This talk by Dr. Don Marinelli, retired Professor of Drama and Arts Management from Carnegie Mellon University, will explore in depth why storytelling is such a powerful tool and how to structure a story for maximum impact and meaning."
Thursday, April 11 - Creating a Mentoring Culture in the Workplace: A Critical Component for Organizational Success
Presenter: Dr. Erroline Williams
Mentoring in the workplace offers a powerful tool for employers and employees to grow and develop within the organization and is best described as a developmental process. It is critical to recognize mentoring within the approach of improving the culture of the organization, rather than as another new project to undertake. This session will allow participants to explore and gain insight into an overview of the mentoring process, whether formal or informal programs, acquire tools and resources to initiate mentoring programs, and share best practices.
Thursday, May 2 - Time to Think® for Leaders
Presenters: Evy Severino and Anne Papinchak
How can leaders increase team performance in a world of tight resources and fragmented attention? As documented in Nancy Kline's acclaimed book Time To Think, leaders who have used a Thinking Environment® have seen their teams produce better results in less time and increase motivation and commitment. By creating a shift in yourself, you unleash additional thinking capacity in others. In this highly interactive workshop, you will learn and practice new ways to structure your interaction with your team to bring out their best thinking. Whether or not you attended the previous Duquesne Leadership Breakfast Series Thinking Environment® Workshop, this program will bring you new insights and practical applications.
Thursday, June 6 - Leading Organizational Change: Changing Mindsets, Attitudes and Culture
Presenter: Sonia Layne-Gartside
Today for a variety of reasons - new operational systems, globalization, mergers/acquisitions, technological advances - companies grapple with change on a continuous basis. Managing change efforts have become a core competency that needs to be embedded in the DNA of your organization if you intend to remain competitive and successful. Your employees are your most powerful resource in successfully navigating and leading the way through these changes. They can also be your biggest road block. This session focuses specifically on the people side of change, particularly how to get buy-in from your employees and create real behavioral change in your organization's culture.
Tuesday, July 16 - Leading in a Global Environment
Presenter: Dr. Dorothy Bassett
Businesses & organizations today are operating in an increasingly global environment. What does it mean to be a global leader and what skills does it take to function effectively in this new world? This session will explore the impact of organizations on countries and regions beyond their own national borders and the pivotal role of the global leader in this process. It will also provide participants with a framework for developing the skills they need to become global leaders, helping them and their organizations to operate more successfully in this global environment.
Tuesday, August 20 - Navigating the Toxic Workplace
Presenter: Deborah Holland
Alpha Male. Bully. Mean Girl. Queen Bee. Have you heard or (gasp!) used these terms before to describe your coworkers and leaders? If so, you may be working in a toxic work environment. When toxic language is prevalent in an organization, it may be an indicator of the organization's culture. In a toxic work environment, mismanagement of human resources and dysfunctional attitudes permeate the atmosphere on a daily basis. The dominant culture devalues employee engagement and fair treatment. This workshop will shine a light on the many issues that employees confront in a toxic work environment and will explore the options for navigating the environment or pursuing a career change.
Tuesday, September 10 - How Leaders Can Inspire Others to Be Happier at Work
Presenter: Julie Ann Sullivan
You go to work every day, you might as well choose to be Happy. Recent research has shown that happy employees have on average 31% higher productivity and three times higher creativity. Those increases mean better bottom line results. It has also recently been reported that an increasing number of individuals regard the environment they work in more important than their salary at certain levels of compensation.
Leaders set the tone for an organization's working atmosphere. This session examines how the choices you make regarding intention, purpose and closure to your work day, can transform an office environment. This is true not only for yourself, but for clients, customers and co-workers you come in contact with each day.
Tuesday, October 8 - Neuroscience on the Global Stage: Learning How to Play Nice with Others
Presenter: Dr. Barbara Schwarck
Workplace communications, values, objectives and even ambitions are driven largely by culture, both in a microcosmic and macrocosmic sense. Neuroscience uniquely affects human interactions as an undercurrent to the culture the individual grew up in. These personal and individual predispositions or biases, often unconscious, may cause us to react negatively to or even dismiss others without truly considering the message they are trying to communicate and what they have to offer. Attendees of this session will gain a greater understanding of how to create and take a meaningful role in promoting group cooperation within a corporate culture that not only allows, but encourages, open and honest communications, resolution of differences and shared goals that satisfy the company's mission and values, yielding tangible results in terms of business success.
Tuesday, November 5 - The Resilient Leader: Overcoming the Challenges of Leadership - Improving Quality of Life
Presenter: Dr. Marc Tinsley
Leadership is hard work and can be emotionally, psychologically, and physically demanding. Today's leaders are beginning to understand that taking better care of yourself, increasing vitality, and building resiliency can actually help you perform better at work, give you a competitive advantage, and help you become a more successful leader.
Tuesday, December 10 - Valuing Differences, Celebrating Diversity: To Invoke Excellence in Leadership
Presenter: Holly McCoy and Dr. Jessamine Montero
The program will begin with a brief exploration of the theoretical underpinnings of diversity and inclusion. The trainers will present an interactive, experiential program during which participants celebrate their similarities and differences, recognize misinformation they have learned about various groups, and discuss the impact of this misinformation on developing authentic relationships through a series of team building exercises.