by Steve Terusaki, MBA 89, Haas Alumni Forums Director
T he Haas Alumni Forums program provides a platform to gain new insights into what it means to be a great leader. A current issue in business is “ethical leadership.” What is ethical leadership? How does the Forum platform offer new ways to answer.
Max Bazerman in his article in the Harvard Business Review (HBR) in the September-October 2020 issue, “A New Model for Ethical Leadership – Create more value for society” posits that leaders and managers seeking to be more ethical should focus on creating the most value for society.
With a focus on value creation, there is less emphasis on the subjectiveness of “doing what is right; what is ethical” that is often clouded with investment of money and other resources for desired outcomes.
Bazerman blends this philosophical approach with business school pragmatism to inform a wide variety of managerial decisions, even to the extent of understanding how to prioritize one’s time and what to devote one’s energy towards to create the greatest value.
In our recent Haas Alumni Forums, I brought to my Forum mates the question of When and How to Say No. It follows on what Bazerman discusses in his HBR article regarding understanding how to prioritize use of one’s time.
The Forum conversation focused on gaining new perspectives and insights into prioritizing one’s time to create the greatest value to one’s organization, or within one’s life. The perspective sharing that occurred brought up approaches that I would never have thought of previously.
Examples included:
- In your stack of things to do, regularly toss the bottom third, for if you haven’t gotten to it by then, it wasn’t important in the big scheme of things.
- Commit to placing importance on “ME” – being selfish enough to keep space for one’s own energy level and health and well-being.
- Always have something you’re doing capture your passion and energy, so that when work becomes a drudge, you have a back-up to keep your energy level high.
- If you find yourself resentful, then what is being asked of you is probably not creating value to you, or to those around you.
- Set out a strategy of doing the 80% that gets the effort close to full execution AND, don’t fret about the last 20%.
It is in these kinds of Forum presentations and discussions when new strategies and key insights are gained from your trusted fellow peers and confidants. The power of the Haas Alumni Forum platform results from the principles of #Confidentiality, #Trust, #Vulnerability and #Openness.
If you are seeking to find a group of individuals who you can have conversations with about what matters most in your life, please “like” this post and share to your colleagues.
You can also find more information about the Haas Alumni Forum program by clicking here.
Please use the “like” icon, or add your comments and repost the article to your networks if you found some nuggets of wisdom. And of course, connect with me on LinkedIn so that we can be first order connections.
About Haas Alumni Forums
Haas Leadership Forums are comprised of 8-12 alumni who meet monthly—currently online only—to gain perspective and insight on the challenging issues they face as business leaders.
Forums are confidential settings where open discussion can lead to transformational professional and personal growth.
Find more information about the program:
