1-08-2024 10:55am

Emerge from Any Crisis More Resilient Than Before, U of M Positive Speaker Series

Ypsilanti PressLLC Editor

Authors Erica James and Lynn Wooten

The Prepared Leader: Emerge from Any Crisis More Resilient Than Before

JANUARY 22, 2024

2:00 - 3:00 p.m. ET

Free, registration required to obtain login information

Erika H. James
Dean of The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania

Lynn Perry Wooten
Faculty Affiliate, Center for Positive Organizations and President, Simmons University

About the talk

The next crisis might be here now, or it might be around the corner. In no other time in recent history have leaders in every industry and on every continent grappled with so many changes that have independently and simultaneously undermined their ability to lead.

Join Erika H. James and Lynn Perry Wooten for a virtual fireside chat with Gretchen Spreitzer where they bring decades of world-renowned research on crisis leadership, diversity and inclusion, management strategy, and positive leadership to the table to help leaders better prepare themselves to lead through crises―and for whatever lies around the corner. They’ll discuss tools and frameworks from their book, The Prepared Leader: Emerge from Any Crisis More Resilient Than Before, for addressing and learning from crises so you can navigate through the distinct challenges of today and tomorrow. James and Wooten forcefully argue that the time to prepare is always.

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 James

Erika H. James became the dean of the Wharton School on July 1, 2020. Trained as an organizational psychologist, James is an expert on crisis leadership, workplace diversity and management strategy. Prior to her appointment at Wharton, James was the John H. Harland Dean at Emory University’s Goizueta Business School from 2014 to 2020. An award-winning educator, accomplished consultant, and researcher, she is the first woman and first person of color to be appointed dean in Wharton’s 141-year history. As such she has paved the way for women in leadership both in education and corporate America.

James has been instrumental in developing course material in crisis leadership and women’s leadership and in leading programs for executive audiences in these areas. She earned her BA from Pomona College and her PhD from the University of Michigan. James serves on the boards of Morgan Stanley, Momentive and the Philadelphia Orchestra.

About Wooten

Lynn Perry Wooten, a seasoned academic and an expert on organizational development and transformation, is the ninth president of Simmons University and the first African American to lead the institution. Before coming to Simmons, she served as the David J. Nolan Dean and Professor of Management and Organizations at the Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management. Prior to that, she served on the faculty of the University of Michigan Ross School of Business for nearly 20 years.

Specializing in crisis leadership, diversity and inclusion, and positive leadership, Wooten is an innovative leader, presenter, and prolific author. Wooten holds a bachelor’s degree from North Carolina A&T State University, where she was valedictorian; an MBA from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business; and a doctorate from the University of Michigan. A resident of Brookline, Massachusetts, Wooten is actively involved in the Boston philanthropic and civic community.

Host

Gretchen Spreitzer, Faculty Advisory Board, Center for Positive Organizations; Associate Dean for Corporate and Executive Relations, and Keith E. and Valerie J. Alessi Professor of Business Administration and Professor of Management and Organizations, University of Michigan