As we’ve learned recently with corporate corruption, executives can also make extraordinary messes which other people have to clean up. This and other circumstances have caused me to do some serious reading on the subject of motherhood and management. I discovered that Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “A home requires all the tact and the executive ability required in any business.” Best-selling management guru Peter Senge notes in The Fifth Discipline that the real skills of leadership mirror the skills of effective parenting.
Consequently I found it somewhat odd that many in the business community expressed surprise at the outcomes of recent research findings regarding leadership roles. For example, one study at the Center for Research on Women at Wellesley College included 60 female leaders ranging from age 30 to 70 (including CEOs and notable public figures such as Ellen Goodman, Maya Angelou and Lesley Stahl) who used maternal and family roles to describe their leadership or the leadership of other women. In other studies, the strengths identified in women such as multitasking, collaborating, delegating responsibility and communicating values were identified as key for professional leadership.
Such an examination of leadership skills may seem theoretical to me now, but by the next issue, I should have a little more firsthand experience since my husband and I are expecting a new CEO to arrive in our own household. I will keep you posted on how this transition to new management goes!
This issue of the Graziadio Business Review proudly presents many unique insights for the business practitioner. Furthermore, in this unique issue, all of the articles are written or co-authored by women. This issue covers a range of topics that includes strategic decision-making, enhancing creativity in research teams, dealing with telemarketing, managing a more flexible supply-chain and even with lowering the cost of borrowing flexibility in terms of finance by leveraging the special purpose entity.
Connie James shows business practitioners how they can increase their firm’s strategic IQ. She discusses the importance of teaching knowledge workers and key managers dynamic planning processes.
Leslie Palich and Linda Livingstone demonstrate how the make-up of research teams can affect creativity. This article reveals the roles that teamwork and gender can play in the makeup and success of research teams.
Peggy Crawford and Edward Fredricks discuss the topical issue of Special Purpose Entities. They show the importance of evaluating risk and ensuring transparency in this type of financing.
Charla Griffy-Brown takes us into the world of ‘Just-in-Case’ supply-chain management. Given the current uncertainties in the economic and political landscape, she uses examples to demonstrate how to deal with risk and create an agile supply-chain, particularly by leveraging demand management technology.
Lynda Palmer and Frieda Gehlen take us into the shadowy world of telemarketing. In this intriguing piece, they show that even with the new regulations and the current antagonism toward telemarketing, direct marketing can be an effective business tool.
Don’t forget to take a look at the Conversation with Bert Boeckmann, owner of Galpin Ford in San Fernando Valley. Boeckman is widely recognized as the most honored and successful automobile dealer in America with Galpin Ford being the #1 dealership in the world in sales for Ford.
Don’t forget to take a look at the telemarketing Loop or try the Quiz on telemarketing before you ‘hang-up’ on this issue of the GBR!
