What to Read Now February 2020

A collection from the editors of Ideas to Action

Diversity Practices: Challenges and Strategies

diversity practices

Drawn from her chapter in Professor Laura Morgan Roberts' book Race, Work and Leadership, Courtney McCluney discusses how efforts to "manage diversity" could benefit from education about historical context and contemporary experience.

Special Treatment vs. Special Traits: What We Want From Relationships

special treatment

People are romantically drawn to warm, kind people who treat others well. But when it comes to how a partner treats us, we really want special treatment. Both desires stand to reason, but are they equally important? Spoiler alert: Nope.

Companies Innovate More When Their Boards Include Women

women boards

How are corporate innovation, value creation and gender diversity connected? A new global study shows the real influence and impact of gender diversity on boards. The effects of greater gender balance may be evident sooner than you think.

Fortune 100 CEOs: What We Can Learn From Their Stories About Making It

CEO

Jeff Bezos, Tim Cook, Warren Buffett — how did they come to helm the world’s largest companies? In this podcast, find a discussion of what we can learn from their stories that might suggest lessons about making it to the top.

How to Avoid or Recover From Identity Theft: Resilience Education

Theft

Based on a case for the Resilience Education program, founded by Darden experts: a practical, step-by-step guide to dealing with identity theft, a phenomenon prevalent with the at-risk population of people who are incarcerated.

About the Expert

Gregory B. Fairchild

Associate Dean for Washington, D.C., Area Initiatives and Academic Director of Public Policy and Entrepreneurship; Isidore Horween Research Professor of Business Administration

Fairchild is an expert in business strategy, business ethics, leadership and entrepreneurship. He specializes in underserved, overlooked markets and has taught financial literacy to victims of domestic violence, and has launched a program to teach entrepreneurship and business skills to inmates re-entering society.

Fairchild was named one of the 10 Best Business School Professors in the World by CNNMoney/Fortune in 2012 and one of the 50 Best Business School Professors by Poets & Quants. He was the lead investigator in a study of business models and public policy issues in the field of community development finance, an initiative supported by a $850,000 grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

B.S., Virginia Commonwealth University; MBA, University of Virginia Darden School of Business; M.Phil., Ph.D., Columbia University

Professor Fairchild teaches in the Executive Education program The Women’s Leadership Program.

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About the Expert

Kimberly A. Whitler

Frank M. Sands Sr. Associate Professor of Business Administration

Whitler is an authority on marketing, with expertise in marketing strategy, brand management, and marketing performance. Her research centers on understanding how a firm’s marketing performance is affected by its C-suite and board.

A prolific writer as well as researcher, Whitler has authored nearly 100 articles related to C-level marketing management challenges and is a contributor for Forbes and CMO.com. Social Media Marketing Magazine named her one of the Top 100 Marketing Professors on Twitter.

Whitler has held leadership roles, including GM and CMO positions, within the consumer packaged goods and retailing industries, including Procter & Gamble, David’s Bridal and PetSmart. She has helped build $1B+ brands, including Tide, Bounce, Downy and Zest.

B.A., Eureka College; MBA, University of Arizona Eller School of Business; M.S., Ph.D., Indiana University Kelley School of Business

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