UMASS/BOSTON EMERGING LEADERS PROGRAM TOPS IN EUROPE

WINS INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION AMONG LEADERSHIP PROGRAMS

CONTACT:    Marjorie Arons-Barron | Barron AssociatesWorldwide |  (617) 423-7770, 617-969-2707

 

June 14, 2007 -- The UMass Boston Emerging Leaders Program won top honors this week in an international competition featuring leadership development programs. The European Foundation for Management Development in Brussels voted the Emerging Leaders Program as its choice for the “Excellence in Practice” award. EFMD is a global organization devoted to the continuous improvement of management development and has over 600 member organizations from business, academia, and research centers in the United States , Europe and Asia .

 

The Emerging Leaders Program (ELP) initially was selected as a finalist based on “innovation and creativity in the learning approach, its effective partnering with the corporate sector, cultural diversity, sustainability and strategies for learning transfer.” The other finalists were Sociale Verzekerings Bank and Nyerode Business Universiteit ( Netherlands ) and Fujitsu Service and The Danish Leadership Institute ( Denmark ).

 

The Emerging Leaders Program, in its sixth year, was launched by an initial grant from State Street Corporation, which continues its vital role in the program. ELP invites senior executives in corporations and non-profits to nominate young professionals in the Greater Boston area who have demonstrated potential and want to enhance their leadership skills and opportunities. The fellows are diverse by profession, race, and gender.

 

To date, the ELP has had 245 participants from the major organizations in the Greater Boston region, including State Street Corporation, ATT, Citizens Bank, Sovereign Bank, Blue Cross Blue Shield of MA, the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, The Boston Globe, Raytheon, Teradyne, Verizon, Liberty Mutual, United Way of MA Bay, Bank of America, Mellon New England, NSTAR, Boston Medical Center, Massachusetts General Hospital, John Hancock Financial Services, the Boston Foundation, and the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority.

 

“We are thrilled with this outstanding honor,” said Dr. Sherry Penney, founding director of the Center for Collaborative Leadership and now also a professor at the UMass Boston College of Management. “The Fellows in our program are well positioned to provide a new generation of leadership for our region, especially against the backdrop of our changing corporate environment and shifting demographics.”

"We’re proud of this achievement. It’s an important milestone in shaping the leadership of tomorrow’s Boston , tomorrow’s United States , and tomorrow’s world,” said UMass Boston Chancellor-designate Keith Motley. “This institution is committed to preparing our community to meet the 21 st century challenges.”

 

"It's great to see the international recognition of a Boston born-and- bred leadership initiative. Boston needs young leaders of a very diverse nature, and this program and training reflect that.” said Marshall N. Carter, chairman of the New York Stock Exchange and former chairman and CEO of State Street Bank.

 

Dean Philip Quaglieri of the UMASS Boston College of Management, Sherry Penney, Ph.D., Professor of Leadership in the College of Management and former Chancellor of UMass Boston, and Jennifer Waldner of State Street Corporation who also is the Chair of the ELP alumni group presented the outline of the program to the attendees and were in Brussels to receive the recognition.

 

The nine-month Emerging Leaders program starts each January with a week-long seminar examining critical issues facing the region. Fellows learn about resources, networks, ways of identifying and achieving common goals. They meet monthly from February through September, and work in teams to produce action plans to address particular Boston area problems. This year’s team projects focus on “Why Young Professionals Stay in Greater Boston.” The teams will present their findings in November at the Fed Reserve Bank of Boston .

This year’s fellows were taught by UMass Boston faculty and guest lecturers including former State Street CEO Marsh Carter, now head of the New York Stock Exchange; Steve Ainsley, publisher, and Martin Baron, managing editor, of the Boston Globe; Federal Court Justice Sandra Lynch; Gloria Larson, partner at Foley Hoag; former District Attorney Ralph Martin of Bingham Dana LLP; Rick Friedel of ATT, John Herlihy of Mellon New England; the Reverend Ray Hammond of the Ten Point Coalition; Elaine Ullian, President and CEO of Boston Medical Center; Jose Masso formerly of the Federal Office of Puerto Rican Affairs; Eduardo Crespo of Hispanic Market Solutions; Chazy Dowaliby, editor of the Patriot Ledger; Hubie Jones of City Year; and Marjorie Arons-Barron, President of Barron Associates Worldwide.


Growing Boston's New Leaders
Reprint from The Boston Business Journal - November 17, 2006
http://boston.bizjournals.com/boston/stories/2006/11/20/editorial2.html

 

By Marshall N. Carter

Our region and our city are poised for significant leadership changes as more of our current leaders retire or move on. It is critical that outstanding individuals be ready and willing to take their places.

Iconic names from the past, from Richard Hill to John Larkin Thompson, guided our community with distinction and made notable contributions to civic life. But the new leadership will not and should not look like that of old. It must be more inclusive and respond to national and regional demographic changes. It must also be more collaborative -- a characteristic not always the norm in Boston. It is clear that building such leadership cannot be left to chance.

Many pundits and opiners worry what this all means for our future. I, however, am encouraged. Recently, I had the opportunity to meet with many of the 199 young professionals in the Emerging Leaders Program at the College of Management at UMass-Boston when the program celebrated its fifth anniversary and honored Hubie Jones, recognizing his commitment to renewed and inclusive leadership for the future. These young professionals are a diverse group with over 40 percent individuals of color and more than half females. Moreover, they represent the major businesses and nonprofits in our region.

In this leadership development program they have learned about a variety of leadership styles and have met with many of the current leaders in our city and region. They have studied, and also practiced, collaboration. They have learned what the best leaders know: Strength in an organization comes from bringing together many ideas from different individuals and sources. They have honed their skills in communication, in dealing with the media and the political process, in negotiation and dispute resolution. They have met with rising entrepreneurs, and they have examined work-family issues.

It has been encouraging to see those from banking, financial services, telecommunications and retail working with individuals from health care and nonprofit organizations as well as governmental agencies. They have much in common and benefit from the insights of their colleagues, but they also have learned how to accept and respect differences. Society needs leaders with different points of view, and these young leaders have learned how to work through differences and reach consensus.

Moreover, they have thought about and acted upon many of the issues facing our region: work force development, the new immigrant populations, charter schools, health care and housing. They have met with the mayor of Boston and other business and civic leaders to report their findings on these complex issues.

In 2007, they will be examining the reasons young professionals choose the Greater Boston area and why they stay here. We already know why some young people leave the region -- we also need to know why others stay and what we can do to ensure they remain here to build their personal and professional lives.

Most of these emerging leaders have committed themselves to Greater Boston. Many of them have already been asked to join prominent nonprofit boards, and more of them will be asked to do so in the future. Their next step is for-profit and public boards, and they are ready. Many also have assumed roles of increased responsibility in their companies, and their current bosses report that this leadership training has changed for the better the way they work in their organizations.

This talented group of young professionals can make a real difference in our city and region. They are here. They are ready for roles of increased responsibility. And they represent talent ready to be tapped. Shame on us if we prevent that from happening.

Marshall N. Carter is the chairman of the New York Stock Exchange and is former chairman and CEO of State Street Bank.

© 2006 American City Business Journals Inc.

 

 

 

 

 
Cultivation Tomorrow’s Leaders in our own Backyard
Reprint from The Boston Sunday Globe - November 24, 2002
By William Van Faasen

Ask someone to name a great leader, and he or she is likely to answer Winston Churchill, Eleanor Roosevelt, of Nelson Mandela. Recently, however, the image of leadership too often has been of failure at the top – in corporations, government, and religious institutions. We desperately need leaders whose vision is based on strongly held principles that give them the courage to take positions that can cut across the grain, positions that respond to all parts of a community and not just their own self-interest.

Occasionally, a natural-born leader comes along who has “it” – that combination of charisma, intelligence, and values that holds great promise. But we don’t have to sit around and wait for that rare individual to arrive. We already have the tools to prepare the next generation to shoulder the challenges facing us today. The year-old Emerging Leaders program at the Center for Collaborative Leadership at UMass/Boston is designed to do just that.

The UMass program calls upon senior executives at corporations and nonprofits to nominate young professionals with five to ten years experience in Greater Boston who have demonstrated potential and want to enhance their leadership skills and opportunities.

I know from personal experience that this program will work. I went through such training as a young businessman in Detroit. Leadership Detroit taught us that leadership is not finding out where the crowd is headed and then catching up to get in front. We met every month, working on education, health, criminal justice, and other important issues. We ended up socializing and came to understand perspectives other than our own. In the process we came to know ourselves better, too.

Former Leadership Detroit participants have made their marks on virtually every sector of the Detroit community. So, too, can Greater Boston benefit from the UMass/Boston Emerging Leaders program.

The UMass program is diverse by race, gender, and profession. It reflects the face of the city and changing makeup of our population, to tap the potential of all groups to make our region a better place to work and live. It also reflects the voice of the city – of labor and management, for-profit ad nonprofit, government and corporate. The point is to move people out of their natural comfort zone and provide opportunities and friendships outside their traditional circles.

National or international crises aren’t the only situation that call for leadership. Steering a corporation, government or community organization requires skills that should not be left to chance.

The nine-month program starts each January with a weeklong seminar critical issues facing the region. Fellows learn about resources, networks, and ways to identify and achieve common goals.
Eleanor Roosevelt

They meet monthly from February through September and work in teams to produce and present to the mayor action plans to address particular Boston-area problems. With teamwork there is buy-in, and people say involved.

An effective business leader doesn’t enter a meeting possessing the answers; he or she engages in the process and helps solutions evolve. Knowing the importance of an outcome that responds to the needs of all. The collaborative model assumes issues can best be addressed by leadership that is diverse and collaborative. This has not been the operating style in Boston. Collaboration is not necessarily easy, but it is the best way to get thing done. Power-driven solutions are imposed on people; collaboratively developed solutions are embraced by people.

This program isn’t about getting on the fast track to corporate or government achievement, though it certainly can’t hurt a person’s opportunity for professional advancement. Rather, it is about community betterment. It understands that business leaders have an obligation beyond their companies. It recognizes that connecting rising corporate stars with young professionals from government and nonprofit entities and getting them to work together on problem solving can result only in the improvement of the community.

At UMass/Boston, the Emerging Leaders selection committee is about to choose its second class of fellows. Among that group of “emerging leaders” may well be Massachusetts’ new leaders for a new century. They will probably have a lot to say about the kind of community we are and the way we live



William Van Faasen is chairman, president, and CEO of Blue Cross, Blue Shield of Massachusetts.

Nurturing a New Generation of Business Leaders
Boston Business Journal – March 1, 2004
http://boston.bizjournals.com/boston/stories/2004/03/01/editorial3.html

Rick Friedel

Conducting business today requires innovative thinking and a seemingly contradictory combination of a broad perspective and laser-like focus. Competition has become global in scope, more diverse in type and, yet, more specialized in terms of what is required to meet the unique needs of every customer.

More than ever, a new generation of leaders is required to expand a company's ability to engage and compete in today's world. This future leadership must possess a deep understanding of the impact of economic, social and cultural drivers on market and customer behaviors. Developing that leadership can no longer be left to chance, which is why the Emerging Leaders program in the College of Management at the Center for Collaborative Leadership at UMass Boston is so important.

Nourishing the next generation of leadership right here in Boston is critical if we are to remain a world-class hub for the finance, education, technology, communications and health care industries. As today's business leaders, we must teach the executives of tomorrow how to collaborate effectively with others in an unprecedented fashion. We need to build in them the confidence to infuse their academic learning with their unique personal experiences. We need to instruct them on how to consider the impact of their decisions on a variety of diverse constituents, each with their own specific concerns.

Companies often invest incredible amounts of time and money in technical, sales and product training, but too often they fail to focus resources on developing leadership skills. The Emerging Leaders program adds substantial value to everything that companies do in-house to identify and develop leaders, and the program does it in a remarkably cost-effective way.

For example, in 2003 AT&T's Leaders Engaging in Accelerating Learning program was set up to enhance the managers' abilities to thrive, and not get bogged down, amid the complexities surrounding today's commercial enterprise. Many companies are developing similar programs to prepare tomorrow's business leaders. But companies, no matter how progressive, cannot do it alone.

That's why we are fortunate in New England to have the Center for Collaborative Leadership creating an environment where professionals with diverse backgrounds, from across many sectors, can come together to explore and refine collaborative leadership models. Each year, a "class" of approximately 40 fellows is exposed to training unavailable elsewhere: guiding change, developing communication skills, working in teams, managing diversity, dealing with risk, understanding the political process, resolving conflicts, honing networking skills, building personal brands and learning about the crucial issues facing the city.

The fellows divide into teams and work on significant issues facing the Greater Boston community. In the fall, they present their findings to the mayor and other business and civic leaders. Last September, one team reported on the need to reduce the waiting list for individuals who need to learn English in order to function in their workplaces. This year, a team working with the Boston Municipal Research Bureau will look at the city's tax structure, and another, working with Boston Medical Center, will examine societal and health issues facing children.

The Center for Collaborative Leadership is a good example of the type of organization that is required to appropriately nurture and educate the future's brightest leaders. It's why we support it, and why companies like Nstar Inc., State Street and Citizens Bank do as well.

Exceptional growth opportunities are available to the organizations that can fully integrate this new generation of leaders. And the Center for Collaborative Leadership is a hothouse for business talent right in our own backyard.

RICK FRIEDEL is the AT&T Corp. regional vice president for New England and a board member of the Center for Collaborative Leadership.

© 2004 American City Business Journals Inc.
Learning To Lead
UMass program cultivates tomorrow's business leaders
By NADINE HOFFMAN
The Patriot Ledger

Sherry Penney was worried about the future of leadership in Massachusetts. During her tenure as chancellor at UMass-Boston from 1988 to 2000, the Braintree resident noticed an absence of mentoring programs for young business people in the greater Boston area. She made it her first priority to stave off a leadership void, and in 1995 she piloted a program to give students training to become leaders.

When Penney retired, she turned her project into the Center for Collaborative Leadership with an endowment from the school and $250,000 from Marshall Carter, the retired CEO of State Street Corporation. The center serves as a liaison to the community, offering resources to professionals and fostering the skills of people it deems tomorrow's leaders through its Emerging Leaders program.

Now in its fourth year, Emerging Leaders culls several dozen proven entrepreneurs with five to 10 years of business experience, all of whom have been nominated by their companies' supervisors.

The participants meet once a month for eight months to discuss topics such as the political process, inclusive leadership and conflict resolution. They also work in groups to complete projects that address specific issues affecting Boston, from health care to infrastructure. They will present their findings to Boston Mayor Thomas Menino and a panel of city officials in the fall. This year's participants include three South Shore residents:



Lafayette Jefferson

When Lafayette Jefferson's grandfather, Hossick Jefferson, started his own construction business in rural South Carolina in the 1940s, he faced adversity because of his race; as an African-American man owning a company in the South before the civil rights movement, he was an anomaly.

When Jefferson started an on-site computer services business in Milton in 2003, he faced adversity for different reasons - the tech market was still just inching toward recovery.

Inspired by the perseverance of his grandfather (who is alive and well at 100), other business owners in his family including his father, younger brother and two cousins, Jefferson pushed ahead and bought a franchise to provide mobile information tech services. "You have to love the tech, and convey your love of tech to customers," Jefferson said. A year after opening, Jefferson, 36, has close to 300 clients, both individuals and small businesses (with networks of between two and 30 computers).

"I've always been the go-to person" when it comes to tech-related questions, Jefferson said. While he attended military high school in Richmond, Va., his school received $100,000 grant from IBM to purchase computers. Jefferson's teacher offered him extra credit to set up the new machines, which he did by "trial and error."

After getting his degree from Norfolk State University and serving 13 years in the Army, the former infantry lieutenant moved to Massachusetts and enrolled in a computer training program at Boston University. In the BU program, "I found out I knew a lot more than I thought I did," Jefferson said.

He got his A+ and Network+ certification, then discovered Friendly Computers, a Las Vegas-based company looking to grow on the East Coast.

Jefferson devised a 70-page business plan and presented it to Margaret Somer at UMass Boston's Small Business Development Center. "I think she liked it," he said.

Somer not only helped Jefferson hone his proposal, she also nominated him for the Emerging Leaders program because of his ambition.

Jefferson said the program has provided ample mentoring and networking opportunities. He especially enjoyed meeting Marshall Carter, the retired CEO of State Street Corporation and a Marine officer in Vietnam. He added that he benefited because his Emerging Leaders colleagues have recommended him, sending business his way.

Apart from building his business, Jefferson has two goals that Emerging Leaders will prepare him to fulfill - helping to bridge the digital divide, and providing computer training to veterans.

In some neighborhoods, Jefferson said he sees only one computer in a household, with children playing games on it, and adults completely alienated from it. In another, he said, "It's like a college campus," completely wired with multiple PC households. He wants to find a way to teach people in the first kind of neighborhood to use computers as a powerful resource. As a former soldier, he wants to help others who have served in the armed forces to become proficient in computer technology.



Teresa Valentine

Teresa Valentine has made community service part of her career for a long time.

At Blue Cross and Blue Shield (BCBS) of Massachusetts, where she works, she volunteers with the company's BlueCrew, which pairs employees with organizations like Habitat for Humanity and City Year to do charitable works.

Valentine, 42, also has received awards for her work as a mentor and facilitator in BCBS's School Partnerships, a program designed to help exceptional ninth graders at Madison Park Technical Vocational High School in Boston to achieve or exceed a B average, and ultimately to make them eligible for the National Honor Society.

Although Valentine has worked at Blue Cross and Blue Shield for 12 years and has held leadership positions there, most recently as supervisor in the New Sales and Middle Markets Division, she thought she was flying under the company's radar.

"I never thought anyone knew I existed," Valentine, a Quincy resident, said.

When she took the job in 1991, Valentine said she thought she would work there for a year and then go back to school. She liked it so much that she stayed.

Although she may not have known it, she was on the company's radar.

Valentine's direct manager, Joan Cote, noticed her, as did the company's human resources generalist, Kelly Lyons, admiring her ability to co-manage a staff of 32. The two women nominated her for UMass-Boston's Emerging Leaders program, which until she received the nomination, Valentine had never known existed.

She attributed her nomination to her "common sense values," which she, like Jefferson, said she acquired from her military family background and her Southern roots. Born in Memphis, Tenn., Valentine moved to Massachusetts at age 7.

Her focus for community development has related to issues of diversity. From 1997 to 1999 Valentine volunteered as the producer of Afrocentrics, a poetry and music venue for African-American artists in Boston's South End.

Valentine said her ongoing goal is to work to redress health care injustices within the black community.

Her Emerging Leaders group project, developing a child health impact assessment tool for Boston Medical Center, is in line with that goal. Valentine said the tool will give legislators a way to measure disparities in health care.

She said she also hopes to encourage emerging leaders to stay in the greater Boston area. "Boston does have leaders," Valentine said, "but a lot of the talented leave." She cited Boston's lackluster reputation regarding diversity as one reason talented people leave the city.



Sean Murphy

As the new director of sales for AT&T's Boston market and a nine-year veteran in the company, Sean Murphy already has plenty of leadership experience.

The Milton resident, 32, went to work for AT&T immediately after graduating from Holy Cross College in Worcester, where he got his bachelor's degree in economics and played varsity ice hockey.

He now oversees 70 sales associates and $200 million within the company.

Murphy got his leadership gene from his family and, he said, "I have been fortunate to work for great leaders." Murphy didn't have much experience in leading non-profit efforts. His involvement with Emerging Leaders is giving him that opportunity.

When AT&T's regional vice president, Rick Friedel, nominated him for the program, he jumped at the chance.

"This program is allowing me to incorporate my background on the for-profit side with the non-profit and public sector to better understand opportunities that exist for me to become involved and help the community," Murphy said.

His project, working with the Metropolitan Area Planning Council's (MAPC) MetroFuture to build better links within the business community through regional planning, or "smart growth," has enabled Murphy to see how Boston operates, he said.

"(Emerging Leaders) opened my eyes to other ways I can participate in the community," Murphy said.

Murphy said he's impressed by the caliber of his fellow participants. "It's a diverse climate and the individuals are driven and working together - they've assembled an incredible team." Because of the range of voices represented within the program, Murphy said "you're learning something all the time from your peers; they're making you think a different way."