For two and a half days, 165 individuals made up of faculty, students, alumni and corporate and community partners, came together to participate in an Appreciative Inquiry (AI) Summit. The mission was to form a future vision for the Weatherhead School of Management. It was both an inspiring and productive event where 11 working groups identified and created action plans for 13 opportunity areas.
Co-Deans Andrew Medvedev and J.B. Silvers initiated the summit, leveraging the school’s leadership in AI to form a collective think tank in setting the course for Weatherhead in the next decade and beyond.
“Weatherhead has a tremendous legacy,” said Co-Dean Andrew Medvedev. “As a premier learning institution committed to curating a world-class blend of classroom rigor and practical experience, we have empowered more than 24,000 alumni—builders, innovators, entrepreneurs, problem solvers and leaders—who are making a difference in people’s lives and the organizations they support. Collectively, our professors, students and alumni have harnessed the Weatherhead approach to make positive, sustainable and far-reaching changes in the world. We need to build on these areas that define Weatherhead, while addressing the forces impacting the school today.”
Higher education is facing a paradigm shift, driven by the technological and social challenges of our time. The big data revolution in decision making across organizations has led to rapid proliferation in quantitative technologies and tools, breakthroughs in artificial intelligence being only the latest. The sheer scale and complexity of the decarbonization and regenerative economy transition is upending whole industries while creating unprecedented opportunity for sustainable value creation and industry-leading innovation. In parallel, the human dimension of management is rapidly evolving. In the specific case of higher education, the impacts of the pandemic have combined to demand greater flexibility in how programs are taught.
Led by Weatherhead Professors David Cooperrider and Ron Fry, both of whom pioneered the AI approach for achieving positive change, and Cindy Stull, chief revenue officer at Dealer Tire, who has led numerous AI events, the summit uncovered 13 opportunity areas. They range from ways to work more collaboratively together and how program offerings could provide students greater scheduling flexibility to how Weatherhead could take the lead in building vibrant communities and transformational research. These opportunity areas are now moving into the execution phase, led by chair and co-chairs, to work out implantation details.
“It was inspiring to see a concept conceived by Weatherhead being used to better Weatherhead,” said Co-Dean J.B. Silvers. “Equally uplifting was the enthusiasm of participants, who employed the same out-of-the-box thinking we instill in our students to redefine the school’s future.”