JOIN THE LIPMAN FAMILY PRIZE PARTNERSHIP: MedShare’s Challenge of Expansion

Contributed by Kristi Ringen, WG ’01

On Friday, April 13, 2012 the Wharton School and the University of Pennsylvania hosted the inaugural Lipman Family Prize Un-Conference.  This event represented the beginning of Penn’s partnership with the three 2012 Lipman Family Prize finalists:  iDE ,the 2012 Prize winner recognized for its market-based approach to improving sanitation in developing countries;  KOMAZA, a social enterprise that works with rural dryland families in Kenya to grow trees as a cash crop; and MedShare, a US based organization that collects medical surplus supplies and equipment and redistributes them for use in developing countries.  

Each organization posed a specific challenge they currently face to the Un-Conference attendees and the majority of the day was spent in small group discussions further exploring these issues.   In addition to brainstorming potential solutions, each small group also explored a different framework to use when approaching social and organizational challenges of this magnitude.   

The following post is the third in a set of three and provides more detail regarding MedShare’s social challenge and the techniques used to approach the problem in a small group. 

JOIN THE LIPMAN FAMILY PRIZE PARTNERSHIP: KOMAZA’s Challenge of Horizontal Diversification

Contributed by Kristi Ringen, WG ’01

On Friday, April 13, 2012 the Wharton School and the University of Pennsylvania hosted the inaugural Lipman Family Prize Un-Conference.  This event represented the beginning of Penn’s partnership with the three 2012 Lipman Family Prize finalists:  iDE ,the 2012 Prize winner recognized for its market-based approach to improving sanitation in developing countries;  KOMAZA, a social enterprise that works with rural dryland families in Kenya to grow trees as a cash crop; and MedShare, a US based organization that collects medical surplus supplies and equipment and redistributes them for use in developing countries. 

Each organization posed a specific challenge that they currently face to the Un-Conference attendees and the majority of the day was spent in small group discussions further exploring these issues.   In addition to brainstorming potential solutions, each small group also explored a different framework to use when approaching social and organizational challenges of this magnitude.   

The following post is the second in a set of three and provides more detail regarding KOMAZA’s social challenge and the techniques used to approach the problem in a small group. 

JOIN THE LIPMAN FAMILY PRIZE PARTNERSHIP: iDE’s Last Mile Challenge

Contributed by Kristi Ringen, WG ’01

On Friday, April 13, 2012 the Wharton School and the University of Pennsylvania hosted the inaugural Lipman Family Prize Un-Conference.  This event represented the beginning of Penn’s partnership with the three 2012 Lipman Family Prize finalists:  iDE ,the 2012 Prize winner recognized for its market-based approach to improving sanitation in developing countries;  KOMAZA, a social enterprise that works with rural dryland families in Kenya to grow trees as a cash crop; and MedShare, a US based organization that collects medical surplus supplies and equipment and redistributes them for use in developing countries. 

Each organization posed a specific challenge that they currently face to the Un-Conference attendees and the majority of the day was spent in small group discussions further exploring these issues.   In addition to brainstorming potential solutions, each small group also explored a different framework to use when approaching social and organizational challenges of this magnitude.   

The following post is the first in a set of three and provides more detail regarding iDE’s social challenge and the techniques used to approach the problem in a small group. 

Student Reflections: Leadership Venture to Antarctica

A student’s adventure during a Wharton Leadership Trek takes him to the ends of the earth and back again..

Contributed by: Amod Jain, WG’13

12.31.2011 12:47:03. That’s the moment that stairs paved my way to a new world. As I descended on them from the plane, I noticed their similarity to other airline stairways: decrepit condition, shaking as you move, white paint coming off and just wide enough for one person. But then, how different could stairs be anyway? Well, they could be if they deliver you to a land like no other, a land at the end of the world: Antarctica.

As I took my first step on that land, I smiled and my eyes were already glowing more than the strongest stars, staring at the best sight in the world. Finally, after days of anxiety, excitement, anticipation, daydreams and preparation, I was here. Finally. 

Student Stories: Nonprofit Board Fellows

Periodically, the Wharton Leadership Program blog likes to bring you stories straight from students’ own experiences with our programs.  We’ve interviewed one of our Nonprofit Board Fellows, Ashley Blackmon, a 2nd year MBA student serving on the board of Equality Forum, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to advance national and international gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) civil rights through education.

The Nonprofit Board Leadership Program places MBA students on the boards of local nonprofit organizations, where they serve for about 12 months, providing a learning experience for students and hopefully lasting impact for our partner organizations. 

 

How does your experience to this point compare to the goals you set for yourself last spring?

My experience has exceeded my expectations. I wasn’t exactly sure what I was getting into when I went to my first board meeting this fall. I’ve been able to witness the changes in board politics as the board gets closer to the organization’s headline event this spring, The Global LGBT Summit (April 25th – May 1st). Early in the fall I was also offered a full board membership, which included voting rights. I did not anticipate this, but this helped me get more involved in the decision making process.

Learning from Altitude

Leadership Learning from Wharton Leadership Ventures and Beyond

 

Lei Wang, WG’03, is the first Chinese woman and the first Asian-American to climb the highest mountain on every continent and ski both the North and South Poles.  Lei came back to Wharton recently to lecture on her experiences and spent time with our Venture Fellows discussing leadership at altitude.

Being back on campus again last month for the first time since our graduation in 2003, everything looked so familiar and close to heart. The energetic bright smile on those leadership venture fellows’ faces and their insatiable desire to learn reminded me of our school days.

When I started my two-year study at Wharton in 2001, looking at the recruiting reports from career office, I confidently thought I had a clear picture for my future. Yet looking back, it was beyond my or anyone’s imagination that an “incidental” involvement in the leadership venture program totally changed my trajectory.

I started with the trip to Cotopaxi during my first year, followed by the ice climbing in Adirondacks in the second year, and Kilimanjaro, the first of my Seven Summits quest, upon graduation. During each of our leadership venture trips, our learning was more focused on team work. It’s not until I have gone down the path of pursuing my Seven Summits dream and look back over the past many years that I truly appreciate the bigger-picture learning from those experience.

Student Stories: Nonprofit Board Fellows

Periodically, the Wharton Leadership Program blog likes to bring you stories straight from students’ own experiences with our programs.  We’ve interviewed one of our Nonprofit Board Fellows, David Adelman, a 2nd year MBA student majoring in Finance and Entrepreneurial Management and serving on the board of SquashSmarts, a nonprofit that uses squash to inspire and educate under-served urban youth in Philadelphia.  The Nonprofit Board Leadership Program places MBA students on boards of local nonprofit organizations to both help advance the mission of the organization and teach students about the realities of board governance and the nonprofit sector.

WLP: What is your role on the SquashSmarts board?  How did you define this role? 

DA:  I’m a visiting board member for the year. More specifically, I am working on a project to establish a Young Leaders committee to get people in their 20s and 30s to learn about how incredible SquashSmarts is and become more active in the organization.

WLP:  How have you attempted to forge relationships with board members/the ED right away?

DA:  I met the Executive Director at his house shortly after starting, which gave me a great background on the organization and helped us build our relationship early on. Since then, we’ve met a few times and I’ve gotten to know him well. He’s a strong leader who brings an incredible amount of passion and energy to the organization. I met several of the board meetings at a fundraiser that SquashSmarts hosted last year, and met the rest at the first board meeting 2 weeks ago. I’m lucky to be working with such an active and inspiring group of people.

Welcome to Wharton Leadership

As we kick off a new academic year, we are also excited to launch a new look for the Wharton Leadership Program website.  It is our hope that our new site will provide the information that you may be seeking about both our coursework and out-of-classroom development experiences, whether you are a prospective student, current student, mid-career manager, or just interested in our research and teaching.

We seek to help people at all stages of their careers – high school students, undergraduate students, MBA students, and mid-career managers and executives – develop and learn as leaders.  We want to provide an array of opportunities for strengthening their leadership through class work, experiential learning, short courses, and access to research.

For high school students we support two summer programs on leaderships; for undergraduate students, our offerings include a course on “Leadership and Communication” (Management 100); for MBA students, we include a course on “Leadership and Teamwork” (Management 652); and for mid-career managers and executives, we help Wharton Executive Education support an array of leadership programs.

We are also working to build a variety of opportunities for people to apply their classroom learning and program concepts.  Our learning venues range from non-profit organizations and the mountains of Ecuador to the Shakespearian stage and Civil War battlefield.  We believe that by combining leadership coursework with direct experience, the premier concepts of leadership – thinking strategically, communicating persuasively, deciding decisively – can be best learned and enduringly mastered.

Experiential Learning: Our Approach to Leadership Development

Wharton turns leadership education on its head by giving students the test first, and then mining that test for learning and lessons.  Jeff Harmer, a 2006 MBA graduate, first said that to me when reflecting on his experiences as part of the Wharton Leadership Ventures and the Leadership Fellows program.  It’s a statement that has stayed with me for the past five years, and Jeff’s comment has, in many ways, shaped and guided my approach to leadership development.

The Wharton Leadership Program is at heart of the student experience, and the key word is “experience”.  Experiential learning shapes the courses and co-curricular programs that the Leadership Program delivers and supports.  At Wharton, students learn leadership by linking core academic concepts – influence, emotional intelligence, decision-making, and organizational awareness, for example – with hands-on experiences created specifically for Wharton students to test and acquire new skills.

From the wilderness expeditions of the Wharton Leadership Ventures to the community leadership projects and roles found in Management 100, the Non Profit Board Leadership Program, and the Social Enterprise Fellows, our programs create deep leadership roles imbued with meaning and peer-based learning and reflection.  Management 652, the Foundations of Teamwork and Leadership course that features the innovative Wharton Teamwork and Leadership Simulation, is the first course that incoming MBA students complete.  Every Undergraduate and MBA student completes coursework in leadership, communications, and ethics, and this commitment to leadership education has shaped the student experience for close to 20 years.