Learning to give to get ahead

By Kevin Manne

BUFFALO, N.Y. — More than 350 leaders from the business, nonprofit and academic worlds came together to learn about the power of people-oriented leadership on May 4 at “Give and Take,” a conference hosted by the University at Buffalo School of Management’s Center for Leadership and Organizational Effectiveness (CLOE).

In the new home of UB’s Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences in downtown Buffalo, top-level industry experts and UB School of Management faculty delivered presentations across a variety of leadership topics throughout the morning.

Adam Grant, Wharton’s top-rated professor and author of three best-selling books, “Give and Take,” “Originals” and “Option B: Facing Adversity, Building Resilience and Finding Joy” (co-authored with Sheryl Sandberg), capped off the day with a keynote address focused on how success at work is increasingly dependent on how we interact with others.

“By moving towards a servant leader philosophy, we can make our workplaces more respectful, effective and enjoyable,” says Patricia Brammer, training coordinator for the Erie County Department of Personnel, who attended the conference. “Adam Grant proved with research what many have known from experience — that givers make organizations better, and they rise to the top more frequently.”

UB School of Management faculty sessions were:

• Building Strong, Resilient and Adaptive Teams through Shared Leadership by Paul Tesluk, PhD, Dean and Professor
• Leadership and Servant Leadership: A Brief Introduction by James Lemoine, PhD, Assistant Professor, Organization and Human Resources
• Social Networks by Prasad Balkundi, PhD, Chair and Associate Professor, Organization and Human Resources
• Room at the Top, but Nobody’s Ready by Tim Maynes, PhD, Assistant Professor, Organization and Human Resources and Mary Ann Rogers, Clinical Assistant Professor, Accounting and Law and Organization and Human Resources
• Connecting Who You Are to How You Lead by Emily Grijalva, PhD, Assistant Professor, Organization and Human Resources

Industry leaders and their topics were:

• Leadership Required to Disrupt an Industry by George Chamoun, CEO, ACV Auctions
• Give and Take for Lawyers and Accountants by Lou DiBerardino, Partner of Risk Management, Ernst & Young LLP and Sujata Yalamanchili, Partner and Practice Area Leader, Hodgson Russ
• The Power of Collaboration and Leadership by Dottie Gallagher-Cohen, President and CEO, Buffalo Niagara Partnership
• Leading from Where You Are by Jody L. Lomeo, President and CEO, Kaleida Health and Luther Robinson, MD, Pediatrician, Jericho Road Community Health Center

The event was sponsored by KeyBank, the UB School of Management Alumni Association, The Martin Group and Hodgson Russ and built upon the success of previous CLOE conferences, which have offered leaders the opportunity to learn about social innovation and entrepreneurship, emerging research and how to put that research into practice, and new ways to build collaborations and relationships.  

Launched in fall 2013, CLOE strives to create more effective leaders and organizations. One of the center’s key objectives is to advance research and teaching in the area of leadership and its impact on organizational effectiveness. It also supports UB 2020’s goals of accelerating academic excellence, translating scholarship and developing leadership capabilities in UB students and business leaders.