Masiello teaches in EMBA
UB joins ranks of schools with "celebrity executives" on staff

By JOHN DELLA CONTRADA
Reporter Contributor

First Oprah was on board at Northwestern University's school of business. Now it's Tony's turn at the School of Management.

Buffalo Mayor Anthony Masiello is a guest instructor this semester in the Executive MBA (EMBA) program at the School of Management and his appearance is an example of how some business schools are enlisting "celebrity executives" to teach courses on leadership and management to high-level business people.

Talk-show host and media tycoon Oprah Winfrey, for instance, recently finished teaching a course on the "Dynamics of Leadership" to executives enrolled in Northwestern's top-ranked Kellogg School of Business. Winfrey's professorial turn was so successful that the business school has tapped her to teach the course again next fall.

"Successful leaders and managers are made, not born," says Lewis Mandell, dean of the School of Management, who signed up Masiello to teach the course. "So it's very effective to have proven leaders and managers like the mayor come into the classroom to share their insights and expertise with business executives who themselves are responsible for managing complex organizations and large groups of people."

Teaching in tandem with Mandell, Masiello meets with the EMBA students each week to discuss issues facing his administration as it develops strategies to improve Buffalo's economy, tackle social issues and plan for development.

Materials for the course-"The City and its Markets"-include a speech titled "The Re-Emergence of Buffalo as a North American Competitor," which the mayor recently delivered to the Canadian Urban Institute, as well as a textbook on urban economics and a book on industrial-location decisions written by Mandell.

In effect, the course is a semester-long case study of Buffalo's economy that gives students the opportunity to listen and contribute to analysis on issues relating to regionalization, poverty, housing, local and state governance, urban transportation, education reform and crime.

"I'm impressed with the candor of the mayor in discussing these issues with us," says EMBA student Paul Kinsella, a sales manager for Ryerson Tull, Inc. "It's really opened my eyes to the complexity of his job.

"So many times in the paper you read about issues confronting Buffalo and it seems like the solutions are a matter of common sense," adds Kinsella. "But in many cases, the mayor's hands are tied by state regulations. People may say that government should be run like a business. Well, businesses don't have to deal with all those state regulations."

The course will conclude in the spring with a field trip to Buffalo sites that figure into the mayor's plans for development, including the Lake Erie waterfront, local brownfields and proposed sites for business and industrial parks.

Final grades will be based partly on research papers and presentations delivered by the students on critical issues impacting the economy and livability of Buffalo, such as the marketing of Buffalo to outside businesses, strategies for revitalizing Buffalo's downtown, the role of tourism and the impact of taxes on growth.

"The presentations will give the mayor the opportunity to hear ideas from students who are major decision-makers for businesses in Buffalo, while giving the students an in-depth understanding and appreciation of issues affecting Buffalo and other great American cities," Mandell says.