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COLE Hosts Workshop on Getting Results Through Speaking and Listening

Often leaders have a great vision, but cannot communicate it effectively, inspire their people, or turn their vision into results. Just as often, an organization’s staff has insight and information that never makes its way to the top. The difference between a good company and a great one may lie in their ability to communicate.

On April 3, 2007, twenty Duke MBA alumni joined other executives, managers and current MBA students, to explore how to get results as a top communicator through effective speaking and listening. The workshop was hosted by the Fuqua/Coach K Center on Leadership & Ethics (COLE).

Through fascinating stories and interactive processes, participants were given access to tools for cutting out wasteful communication and learning how to listen effectively—perhaps the smartest investment in productivity.

Dr. Thomas D. Zweifel, professor of leadership and cross-cultural management at Columbia University, led the workshop. Participants learned how to become a master communicator who inspires others to take action; climb the Matterhorn of Masterful Listening™; harness the power of speaking and listening to shape reality; and how to avoid the four deadly sins of speaking.

The program is one of two in the COLE workshop series held each year, and supported by the Wachovia Foundation. The series is geared towards a practitioner audience. It supports COLE’s mission of advancing leadership and ethics through research and education by providing a forum for continuing education and the professional development of practitioners in these areas. The Wachovia support also provides scholarships for nonprofit community leaders to participate in the workshops.

COLE was established by Fuqua in collaboration with the Kenan Institute for Ethics and Duke University Athletics. The COLE workshop series is one of several leadership initiatives funded by a grant from Wachovia.

For information about other COLE leadership development programs including the sixth annual Fuqua School of Business & Coach K Leadership Conference, visit www.LeadershipandEthics.org.

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