Healthcare is a business like many other industries, but instead of just making money, healthcare workers must also save lives. Navigating patient care and profitability is a unique challenge that neither business professionals nor doctors are able to address alone. Goizueta helps bridge that gap, teaching clinicians the fundamentals of business and teaching business professionals how to apply their knowledge specifically within the healthcare field.

First and foremost, the chief medical officer must be a good physician, according to Gregory Esper MD 09EMBA, associate chief medical officer of Emory University Healthcare System.

There are no successful CMOs that are not first thought of as excellent clinicians. No physician body is going to follow a chief medical officer who they do not first trust clinically.

Gregory Esper MD 09EMBA, associate chief medical officer of Emory University Healthcare System

“You also have to have transparency and integrity―your ‘yes’ is yes and your ‘no’ is no―and that you are not rash in the decisions that you’re making. It’s important to weigh the gravity of situations and decisions that you need to make with great care,” Esper says.

Preparing Healthcare Leaders to Succeed in Business

It’s not often that medical schools teach budgeting, leadership, operations, and human resources. That’s why Emory University’s Goizueta Business School offers healthcare concentrations in its Full-time MBA, Evening MBA, and Executive MBA programs. Goizueta also offers its Chief Medical Officer Program within its Emory Executive Education department.

Nicola Barrett is Goizueta’s chief corporate learning officer and oversees Emory Executive Education. She says, “Healthcare leaders are facing so many new challenges. There’s the introduction of new technologies, changes in societal expectations, research that’s uncovering patient and population equity disparities, and burnout of clinical staff. And that’s just a few. Understanding these dynamics and leading others in a way that helps them feel valued and willing to embrace change is important.”

We’re helping to equip senior medical officers and healthcare leaders with the skills and knowledge to make good decisions for their patients, their people, and their organizations. We’re teaching them to be aware of the implications and opportunities afforded by the changing healthcare landscape, and to effectively contribute to the strategic direction and success of their enterprise.

Nicola Barrett, Goizueta’s chief corporate learning officer

Healthcare executives and doctors have been through many years of education as well as many years of experience in their field. They might wonder how an MBA or CMO certificate can help further an already established career.

Sarah Kier 20EMBA is vice president of enterprise access at Emory Healthcare. She says that learning with her cohort gave her a broader perspective on concepts that she already understood, but only from the perspective of her niche.

“When you’ve been in your industry for that long, you have a deep but fairly narrow understanding of the business world,” she says. “Gaining that kind of expansion, learning from people across industries, you start seeing things from a different chair or a perspective.”

Adapting to and Adopting New Technology

Goizueta alumni are leading the way in adopting developing technology, like artificial intelligence (AI), to create the healthcare systems of the future. They’re learning those skills at Goizueta.

There are many ways to integrate AI into the medical field. Some are already in use on a regular basis, including patient data analysis, maintaining records, and insurance and billing management. But the prospect of using AI as a diagnostic tool, and not just as an administrator, is expanding. The ability of AI to provide accurate diagnoses and assist in personalizing treatment means it is a viable tool to add to a patient’s treatment team. However, experts say it will never replace trained physicians.

“I like the approach of saying that today’s trainee is going to operate in 2050. What is their world going to be like then?” says Benn Konsynski, George S. Craft Professor of Information Systems & Operations Management.

The world they are entering now is going to be transformed radically, and they can be a part of that. They’re coming in with values that are different than their counterpart 20 years ago, and I think they will have more opportunities to shape that future than their predecessors.

Benn Konsynski, George S. Craft Professor of Information Systems & Operations Management

Embracing AI in Healthcare

Esper has already worked with AI tools like ChatGPT to make his job more efficient, using it recently with a colleague to help write a new policy. This task would have taken his team days, but with ChatGPT’s assistance it took mere minutes.

“AI will create efficiencies in the analysis of data, the ability to have predictive analytics, that are going to be considerable. Even pathologists and radiologists are now using AI to identify areas of abnormality on scans and pathology. At this point, it doesn’t substitute for human interpretation, but at some point, it may,” Esper says. AI is helpful but not quite perfect and may never be, which is where the element of human interaction is crucial.

“You have to be careful. You have to say, is this right? What could be wrong? How can I use this more effectively? What’s the appropriate use of this? If I use this in this circumstance, can someone get hurt? I think those are considerations for the use of AI in medicine,” says Kier.

We have to embrace it. Because if we don’t, we won’t be leveraging technology that can help our patients and our families―and frankly, our people—from an efficiency perspective.

Sarah Kier 20EMBA, vice president, enterprise access at Emory Healthcare

Kier knows the future of healthcare lies in technology. But she approaches it from a more patient-focused view than just data entry and predictive modeling. Most patient portal systems, including the recently launched EPIC system used by Emory Healthcare, can track data like patient no-show rates. But Kier wants to ask even more of AI than just data tracking and analysis.

“The important part for me is what else and where else? So many people suffer from loneliness. And so many people go undiagnosed with mental illness because they’re not speaking to anyone else. How can AI help with that? Could your toothbrush notice that you haven’t brushed your teeth in three days. That probably means you’re not in an OK headspace? How can we plug those things in and get a real 360-degree picture of the person?”

Building Financial Prowess

There’s another formidable challenge for physicians and healthcare executives moving into leadership position. They need a wide range of skills in addition to the ones honed in medical school, residency, and practice as a physician.

Healthcare executives, including CMOs, must be able to work with hospital boards of directors. They handle budgets upwards of hundreds of millions of dollars. These budgets cover not only actual medical care but also staffing, purchasing, general operations costs, and capital improvements. They must also make decisions about “non-funded” projects like free health screenings for the community.

Michael Sacks, is professor in the practice of organization and management at Goizueta. He teaches courses on leadership and organizational behavior in both the CMO program and the Executive MBA program.

It’s unusual for anyone to be equally skilled in distinct skills like finance, healthcare delivery, people management, and so many other topics. We try to build skills in each specific area, as well as teach our participants how to balance across these demands and communicate effectively to different audiences.

Michael Sacks, professor in the practice of organization and management

Any MBA graduate will tell you Excel is a key component of their training. But the Executive MBA program taught Esper so much more than just how to read a spreadsheet. “There are techniques you learn in operations that help you when you’re managing specific projects. When looking at data and analytics, it’s the ability to understand what data was pulled, and how. You ask ‘Is the data answering the most important question?’” he says. “Oftentimes I’ll have experience that I draw on from my case studies. I’m applying things I learned in business school to existing problems in healthcare.”

Handling the Staffing Crisis and Retaining Quality Professionals

Staffing issues have become a common problem in most healthcare and hospital systems. It’s an issue that all CMOs and healthcare executives have to face. The pandemic accelerated retirements of the baby boomer generation. That was expected to happen more slowly over the next 20 years. Burnout of medical staff from the intense and long workdays did not help. “Money is certainly part of the situation; however, it’s much more complicated than that” says Sacks. “Healthcare is a very demanding and challenging workplace where people literally make life or death decisions. Creating an environment where teams work well together, people feel psychologically safe to speak their minds, and support one another in difficult times is essential in healthcare.”

Healthcare workers are so much more than just their roles within an organization, according to Jaclyn Conner, associate dean of the Executive MBA program and Evening MBA. Goizueta graduates learn to work with healthcare workers as both people and employees. “Quality leaders acknowledge that there are people at the core of any operation. It is vital to have empathy, compassion, and consideration as a leader,” she says.

Challenging decisions have to be tackled daily, but strong organizations have a sense of community and core values. Our Executive MBA alumni profess strong values and implement them as leaders.

Jaclyn Conner, associate dean of the Executive MBA program and Evening MBA

One way to circumvent staffing gaps might actually be technology, according to Kier. “We do not have the human capital to do things the way we used to do them. So it’s an exciting moment for technology, because it can help. AI has so much promise in all the things that you’d think of it for. It can remove rote tasks. These are things that are mindless, that we currently pay humans to do because somebody has to push the buttons. AI will certainly be doing all those things.”

The Transformative Power of Executive Education

In the meantime, humans are still running the business of healthcare. Advancing knowledge through an executive education program is one way to keep up with the ever-changing business. Esper says says people ask him about Goizueta’s Executive MBA often. He says they should have a good reason to pursue such a degree. That’s the key success in the program.

“People ask me all the time, ‘I want to get an MBA. What do you think?’ I will tell people that it’s not just three letters behind your name, or behind an MD. That doesn’t mean much if you don’t know why you’re getting it and what you want to do with it.”

Education can be transformational, but you have to lean in and approach the process with purpose. That will be the real game changer.

Are you looking to level up your career? Learn more about Emory Executive Education, our top-ranked Executive MBA, and Goizueta Business School’s many other degree programs to chart your own path to success.

The post Talking About the Business of Healthcare appeared first on EmoryBusiness.com.

“Goizueta is doubling down on global,” says Brian Mitchell, associate dean of full-time MBA programs and Goizueta Global Strategy and Initiatives.

The key to driving global impact? “Relentless collaboration,” Mitchell says. “The strategy is fueled by collaborations that help us create value for Goizueta. We’re delivering programs that are more interdisciplinary.” That requires a deeper level of partnership not only across Emory’s campus, but with Goizueta’s partners across the globe. To that end, Goizueta is working to strengthen existing partnerships with university entities, including Global Strategy and Initiatives, Atlanta Global Partnerships, and Advancement & Alumni Engagement. It’s doing likewise with organizations such as Partnerships in International Management (PIM), a consortium of top business schools around the world.

“We are creating programs and opportunities for students to be global citizens, global business leaders,” says Megha Madan, senior associate director of Goizueta Global Strategy and Initiatives.

Italy & France: Decoding Wine Markets

For more than a decade, Giacomo Negro, professor of organization and management, has researched wine markets in Italy and France. After interviewing more than 100 winemakers, critics, journalists, restaurant owners, and retailers in Piedmont, Tuscany, and Alsace, Negro and his co-authors Michael T. Hannan and Susan Olzak of Stanford University released, “Wine Markets: Genres & Identities.” The book describes how wine genres help reduce the great diversity of products and producers in the market and how collective identities from wine genres help producers organize their interests. The research focused on winemaking, but authors note the findings can “inform studies of all kinds of organizational settings in which market partitions like genres create new collective identities and boundaries.”

Osh, Kyrgyzstan: Transforming Kyrgyzstan’s Education

In 2019, Aselia Kupueva 99BBA co-founded Kupuev Academy in Osh, the southern capital of Kyrgyzstan. With more than 500 students and 80 full-time staff, Kupuev Academy is one of the top schools in Kyrgyzstan. The primary through high school curriculum focuses on math and science, Russian and English language, and IT. Elective courses and extracurricular activities, such as debate, financial literacy, entrepreneurship, and media, are designed to emphasize creativity and critical thinking. This September, the school will open a new building with 20 additional classrooms.

Atlanta, USA: African Leaders Explore Emerging Technologies

This July, two dozen Young African Leaders Institute (YALI) fellows from 18 African countries visited Goizueta to learn about emerging technologies. The event was hosted by Benn Konsynski, George S. Craft Distinguished University Professor of Information Systems & Operations Management. It featured sessions by Goizueta faculty and a team from Microsoft. Topics included ChatGPT and the future of work.

International Modules Broaden Horizons, Bolster Careers

In May, students from across MBA cohorts visited South Korea, South Africa, Germany, and Austria. They trips are part of Goizueta’s Global Experience Modules (GEMs). These modules introduce students to business practices and challenges on a global scale. Students not only experience cultural immersion, but walk away with practical business knowledge they can use in their careers.

Seoul, South Korea: Exploring the International Film Industry

During this GEM trip, students were treated to an intimate lunch with alumnus Woo Taek Kim 90MBA. Kim is founder and CEO, Next Entertainment World (NEW). He has also served as executive producer of dozens of films, many reaching global audiences. Students toured Haedong Younggungsa Temple while on the tip. They also learned about technological innovations in South Korea through a lecture from Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology.

Germany & Austria: Lessons in Business and History

In Vienna, students visited manufacturing company Asamer, run by alumnus Manfred Asamer 86MBA, to discuss business strategy. A visit to Mauthausen Concentration Camp reinforced that the absence of principled leadership can have tragic consequences.

Cape Town, South Africa: Learning from Local Entrepreneurs

Goizueta students traveled to South Africa and engaged in a number of experiential learning opportunities. Their journey began in Cape Town and extended to Johannesburg, South Africa’s industrial and financial center. There, the students visited Emory’s longtime partner, the Gauteng Provincial Government Innovation Hub. The organization was established to promote the region’s economic development and competitiveness by fostering innovation and entrepreneurship. Students met with local entrepreneurs and heard about how the Innovation Hub helped them grow their businesses.

Antigua, Guatemala: Coffee’s Climate Implications

As part of the specialty coffee programs for Goizueta’s Business & Society Institute, a group of BBA and MBA students visited specialty coffee growing communities in Guatemala. Students toured coffee farms to learn about the climate implications of coffee production. They also spoke to local farmers about the injustices in the coffee supply chain.

Cairo, Egypt: Attending the United Nations Convention on Climate Change

Last fall, a delegation of Emory undergraduate and graduate students—including Danni Dong 23MBA 23PH—attended the first week of the United Nations (U.N.) Framework Convention on Climate Change in Egypt. As official U.N. observers, the students sat in on negotiations and co-hosted a panel discussion, “Youth: From Resistance to Power,” in conjunction with the Climate Justice Program. Young activists from Pakistan, Kenya, Mexico, and the Philippines also took part in the discussion.

British Virgin Islands: A Lesson in Leadership on the High Seas

One of the premier leadership development programs for Full-Time MBA students is Goizueta’s Advanced Leadership Academy’s curriculum. It takes place in the spring semester of the students’ final year. One of the highlights of the program is a weeklong sailing trip in the British Virgin Islands. Gen. Ken Keen and Professor JB Kurish lead the trip. On a 50-foot sailboat, students serve in several roles— captain, cook, helmsman—and face a unique challenge each day. Students hone their listening and communication abilities and put the problem-solving skills they learned in the classroom to the test in an unfamiliar and intense environment.

Durban, South Africa: Applying Multi-Disciplinary Training to Maximize Healthcare Impact in Africa

Advancing Healthcare Innovation in Africa (AHIA) is a 15-year-old Emory-based program. It leverages multi-disciplinary faculty and students to facilitate workshops for African startups. AHIA aims to maximize the impact that these startups make on local healthcare systems across Africa. Over the past year, AHIA has led workshops in Durban, South Africa, as well as Cairo, Egypt. Over 200 African entrepreneurs and graduate students have participated in the workshops. AHIA also runs virtual training and educational programs on the business aspects of building and scaling health-related social enterprises.

Goizueta’s global strategy is designed to be flexible in order to adapt to new opportunities and a changing geopolitical and higher education landscape. Meant to serve as a framework for Goizueta’s global engagement, the strategy outlines initiatives designed to equip students to meet the opportunities and challenges of an increasingly interconnected world, empower faculty to lead and influence global scholarship and research, and position Goizueta as a school known for its global impact. Learn more about how Goizueta is going global.

The post Going Global Starts at Goizueta appeared first on EmoryBusiness.com.

For some, thoughts of artificial intelligence, doom and gloom, or robots taking over the world might come to mind. After all, it’s the age of generative AI—a seemingly magical technology that can create artwork, write papers, or build code—all within seconds.

Where do humans fit in?

Goizueta Business School graduates fit in everywhere. The future of work is an exciting prospect, and they are ready for it. These workers of the future are embracing their passions and pursuing multiple careers, making business decisions for the betterment of society, leveraging technology to enhance their
skills, and learning how to lead dispersed, remote teams.

Goizueta graduates don’t fear the future. They embrace it.

The Value of High-Tech Skills

“Technology is what it is, and we have to keep up with it and be familiar with the latest tools, but at the end of the day, the theory is a theory. [We] know the underlying math that goes into AI and that enables us to make informed decisions that will eventually make an impact on whatever project we’re working on,” says Sebastian Peña 19BBA 20MSBA, a management consultant for Accenture.

Recently, Peña faced having to write JavaScript, a language he doesn’t know, for a client. He planned on taking a course, but with the popularity of generative AI (like ChatGPT), Peña decided to turn to tech. Armed with a basic understanding of how to write code, Peña leveraged AI to fill in the gaps. A task that would have taken Peña several weeks took an hour.

Being a worker of the future means utilizing available tools to amplify your existing skills, he says.

“It’s easy to imagine a dystopian future, where most jobs are automated and workers disappear, but I think our students today are equipped to imagine a future where technology instead enables more prosperity and sustainability,” says Wes Longhofer, associate professor of organization and management, associate professor of sociology (by courtesy), and executive academic director of Goizueta’s Business & Society Institute. “If they can imagine it, then they can create it.”

Gathering the Data Points of Your Career

Research shows that younger generations find job-hopping beneficial. Multiple careers are—and will continue to be—the norm. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics found that, in September 2022, employees stayed with their current jobs an average of four years. This is especially true for younger generations.

Urvi Bhandari 99BBA 06MBA has no problem admitting that many of her career choices were directly tied to what was going on in her personal life at the time. That’s not to say her decisions weren’t driven by her professional aspirations. But they were equally tied to what was best for her, whether it was working for AT&T, The Coca-Cola Company, IBM, or Walmart—or being a nomad while in her executive roles.

“I want people to understand that life matters,” says Urvi, executive career coach and co-founder of peppercorn.ai.

The premise of Peppercorn.ai is to remove resumes from the equation and focus on the candidate. Rather than having prospective employees mold their story to fit a job description, the platform revolves around supporting the candidate to have clarity and confidence in their journey.

“We make business decisions with data points. Why don’t we make decisions for ourselves based on data points?” argues Urvi. “The world is changing. There is no one way to approach a career.’”

“Workers of the future are no longer going to be doing things because ‘that’s what the path is.’ There is no path,” Urvi continues. “People are making their own paths by taking control of articulating who they are, knowing where they’re going, and marketing what they offer.”

Forward Facing: How Business and Society Can (and Should) Mingle

Longhofer has nothing but optimism for the workers of the future and what they can accomplish for businesses—and for society.

Generation Z values a business’s societal and cultural impact, sometimes over salary and benefits, according to research by Deloitte. A vast majority (77 percent) of respondents cited social activism, and the evidence of it, as a high priority when deciding whether to work for a company. Workers of the future want companies with good values and ethics and a commitment to confronting societal issues, such as sustainability, climate change, and hunger.

As technology and AI advance at an unprecedented pace, workers of the future will be the ones who remind us that human flourishing and planetary survival are still essential.

Wes Longhofer

Workers of the future will have to combine their analytical and technological skills with creative solutions to address business needs. “It’s not enough to optimize your supply chain for peak efficiency. You also need to embed human rights into it and report your scope 3 emissions,” says Longhofer.

As complex as these challenges might sound, students at Goizueta are already rising to the occasion. The Business & Society Institute embeds this system-thinking approach into classes, experiential learning, global modules, directed studies, clubs, conferences, and case competitions. Students are being introduced to climate change and inequality. They’re given ample opportunities—in a variety of formats—to put their skills to the test in safe, supported environments before bringing their knowledge and ideas to their future companies.

The Power of People Skills

Workers of the future need not only the technical skills learned in class, but also soft skills. Whether a company conducts business in person or operates remotely, leaders of today and tomorrow must know how to lead through a screen and across time zones.

“The human factor of leading becomes increasingly important in a complex, uncertain, and volatile world where you’re not just leading in person anymore,” says Lieutenant General USA (Ret.) Ken Keen, associate dean for leadership and associate professor in the practice of organization and management.

As technology continues to advance, managers and executives must also know how to lead those whose technical knowledge surpasses their own. Whether you’re the chief financial officer or chief operating officer, you must know how to lead a league of people with varying skill levels.

“Every business is a people business,” says Brian Mitchell, associate dean of the Full-Time MBA programs and Goizueta Global Strategy and Initiatives. “You have to be able to relate to people and be relatable. A great leader cannot lead one way and expect everyone else to conform. They have to be able to manage many different work styles and personalities.”

Adapting to the Shifting Landscape

In addition to learning how to manage across styles and personalities, growth is key. That’s where continued education comes into play, shares Nicola Barrett, Goizueta’s chief corporate learning officer. “Changes in both technology and societal expectations require anyone in business to adopt new skills, approaches, and mindsets. They must become digitally fluent and to re-create their playbook to see, design, and unlock new growth opportunities. Emory Executive Education works with organizations and their professionals to develop these critical capabilities to catalyze new growth possibilities.”

Goizueta’s leadership is also constantly reviewing and tweaking its programs. The undergraduate BBA program, led by Andrea Hershatter, senior associate dean of undergraduate education and associate professor in the practice of organization and management, launched adjustments following a deep review in order to remain relevant to the latest scholarly research, recruiter and business needs, and alumni feedback.

“The revised curriculum enhances our ability to equip our students for an increasingly data-driven world in which the outcomes of business decisions are multifaceted and far-reaching. It simultaneously helps us build our student competencies and address their desire to create individualized and customized academic experiences,” says Hershatter.

The school’s highly ranked MBA program is next. One of the focus areas of the review is enhancing the global nature of the program, more deeply weaving experiential learning into the curriculum, rather than treating such opportunities as optional additions to the standard MBA track. 

“So much of the work of the future is going to happen irrespective of borders,” shares Mitchell. “Workers of the future are going to be global by definition.”

Gaining Global Perspectives

For Evan Lyons 22MBA, being global is inherent. Lyons learned to walk in England, and played soccer in Brazil as a teenager. He participated in an exchange program, then internship in France, and met his wife in Mexico. He can speak English, French, and Spanish fluently and has a working knowledge of German and Portuguese.

Lyons found immense value from his global experiences when he owned his own consulting company. He now uses that experience in his job as an investment banker for Bank of America. Lyon tries to begin meetings in the language of the country he’s in. He always downloads the local holiday calendar to be aware of how the area’s cultural traditions might impact workflow.

MBA graduates and workers of the future have to understand the global perspective because most major companies are global. If you want to rise up in any organization in any industry, you have to be able to understand where the company is playing, how to build relationships across cultures, and develop strategies that can flex and work in other places.

Evan Lyons 22 MBA

This diverse perspective—and the willingness to meet people where they are—builds relationships and strengthens leadership skills. Both of these are critical skills for workers of the future.

“The future is now for all of these things. They’re incremental steps. They are small innovations that lead to big innovations and big changes,” says Lyons. “The workers of tomorrow, the leaders of the future, they are in the workplace today.”

Interested in pursuing a business degree? Learn more about the unique programs Goizueta has to offer.

The post Preparing the Workers of the Future appeared first on EmoryBusiness.com.

Proof of their commitment: the circled capital “B” belonging to companies that are Certified B Corps, more than 5,300 now and rising globally. The designation means that a company values people and the planet alongside profits, and B Corps range from solopreneurs to familiar brands such as Patagonia, Method, and Ben & Jerry’s. Similar to LEED certification for a building, B Corp status must be earned through a rigorous third-party certification process overseen by B Lab. For Khonso, that was a huge endeavor.

Enter Goizueta Business School students, who authored Khonso’s employee handbook and drew up a road map to assess and measure data points and policy across five areas: community, customers, environment, governance, and workers. “We are committed to quality, community, inclusivity, and sustainability, which includes fair wages, sustainable energy and water investments, and buying products from businesses with sustainable practices,” says Khonso Chief Marketing Officer William Teasley.

Because of the students at Goizueta, we’re not going to ‘get back to it in a couple of years.’ We’re doing something about it now.

William Teasley

The timely partnership unfolded through B Corp Learning Lab, a directed study elective through Goizueta’s Business & Society Institute for undergraduates, MBAs, and students across Emory. “We are educating students about B Corps by taking part in the movement,” says B Corp Learning Lab instructor Brian Goebel 09MBA, managing director of the Business & Society Institute. “It’s a win-win all around.”

Through B Lab, Khonso and other local businesses connected with MBA and BBA students and others from Emory Law and Emory Master’s in Development Practice (MDP). The campus-wide interest doesn’t surprise Wes Longhofer, executive academic director of the Business & Society Institute, because students are clamoring for any chance to learn about issues related to environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG).

“But the market is also changing quickly,” Longhofer adds. “Companies are looking to develop capabilities in this space as they respond to growing pressure from investors, consumers, and their own employees.”

The B Corp certification is a powerful and transparent way for companies to verify their social and environmental commitments. And because the assessment process is so tangible, students get hands-on experience on how companies can both measure their impact and set meaningful targets and goals. It also fits the educational mission of our Institute of putting theory into practice.

Wes Longhofer

Basis for a Better Business

The B Corp Learning Lab and a growing number of other social and environmental impact activities (such as the Start:ME accelerator program, Net Impact Club, Peachtree Minority Venture Fund, and Grounds for Empowerment) demonstrate Goizueta’s strategic belief that business and society together can deliver a more equitable and sustainable world. When businesses and business education shift, other stakeholders benefit, too.

In the investment community, “We see a greater awareness in society and financial markets of the dangers of too much focus on short-term shareholder value. Further, there exists too much of a bias by many that B Corps do not seek profitability,” says Professor in the Practice of Finance JB Kurish, who teaches social entrepreneurship and impact investing. “They do seek profitability. In fact, by focusing on stakeholders that include shareholders, customers, employees, and communities, it well could be that B Corps are doing a better job at long-term profitability. This, in turn, results in better long-term returns for shareholders.”

With a rapidly changing employment landscape, “In a moment that is so difficult to attract and keep talent, we have not had that problem,” says Maggie Kulyk 96MDiv, founder of Chicory Wealth, a B Corp financial services firm. “I want my company to be 100 percent employee-owned by the time I retire, and the B Corps movement inspired me to think about legacy, equity, justice, and engagement.”

It’s the right thing to do and incredibly good for attracting young, talented people who want to work in a situation that has meaning. The B Corps demonstrates that altruism can be beneficial for you, too.

Maggie Kulyk

Clout, Credibility, and Collaboration

Operating as Team Khonso, the students in the B Corp Learning Lab assigned to the brewery learned that B Corps are more likely to collaborate, even with competitors. Team Khonso turned to Creature Comforts, a B Corp brewery in Athens cofounded by Adam Beauchamp, a former Emory graduate student in genetics and molecular biology. Creature Comforts’ Community Impact Manager Ally Hellenga eagerly assisted the team.

“As an industry, craft breweries are community-centric, sustainable, and conscious businesses in our respective communities,” she says. “B Corp certification is our best tool to measure progress and put us all on a path to be even better for our people, our communities, and our planet. I was impressed by [Team Khonso’s] professionalism and mastery of the B Impact Assessment–especially in such a short amount of time.”

In the B Corp Learning Lab, Goizueta students became part of a growing academic community in Georgia providing brainpower to organizations large and small. B Corp Learning Lab students learned from guest lecturers Kelly Carter, an Atlanta business analyst who worked with B Lab and who now works with a sustainability-focused organization, and Nathan A. Stuck, co-founder and chair of B Local Georgia, an organization aimed at growing the B Corps movement.

“The B Corp Learning Lab brought a lot of really passionate people together, and I’m hoping that they’ll be able to take what they learned from the experience and apply it wherever they end up working or with their own startups,” Carter says. “The B Corp Learning Lab helps the students understand how social and environmental impact can be created through business operations and the business model.”

“Emory brings the Atlanta clout to B Corps,” Stuck says. “It helps give the B Corps movement more credibility.”

Goizueta students traveled to Athens for a Creature Comforts event in Fall 2021 to rally support for local B Corps.

“It is important to get our students off campus to see that this is part of a bigger movement of folks doing the work, to show that a more equitable and sustainable form of capitalism is possible,” Longhofer notes. “The event was held at one of the best breweries in the country that has decided to pair their excellence in craft beer with a commitment to people and planet. What could be more fun than that?”

Real-World Experience for Students

Another satisfied B Corp Learning Lab company was Roots Down Georgia, a sustainable landscaping enterprise. “The students delivered an easy-to-follow package of what Roots Down needs to do to get certified in 2023,” says Chief Marketing Officer Tres Crow. “It was one of the best consulting experiences I’ve had.”

Crow’s point of contact was Eric Rusiecki 10OX 13C 22EvMBA, who sought MBA training to transition to a purpose-driven company “doing more than selling widgets.” His target soon became B Corps, and Roots Down taught him “to connect the dots of leadership, profit, and efficiency with tough questions to help guide leaders on their journey in the workforce. B Lab gives a roadmap of how to be profitable and successful while still focusing on how to treat your employees, community, and environment well. These learnings will continue on the forefront of my mind in all my decisions in the workplace.”

Jasmine Burton 22MBA enrolled in B Corp Learning Lab as part of a larger goal to gain business acumen and lead more effectively in global, nonprofit sanitation efforts.

Her takeaway from the class: “Businesses can be held accountable to triple bottom line outcomes in a way that is rigorously validated and continuously monitored every three years. It is a movement away from virtue signaling and greenwashing and into large scale change.”

In a world that seems to be increasingly prioritizing stakeholder capitalism, the value proposition of certified B Corps is credible and clear on a global scale. I seek to use these learnings to join and grow truly values-based organizations.

Jasmine Burton 22MBA

Through B Corp Learning Lab, Jakob Perryman 17C 22MBA found an exciting career niche that aligns with his value in creating a more sustainable earth. Perryman sought his Goizueta MBA after working as an environmental consultant for companies that generally wanted the least expensive, minimal solutions to meet environmental regulations. He is joining PwC as a senior consultant in mergers and acquisitions, to help B Corps weather ownership changes.

“When a B Corps gets acquired, the bigger company might not care about the B Corps status or know how to navigate the recertification every three years, so a lot of B Corps lose status,” Perryman explains. “There’s a lot more I need to learn, but the B Corp Learning Lab class was a great introduction.”

B-ing Proactive in a Global Economy

What does it take to become a certified B Corp? The first step is to understand a few more of the Bs.

B Corp: A B Lab-certified and verified company that demonstrates high social and environmental performance, legally commits to changing corporate governance to benefit all stakeholders and exhibits performance transparency against B Lab standards.

B Corp Certification: With a B Impact Assessment score of 80 or higher and a stated focus on maintaining certain standards and visibility, a company may attain certification.

B Impact Assessment: A digital tool used by companies to achieve certification by measuring, managing, and improving positive impact performance for the environment and stakeholders. The assessment allows companies to evaluate their current status, compare their impact, and enable improvements.

B Interdependent: A standalone resource produced by B Lab for companies responding to the COVID-19 pandemic and the global uprising against racism.

B Lab: The international nonprofit network that developed a stakeholder-driven model that “creates standards, policies, tools, and programs that shift behavior, culture, and structural underpinnings of capitalism,” they write on their website. Their goal? To “support our collective vision of an inclusive, equitable, and regenerative economy.”

As Former U.S. Secretary of State Madeline Albright said, “I often wonder to what extent business can help society in its goals and alleviate poverty, preserve ecosystems, and build strong communities and institutions. B Lab has proven that there is a way.” For more information on B Corps, visit bcorporation.net

Goizueta’s Business and Society Institute pursues academic discovery and action to build a more equitable, prosperous, and sustainable world. Learn more about their programs, research, and events.

The post Certified B Corps: Students Explore Business as a Force for Good appeared first on EmoryBusiness.com.

Kuhnert has created a way to virtually unite students with the best minds in their respective fields. The technology is called Tacit Object Modeler, or TOM for short, and Kuhnert is using it in the classroom to teach business ethics. TOM replicates the decision made by an expert by sampling how they respond to different scenarios. Based on their responses, TOM learns how the expert uses “tacit knowledge” to make critical decisions.

Kuhnert advised the creation of the AI technology TOM by Merlynn Intelligence Technologies. He says the idea behind TOM is to duplicate decisions that experts make, from which non-experts can extract value. Nonexperts can input data–the circumstances of a given scenario–and TOM will render a decision intended to be used by the non-expert as a second opinion.

“For example, some physicians make better diagnoses than others,” Kuhnert says. “The idea with TOM is to digitize the very best physician making that particular diagnosis and share that with the world.”

When digitizing an expert, Kuhnert says the AI identifies the variables that contribute to a given expert’s decision about a given situation. The software collects this data–the different variables for different situations–and builds an algorithm. The expert can then test to ensure that the algorithm accurately replicates their decisions.

Jesse Bockstedt, professor of Information Systems & Operations Management, defines artificial intelligence models like TOM as technologies that use data to create statistical models that make predictions or complete human cognitive tasks to improve business performance and drive value.

Bockstedt explains that AI applications in business range from robotics used in manufacturing procedures, such as moving inventory around in a warehouse or scanning packages for defective items, to customer service chatbots and algorithms that recommend products to customers.

The benefits AI offers its user are expediency, efficiency, and the facilitation of personalization, which, in turn, allow businesses to cut costs and improve profits.

We might think of AI and machine learning as futuristic things, but they are not future technologies. They’re current technologies. In every industry and every facet of an organization, there are opportunities for finding value with AI and machine learning.

“Awareness of these applications in business is key, and understanding AI and machine learning is essential,” Bockstedt says.

Bockstedt says the prevalence of AI and machine learning in the past decade can be attributed to several factors, such as the accessibility and abundance of data that came with the .com boom, rise of e-commerce, and advancement of smartphones. Other reasons include the increase in computing power and research and development within the deep learning space, which allow for technologies like automated tracking, speech recognition, and image recognition.

Introducing AI into Medical Care

Kuhnert says it is difficult to introduce AI technologies into the medical field because the standard of care is so high. Christopher Awad 23MBA 23MD is collaborating with Kuhnert on TOM to explore just how the software could be implemented in medicine.

For TOM specifically, Kuhnert says AI derived from data or models of experts will present a great deal of problems if it deviates from certain standards of care. Misconceptions surrounding what AI technologies are and how they work present another issue.

To combat these misconceptions and investigate how to apply TOM, Awad and Kuhnert surveyed healthcare professionals on their impressions of technologies like TOM and what they believe the role of advanced technologies should be in hospitals.

Among advanced technologies intended for medical use are models like BoXHED, a software that allows scientists to render real-time predictions for when something is at a high risk of occurring.

Donald Lee, associate professor of Information Systems & Operations Management at Goizueta and of biostatistics and bioinformatics at Rollins School of Public Health, is one of the creators behind BoXHED. He developed the algorithm for BoXHED to extract predictive signals from high-frequency health data, such as those logged by wearable devices.

“An Apple Watch can monitor a number of vital signs and provides a streaming data set of health information, minute by minute as long as you’re wearing your watch,” Lee says. “BoXHED can take that data and try to identify time-varying interactions among them that are indicative of an event happening, such as stroke. If your watch is monitoring 50 signals, maybe only 12 matter. BoXHED distills these into a single number called the hazard rate, which is the probability of experiencing a stroke in the next instance in time.”

Lee says BoXHED works like other machine learning models, in that it extracts information meaningful to humans from noisy data.

“The human mind simply cannot deal with high dimensional data sets that change constantly, so you need a way to summarize them intelligently,” Lee notes. “All machine learning models essentially use a branch of mathematics called approximation theory to recover some salient quantity from the data, for example the hazard rate of stroke.”

Presenting the Ethical Dilemma

Like all things, the wonders of AI don’t come without costs. The most prevalent, Bockstedt says, is the presence of biases in AI models, which make their way into algorithms when the data used to create them are biased. These biases can have serious implications.

“We have to think about not just the first order effects of using AI and machine learning, but the second, third, and fourth order effects,” Bockstedt says.

For instance, when using AI to render sentences for criminal cases, he shares, “The first effect of using a sentencing guideline software system is that we’re able to speed up the sentencing process. But the second order effect is that we realize, over time, that there’s bias, and we’re treating certain people more strictly than we are other people. The third order effect is that after this happens for long enough, we start to see impact on society directly–we see certain types of people being locked up more than others.”

The interaction between AI technologies and population diversity is a focus Awad has committed his work to. In addition to collaborating on TOM, Awad is also exploring diversity issues in the medical sphere. He is conducting research at Morehouse School of Medicine, where he is developing a data science curriculum for healthcare professionals that will explore health disparities use cases for investigation.

“The role of advanced technologies is meant to increase our agency, preserve our ethical beliefs, and promote equity in the dispensation of health care and health equity to everyone,” Awad says.

Bockstedt says regardless of the field of application, it is the responsibility of technology creators to be aware of these biases, use high quality data when building these technologies, and to use explainable AI so that users can understand how predictions are made.

One way to address these ethical considerations is to diversify who is in the room when building and using new technologies. Emory has set out to do just that through its AI.Humanity initiative. The initiative includes hiring new faculty across departments, placing AI and machine learning experts across campus, and facilitating the exchange of ideas relating to advanced technologies.

These are also considerations Kuhnert has when using TOM. He says issues of bias in AI must be at the forefront of applications in any industry.

“There is always the potential of getting biased data, which creates biased algorithms and produces biased decisions,” Kuhnert says.

Artificial intelligence is a tool, and like any other tool, it can be used for good or for bad. Our hope is that we’re not giving this to people who have evil intentions and wish to duplicate the decision-making of someone who’s not ethical.

Karl Kuhnert

Bockstedt says as things progressively become more automated, he foresees an increase in explainable AI and AI ethics. Although we may expect to see a reduction of the workforce, we can also look forward to the creation of new jobs, such as an AI trainer, and a period of coexistence where technology, like TOM, will help workers perform better instead of replacing them.

“Some people see AI as an exciting future, while others feel it is part of a dystopian society,” Kuhnert says. “I don’t really hold either belief. It’s completely in our hands what we want to do here. We can use this technology to unburden the world. We have to decide together how we want to use this technology.”

Learn more about Emory Executive Education’s AI and Machine Learning for Business.

The post The AI Revolution: Opportunity, Ethics, & Impact appeared first on EmoryBusiness.com.

“At Goizueta, we strive to create an environment where every person can thrive and grow without exception, allowing us to attract, develop, and engage the best talent and equip our graduates to be principled leaders in a diverse society. Increased access to scholarships based on merit and financial need is critical to this strategy.”

Learning begins with a single drop of inspiration, a longing to explore and acquire wisdom about new and interesting subjects, and a passion to sharpen skills and hone talents that open a world of professional possibility. Education, some say, is a wide-eyed quest to meet new people and explore the world through their diverse perspectives.

For many, the gift of scholarship triggers a ripple effect of personal and professional growth with limitless potential to reach, strive, and impact change in the world.  

Curiosity, Intellectual Courage, & Integrity

At Goizueta Business School, our school’s namesake championed a student’s right for transformational education. As a Cuban-born immigrant to the United States and former chairman and CEO of The Coca-Cola Company, Roberto C. Goizueta embraced education and the notion that curiosity, intellectual courage, and integrity were the cornerstones of growth.

With a focus on philanthropy that continues through The Goizueta Foundation today, he once shared, “We in business have an obligation to give something back to the communities that support us.”

Robert W. Woodruff was a renowned businessman and philanthropist who headed The Coca-Cola Company for many years and gave generously to Emory University. The founding and signature scholarship of the Emory Scholars Program is named in his honor. Woodruff’s personal creed read, “There is no limit to what a man can do or where he can go if he doesn’t mind who gets the credit.” Woodruff Scholars leave a lasting imprint on Goizueta Business School and Emory University through their leadership, academic performance, and lifelong relationships.

With these philosophies held as guiding principles at Goizueta, and through the generous support of our partners, we have offered transformational scholarships to students—leaders who have become change agents in their own communities and beyond. 

A Safe & Supportive Space to Grow & Transform

As a native Brazilian, Willi Freire 19BBA immigrated to Florida at age six with his mother. “English was so hard at the beginning. I cried every time I got home from school for my first six months,” he recalls, but his mother instilled in him the critical value of education. Soon, fully bilingual in Portuguese and English, Freire set his sights on going to college. In high school, a guidance counselor suggested he investigate QuestBridge, a national nonprofit that matches talented first-generation and low-income high school students with 45 top-ranked partner universities.

To his surprise and delight, “Emory reached out in my senior year,” he recalls. In consideration for the Robert W. Woodruff Scholarship, “They invited me to interview on campus for a week, and I loved everything about it—the intellectually stimulating interviews and the conversations with faculty, staff, incoming students, and applicant peers. The universe took me to the right place at the right time.”

From the start, the Woodruff scholarship opened Freire to a world of peer scholars who helped each other stay accountable. Research opportunities, internships, alumni interaction, and work with the Robert W. Woodruff Foundation allowed him to immediately build community. “I had the chance to make my undergrad experience very intentional. At Emory, the opportunities are plentiful,” he says. Freire became the president and liaison for QuestBridge scholars at Emory.

When he became a Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipient in 2012, “I was suddenly allowed to work and live in the United States. It completely changed my life and ensured college was a viable opportunity.” Inspired to help other first-generation students experience the same intellectual and professional freedom, Freire worked closely with then Emory president James W. Wagner, then Emory University provost and executive vice president of academic affairs Claire E. Sterk (who later became Emory University’s 20th president), and a team of faculty and students to implement policy changes that allowed students to disclose by choice their documentation status. “They could be DACA or undocumented, and Emory gave them the pathway to receive financial assistance,” he says. “There is so much miseducation around undocumented communities. Theirs is not a one-size-fits-all story, rather one with so much more depth and diversity.”

Freire learned of two other DACA students in his class, and it sparked a personal mission. “We had never really shared immigration status before,” he remembers. “But at an event, I caught the energy in the room, and I shared my story. It was a critical inflection point in my undergrad journey, and this moment gave me my community.”

Through Undocumented Students of America at Emory (USA), “We created a pathway for community, faculty, advisory services, mentorship, and storytelling events,” he says of the resource. “These students need resources, help for family emergencies, guidance in the job market. DACA students are still living and breathing at Emory.” As the executive vice president of the BBA Council, Freire led “Undocumented Truth,” an intimate campus storytelling event that allowed students to share their stories in a safe, non-judgmental space. He also welcomed the opportunity to honor Nikki Graves, associate professor in the practice of management communications, for her work with undocumented students.

Now at PwC Consulting Solutions in workforce transformation and diversity, equity, and inclusion, he enjoys being an active alumnus who conducts workshops and provides opportunities for future generations of Goizueta students.

“The Robert W. Woodruff Scholarship provided me with the unimaginable ticket to attain higher education at a world-renowned institution with absolutely no cost to me or my family.”

I never had the means to attend a university like Emory. I had no college fund or savings from my family. It made the impossible possible and gave me the resources and confidence to thrive, and I am deeply grateful for the scholarship and the program.

Willi Freire 19BBA

Connecting with a Transformational Ecosystem

As a student athlete in track and field and a Goizueta Scholar, Casey Rhode 17BBA called Goizueta home for four years. During this time, he balanced athletics and education with precision, maintaining a perfect grade point average. “It was an incredible experience,” he recalls of his quest to engage in as much as he could while part of the on-campus community.

As a sophomore, he joined forces with the Emory Impact Investing Group (EIIG), started by classmates. The organization gives small businesses throughout Atlanta greater access to investment capital, student consulting services, and low-interest loans. “Leading this organization as CEO made a huge impact on me,” he shares. “I connected with students and the community and during my time at Emory started a board of advisors to tap into the incredible ecosystem of alumni in our area, a board that I continue to participate on today.

Atlanta has some of the best and brightest people, and our students have access to them. These interactions can be formative in choosing a career.

Casey Rhode 17BBA

“My Goizueta scholarship opened doors for me within the broader community,” he says. The Goizueta Scholars Award, implemented in 2007, supports four years of undergraduate study, including study-abroad options, and ranges from one-half of tuition to full tuition and fees. Through the program, Rhode met another scholar who worked at global independent investment banking firm Perella Weinberg. He joined the firm to work in health care investment banking. “After a great experience, I made the career switch to OneOncology to work with 600 cancer care providers at over 180 community-based sites across the country,” he explains. “Community oncology is positioned to be the backbone of cancer care in the United States and to address skyrocketing costs,” he says. “To be senior director of strategic finance for a company that helps impact communities on such a high level is huge for me.”

Citing his undergraduate personal and professional development, he praises Andrea Hershatter, senior associate dean of undergraduate education and senior lecturer of organization and management. “She pushed me to do more and think more critically about what I wanted to do while I was in school. She really challenged me, and I appreciate that. She’s a great mentor to me, even today.”

Drive, Perseverance, & Bold Ideas

With explosive growth in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)-related businesses, many Goizueta students begin by nurturing both their love of science and their desire to understand the dynamics of business.

Arpita Gaggar 20Ox 22BBA received the Donahue Family Scholarship at Goizueta and pursues a challenging dual major of business and neuroscience and behavioral biology. With future dreams of opening her own clinic, Gaggar knows she needs more than scientific strength. “The business aspect is going to come into play.”

While the COVID-19 pandemic grew around the world, Gaggar’s interests aligned into sharper focus.

My scholarship was a blessing and offered me the time to explore the social issues that will shape my work in medicine. This past year, I’ve gotten more involved in social justice and opened my eyes to what’s going on in the world.

Arpita Gaggar 20Ox 22BBA

While studying from home, Gaggar researched more. “I developed an approach to thinking critically about the news media I consumed and delved deeper rather than accept statements at face value,” she says. “That’s helped me become a more knowledgeable global citizen.”

An active member of Bridging Medicine at Emory and an intern in Goizueta’s marketing & communications department, Gaggar is evaluating paths to achieve her clinic. She aspires to a dual MD/MBA degree or perhaps health care administration and consulting, along with world-expanding opportunities such as Doctors Without Borders that will enrich her relationships with the pediatric patients that she hopes to serve one day.

Like Gaggar, Goizueta Scholar Georgia Kossoff 18BBA has always been driven to uncover scientific puzzles and their impact on society. “Dean Andrea Hershatter advised me from the start that I could handle both chemistry and business majors.”

Being part of the Goizueta Scholars community provided a network of role models and mentols that shaped the course of my career.

Georgia Kossoff 18BBA

Setting sights on the intersection of health care and business, Kossoff sought for “literacy on both sides.”  She conducted student research on a relatively new corporate model, the public benefit corporation—or B Corp—that balances profit and purpose with a direct social or environmental impact.

Kossoff worked with professors Wesley Longhofer and Peter Roberts at Social Enterprise @ Goizueta, now known as The Roberto C. Goizueta Business & Society Institute. With classmates, Kossoff founded the Translational Research and Innovation Network (TRAIN), which formed multidisciplinary student research teams. Some TRAIN researchers went on to earn grant funding for their work.

A transformative experience for Kossoff came in her senior year. A Goizueta Scholars junior year seminar led by Professor in the Practice of Business Law Allison Burdette, in which students pitched the city of Detroit, Michigan, as a site for the Olympics, served as inspiration for a career-changing event. Using this previous Goizueta experience as a guide, Kossoff challenged herself.

“The location of Amazon HQ2 was under speculation,” she recalls. “A fellow Goizueta Scholar and I approached Dean Hershatter and Professor Burdette with the concept of launching a student campaign to showcase Atlanta from the student and young adult perspective. We knew it would create more opportunities for Atlanta students.” Multiple companies sponsored the initiative, and Invest Atlanta and the Georgia Department of Economic Development owned the corporate search project. With the involvement of more than 600 students statewide, “We aligned to create a video of students sharing their love for the city.”

Through the experience, Kossoff gained invaluable consulting, research, and presentation skills. Now as a consultant for Bain & Company, Kossoff is appreciative of the foundational skills her Goizueta education provided. “Outside of my core casework, all of my community involvement focuses on social impact.” 

Innovation & Entrepreneurship

As a pre-med biology major, Chis Anen 21MBA was headed for a career in medicine, but an innovative idea steered him in a different direction. With the concept blooming, the entrepreneur launched a marketplace to sell limited edition and vintage sneakers and streetwear. Fascinated by tech and encouraged by a professor, he joined an accelerator program.

At 23, Anen moved cross-country to Los Angeles, with company funding provided by famed venture capitalist Troy Carter. “At Throne, I really got to grow my business, and I managed people twice as old as me,” he recalls. With 10 employees, the company thrived until it ran out of money in 2017. “The experience was eye-opening. We tried to do too much too fast,” he explains of his learn-by-doing venture. “It was a good lesson on how to build and operate a company, and it taught me that I wanted to work in tech.”

A series of jobs with other startup ventures followed. When a boss encouraged him to seek an MBA, Goizueta made Anen’s short-list for its small class sizes and location in a city with a robust entrepreneur environment. Anen came to Goizueta through The Consortium for Graduate Study in Management, where he received a fellowship. He became an Entrepreneurship Fellow and earned both the Michael H. Lee Scholarship as well as the Apollo Scholarship for Visionary Leaders, which honors demonstrated interest in entrepreneurship and visionary leadership. Yahoo CEO Jim Lanzone 98JD/MBA funds the Apollo scholarship. “We spoke in a brief call,” Anen says, “and through that, we created a simple but valuable connection.”

His first venture—and the difficulty of raising capital for it—is never far from his mind. With 2021 MBA classmates Willie Sullivan, Alan Quigley, Kristen Little, and Chris Wolf, Anen has helped to launch the Peachtree Minority Venture Fund, a student-run venture capital fund focused on empowering underrepresented founders. It’s the start of a personal effort to create more such VC opportunities.

“For my previous company, this was one of our struggling points. It was hard for us to raise money,” Anen says. “Eventually we raised a million dollars, but it took a long time. A lot of underrepresented minorities face the same situation.”

Anen is now a project manager at Facebook, but still nurtures his entrepreneurial spirit. With classmate Lyndsey Fridie 21MBA, he is backed by a top VC firm to launch CampusTalk, a closed platform for MBA students to communicate and collaborate with peers at other institutions.

“I would like to express how thankful I am for receiving the Michael H. Lee Scholarship. Some of my biggest passions in life are business and entrepreneurship. By taking the road less traveled and starting a business early in my career, I realized how difficult and lonely the journey could be,” Anen says. “My biggest struggles were learning the best practices of entrepreneurship and accessing initial sources of capital to help spark my ideas. From these experiences, I vowed to always lend a helping hand to other underrepresented entrepreneurs while they’re on their own journey to drive change in their communities and bring new innovations to the world.”

I’m grateful that Goizueta Business School has provided me more access to founders in need and the opportunity to help create initiatives like a minority-focused venture capital fund to help embrace and grow the pipeline for future Black entrepreneurs.

Chis Anen 21MBA

Your Gift Today Truly Transforms

Pursuing an undergraduate or graduate degree is a significant financial investment, and Goizueta is committed to making educational goals become a financial reality. Scholarships transform the student experience, creating opportunities for those who would not otherwise be able to pursue their degrees and relieving the economic pressures of funding tuition, textbooks, housing, and co-curricular activities. Gifts to need- and merit-based scholarships are critical as Goizueta works to attract and retain the most talented students with a rich diversity in experiences and backgrounds. Give to support the full potential of Goizueta and our students.

To support a student like Willi, Casey, Arpita, Georgia, or Chis, please visit here.

The post Scholars Making Waves: The Transformational Gift of Student Scholarships appeared first on EmoryBusiness.com.

Digital information privacy is top of mind for business analysts, especially for Ramnath K. Chellappa, associate dean, and academic director, MS in Business Analytics. As the Goizueta Foundation Term Professor of Information Systems & Operations Management, he helped coin the term “cloud computing” and continues to investigate the effects of data breaches on consumers and businesses.

“We like knowing what traffic we’ll face as we leave the office, or how many steps we’ve walked in a day. But all that digital information has a cumulative impact on privacy,” Chellappa says. Though consumers may give out data, consciously or unknowingly, “The whole impact is far greater than the sum of the parts.” He explains, “Suppose a corrupt individual knows a person’s email address. With that basic information, the criminal can find out even more—associated phone apps, physical location details, images from personal life, vacation status. Personalization offers very real convenience, but the flip side is always privacy concerns.” 

On an individual level, “Our entire digital profile is what defines us,” Chellappa adds. “If you put a chip on every device we use and give it an internet protocol [IP] address, that chip generates and shares data. No longer are we just concerned with the physical aspects of being human.”

In addition, ownership of data is often murky and analyzing it unwieldy. Chellappa points out, “Publicly available information is massive. But who owns the rights? How does Google have this information? Are they the legal and moral guardian of it? Now, data can be masked or partially hidden. It can be collated with other data to create new data. Potential violation of privacy is one of the unintended consequences of technology. We don’t know all that the data can do or how it can grow.” Users, he says, don’t know how to claim their data rights. 

Be Cyberwise: Don’t Let Data Thieves Steal Personal Information

Given the onslaught of cybercrime, how can consumers protect themselves? 

“First and foremost,” suggests Jesse Bockstedt, professor of information systems and operations management, “Consumers need to think through who they allow to access their data.” He cautions users to carefully review “Terms of Service” agreements to avoid “signing up for sketchy services that put your privacy at risk.”

In his ongoing work on digital information, Bockstedt understands the increase in data breaches is concerning; however, several studies have found that the out-of-pocket expense to consumers due to identity theft is about $1,000. “Which isn’t zero, but it’s not like a few years ago when [identity theft] ruined your life and destroyed your credit,” Bockstedt says. 

Email phishing scams can trick users into providing sensitive personal information. “Don’t take the bait,” Bockstedt says. “When an email uses a credit card corporate logo and asks you to update your user information, stop and analyze before acting. Does the message contain typos or odd language? Is the sender’s email address atypical? Does the URL for the link they want you to click look like it will take you to the corporate website? What at first glance may look official, in fact, may be fraudulent.” He advises, “Typically, real companies will not call, text, or email you to ask for private information or your login credentials. When in doubt, call the company directly to make sure.”

Enabling multi-factor authentication, along with installing firewall, security, and anti-virus software on your computer, tablet, and mobile phone will enhance information security. Creating unique passwords individual to each required login is also important. “Password management tools such as 1Password or the password manager in Google Chrome are great tools to help you keep track of everything.”    

As Benjamin Franklin so profoundly stated, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” Bockstedt, too, urges consumers to put data safeguards in place to protect priceless personal information from ending up in the wrong hands. 

Trending: C-Level Focus on Data Privacy

According to the Identity Theft Resource Center, cybercrime, including data breaches and ransomware, has increased 51 percent in just the past ten years. In fact, cybercriminals operate wide-reaching and well-organized enterprises comparable in operations to legitimate businesses. Almost daily, news headlines decry cyberattacks against municipalities, hospital systems, utility and transport companies, retailers, banking and financial service companies, and manufacturing facilities. So, with serious cyber risks so prevalent, what is a business to do?

“Ransomware as a mainstream threat is hard to prevent,” says John A. Wheeler 90BBA 99MBA, global research leader in risk management technology for Gartner. “Threats will continue to grow in number and potential for damage. While you need to focus on prevention, the better alternative is to mitigate the risk. Know that it will come.” 

In past decades, cybersecurity measures were thought to be an extra cost of doing business and were managed primarily by information technology teams. To grow their companies, C-level business leaders are now making greater investments in threat preparation. 

Integrated risk management links corporate strategic objectives, hardware, software, material and digital assets, data, and human capital. Developing an action plan that ties these key metrics together prior to a cybersecurity event allows leaders to better articulate to key stakeholders. “They can no longer lean on just their information technology teams to manage these events,” Wheeler says. “Instead, companies need a solid business continuity plan that includes how to restore data, strengthen digital security, resume business operations, and reassure customers post-event.”

Recovering from a global pandemic has strained business operations and challenged continuity plans. “Too often, boards of directors and senior business leaders will only consider an enterprise risk management view without understanding how business operations factor into risk mitigation at the tactical execution layers,” Wheeler says. “Risk mitigation must be integrated throughout the business for successful recovery efforts.”

Warning: Data Breaches Will Occur

First offered in the late 1990s, cyber insurance is now available to companies as a safeguard against catastrophic loss due to cybercrimes such as hacking or ransomware. “Direct written premiums for stand-alone cyber policies climbed 28.6 percent in 2020 to $1.62 billion,” according to an S&P Global Market Intelligence analysis. While cyber insurance may be expensive, not carrying it can be even more devastating to a business’s bottom line. 

The cyber insurance boom may be driven by fear of unknown assailants and the damage they might do. But is cyber insurance valuable? 

“For midsized businesses, yes,” Wheeler says. He suggests careful review of policy provisions and limits. “The associated services of the policy, such as forensic detection after a breach, ransomware negotiation, customer notification, and post-event care can be invaluable. In addition, once a breach occurs, the forensic technicians can detect exactly where the breach occurred, identify how it proliferated through the organization (including through a third-party service provider), and determine what needs to be fixed.” 

Outsourcing, off-shoring, and cloud-based methodology add complicated layers of risk to business operations. “When data is out of sight and out of mind,” Wheeler notes, “we start to see cracks in the system.”

With onsite and remote workers relying on cloud-based service providers to move and store data, “Companies need to have a firm grasp on where their most critical assets should reside as they relate to the business processes and new product launches. They must understand how the hybrid, offsite work model can affect operations and ensure that the work of those employees central to the organization’s existence is the most secure,” he says. “Organizing assets in a more secure way might mean building in some level of redundancy in both workforce and process.” For small and midsized businesses, this can be a financial and logistical challenge. 

To mitigate long-term data damage, Wheeler recommends a corporate best practice. “Establish a cohesive security program and practices that emphasize integrated risk management to ensure business continuity if—and when—a breach event occurs. Ransomware and hacking are big business. Criminals are not looking to make one big score and walk away. Using ransomware is a recurring revenue stream for these operations. And whatever feeds that business model will lead to the next big threat.”

From the business analytics and data management perspectives, “In just a few short years, everything about information security has changed. Infrastructure now poses legal dilemmas regarding the physical location of data. Going forward, it is especially important to understand that we must make good laws and public policy,” Chellappa says. “Technology is outpacing the lawmakers.” Playing a complicated game of catch-up, leaders weigh consumer privacy against digital piracy in an ongoing battle. “When you have unimpeded access to data or access without enough consequences, the potential for information misuse rises.” 

Chellappa shares a final thought. “As we continue to think about personalization and privacy, we embrace a two-faced chalice,” he notes. “While we certainly need to be fearful and concerned, we also need to be aware that the solution is to not shut down the data collection.” Data management, he says, “will be a much more delicate struggle in the future.”

Read more about how students in the MSBA program learn to interpret data responsibly.

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The lens through which data scientists interpret data is also crucial. “The same dataset may be interpreted in multiple ways: marketing, governance, compliance, or other areas,” says Ramnath K. Chellappa, associate dean, and academic director, MS in Business Analytics, and Goizueta Foundation Term Professor of Information Systems & Operations Management.

China native Frank Li 18MSBA, who came to the program after pursuing financial engineering at Shandong University of Finance and Economics, says, “The business analytics degree makes me a much better problem solver than I was previously. Now I not only have the data skills but can also speak the language with clients.”

“We teach our students to understand the difference between business models and what ends up actually happening in the real world,” says Chellappa. “When dealing with data, it is critical for students to realize that unintended consequences can occur. For example, a bank might have a goal of nondiscrimination based on race. However, if that bank ran a model that used zip codes instead of race, it could be semi-legal but can end up being discriminatory if those zip codes skewed toward a particular race as primary residents.”

He concludes, “Interpreting data comes with great responsibility.”

Read more in Big Data, Big Risks. Learn more about the Master of Science in Business Analytics.

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Prior to the new coronavirus pandemic, investments in telehealth at Emory Healthcare in Atlanta, GA had been limited, but in 2019, Emory Healthcare planned to change that. It formed an internal telehealth team and established a goal to provide 1000 telehealth visits in 2020, a figure that seems laughable now. On January 21, 2020 the first confirmed case of COVID-19 in the U.S. was reported in the state of Washington, and in weeks it became clear that the coronavirus would disrupt outpatient care for the foreseeable future.

In response, the U.S. Congress and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services issued emergency public health orders, paving the way for telehealth to become a viable option to face-to-face medical visits. “We knew the only way we were going to be able to continue with robust access to outpatient care, at least in the short term, was by telehealth,” said Gregory Esper 09MBA, MD, associate chief medical officer at Emory Healthcare and medical director of Emory’s telehealth initiative.

In early March, the team—Esper, Sarah Kier 20EMBA, vice president, patient access, Emory Healthcare physician group practices, Rob Sweeney 18MBA, administrator, Emory Healthcare, and Emma Winchell, project manager, Emory Healthcare—went into “hyper-execute mode,” said Esper, as it worked to ensure continuity of patient care. Amy Comeau 11EMBA, vice president, marketing, Emory Healthcare, was a key health system partner whose team developed the telehealth brand, Emory Connected Care, and innovatively spread the word to patients and families.

On March 13, 2020, the European travel ban took effect, and by St. Patrick’s Day, most of Emory Healthcare’s non-employees were working from home. As a safety precaution and to preserve personal protective equipment (PPE), in-person visits at Emory Healthcare clinics were significantly reduced and that’s when Telehealth took off: between mid-March and the end of 2020, Emory Healthcare’s telehealth team facilitated approximately 436,000 telehealth visits—an astounding increase from their initial goal of 1000.

“You’ve heard the saying, ‘Never let a good crisis go to waste,’” said Comeau. “The laser focus on COVID-19 response allowed all of us to perform at the top of our game and to really push innovation for the benefit of our patients and our organization.”

As the pandemic forced the telehealth team into overdrive, one of the principles Esper learned at Goizueta kept running through his mind. “If you create the right incentives, the market will happen,” he said. “That’s exactly what happened with telemedicine.” To help the team move an initiative like Telehealth through the Emory Healthcare system, Esper relied on knowledge gleaned from his organizational behavior and leadership classes with Rick Gilkey and Peter Topping, both professors in the practice of Organization & Management at Goizueta.

For the four Emory Healthcare leaders armed with an MBA from Goizueta, it turns out that instituting an outpatient telehealth program which did not exist “allowed us to put into action what we learned in our business courses,” explained Esper, “Which is just awesome.”

Kier, who was in the last semester of her Executive MBA program while working to get Emory Healthcare’s Telehealth initiative up and running, “felt the full benefit of my degree almost immediately,” she said. “It was an amazing, unique, and meaningful culmination of all the education, all the practical lessons come to life.”

Why a Revolutionary Business Model Changed Health Care

Before the pandemic, the Telehealth team had designed three training modules, which helped the team hit the ground running. The first module addressed telehealth basics. The second reviewed legislation and regulations, and the third guided physicians through steps before, during, and after patient visits. For physicians to be certified to conduct telehealth sessions, they needed to complete the training, pass an exam, and commit to using Emory Healthcare’s Telehealth standards.

To ensure that the system’s nearly 2400 healthcare providers could access the training, take the test, and document that they’d passed, resources needed to be organized and easily accessible. “It was very detailed operational work,” described Esper, “and Emma Winchell was the lynchpin for the certification process.”

Emory Healthcare, an academic medical center with 11 hospitals and over 250 clinical sites, delivers care for more than 820,000 patients annually. There are more than 70 subspecialties at Emory Healthcare, and from a telemedicine perspective, certain subspecialties made sense to target first. The Telehealth team then used what it learned from those experiences to cascade insights into other subspecialties.

While Emory Healthcare’s senior leadership was accessible and provided guidance, for all intents and purposes, the Telehealth team and their clinical partners within the sections were blazing a new trail. “That felt good,” said Kier. “We knew we’d execute successfully and get it done, but no one knew what the end zone would look like once we got there. We were focused on the now – we needed to do a thing and we needed to do it fast.”

Information Management and Delivery Take Top Priority

While Kier, Sweeney, and Winchell organized the training, Comeau and her marketing team built the Emory Connected Care brand and developed content to inform patients about how to access resources and care. To communicate with leadership and deliver information to different stakeholders, Comeau relied on her “soft skills,” she said—something she’d learned the importance of while at Goizueta. “You can’t get stuff done alone,” said Comeau. Leaning on established partnerships and building new ones across and through the organization helped her align resources and priorities to market the program and provide patients much needed information on what to expect.

Comeau had a limited background in finance prior to taking financial classes as part of her core curriculum in the EMBA program. She credits her ability to make a business case for getting the green light for certain Emory Healthcare Telehealth campaigns and initiatives. Being able to crunch numbers to make a compelling case, added Comeau, is a skill she relies on “every single day.”

As outpatient care shifted to Telehealth, Sweeney and Winchell organized daily informational Zoom meetings for providers. They also implemented a “hub-and-spoke” communication model. Rather than Sweeney and Winchell fielding inquiries from across the system, each subspecialty had representatives that shared concerns and reported best practices to the Telehealth team. “They were key for telling us what they were seeing from an operational standpoint,” Sweeney said.

Sweeney came to Goizueta from the U.S. Department of Defense and had no prior experience in healthcare. By happenstance, Sweeney’s Goizueta IMPACT project (where students act as consultants to solve real-world business issues for sponsoring clients) paired him with a pharmaceutical company. Some of what he learned on that project—discerning who the stakeholders were, finding out and focusing on what was most important—was instrumental in understanding the regulatory environment around telehealth. Working on that IMPACT project also gave him insight into how to structure information so “it’s easy to digest,” Sweeney said. “Being exposed to business situations where you were in uncharted waters and had to figure out how to swim. That was a big takeaway.”

Iterate, iterate, iterate.

Given the speed of the project’s implementation, some aspects did not get the level of attention they might have in a non-COVID-19 environment, but the team held firm when it came to quality of care. “Keeping patient experience, provider experience, and the standard of care just as high quality as it would have been in person was really important to all of our stakeholders,” stated Kier.

For example, during the initial phases of the rollout, doctors often had to talk their patients through the ins and outs of Zoom. Rather than burden clinicians, the Telehealth team created a pool of contact center agents who worked with patients prior to their telehealth sessions and got them Zoom-ready. “Watching the iteration happen up and downstream was really cool,” added Kier. “We went from totally new and a bit shaky to really good operationally quickly.” If issues were ubiquitous, Comeau and her team created messaging to help alleviate them, creating how-to videos and what-to-expect content.

As a result of the effective ramping up and the use of telehealth during the pandemic, the money billed via Emory Healthcare Telehealth has been similar to that from in-person visits, as have been patient satisfaction scores. Another positive outcome of the team’s hard work is that the processes the team implemented for the Telehealth rollout have proven applicable to Emory Healthcare’s patient and employee vaccination programs. “Many of the mechanisms developed for communicating with our (Telehealth) patients, we’re now using and improving upon for our patient vaccinations,” explained Comeau.

COVID-19 Alumni Insights

“Generally, business has more ambiguity than medicine. In medicine, someone comes to you with a clear problem or complaint that has a well-studied scientific solution. Initially, COVID was unique in that we did not have robust data defining a solution. The ambiguity that COVID brought to the hospital caused me to think back to my education at Goizueta. My IMPACT projects gave taught me the tools to identify applicable frameworks to help solve the types of problems COVID created in and around the hospital. Additionally, COVID created logistic problems. Today, we are trying to determine how best to administer the vaccine to everyone.”

Adlai Pappy 19MD/MBA, anesthesiology resident at Harvard’s Brigham and Women’s Hopsital in Massachusetts

“The pace at which we were getting information was constant. I remember thinking at times, is there even a point on working on this until an hour before it’s due because we’re just going to have to change it. I learned about agility, for lack of a better word. I would work so hard on some of these things and make them look beautiful and then they got changed. You just have to deal with it, you know? There’s no option. You can’t be, ‘but this isn’t perfect.’ You can make it look the best it can, but it needs to go out because of how important it is for that information to be out in the public.”

Neha Bansal Ox17 21MSBA When the pandemic began, Bansal was an ORISE Fellow at Centers for Disease Control where she worked on the Clinician Outreach and Communications (COCA) team, which was responsible for creating content regarding emerging health threats such as COVID-19. She left her post in August 2020 to earn an MS in Business Analytics from Goizueta.

“The pandemic emphasized the power of a team and reinforced creativity and collaboration. We all learned that urgency, creativity, and teamwork make a difference not only during these challenging moments, but at all times. The strength of our teams further improved communication, collaboration, and cross-collaboration among various specialties and services, which will be critical in response to any obstacle that comes our way in the future. 

Dealing with the pandemic made me more agile, tenacious, strengthened my leadership skills, and fortified my ability to multitask. Going through the Goizueta Executive MBA program expanded the depth and the width of my mindset not only as a physician but also as a leader.”

Christine Charaf 20EMBA, MD, FACP, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine, Adjunct Faculty Member, Morehouse School of Medicine, and Staff Physician, Veteran Administration

“This pandemic has taught me the importance of being incredibly purpose-driven with a clear human focus. As terrible as the pandemic has been, the necessary response reaffirmed that business is about pursuing a noble purpose and putting employees and human relationships at the heart of how a business operates.”

David DiLoreto 05MBA, Principal, Sg2, a Vizient Company. DiLoreto’s firm works with health care providers to plan and predict future demand for health care services.

“Because of COVID, the business models that were inevitably going to fail over the next 10 years have failed in two months. Someone pressed a button and now we’re 10 years ahead and our capabilities aren’t. And we have to adjust. This disruption is a catalyst for digital transformation and for adapting new business models and letting go of old business models that would have failed over time anyway. It just happened in an instant.”

Sanchit Rege 12MBA Director Digital, Direct Channel & Metasearch Strategy, Hyatt Hotels Corporation. Rege lives and works in Zurich, Switzerland.

“There is still so much to learn about COVID and all of the challenges that have come with it. The Goizueta experience prepares its students to work through ambiguity and to become comfortable with being uncomfortable, but not everyone gets to go through that experience. That’s why we must be leaders and be the calm in the storm.”

Eric Neydorff 19MBA, Finance Business Partner, SARS CoV-2 Vaccine, Moderna Therapeutics

Lessons Learned in 2020 Guide Future

As Esper reflected on all that happened in 2020, he felt a sense of accomplishment. Over the course of a career, the moments where you get “to leverage all your skill and desire and knowledge to bring about a change” are few and far between, he said. “To this date, for me, the launch of telemedicine at Emory is that moment.”

Esper and his telehealth teammates certainly don’t wish for anything like COVID-19 to strike again, but they’ve come out of the experience with a sense of pride. “If you’re in a situation where it’s fourth down and there are 22 seconds left in the game—do you want the ball or not?” Esper asked. Thankful for the skills he learned during his Goizueta MBA program he said, “It’s performing like this that tells me that if a team like ours has the ball, we can do something with it. That gives us confidence. And we hope it gives Emory Healthcare confidence in us as well.”

Learn more about Connected Care through Emory Healthcare Telehealth. Explore Goizueta Business School’s IMPACT program.

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A Look Back

“The historical context is really illuminating. It is important to recognize trailblazers and have an opportunity to think through the events of the country and world as they collide with our local history,” says Jill Perry-Smith, senior associate dean of strategic initiatives who is charged with leading the school’s DEI strategies.

“Emory was desegregated in 1962 – not long ago from a historical perspective,” she said.  As the civil rights movement took hold, then Goizueta Dean Jim Hund embraced the opportunity for discovery, engaging social justice activists and economists to address Southern Black entrepreneurship. Awareness continued to grow through the 1970s, with matriculation of Black undergraduate and graduate-level students and the implementation of President James T. Laney’s President’s Commission on the Status of Minorities. In 1994, the school was renamed to honor Cuban immigrant Roberto C. Goizueta, Chairman and CEO of the Coca-Cola Company.

Global student recruitment gave way to worldwide outreach and a multicultural infusion on Goizueta’s campus, and Dean Tom Robertson responded to student needs by hosting the first Diverse Leadership Conference. In the following years, Goizueta appointed Alicia Sierra as its first director of diversity and community initiatives, along with naming Dean Erika James to guide our institution. Dean James made history as the first Black woman to lead a top-25 ranked business school ahead of its peer institutions.

Progress in DEI has remained a constant throughout Goizueta’s storied history, and Perry-Smith noted that three priorities are at the forefront of the school’s formal DEI Initiative: enrich our community, reflect broader society, and improve equity.

We prepare for our future, our anti-racist future, for Emory and the broader community here in atlanta – and beyond – that we serve. These conversations will serve for more action and progress, and that’s exactly what we need at this moment in time.

Greg Fenves, president, Emory University

Turning to the Future

“The work we are doing now to set infrastructure in place will enable us to make more sustainable and impactful change in the future,” Perry-Smith explained. “For many, the events of 2020 and 2021 symbolize an awakening, a call for more global conversation around vital issues of diversity, equity, inclusion, and anti-racism.”

“Our focus extends to raise awareness for individuals with identities who have been historically marginalized and who have faced systemic barriers to equitable treatment,” she said. “Beyond race, cultural upbringing, gender identity, and sexual orientation, we explore the needs of people who are neurodiverse with unique ways of processing knowledge. Our goal is to discover how every single person can contribute to their fullest to help us achieve a better campus community and society.”

Enrich Our Community: Exposure to cultural knowledge with an aim of increased self-awareness.

“We do not live in a static state. Public sentiments and individual needs will ebb and flow depending on current events and society at large,” Perry-Smith said. Last year, Goizueta Business School established the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Council,for which Perry-Smith was chosen to guide. “Our DEI Council has tentacles into key parts of the organization. We have appointed ambassadors from each program office, faculty members from each area of study, and we touch all aspects of our organization to advise and give input on pressing issues.” She noted, “We are diving into evidence-based data across all constituents. We need to be transparent about that information, even if it’s not all favorable.”

Enhanced awareness education and training is an important tool in the anti-racist cache of resources. Perry-Smith noted that while some diversity training can be ineffective and even harmful to positive outcomes, “research reveals that cognitive learning is helpful. And this is where we shine as an institution, to engage in critical inquiry based on evidence.”

One such global effort began with expanding the scope of the Common Reads Program and the Ally Education Series, both forums for shared understanding and empathy. Goizueta encouraged all students, faculty, and staff, to read Whistling Vivaldi by author Claude M. Steele. Through research and interviews, Whistling Vivaldi speaks to race, racial bias, and stereotypes, both racial and cultural. Goizueta community members participated in peer-facilitated small group discussions designed to delve into the racial biases and stereotype threats they have seen and experienced in their own lives.

Brian Mitchell 00EvMBA/00MPH, associate dean for the full-time MBA program and Goizueta’s Global Strategy and Initiatives, pointed out, “Whistling Vivaldi is a great book for students who are coming into an academic environment because it talks about biases and stereotypes as it relates to academic performance.” He went on to explain the burden these types of assumptions might add to working through an already difficult situation. “The conversation we have with students is ‘Here are some of the realities around the stereotype threat, here’s how they might affect you as a student in this program, and here are some strategies for how to work through it.”

Improving Equity: Inspire our community members to leverage the power of diversity to improve equity in business and society.

“Going beyond the walls of Goizueta, our school also has a rich history of partnership with community organizations to share expertise and insight,” Perry-Smith said. “We explore our connection to one another on many levels, including economic empowerment and social justice.”

In March, Goizueta celebrated the launch of The Roberto C. Goizueta Business & Society Institute, the new home for the faculty and staff of Social Enterprise @ Goizueta along with its programs. The institute reflects the school’s elevated commitment to social impact and seeks to transform business to solve society’s challenges. At the launch event, Goizueta Business School Associate Professor and Academic Director Wesley Longhofer led a fireside chat with Harvard Business School professor and author Dr. Rebecca Henderson, based on her book Reimagining Capitalism in a World on Fire. The conversation revolved around building a profitable, equitable, and sustainable capitalism grounded in new ways of defining the role of business in society. Longhofer shared, “As an Institute, we do not claim to have all the answers facing business and society; rather, we want to be a catalyst for asking the right kinds of questions.”

One of the Institute’s transformative programs is Start:ME, a free small business training program that provides entrepreneurs the tools and connections necessary to build and grow successful businesses in underserved communities around Atlanta. Eighty-two percent of 2021 winter cohort businesses are led by people of color, 84% are led by women, and 24% are foreign-born entrepreneurs. The 49 small businesses served represent more than $425,000 in revenue for 2020.

On a global level, Grounds for Empowerment provides women specialty coffee farmers the market connections and business know-how to enable them to reach their full economic potential. This cohort program works with small groups of women growers from Latin America through semester long consulting support and in-country workshops supported by Emory students and industry members.  

Funded by the Goizueta Business School Dean’s Innovation Fund, the Improving Goizueta’s Support of Black Entrepreneurs and Black Students Study led by K. Hall Consulting and a team of student consultants this past summer conducted interviews with 30 stakeholders across the entrepreneurship ecosystem both in Atlanta and on campus to determine where and how the business school could better partner, engage, and support Black entrepreneurs. Following up on Phase 1 report, Goizueta faculty and students will continue efforts in Phase 2 which is focused on developing an academic case on Black entrepreneurship to support classroom learning along with the implementation of other internal and external diversity, equity, and inclusion recommendations.  

In the summer of 2020, Mitchell guided candid student conversations around key events highlighting racial injustice, the impact of such instances, and changes that could be implemented. For alumnus Willie Sullivan 21MBA, the repeated rally cry for social justice at the forefront of the Black Lives Matter movement sparked a desire to lead meaningful change.

“We wanted to do something actionable,” said Sullivan, speaking of his MBA classmates. “How could we take a business case note and have students come up with strategic frameworks for a major corporation to do something about large societal issues?”

Sullivan and classmates conceived The John R. Lewis Racial Justice Case Competition to address equity and inclusion problems plaguing corporate America. Sponsored by Goizueta and with the blessing of the late Congressman and civil rights icon John R. Lewis’ family, the inaugural competition earned submissions from 105 teams from 52 of the nation’s top universities. Thousands listened to presentations to corporate partners (HP, Johnson & Johnson, Salesforce, Southern Company, Truist, and Walmart) during which bold student teams confronted issues of supplier diversity to include Black-owned businesses, minority vendor supply chain relationships, STEM careers and scholarship for Black girls, the Black wealth gap, training for people of color on house arrest, and people over profits.

Interim John H. Harland Dean Karen Sedatole praised the student-conceived, student-designed, and student-executed event. “Their passion and leadership skills are a testament to the quality of students, faculty, staff and programs that we have here at Goizueta Business School. We’re so very proud of them.”

Reflect Broader Society: Achieve a composition of our faculty, staff, and student body that fully reflects the broader society.

Goizueta has developed partnerships with a range of organizations to recruit and increase representation of students and faculty from diverse backgrounds in our business programs, including the Consortium for Graduate Study in Management, Forte Foundation, Management Leadership for Tomorrow, MBADiversity.org, National Black MBA Association, The PhD Project, Prospanica, The Robert Toigo Foundation, and Women in Technology. On campus, clubs and groups, too, celebrate the broad range of backgrounds and experiences in our diverse community, with at least 14 distinct organizations for Goizueta students.

In 2002, Goizueta formed a strategic partnership with The Consortium for Graduate Study in Management, a cooperative network of universities designed to enhance diversity and inclusion in business education while at the same time reducing underrepresentation in graduate school enrollment through merit-based full-tuition scholarships to top-tier MBA candidates. From the onset of the partnership, Goizueta has awarded more than $14 million in scholarships to Consortium members.

“I’m impressed by how the school has embraced diversity in a way we were fighting for when we were students. It’s rewarding to see DEI being prioritized,” said Nsombi Ricketts 06MBA, who came to Goizueta through the Consortium and later founded the student-run Diverse Leadership Conference at Goizueta in response to racial incidents on campus.  She noted, “When I look at Goizueta today, I’m proud to see that our work has had a tangible impact and that the DEI conversation impacts so many populations – students, faculty, and even alumni.”

“We are very encouraged by the work being done in the business school and across the university around social justice. the context that comes from addressing this crucial topic from an interdisciplinary perspective enhances understanding and adds depth and breadth to the conversation.”

Andrea Hershatter, senior associate dean of undergraduate education and senior lecturer in Organization & Management, Emory University

Impacting Community

Beyond the classrooms of Goizueta, Associate Dean of the Evening MBA Program and Co-chair for Goizueta’s DEI Council Corey Dortch stressed this point. “We want to encourage students to lean in and face head-on how they can lead on DEI in their workplaces – even where they are right now – from a framework of real-world knowledge and confidence. DEI is a skill.”

Dortch praised the many faculty and staff who listen to the students and their colleagues of color, and then make decisive moves to address concerns. “I’m proud to be part of a community that strives to get it right.”

The strategic, structural, and sustainable principles that Goizueta will continue to evolve to create impactful and lasting change among its community is also mirrored at the university.

“We seek to truly understand how racism permeates so many aspects of society, and to seek to change that, and for Emory to be a model of an anti-racist university,” Emory University President Greg Fenves said.

“We prepare for our future, our anti-racist future, for Emory and the broader community here in Atlanta and beyond that we serve,” Fenves said. “These conversations will serve for more action and progress, and that’s exactly what we need at this moment in time.”

For more information on Goizueta’s longstanding commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, please visit emory.biz/equity.

The post Continuing a Global Goizueta Conversation on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Anti-Racism appeared first on EmoryBusiness.com.

While data breaches are costly to companies — a recent Ponemon Institute data breach report found that data breaches cost organizations an average of $7 million in the U.S. — their frequency is enough to cause some consumers to wonder if their private information is safe with their favorite brands.

The increase in data breaches is concerning, noted Jesse Bockstedt, associate professor of information systems & operations management, but several studies have found that the out-of-pocket expense to consumers due to identity theft is less than $1,000. “Which isn’t zero, but it’s not like a few years ago when [identity theft] ruined your life and destroyed your credit,” Bockstedt said. As for the companies, he added, “It’s not a brand killer anymore.”

Yet despite consumers’ growing unease, Goizueta faculty say the relationship between privacy and brand loyalty is a bit more intricate. While a data breach can nick a firm’s reputation, it’s the data that is purposely collected beyond the name and vital statistics that worry consumers more.

Building digital trust

Indeed, data privacy appears to be more of a concern to consumers when it comes to the digital trail users leave as they use search engines, apps and social media. Users often agree to fork over data willingly (providing a genomics company with one’s DNA), but more often, user data is captured by the platforms consumers use as they navigate the internet. These platforms then use that data to pepper users with targeted ads. While those products may be “free,” users fork over their data to use them.

Some users don’t seem to care that companies are capturing their data. Known as “the privacy paradox,” consumers profess to worry about their privacy, but their actions indicate the opposite. They click through “Terms of Service” agreements without a glance, sign up for sketchy services and “do all sorts of things that put their privacy at risk,” said Bockstedt.

That said, there are indications that the privacy paradox is waning. A recent Cisco Cybersecurity Series study illustrated that a growing number of consumers closely associate a company’s privacy practices with the company’s brand. As more consumers become aware of their rights around privacy, the study indicates that users will choose to interact almost exclusively with organizations they trust with their data.

“Companies are increasingly worried that people will buy less from their brand if they’re perceived to be fast and loose with customer data,” said Daniel McCarthy, assistant professor of marketing.

For instance, after political data-analytics firm Cambridge Analytica secretly collected data on roughly 87 million Facebook users, back-lash followed. In an effort to regain users’ trust, Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg laid out a “privacy-focused vision” for Facebook, but those efforts were widely criticized as not going far enough. Advertising boycotts followed.

In January 2019, Google was fined $57 million for violating terms of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the European Union’s (EU) digital privacy legislation. The technology company was docked for illegally obtaining data from Android users in an effort to target them with ads. The GDPR, which took effect in 2015, gives EU citizens greater control over their personal data and requires organizations to gather data legally and to protect it from misuse. In the U.S., citizens of California, which passed the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) in 2018, are protected under a similar mandate.

Trust: the key to customer loyalty

Minus regulatory guardrails, the differentiating factor is trust, explained Jagdish Sheth, the Charles H. Kellstadt Chair in Marketing. “Trust is built over time by doing what you promise to do and by company behavior that is considered appropriate or right,” Sheth said. Loyalty programs such as those with airlines, hospitality companies and grocery stores are founded on a relationship between a consumer and a brand. “Loyalty programs mean relationships, and in all relationships, trust and commitment are key,” he added.

When consumers engage with a brand through a loyalty program, they enter into an explicit agreement that ties their ability to earn rewards with the surrender of personal information. But Sheth notes that companies don’t have to offer perks to garner loyalty. They can do so by giving back to society at large. The 2020 BrandZ “Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands” report showed that almost 9 percent of a brand’s equity is linked to corporate reputation.

“The more you show to the customer that you give back and are a good citizen — that you are giving back rather than just bettering yourself — the greater the loyalty,” said Sheth.

Let’s make a deal

For some firms, being forthright is another way to garner trust. For instance, in exchange for consumer information, Nike offers its 140 million NikePlus “members” perks like early access to new products and free shipping. In exchange, those “members” hand over data to Nike. “If I want to make the landing page at Nike.com better — more appealing to you, specifically, I need to know what your preferences are. The only way I’m going to be able to do that is by using your data — by having your data speak to me,” explained McCarthy.

“Brands that are able to deliver a personalized experience in a privacy-friendly manner will have a competitive advantage,” explained David Schweidel, professor of marketing, in a recent “Goizueta Effect” podcast. “Putting a premium on privacy means forgoing the benefits that come from allowing organizations to collect data they use to deliver a better experience. From a commercial standpoint, the onus is on the marketers to make the case that the benefits outweigh privacy concerns.”

Privacy as a perk

Some companies sacrifice a personalized experience in an effort to provide customers with privacy. Internet search engine DuckDuckGo offers users search capabilities without tracking where they go. “At DuckDuckGo, we don’t think the internet should feel so creepy,” states the company on its About page.

One of Apple’s core values is privacy, and the technology company designs its devices with that in mind. However, not collecting user data has a trade-off. “They’ve done an extremely good job at making products people love, but those products aren’t tailored to individual users,” said McCarthy. “Apple isn’t very good at personalization.”

Simplify Terms of Service

Of the respondents in the Cisco study, of customers who had switched companies or providers over questionable data policies, 90 percent said they believe “how their data is treated is indicative of the way they will treat me as a customer.”

Yet in the same study, nearly 75 percent of respondents agreed to the statement, “It’s too hard to figure out what companies are doing with my data.” Schweidel suggests companies could make things easier by simplifying their “Terms of Service” agreement. Show users “on a single screen what data they’re going to collect and how it will be used,” he said.

Where do we go from here?

Indeed Sheth sees the debate as whether privacy is regarded as a right or a privilege. In Europe, privacy is considered a right. In the U.S., it’s generally viewed as a privilege. He believes the U.S. will take its cues from Europe. “If you make the point that the customer owns the data and not the company, that changes everything,” he said.
Ultimately, Sheth is encouraged by the actions taken by Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation. “It’s a social contract,” he said. Sheth would like to believe we’re due for an increase in “conscious capitalism,” he added. “Where making money in any way is not acceptable.”

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Like Cuomo, business and government leaders around the world are using data to drive decisions, and their reliance on analytics is only growing in scope and importance. Joining in this data-driven journey are Goizueta graduates from across marketing, manufacturing, healthcare and government. Each one synthesizes data to form conclusions, direct operations and lead change in their organizations — all based on analytics.

Data meets the day-to-day

“Data analytics permeates every aspect of the business,” said Erik Sjogren 99MBA, vice president and general manager of Georgia-Pacific’s Disposable Tableware Business. “I have to know how to read the data and act on it.”

Sjogren works with both product manufacturing and retailers for G-P’s Dixie brand consumer products. “At the manufacturing level, data informs the lines’ efficiency, which gives a true understanding of how much products cost to produce. For marketing, data analytics helps us understand if products are priced right and if the shelf space at the retail level is adequate.”

The benefits of predictive analytics, he says, can signal a negative event in the manufacturing process. For example, if there is an equipment failure, past data combined with the current workflow will alert the manufacturing team that a machine is about to go down. On the retail side, the company’s big data capabilities allow for minimal inefficiencies in the supply chain of products by indicating which products should be in which stores.

“I’ve watched the availability of data as well as tools and technology to understand it,” said Jessica Talpos 12MBA, senior customer development manager for Johnson & Johnson based in Chicago. “Both have exploded, which helps us understand the consumer better than ever before — how they behave, what motivates them, what they buy and don’t buy.”

Talpos manages the Neutrogena Skincare business with retailer Walgreens. “It’s my responsibility to understand how various internal and external factors affect my sales. I look at everything from price elasticity to promotional increases, consumer shopping trends, economic factors and competition,” explained Talpos. “Then I triangulate those pieces of data to understand how they affect my business and what actions I need to take to grow.”

According to Talpos, analytics “helps to decide which products meet consumer needs and to talk about products in ways that resonate, personalizing the message for different audiences.”

Indeed, determining consumer shopping needs has taken a sharp shift back to the basics thanks to the impact of COVID-19. Just ask Pooja Adiseshu 19MSBA, an associate with Tredence Inc., a San Jose-based management consulting firm. Her latest project involves work with a national retailer on the company’s e-commerce website performance. Traffic is off the charts, and determining how to maximize consumer spend by offering relevant products is a challenge she, and a team of others, have embarked on. “We try to determine product categories where the company is doing well and where they can improve,” she said.

The work is fast-paced and intense, but upper management is watching closely, said Adiseshu. “Because of the pandemic, the entire shopping experience has changed,” she said. “So, it’s really important to follow the data and identify what’s working and what isn’t. This information is getting reported to the board every month, so there’s a lot of scrutiny.”

Analytics impacts every industry

Big data has not only changed the game by providing insights on consumers and products, it’s influencing industry makeup and careers.

“From a macro perspective, there’s a convergence of the consulting world, the marketing world and the tech world,” said Nicky Friedman 03BBA, director of creative strategy for Brado, a marketing and strategy agency based in Chicago. “Underlying that convergence means trying to do a better job of integrating the data that’s collected.”

Friedman’s work revolves around helping clients understand consumer motivations, beliefs and perceptions. One example of this is marketing segmentation work that uses quantitative data to identify what types of consumers exist in a given product category. For a recent healthcare project focused on patients with a chronic condition, Friedman and her team found six distinct types of patients, ranging from proactive patients taking a hands-on approach to managing their care to those who struggled to understand and deal with their condition.

“This has implications on how you decide to market to them, who influences their decisions, what information they need and how to deliver that information to them,” said Friedman. “We were able to overlay our findings with some psychological theories to further humanize these patients.”

Tracy Jensen 90MBA/MPA has seen how advances in data collection are changing healthcare.

“My first job was rate setting for hospitals. At that time, we used data to determine which insurer, private or public, was paying for the most procedures,” said Jensen, who is a director with the City of Alameda Health Care District and a board member of the Alameda Health System in California. “When managed care expanded in the mid-1990s, it was a huge change in terms of analytics. We needed to identify the population’s health and the comprehensive number of services, then determine reimbursement for bundled services, as opposed to service by service.” Jensen finds analytics now plays a big part in understanding population health, ensuring proper care is administered and issues are addressed in a comprehensive way. “Predictive analytics is an effective tool to make sure patients are discharged correctly and don’t come back,” said Jensen. Using utilization data to identify appropriate acute care and post-care services has been shown to reduce patient readmissions, improve health outcomes, and support fiscal accountability.

The key to unlocking workplace trends

For Parul Lahoti Bhandari 10MBA, analytics not only influences her decision-making, it changed the trajectory of her career.

Bhandari began her career in human resources, before entering the consulting world managing software customers. “Data took me to this role,” said Bhandari, who is senior manager of customer service success at VelocityEHS in Chicago, which provides software for workplace safety. “Our customers are businesses seeking ways to keep their workplaces safe. Once we understand their goals, we show them how software can help the process. We follow how they use it, and we look at their aggregate data and trends — the ebb and flow of activity,” Bhandari said. “We’re constantly looking at data and metrics. For example, if we see their activity drop in a certain area, even without talking to customers, we know what this behavior tells us.”

Further, Bhandari added, “In my current role, I had to understand what people wanted to see before they knew they wanted to see it. It’s an intuitive role. The data helps you to be intuitive. We now have so many insights we can give our customers to ensure success.”

This type of mental dexterity that allows patterns to form and creates precise conclusions can be taught and has made careers in big data explode. Emory’s Goizueta Business School offers a master’s in business analytics and boasts a diverse and international slate of students every year.

Barely four years old, the master’s in business analytics program is unique because it provides an academic intersection of business, data and technology with practical applications throughout industry, said Ramnath Chellappa, professor of information systems & operations management and associate dean and academic director of the MSBA program. “What makes our program special is that we pay faithful attention not only to the data science but also to the technology component,” he said. “Our goal is to create business data scientists.”

Adiseshu credits the capstone project in the MSBA program with the ability to convey relevant information to C-suite leaders in a succinct and meaningful way. “A big focus was on implementing in the real world. I have to explain to stakeholders what the data means and not get too technical about it.”

Providing insights to government

In the public sector, data drives government spending, informing the decision-making process on the federal, state and local levels.

David Friedman 93MBA works with long-term budget planning as a programming branch chief for the Programming and Formulation Division of the U.S. Border Patrol in Washington, D.C. “We are preparing a five-year budget, and to do that, we analyze data on our current capabilities and on what we want our future capabilities to be,” said Friedman, adding any budget he develops goes through multiple layers of review. “The Office of Management and Budget represents the administration, and they have been increasingly data-focused and results-focused. In the ten years that I’ve been part of the federal government, I’ve seen an increased emphasis on data-driven decision-making. We want to provide data analytics to support our requests.”

Similarly, Jason Cooksey 11EMBA, IT finance manager for the County of San Mateo, California, finds data influences how tech investments are prioritized for the county. Cooksey uses available data to optimize cost strategies to maximize the IT spend and ROI for his county’s 20 cities and over 760,000 residents.

“As a government entity operating in the heart of Silicon Valley, the bar of expectation is raised higher by our cities and peer counties from across the U.S.,” he said. “We can definitely mature more in leveraging the power of data analytics.”

Cooksey is currently allocating resources to upgrade aged IT infrastructure running old applications to allow for more modern data collection and analysis. He is also steering investments into efforts such as creating cloud-based solutions, expanding public wi-fi and fiber connectivity to remote and coastal areas and enabling data sharing between the county’s criminal justice departments, local public safety agencies and superior court. “We are generating volumes of data that are multiplying by leaps and bounds, and we need to find new ways to harness all the data for the good of our communities.”

What’s next?

The need for quality interpretation of data is reflected in the expansion of curriculum at Goizueta, as well as in its influence in every facet of business. The growing importance of data collection and the improvements in machine learning mean collection and analysis are more pervasive than ever. From government officials using data to fight a virus to managers making smarter choices for the benefit of customers and the bottom line, data analytics is here to stay.

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