Posts Tagged ‘election’

Election Day: Campaign Pitches Are Over – Now Perfect Your Elevator Pitch

Tuesday, November 6th, 2012

The campaign season comes to an end today (hopefully) and no matter your politics, there are some lessons to be learned from the incessant political advertising we’ve endured the last few weeks and months. (Is it a blessing that Minnesota is not a “swing state”?)

Each little campaign commercial is like a candidate’s elevator-pitch for why you should vote for them–or not vote for their opponent. Full-time UST MBA students worked with Graduate Business Career Services and other Opus College of Business staff earlier this fall to perfect and practice their own elevator pitches – right in the elevators here on campus.

Shlomo Sprung and Vivian Giang published 6 Keys To Delivering A Powerful Elevator Pitch on Business Insider last week:

(more…)

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Happy Halloween: May the force not force you

Wednesday, October 31st, 2012
YouTube Preview Image

Recently while teaching a class, technical difficulties developed with the audio in the room after I launched a YouTube video of the VW commercial with the kid dressed as Darth Vader.  While fiddling with wires, I realized the class was still engaged in the video.  The story in the images works even without the synchronous Star Wars music because of the many symbolic elements:  the costume, the context, the expressions of the actors and the mannerisms… especially the mannerisms.

This week, in passing, my wife mentioned that a number of political yard signs in our neighborhood had been defaced overnight.  The issue was the marriage amendment, and no matter the side with which you align or which version of the signs were marred, it tells a story.  The story is that some individuals believe so much in the rightness of their own position that it becomes fair for them to supersede the right to free speech of others. This lone perpetrator with a can of spray paint does significantly minor damage by comparison to similar extremist pundits on both sides who attempt to succeed by obliterating the voices of others by force.  (more…)

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Commentary: Romney Can’t Buy Happiness

Tuesday, October 30th, 2012

This post, a commentary by Christopher Michaelson, Ph.D., associate professor of ethics and business law, originally appeared in the Huffington Post.

Christopher Michaelson

Maybe it’s the fact that if you removed the ‘R’, “Romney” would be an anagram for “money”. It seems as though he really believes that money can buy happiness.

Economists refer to the conception of human beings as rationally self-interested actors motivated primarily by economic gain as homo economicus, or economic man. Some actually believe that in the final analysis, all we really care about is economic self-interest, and so we may as well reward profit-maximizers with hopes that there will be enough leftovers to suppress social unrest. Other economists — and, increasingly, primatologists, ethicists, and psychologists, among others — see homo economicus as representing a crude caricature of human motivation, only marginally useful as a predictor of collective action. They are convinced that human beings are curious, creative, compassionate, and cooperative social creatures who care about money as a means to a multiplicity of worthwhile human ends. (more…)

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Posted in Commentary, Ethics, Faculty | 1 Comment »

Gubernatorial Candidates Debate Business Issues at UST

Thursday, August 26th, 2010
Mr. Tom Horner (I), left; Representative Tom Emmer (R), center; and former Senator Mark Dayton (D) are introduced by Dean Christopher Puto

Tom Horner (I), left; Representative Tom Emmer (R), center; and former Senator Mark Dayton (D) are introduced by Dean Christopher Puto.

The Opus College of Business hosted the three major party candidates for Minnesota governor—Representative Tom Emmer (R), former Senator Mark Dayton (D), and Mr. Tom Horner (I)—for a debate Tuesday moderated by Dean Christopher Puto. The candidates outlined their strategies for job creation, economic growth and energy issues.

The discussion, sponsored by the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal focused on business issues affecting Minnesota with Journal editorial staff determining the questions. The audience of more than 200 included former Minneapolis Mayor Sharon Sayles Belton and former Minnesota Senator David Durenberger.

Questions ranged from the big picture (“What is Minnesota’s brand and how would you work to leverage or change that perception as governor?”) to those more closely related to policy  (“What are the specific actions you would take to promote the development of a clean energy industry and market in the state?”) to leadership style (“To which resources and which colleagues will you most often turn as you face challenging decisions?”) (more…)

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Student Association election results and the year ahead

Monday, March 1st, 2010
Kelsey Luers, UST MBA 2010-2011 Student Association President

Kelsey Luers, UST MBA 2010-11 Student Association President

We have seen over the past several years the disastrous and catastrophic results of leaders who lack integrity and authenticity in their leadership.  More than ever, our business world, and society at large, is in need of persons who maintain an ethical vision that holds the values of their constituents while being fiscally responsible.

- Roman Savchenko
2010-11 UST MBA VP of Finance

In his powerful and commanding speech, Roman, a first-year full-time MBA student, captured the attention of every student, administrator, faculty, and staff present at the Student Association elections with this opening statement.  Thursday, February 25, 2010, members of the Class of 2011 presented ideas, passion, and leadership characteristics while running for various offices on Student Association, the student governing body for the Full-time UST MBA program. (more…)

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