Community Outreach

The Ukleja Center for Ethical Leadership serves the business and professional communities through three major outreach initiatives: The William Dickson Leader-in-Residence Program, Faculty Follows Program, and ethical leadership training for organizations.

William Dickson Leader-in-Residence Program

Thanks to a generous donation from the Dickson family, the William Dickson Leader-in-Residence Program was launched in October 2007. Through this program, the Ukleja Center will invite prominent business executives, government officials, and leaders of nonprofit organizations to spend a week in residence at the University, where they will interact with students, faculty, and community leaders. Bringing in experienced leaders for an extended time will allow campus and community leaders to thoroughly explore how they manage the ethical aspects of their own leadership responsibilities. In addition, program participants will learn about the full range of leadership issues that the leaders-in-residence have faced during the course of their careers.

The Ukleja Center is proud to announce that Dr. Robert L. Lorber, President of Lorber Kamai Consulting Group, served as its first Leader-in-Residence. Dr. Lorber is internationally recognized as an expert on executive coaching, leadership, and organizational development. He consults with major corporations, including Kraft Foods, American Express, and Mattel and co-authored Putting the One Minute Manager to Work with Ken Blanchard. His latest books, Doing What Matters (with Jim Kilts and John Manfredi) and Who Are You and What Do You Want? (with Dr. Mick Ukleja), are both due to be published within the next year. In addition, Dr. Lorber is an Associate Professor and Chair of the Dean’s Advisory Council at his alma mater, the University of California at Davis’ Graduate School of Management, where he teaches leadership and strategic planning.

Dr. Lorber was on the CSULB campus from October 2-5, 2007. Dr. Lorber was able to share his governance insights with faculty, students, and community leaders. The William Dickson Leader-in-Residence Program was held in a variety of settings, including formal classroom instruction, informal topical discussions with small groups, panel presentations for larger groups, and scheduled or informal meetings with individuals. Please call (562) 985-8600 with any questions about the program.

LBUSD Principals' Leadership Training Program

The Ukleja Center is partnering with the Long Beach Unified School District to provide ethical leadership training for LBUSD administrative leaders. Funded by a grant from The Boeing Company, a four-part series was created by leaders from the school district, Ukleja Center, and CSULB Department of Education. The committee reviewed prior LBUSD leadership training to create meaningful ethical leadership program content that would add value to the leaders’ knowledge, self-leadership practices, and influence with followers. The training modules consist of theoretical and practical applications that will add meaning to what district leaders are already doing and challenge their assumptions about the role of ethics in their professional lives.

The first module was offered in conjunction with the LeadershipTraQ breakfast featuring Jim Kilts on January 16, 2007. In his role as CEO, Jim Kilts has been credited with turnarounds at Kraft, Nabisco, and Gillette. At the breakfast, Mr. Kilts spoke about the leadership actions that matter most. Forty LBUSD administrators attended the breakfast and a debriefing session held on the CSULB campus. Debriefing discussion topics were designed to deepen administrators’ insight into Kilts’ four-point message about integrity, enthusiasm, action, and understanding. LBUSD leaders shared specific ethical challenges faced within their respective leadership roles and related implications for their work.

The second module focused on ethical leadership challenges within the human resources arena. Dr. Pat Lynch, a consultant and former CSULB professor in this field, shared practical approaches to difficult conversations during a breakfast meeting on May 31, 2007. Eighty LBUSD leaders attended. They also received a copy of Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes are High for summer reading and to link this module with upcoming sessions. The next two modules (in October and December 2007) will be highly interactive, including role-playing of various real-life ethical scenarios for education leaders.