Intellectual Contributions | Getting Ink
Upcoming Events | Class Notes

Seven Habits Author Tells MBA Students
How to Create a Win-Win Situation in Business

Stephen R. Covey, author of the best-selling The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, met with students Wednesday in an event organized by the MBA Association.

Stephen Covey (right) arm wrestles first-year GW MBA student Dan Kotrapu to illustrate how to acheive trust and a win-win situation in business.

Covey opened by tracing the five ages of civilization: hunters/gatherers, agrarian society, industrial age, information/knowledge work, and, finally, wisdom. Each new age brings with it a significant increase in productivity, he said. Hunters realized only one unit of production for one unit of effort, whereas by the industrial age more than 50 units of production came out of one unit of effort.

We’re now moving into the information age, Covey said, characterized by cost being made up of 70 percent knowledge and 30 percent materials. In the past, the ratio was more like 20 percent knowledge and 80 percent materials, he said. But the transition into the information age has not been a smooth one.

“The problem is that we are using an industrial model in the information age,” Covey said. It’s going to require a significant amount of change to bring the model up to date, he said.

“All the great breakthroughs are paradigm shifts,” he said, pointing to the discoveries that the world was round, that the sun was the center of the solar system, and that blood letting was not an effective way to cure disease. The shift in this case is a move from seeing people as things that must be managed to seeing the whole person as one who must be lead and empowered.

“Most of you will join organizations that are low-performing and bureacratic,” Covey told the students. “You can become the change agents.” But he issued some words of warning: “Be careful you don’t get seduced by the culture you get into. Find your own voice.” Decide who you want to work for, he said. “Then be a solution to their problems.”

A trim tab is “the small rudder that turns the big rudder that turns the whole boat,” Covey said. “Be a trim tab,” he advised.

Covey told the audience to seek a win-win situation. Calling first-year MBA student Dan Kotrapu out of the audience, Covey called Kotrapu a loser. After some further taunting, an arm-wrestling match began. Covey immediately allowed Kotrapu to win. They started again, and again he let the student win. After a few more times, Kotrapu allowed Covey to win. “It only takes one person to practice win-win,” Covey said as their clasped hands swung back and forth, each one of them alternating winning a match.

Once a party learns it can trust the other party, the win-win situation is in reach. Covey has two questions he asks both parties: “Would you be willing to search for a solution that is better than what either one of you has proposed?” and “Would you agree to a simple ground rule? No one can make his or her point until they have restated the other person’s point to his or her satisfaction.”

If both groups are willing to take these steps, there’s a much greater chance of achieving a win-win situation, Covey said.

Duques Hall Construction Update

An excavator begins to rip up Parking Lot 12, the future site of Duques Hall. October 24, 2003.

Intellectual Contributions

Lynda Maddox, professor of marketing and advertising, published “Measuring Web Advertising Effectiveness in China,” in the Journal of Advertising Research 43:1, 34-49. Wen Gong, Ph.D. ’01, (Rochester Institute of Technology) co-authored the article.

Lisa Delpy Neirotti, associate professor of tourism and sport management, spoke about event marketing as a catalyst for tourism growth at the Caribbean Tourism Conference in St. Thomas, USVI.

Getting Ink

Lynda Maddox, professor of marketing and advertising, discussed the use of advertising inserts in magazines with Press, a Polish magazine. Maddox addressed the effectiveness of inserts and how they affect magazine and advertising sales.

Lisa Delpy Neirotti, associate professor of tourism and sport management, spoke about sport event marketing and Olympic marketing in Beijing and Shanghai, China. During her visit, she was interviewed by CCTV (China’s national television network) as well as Shanghai TV and several newspapers and magazines.

Upcoming Events

MBA 2nd Year Case Competition. Fri-Sat, Oct. 24-25, Marvin Center.

Jeff Diamond, president and chief operating officer for the Tennessee Titans. 11 a.m., Fri, Oct. 31. Location is TBD. Contact jtobin@gwu.edu for more information.

Accounting Workshop: The GW Accounting Department presents "Accounting Failure and Corporate Governance." Fri, Oct. 31, 2 p.m., Hall of Government, Room 104.

Maxon Lecture: Viacom CEO Sumner Redstone. Thu, Nov. 6, 6:30 p.m., MPA Building, Jack Morton Auditorium. For more information, please visit www.gwu.edu/~business/maxon.htm.

Many more upcoming events are available online in the Calendar of Events.

Class Notes

80s

John J. Jacko, BBA ’89, and his wife, Christine, welcomed Jennifer Katelyn to their family in February 2003. Jacko is an associate with Buchanan Ingersoll PC in Philadelphia, Penna. (jackojj@bipc.com)

00s

Susan Lippert, Ph.D. ’01, is an assistant professor of information systems at Drexel University. Drexel’s LeBow College of Business recently recognized Lippert with a distinguished teaching award.

SBPM News is published weekly during the academic year for members of the SBPM community. Comments and submissions can be sent to rmoll@gwu.edu.