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Shirkani Presents “Emotional Intelligence: Skills for Success”

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Emotional IntelligenceStorrs, CT – “The rules for work are changing. We’re being judged by a new yard stick – not just by how smart we are but by how we handle ourselves and each other,” said Jen Shirkani, the CEO and president of Penumbra, a talent management consulting practice. Shirkani drew from her 20 years of personal and professional experience as she presented “Emotional Intelligence: Skills for Success” to UConn students and faculty on January 29th.

This presentation, brought to UConn by Target and the School of Business Career Center, educated an audience of undergraduate students and UConn faculty members on emotional intelligence, or EQ, and how it contributes to success in the workplace.

Emotional Intelligence is the ability to control impulses, read situations and people appropriately, influence others and manage stress. According to Shirkani, emotional intelligence is just as, if not more important than having the proper technical skills in most jobs. “The number one reason new employees fail is lack of coachability… the last reason was due to technical skills” Jen explained. Along with this information the audience received insight on practical techniques on how to improve your EQ and apply it to work situations. The key points taken from her engaging and practical lecture included:

  • Your comfort zone is the enemy of EQ; you need to take risks to better yourself.
  • EQ is a collection of skills that can be learned through increased awareness, practice and coaching; your EQ level is not static.
  • There is a correlation between high EQ and success in life; book smarts alone will not take you to high places.

For more information on emotional intelligence or Jen Shirkani you can go to: http://jenshirkani.com/ or read Shirkani’s book “EGO vs EQ.”

Pictured (from left): Allison (Allie) Lavista ’12, ’13 CLAS, Target Executive Team Leader; Lorraine Liswell, School of Business Career Center; Jen Shirkani; and student Lauren Harrigan, Target Campus Liaison.

CEO Evolution

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On January 29, 2014 more than 200 participants attended CEO Evolution, a panel discussion featuring four exceptional Connecticut CEOs discussing the challenges they’ve faced while leading their businesses through tremendous periods of growth.

Named after his column in the Business Journal, panel moderator Mark Fagan, managing partner of the Norwalk office of Citrin Cooperman, believes that CEOs should focus their attention on strategic activities versus tactical ones, adding that the success of a company is heavily weighed on a CEO’s understanding of the business, anticipation of changes and strategic thinking.

Roundtable panelists featured Linda McMahon, co-founder and former CEO of WWE in Stamford; Austin McChord, founder and CEO of Datto in Norwalk; Paul Senecal, partner of United Services of America, in Bridgeport; and John Votto, president and CEO of the Hospital for Special Care in New Britain.

In addition to emphasizing hard work and dedication as traits for success, all four panelists stressed the importance of hiring qualified staff and allowing them to do their jobs so that the CEO can devote all efforts toward keeping their business on track.

Held at UConn Stamford, the event was hosted by the School of Business and Citrin Cooperman.

Marketing Department Newsletter, Winter 2014

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Greetings!

Marketing Department NewsletterAs 2014 enters with the BIG CHILL, we are excited to share news from Fall 2013!

On the faculty front, we bid farewell to Subhash Jain, who received the American Marketing Association’s 2013 Significant Contributions to Global Marketing Award, and retired in December. We welcomed three scholars with expertise in digital marketing and analytics. Jane Gu, Ph.D, works in digital marketing and distribution channels; Jane is teaching New Media Marketing Strategies. David Norton, Ph.D., is a recent graduate from University of South Carolina’s Darla Moore School of Business; Dr. Norton’s research focuses on consumer behavior in the digital marketing environment; he is teaching Introduction to Marketing Management. Hee Mok Park, Ph.D., a recent graduate of the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business, focuses on empirical modeling of marketing problems, and will be teaching Marketing and Data Analytics.

Our students continue to make us proud! Josh Lagan ’14 was named one of the Top 10 Student Sports Business Leaders, Caitlin Taylor ’14 shares her internship experiences in marketing and social media, and Pi Sigma Epsilon, our sales and marketing fraternity, hosted the 2013 Northeast Regional Conference!

Our alumni continue to be important partners! John Fodor, Executive Vice President of American Funds Distributors, Inc., Capital Research Management Company, was named our 2012-13 Outstanding Alumnus. John is our keynote speaker at the Department’s Student and Alumni Networking Reception on February 10(register at uconn.biz/mktg2014). We hope to see you there! We greatly appreciate the creation of scholarship funds for our students and gifts to the Marketing and Business Law Endowment for Excellence.

Each newsletter highlights contributions of our faculty. Please read more about Bill Ross‘ award winning article, “Individual Differences in Brand Schematicity” and Robin Coulter’s recent work on the effects of automatic color preference on consumer choice. At the 2013 American Business Law Conference, our Business Law faculty were revered, “their research, teaching, and service to the academy makes the UConn business law faculty one of the most prominent cohorts in the discipline,” and Mark DeAngelis was again honored as one of four national Master Teacher finalists for the Charles M. Hewitt Master Teacher Competition.

Our best wishes for a happy and healthy 2014!

Best regards,

Robin Coulter

Robin Coulter
Department Head
Professor of Marketing
Marketing Department

UConn Business School Announces New Hands-on Lean Business Process Improvement Interactive Workshop

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Hands-On Lean Process ImprovementThe UConn School of Business has announced a new 2-day workshop – Hands-on Lean Business Process Improvement, designed to provide individuals at all levels of an organization with a solid foundation for using Lean to help achieve operational excellence from the top-down and the bottom-up.

The workshop will be held on February 27 & 28, 9am-4pm, at UConn’s Graduate Business Learning Center in downtown Hartford. The cost of the 2-day program is $1,200.

“The Hands-on Lean Business Process Improvement workshop enables individuals to quickly and easily follow a common roadmap and use simple tools to improve business processes by eliminating waste and improving flow to enhance value for your customers and stakeholders,” says David A. Burn, Chief Statistician in corporate operations for Boston Scientific Corporation and workshop instructor.

The workshop format is highly interactive and relies on simulation and competition to challenge individuals and teams to quickly learn concepts and skills and to reinforce their learning using a low-tech, high-touch approach. Features of the hands-on program include: real-time simulation of business processes; fast-paced competition between teams; and interactive discussion of relevant examples.

At the completion of Hands-on Lean Business Process Improvement, participants will be able to identify waste and flow problems in business processes, and design and follow a structured roadmap toward improvement. In other words, workshop participants will be able to cut costs and increase efficiencies within their organization.

“Lean processing is particularly important for Connecticut companies where the cost of doing business is one of the highest in the nation,” adds Colleen McGuire, director of UConn’s School of Business in Hartford. “We plan to offer more of these timely, relevant workshops in the months to come in support of a stronger, more competitive Connecticut economy.”

New Online Accounting Certificate Program

Posted on by Brian Kelleher

Now accepting applications!

The UConn School of Business Accounting Department is pleased to announce the new online Accounting Certificate Program (ACP). The program is designed for non-accounting college graduates interested in obtaining a graduate certificate in accounting. The potential applicants are likely to be working professionals who want to acquire additional accounting knowledge and potential MS in Accounting applicants, who were not accounting majors and thus do not have the required prerequisite accounting courses, providing an attractive bridge into the MSA Program. The program will offer four comprehensive accounting courses; Financial Reporting I, Financial Reporting II, Federal Income Taxes, and Assurance Services over the fall and spring semesters resulting in the completion of the certificate in May.
For more information, see ACP Information.

Categories:
MSA

Quarterly Connecticut Economic Outlook Released

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The Connecticut Center for Economic Analysis, led by Professor Fred Carstensen, released its latest Economic Outlook in mid-December.

Even while jobs are returning to Connecticut’s economy, the apparently encouraging seasonally unadjusted unemployment rate of 7.5% for 2013Q3 needs to be compared with the Seasonally adjusted (SA) unemployment rate of 7.9%. The improving unemployment rate is in large measure a result of declining participation in the workforce. Nearly 65,000 working-age adults simply stopped looking for employment since 2010Q2.

Continuing productivity gains often approaching (or even exceeding) 2% annually translate into no job creation unless the economy grows even faster. Even at the national level, job creation remains modest for this reason. Ironically, Connecticut’s strength in manufacturing, which typically delivers quite high productivity growth, is a concomitant of fewer jobs, and thus a challenge for job creation.

Full-time equivalents (FTEs) have risen 43,000 over the three years. With gains in FTEs and loses in the number jobs, the ratio of FTEs to jobs in Connecticut has risen, which can be an indicator of further job growth.

Read the Full December 2013 Outlook 

UConn Students Compete in 7th Annual Business Language Case Competition

Posted on by Claire Hall

On Friday, November 8, three students from the University of Connecticut traveled to Provo, Utah to compete in the Seventh Annual Business Language Case Competition at the Brigham Young University (BYU) Marriott School of Business. The three students were Sarah Scheffel ’14, a senior who is majoring in international business with a minor in Spanish, Akanksha Singh ’16, a second-year student studying finance and Spanish, and Jonathan Sanchez ’14 (CLAS), a political science major also in his last year. The team was accompanied by Kelly Aceto, Managing Director of the UConn Center for International Business Education and Research.

The competition was conducted in two categories: Spanish and Mandarin. All of the participants were non-native speakers of each language. The team from UConn participated in the Spanish competition, in which they had to read a case about Wal-Mart’s expansion into organics, create an executive summary and PowerPoint presentation, and answer ten minutes of questions all in Spanish.

Overall, the BYU competition was an incredible experience for the students who took part because it allowed them to showcase their business acumen and foreign language skills, sharpen their presentation skills for real-life global business situations, and network with international business professionals who served as judges and coaches, as well as the other participants. Other schools present at the competition were Arizona State University, University of Miami, Indiana University, American University, University of Nevada Las Vegas, University of Washington, University of Pittsburgh, Rutgers University, University of Pennsylvania, Utah State University, and University of Notre Dame. This is the first year that UConn has participated in the Business Language Case Competition.

The UConn team was sponsored by the UConn Center for International Business Education and Research (CIBER), which is one of the 33 CIBERs located in top business schools throughout the U.S. The UConn CIBER is mandated to increase the competitiveness of U.S. business in the global marketplace.

The Value of a Day’s Work: Panel Addresses Pay Equity

Posted on by Claire Hall

Women make up 48% of Connecticut’s labor force, and yet in 2011, Connecticut full-time working women earned just 78% of what their male counterparts earned, according to a research brief on pay equity by the Connecticut General Assembly Permanent Commission on the Status of Women (PCSW).Continue Reading

UConn EBV Program is a Community of Veterans Supporting Connecticut’s Economy

Posted on by Claire Hall

UConn’s Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities (EBV) fills an important need both for the veteran population in that it provides access to entrepreneurial education and resources, and to the state in that it helps create economic vitality and businesses that create jobs.

A May 2011 study from the Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy revealed that 45 percent of veterans are more likely to take the plunge into entrepreneurship than people with no active-duty military experience. “I think there are several reasons why veterans tend to be more entrepreneurial, says Michael Zacchea ’12 MBA, EBV program manager, in a 2012 Hartford Business Journal interview. “First, in the military, they developed a bias for action, and a commitment to mission accomplishment. Veterans tend to network with other veterans, and tend to understand things like logistics and supply chains. Veterans have learned management and planning skills that lend themselves to entrepreneurial success.”

On Veterans Day in 2004, Zacchea nearly died while fighting with his unit in the streets of Fallujah, one of Iraq’s deadliest combat zones. Nine years later and retired from the Marine Corps, he has led more than 60 disabled veterans through the EBV program curriculum. “We believe that veteran entrepreneurship is part of the solution both for the current generation of 2.5 million Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, and for our economy both nationally and for our state. In Connecticut, there are more than 40,000 veteran-owned businesses, which account for 8% of the state’s GDP,” says Zacchea. “Veteran business owners create both economic and social value disproportionate to their size of the population.”

Learn more about UConn’s EBV program and hear feedback from participants in this video: