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Real Life. Real Business.

July 2009

Dear Alumni and Friends,

Greetings! I'm pleased to tell you about an exciting new course that I'm teaching right now for Butler students. Leadership London is a three-week course offered this month that teaches leadership in a non-traditional way. London's resources, institutions and history are used as the backdrop for exploring the cultural, international, historical and ethical issues relevant to leadership. Every afternoon, students visit a site in London related to that morning's class discussion. For example, after discussing the leadership qualities of Queen Elizabeth, we'll visit the Tower of London. When we discuss Gandhi, we'll visit a Hindi Temple. When we discuss Churchill, we'll visit the Cabinet War Rooms from which he guided England during World War II. You get the idea.

The course is open to all Butler students, regardless of major. I taught a similar course for 12 consecutive years at Texas Christian University and the University of the Pacific and am thrilled to introduce the course to students at Butler. In addition to providing students the opportunity to study leadership in a not-so-traditional way, the course is also designed to give students the chance to study abroad in a short time frame. Nearly one-third of Butler business undergraduates study abroad but sometimes studying abroad for an entire semester is just not an option for students.

To capture the experience live, I am blogging about the experience and also sending Twitter updates. Libby Bates, junior marketing major, is also blogging and tweeting to provide the student perspective. Please follow along. I'm pleased to take you along for the journey.

Annual CEO Survey

For the third year in a row, the College of Business collaborated with Ice Miller LLP and Inside Indiana Business to conduct the Indiana CEO Survey, The State of Our Business. The survey captured the opinions of over 350 chief executives in Indiana and, in addition to measuring opinions on a variety of issues, the report also presents findings specifically related to how Indiana organizations are dealing with the 2009 financial turmoil. The research was conducted by Bob Mackoy, Associate Professor of Marketing, with the involvement and support of Bill O'Donnell, Director of Graduate Programs.

As you would expect, the impact of the economic slowdown is of concern to Indiana executives. As compared to prior surveys, plans to pursue succession planning and adding jobs dropped significantly in 2009, while plans to reduce jobs increased significantly.

On a positive note, the CEOs see advantages to living and working in Indiana. The state's cost of living is once again viewed as a strong advantage over surrounding states and Indiana's business environment is generally perceived to be improving relative to neighboring states over 2008 levels. This is encouraging news. To read the complete report, visit inceosurvey.com. Survey results were presented and discussed on the Inside Indiana Business show this past weekend, as well as on WFYI radio.

The CEO Survey is just one aspect of our collaborative partnership with Inside Indiana Business. I have appeared frequently on the show in recent months, commenting on the challenges facing U.S. automakers. Click here to watch the latest video and click here to hear a recent radio interview.

Monthly Perspectives Column

Over the next year, I will author a monthly Perspectives column for Inside Indiana Business. Each month, I will discuss a different business topic such as leadership, finance, human resources, marketing and more. The column is published the first Tuesday of each month in the Inside Edge newsletter and on the Inside Indiana Business website. Two of my columns have debuted since June. The first column, The Battier Effect, focuses on leadership. The second column discussed post-recession retailing. These columns will frequently highlight faculty expertise and research and I'd like to thank both Jerry Toomer, Executive-in-Residence, and Kate King, Marketing Lecturer, for their assistance with the first two.

Be sure to follow our adventures from London. More to come from across the pond. Cheers!

Chuck Williams, Dean
College of Business 

P.S. If you're interested in finding ways to get involved with the College of Business, please download the document, How to Partner and Get Involved, and review the 20 options available to individuals and their organizations. Specific contact information is available for each option.