Aspiration Statements and Action Plans

Group 1: Vibrant Community

Aspiration Statement: Weatherhead School of Management is a vibrant and connected community where everyone belongs and is supported. We gather, both personally and professionally, in an environment that allows time to connect. As a collective, we are executing on our mission of educating generations of world class global management thought leaders who serve as agents of world benefit. We enjoy what we do, how we do it, and whom we do it with. We are fully committed to our goals because after all the Weatherhead family starts with "We".

• Creating an information hub for new hires
• Gathering and posting pictures to accompany the faculty/staff directory
• Instituting a "buddy" system for onboarding with someone outside your department
• Hosting an annual one–day Weatherhead retreat to refresh

Group 2: Alumni Connectedness

Aspiration Statement: All Weatherhead alumni are engaged in ways that are both meaningful to them as well as to the mission and vision of the school, making our alumni the most engaged of any business school in the world.

• Research schools with active alumni "hubs"
• Put together a web team to develop the digital side of the hub
• Launch the hub and communicate to alumni through multimedia marketing

Group 3: Tech Unleashed

Aspiration Statement: WSOM is broadly recognized as the leader in the ethical deployment of advanced technology to solve management problems. Our corporate partners engage with our school to best operationalize applications of new technologies. The WSOM Tech Endowment funds the research, teaching, and application of technology initiatives. Our students are actively recruited, and faculty are consulted for their expertise on the intersection of new technology and management.

• Create survey for faculty, staff, and students re: generative AI experience and educational technology use
• Email the survey to all stakeholders
• Convene to synthesize survey results, discuss implementation possibilities

Group 4 and 5: Brand, Purpose, and Vision

We equip leaders to innovate market–leading solutions for a flourishing world through evidenced–based research and an emotionally intelligent, adaptable, and inclusive leadership approach.

Strong relationships with the community, industry, and all stakeholders enable us to embody an immersive, experiential living lab approach to learning and coaching.

Weatherhead is boldly building a better world.

• Coordinate with other opportunity areas to infuse into the shared vision
• Engage internal stakeholders to iterate on the vision through their feedback
• Regroup and redefine the vision
• Present and discuss implementation of the vision with stakeholders

Group 6: Non–Tuition Revenue

Aspiration Statement: More than half of our revenue sources, are non–tuition based. We are able to "weather" the expected ebbs and flows of enrollment, we can fund "investment years" of new programs, new technologies, and new modalities.

Our students are enriched by limitless opportunities outside the classroom. Our diverse students are attracted by significantly more scholarships. We are fully staffed and have the tools and technology to make work easier. Our staff love to work here.

Our faculty are eager to expand their research and teaching approaches with more than sufficient funding. Our Alumni are motivated to fund and engage in activities of their choice to benefit the Weatherhead family.

• Determine "low–hanging fruit" through project inflow collection and creating a consolidated intake form
• Strawcase and legal review of options
• Deploy RFP for a crowdsourcing platform and customize it
• Operationalize Weatherhead Solves with staffing considerations

Group 7 and 11: Red Thread at Weatherhead

Aspiration Statement: Weatherhead is a world leader in flexible and customizable curriculum meeting the needs of today's global learners. Weatherhead provides solutions for evolving and real world challenges of business and humanity. We empower resilient and transformational leadership in every discipline across all industries and countries.

Our transformational leaders anticipate future trends, use emerging technology to analyze data and leverage the best of emotional intelligence and appreciative inquiry drive sustainable and flourishing solutions for themselves, their teams, organizations, and society at large.

Weatherhead School of Management – where leaders of tomorrow solve the business problems of today.

• Leverage existing market and benchmarking research
• Research current "stackable" degree options
• Create a trend report to determine next actions

Group 8: Anchors Away: Center for Excellence in Experiential Learning Transforms Management Education

Aspiration Statement: The Weatherhead school of management is a vibrant ecosystem of experiential learning. The ecosystem is anchored by a hub of connectivity known as the Center for Excellence in Experiential Learning (CEEL). The CEEL builds bridges providing pathways to connect the outside world into our classrooms, connects classroom learning to real world experiences, and connects people and initiatives in a way that amplifies learning development and capacity building for all stakeholders.

Every student experiences a voyage resulting in a personalized portfolio of impact. These include faculty intentionally bringing impactful practical perspective into the classroom early in the curriculum (co–instructors, case studies, guest speakers, student led initiatives etc.) and through treks that take them out into the field (international institute, wall street trek), culminating with practice integrated capstone project which is the synthesis of the outside in/inside out journey.

This center is a hub for systematic, institutionalized, cohesive collaboration between key stakeholders of experiential learning. Through this initiative we witness students equipped with experience and insight resulting in employers seeking out and valuing our graduates (both upon graduation and throughout their careers), making Weatherhead a magnet for attracting talent (students, faculty, corporate partners, funding), and expanding Weatherhead's global impact.

• Conduct internal audit of current experiential opportunities
• Build a steering committee for the Center
• Define the initiatives and elements of the Center
• Socialize the values with faculty
• Create the infrastructure for the Center (staff, etc)

Group 9: Transform through Play

Aspiration Statement: Weatherhead – Creative pathways for successful well–being in professional and educating spaces.

Play is not frivolous! Play by definition is engagement, participation, and the ability to contend/thrive which shows how resilient we are against opposition. At the Weatherhead School of Management's Let's Play Labs, it is understood how play activities allow for creativity of thought and offers the social flexibility necessary to develop social skills and networking organically.

In our vibrant atmosphere of play, we have developed physical spaces to foster innovation, promote stress relief, and cultivate brain–training activities. Our play is both static and dynamic.

In Weatherhead, business relies on the resilience of exploration and play to develop work systems that will govern the future.

Come play with us!

• Add "game" spaces to Dively and PBL
• Generate interest and feedback through Weatherhead Weekly
• Host playful events on and off campus

Group 10: Transformational Research

Research is the lifeblood of Weatherhead Excellence

• Create "Research Friday" to highlight work
• Host "DoorDash lunches" on Wednesdays in the glass lounge open to all stakeholders
• Define research themes with an annual creative workshop for WSOM
• Offer two research–centric corporate partnership opportunities each year
• Develop a plan to fund conference attendance for PhD candidates

Group 12: Breaking Down Barriers to Becoming a Vibrant Intellectual Community

Aspiration Statement: Weatherhead School of Management Community actively senses and addresses barriers before they become impediments. Overcoming these barriers to achieving the creation and dissemination of knowledge fosters a nimble and collective intellectual and educational environment. Individuals and organizations seek Weatherhead's pioneering knowledge to create their own vibrant and intellectual communities.

• Identify champions to serve on the committee
• Engage xLab to create an internal AI model
• Build and test the AI model
• Build processes and governmental infrastructure for the implementation
• Execute, communicate, and take feedback to iterate

Group 13: Do Good and Do Well

Aspiration Statement: Building a Better World is the Weatherhead Way. At Weatherhead School of Management, we are a pioneering community of scholars and leaders steadfast in our dedication to addressing sustainable transformation across industries. We are committed to fostering a flourishing future through cutting–edge research and education that transcends global boundaries while embracing local responsibility. Our focus lies in shaping a future–facing world by continuously advancing the field of management, elevating it to a noble profession, and addressing critical challenges ensuring environmental and human justice across sectors. The power of convening, intellectual enterprise, and the spirit of discovery permeate the cornerstone of our approach, driven by a selfless commitment to intergenerational well–being and prosperity, thus driving innovation and positive change.

• Creating an information hub for new hires
• Gathering and posting pictures to accompany the faculty/staff directory
• Instituting a "buddy" system for onboarding with someone outside your department
• Hosting an annual one–day Weatherhead retreat to refresh