LGO leadership development takes several forms: classes taught by MIT faculty, small group dinners with transformative industry executives, and collaborative project work on campus and on internship. LGOs are continually challenged to improve their leadership capabilities and to understand diverse leadership styles.
Two LGO summer courses, 15.316 and 15.317, focus exclusively on leadership development in teams and organizations. For details, see the Core Curriculum page.
LGOs participate in a weekly Global Operations Leadership Seminar for two semesters. The weekly seminar hosts speakers who present and discuss real operations and manufacturing challenges happening in their companies and industries. Afterwards, these industry executives often have dinner and more discussion with students.
A committee of first-year students coordinates this seminar by drawing on personal contacts, LGO alumni, industry partners, and specialized searches, bringing in top-level leadership to present on a wide range of topics in operations and manufacturing. The committee also surveys their peers to identify speakers who are most relevant to students' interests.
The popular Leadership and Ethics Seminar teaches leadership development specifically in operations and manufacturing. It was originally designed and taught form from 1990-2009 by the late Donald Davis, ex-CEO of Stanley Works. Staying true to his original messages and intent, topics include Davis' personal leadership mantras, corporate governance, leading corporate transformations, work/life balance, and handling ethical dilemmas. After Davis's death in 2010, many LGO alumni remarked that the course and Davis' messages were among their strongest personal guides in their own decision-making in work and life.
After being co-taught and subsequently led by former LGO co-director Bill Hanson through 2011, LGO's current industry co-director, Vah Erdekian, is taking over the course.
The LGO leadership curriculum is supplemented by elective leadership courses taken at the MIT Sloan School of Management, especially over the Sloan Innovation Period (SIP) week that occurs once a semester. Workshops during SIP provide additional experiential lessons in leadership and in-depth exposure to faculty research taking place at MIT Sloan.
The LGO leadership experience isn't complete without serving on program committees, which many facets of the LGO program. Committees focused on running the yearly domestic plant trek and new student recruiting events, as well as the Global Operations Leadership Seminar discussed above, are just some of the opportunities for LGOs to actively shape their own education.
LGO Industry Co-Director, Vah Erdekian, to teach Leadership Ethics seminar.
Leadership & Ethics at LGO
LGO remembers former faculty, the late Don Davis, for his contribution to LGO leadership.
Don Davis
