LEAD Awards 2018: Interview with Eric Patton, SJU - Developing Business and Non-profit Leaders

Developing Business and Non-profit Leaders

  Category: Degree Program with Emphasis on Leadership and Organizational Development
  LEAD AWARD RANK: 1
 
  Organization: Saint Joseph's University
  Program: Leadership, Ethics, & Organizational Sustainability
  Department Chair: Eric Patton, PhD,
  Undergraduate Program Director: Ronald Dufresne, PhD
  Email: epatton@sju.edu; rdufresn@sju.edu
  Visit: www.sju.edu 
   
Our editorial team interviewed Eric Patton from Saint Joseph's University at the LEAD2018 Awards this past February. Here are some excerpts from the exclusive interview.
 
What is the overall objective of your program?
Students learn thoughtful, real-world leadership for the four bottom-lines of People, Planet, Profit & Purpose. Our goal is to develop business and non-profit leaders who will be adept at considering multiple perspectives on work and organizations, who will take a value-centric approach to organizations, and will be able to balance the needs of various stakeholders in a complex organizational ecosystem.
 

Who do you impact with your program?
On the one hand, the concepts and skills emphasized in our program prepare graduates to be emerging thoughtful leaders in any organization. More specifically, some graduates pursue sustainability positions within corporations, some graduates pursue a career in non-profit organizations, and some students may seek to complement their major with focus on ethical leadership. Many of the students in our program combine the major with a second major or pursue LEO as a minor in conjunction with other Business Programs such as Finance, Marketing, HR, Accounting or International Business, or with non-business programs such as Sociology, Political Science, Environmental Science, or Communications.
 
What are the lessons you’ve learned this year from facilitating your program?
Something we have learned is that many of the most ambitious and academically strong students throughout our business school are drawn to the ethical and social justice character of our program.  This is a set of concepts and practices that this generation of students views as central to the functioning of business, and their passion, devotion and the change agents they are already becoming while still in our program is truly rewarding for all of us who are involved.
 
How do you measure the return on investment and success of the program?
As an AACSB accredited Business School, we take assessment very seriously.  We want to ensure that every program at SJU is rigorous and valuable, and that our students leave the program transformed. Especially for business students at Saint Joseph's University, however, we feel a special obligation to ensure that our students have a strong grounding in Jesuit ideals of social justice and being “men and women for and with others.” We can certainly point to the terrific jobs that our graduates have landed at organizations such as Google, Vanguard, Boeing, Johnson & Johnson, Comcast as evidence of success, but we are equally or even more proud of the people they have become and the values they espouse, whether they have taken a corporate route or have decided to dedicate their early careers to community service endeavors.
 
What lies ahead for the program and how will it continue to succeed?
We are always looking to grow our program in the Philadelphia/mid-Atlantic region.  We will continue to strengthen our ties to partner entities such as Net Impact and the “B” corporation certification efforts. And, as always, we will be attentive to our students and to industry leaders to ensure that we are providing the very best academic experience that serves the career needs or our students and provides valuable output to organizations in all sectors and society as a whole.