The Lundy-Fetterman School of Business hosted its second annual Leadership Summit, welcoming nearly 300 community leaders, corporate partners, faculty, staff, and students.
This year’s event focused on Mentoring and Employee Experience.
The event kicked off with a keynote address about “Finding the ideal team: Discovering a fulfilling employee experience on and off the corporate field”. With 15 years of experience in sales, management, recruiting, and career talent & training, Amazon recruiting manager, Jenny Hofler, encouraged the crowd with tips on building community & culture on a virtual field.
“As an employer, you must adapt, make space, and keep a pulse on your employees’ well-being,” Hofler shared. “Your focus should be on valuing the employee and listening to your people at each stage of the employee life cycle. Asking ‘what could we do better? What was the most impactful?’ And taking the time to listen.”
Doug Stewart, Author of 5 1/2 MENTORS, TEDx Speaker, and certified Dale Carnegie Coach, shared original and adaptive methods to help people pursue a life of purpose through enthusiastic discovery. While focused on mentoring, his message of learning from everyone and everything was applicable to everyone.
“I feel like I got a lot out of Doug’s session,” said Gillian Kitchings, a second-year Accounting major and Peer Mentor. “Doug talked about the 6 mentors we learn from … the one that stuck with me the most was the micro-mentor, which is about finding opportunities for mentorship & learning in everyone you meet. I think that is such a good mindset to have, in that everyone you meet is in some way your superior, so there is always an opportunity to learn with every interaction you have.”
Dr. Michelle Osborne, who recently joined Campbell University as the Chair of Business Administration and Economics, encouraged the audience to learn from failure and gave tips for recognizing talent.
Lindsay Wrege, Co-founder and CEO of 321 Coffee, spoke about empowering unique employee skills. “It was fantastic getting to meet so many people from the Campbell community. It was beautiful to see people coming together to learn from one another. I had some fabulous conversations with people afterwards about their areas of work / interest and how to embrace diversity in that space.” Lindsey reflected, “This is exactly the outcome that I hope to have in starting the chain reaction, but it takes an engaged and driven audience-member to make that happen — you had that. Thank you for fostering this group and thank you for trusting me to share my perspective and story with them.”
Senior Management Major, Amyah Wiley, had the opportunity to attend the event as a student, she serves as a Peer Mentor and is a part of the 4+1 MBA program. “I really enjoyed the session with Chris Deshazer, he talked about building a corporate culture in a new world. My biggest takeaway from that was being purposeful when you do things at work. Knowing your value and what you’re capable of doing helps you build a more comfortable company culture between employees.”
Chris Deshazor serves as the Director of Talent and Organizational Development for Harness.io. He has many years of experience in talent development, organizational development, systems implementation and business consulting. With many years of experience, Mr. Deshazor regularly develops custom solutions for his clients and projects.
Dr. Patrice Carter, CEO of Breakpoint Coaching, LLC, walked guests through the COACH model of mentoring: Connect, outcome, awareness, course, and highlights. Those in her session left with tangible ideas of how to be a stronger mentor and leader in their daily lives.
“At the Leadership Summit, I really enjoyed the session with Dr. Carter, learning about the COACH model and how to use it. It was very beneficial to learn, especially applying it to the mentor program,” commented Lizzie Phillips, Peer Mentor, Management Major, and FBLA officer.
Rebecca Brock, Senior Vice President and Fiduciary Director, Truist Wealth, had a timely and relevant session about maintaining high employee engagement amidst a pandemic and a merger.
During the event, the School of Business dedicated it’s new Rose Center for Peer Mentorship, highlighting the history and future of Peer Mentorship at Campbell University and celebrating the generous support of Chandler and Meredith Rose.
The day ended with guests having the opportunity to extend their experience with a Golf for Business clinic at Keith Hills or a workshop on the Clifton Strengths with Dr. Karen Mishra.
“With nearly 300 participants in this year’s Leadership Summit, our objective of reaching across campus and into the community seems to be working,” shared Dr. Kevin O’Mara, Dean of the Lundy-Fetterman School of Business. “This year’s theme of mentoring highlighted the importance of learning leadership skills from others, while also emphasizing that those currently in leadership positions have the responsibility to develop others.”
The Lundy-Fetterman School of Business continues to create momentum around empowering leaders and is looking forward to the third annual summit next year.