In this photo-driven series, Emory Magazine uncovers hidden locales and treasures residing on Emory’s campuses that await your discovery or reacquaintance. Alongside these illuminating images, we share the historic, often curious stories of how they all came to be a part of the university.

In February 2024, Robert Enslein Jr. 92C was taking his son Alexander on a tour of Emory when they stumbled across a surprising sight. Anchored on the first floor of the Goizueta Business School building stood a horseshoe-shaped trading post. The piece was primarily made of polished oak and gleaming brass. It was once a fixture of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) from the early 1930s up until 1980.

Believe it or not, Enslein grew up with part of one of these historic trading posts occupying his childhood home. He was so excited to see the post on display that he took a flurry of photos on his phone. Then, he sent them to his father and called him to share the discovery.

“Where are you?” his father asked him.

“I’m at Emory,” Enslein said. “Did you know that one of these trading posts was here?”

“Yes, I gave it to them,” his father answered.

“Why didn’t you tell me you did this?” Enslein said.

“It didn’t seem important at the time,” his father humbly replied.

The Unsung Hero of Coca-Cola New York Stock Exchange No. 7

But it was important. Robert Enslein Sr. was the main reason why Emory wound up as home to NYSE Trading Post No. 7, the specific post where Coca-Cola once exchanged shares. Emory’s business school, after all, is named after Roberto C. Goizueta, the legendary board chairman and CEO of The Coca-Cola Company.

Enslein Sr. worked on the floor of the NYSE for decades as a specialist—a so-called “market maker” whose job is to maintain a fair and orderly market. He held a seat on the exchange and facilitated deals between brokers buying and selling stocks, spending most of his time on the floor at the trading posts.

In the late 1970s, Enslein Sr. played an instrumental role in upgrading the exchange with a new computerized system, replacing the archaic one in which stock trades were recorded on paper slips and dispatched via the posts’ pneumatic tubes. In fact, as a computer expert and former IBM executive, he personally developed the new electronic system, called Designated Order Turnaround, or DOT for short, which helped keep the exchange humming for nearly 30 years.

Preserving a Piece of History

As part of this conversion, Enslein Sr. oversaw the removal of the old “shopworn” posts. He led a committee to determine the fate of these “relics of another age,” as he calls them. The committee decided the trading posts held significant worth as monuments to the exchange’s history and might also provide value in educational settings.

As they left the NYSE trading floor one by one, most of the posts were lovingly refurbished—a process Enslein Sr. oversaw himself. Then, in 1980, the posts were gifted to leading business schools around the country. In addition to Emory, these relics found new homes at Harvard, the University of Chicago, Notre Dame, and Stanford, among others. Another made its way to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C. One piece from that same post couldn’t be fully salvaged. It still resides in Enslein Sr.’s home in Connecticut.

Trading Post No. 7 moved from the Rich Building to Goizueta’s Jenkins Student Commons in 1997. Now in a much more visible spot, the piece still exudes the fine craftsmanship of the early 1930s. The horseshoe-shaped post is solidly built, with brass frames, oak counters, and leather-covered push-down seats and countertops. The smooth lines of the brass and slight flaring foot tails hint at the prevailing Art Deco fashion. Meanwhile, the pigeonholed interior oak cabinets harken back to the turn-of-the-century Arts and Crafts style.

In total, 17 of these posts once dominated the stock exchange floor. The brass superstructure of each post held more than 100 price indicators. Each changed throughout the day to indicate the most recent sale price of each stock, such as Coca-Cola, designated to be traded there. The posts connected to the stock ticker with pneumatic tubes, which sent orders and market data written on paper slips throughout the NYSE building.

From Wall Street to Emory University

Today, it’s difficult to imagine how such an analog system once worked. We now live in a time when virtually every innovation is electronic, but it was high tech for its era.

Enslein Jr. couldn’t be happier that he unexpectedly happened upon the trading post at Goizueta. “It brought back so many memories of my father’s work,” he says. “I’m so proud of him, and I’m ecstatic that part of his legacy lives on at my alma mater.”

It also means a lot to him personally. Enslein Jr., too, initially followed his father’s footsteps and worked at the NYSE. “I started on the floor at age 17 and continued trading during my time at Emory,” he says. “During summers off from school, I bought a seat and worked on the New York Futures Exchange.”

More than three decades after graduating from Emory, Enslein Jr. still works in the financial sector. He now serves as chief operating officer for venture capital firm SYN Ventures, which specializes in cybersecurity. He gives back regularly to the university. Shortly after earning his undergraduate degree he started the Robert Enslein Jr. Scholarship Fund to help students in financial need. Enslein Jr. hopes that his father’s anonymous gift of Trading Post No. 7 will leave a lasting impact on Emory.

Overlooked spaces. Forgotten places. Little-known objects and obscure artifacts. Read more from the Hidden Emory series.

Read more in the Spring 2024 issue of Emory Magazine.

The post Hidden Emory: New York Stock Exchange Trading Post No. 7 appeared first on EmoryBusiness.com.

“At Goizueta, we strive to create an environment where every person can thrive and grow without exception, allowing us to attract, develop, and engage the best talent and equip our graduates to be principled leaders in a diverse society. Increased access to scholarships based on merit and financial need is critical to this strategy.”

Learning begins with a single drop of inspiration, a longing to explore and acquire wisdom about new and interesting subjects, and a passion to sharpen skills and hone talents that open a world of professional possibility. Education, some say, is a wide-eyed quest to meet new people and explore the world through their diverse perspectives.

For many, the gift of scholarship triggers a ripple effect of personal and professional growth with limitless potential to reach, strive, and impact change in the world.  

Curiosity, Intellectual Courage, & Integrity

At Goizueta Business School, our school’s namesake championed a student’s right for transformational education. As a Cuban-born immigrant to the United States and former chairman and CEO of The Coca-Cola Company, Roberto C. Goizueta embraced education and the notion that curiosity, intellectual courage, and integrity were the cornerstones of growth.

With a focus on philanthropy that continues through The Goizueta Foundation today, he once shared, “We in business have an obligation to give something back to the communities that support us.”

Robert W. Woodruff was a renowned businessman and philanthropist who headed The Coca-Cola Company for many years and gave generously to Emory University. The founding and signature scholarship of the Emory Scholars Program is named in his honor. Woodruff’s personal creed read, “There is no limit to what a man can do or where he can go if he doesn’t mind who gets the credit.” Woodruff Scholars leave a lasting imprint on Goizueta Business School and Emory University through their leadership, academic performance, and lifelong relationships.

With these philosophies held as guiding principles at Goizueta, and through the generous support of our partners, we have offered transformational scholarships to students—leaders who have become change agents in their own communities and beyond. 

A Safe & Supportive Space to Grow & Transform

As a native Brazilian, Willi Freire 19BBA immigrated to Florida at age six with his mother. “English was so hard at the beginning. I cried every time I got home from school for my first six months,” he recalls, but his mother instilled in him the critical value of education. Soon, fully bilingual in Portuguese and English, Freire set his sights on going to college. In high school, a guidance counselor suggested he investigate QuestBridge, a national nonprofit that matches talented first-generation and low-income high school students with 45 top-ranked partner universities.

To his surprise and delight, “Emory reached out in my senior year,” he recalls. In consideration for the Robert W. Woodruff Scholarship, “They invited me to interview on campus for a week, and I loved everything about it—the intellectually stimulating interviews and the conversations with faculty, staff, incoming students, and applicant peers. The universe took me to the right place at the right time.”

From the start, the Woodruff scholarship opened Freire to a world of peer scholars who helped each other stay accountable. Research opportunities, internships, alumni interaction, and work with the Robert W. Woodruff Foundation allowed him to immediately build community. “I had the chance to make my undergrad experience very intentional. At Emory, the opportunities are plentiful,” he says. Freire became the president and liaison for QuestBridge scholars at Emory.

When he became a Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipient in 2012, “I was suddenly allowed to work and live in the United States. It completely changed my life and ensured college was a viable opportunity.” Inspired to help other first-generation students experience the same intellectual and professional freedom, Freire worked closely with then Emory president James W. Wagner, then Emory University provost and executive vice president of academic affairs Claire E. Sterk (who later became Emory University’s 20th president), and a team of faculty and students to implement policy changes that allowed students to disclose by choice their documentation status. “They could be DACA or undocumented, and Emory gave them the pathway to receive financial assistance,” he says. “There is so much miseducation around undocumented communities. Theirs is not a one-size-fits-all story, rather one with so much more depth and diversity.”

Freire learned of two other DACA students in his class, and it sparked a personal mission. “We had never really shared immigration status before,” he remembers. “But at an event, I caught the energy in the room, and I shared my story. It was a critical inflection point in my undergrad journey, and this moment gave me my community.”

Through Undocumented Students of America at Emory (USA), “We created a pathway for community, faculty, advisory services, mentorship, and storytelling events,” he says of the resource. “These students need resources, help for family emergencies, guidance in the job market. DACA students are still living and breathing at Emory.” As the executive vice president of the BBA Council, Freire led “Undocumented Truth,” an intimate campus storytelling event that allowed students to share their stories in a safe, non-judgmental space. He also welcomed the opportunity to honor Nikki Graves, associate professor in the practice of management communications, for her work with undocumented students.

Now at PwC Consulting Solutions in workforce transformation and diversity, equity, and inclusion, he enjoys being an active alumnus who conducts workshops and provides opportunities for future generations of Goizueta students.

“The Robert W. Woodruff Scholarship provided me with the unimaginable ticket to attain higher education at a world-renowned institution with absolutely no cost to me or my family.”

I never had the means to attend a university like Emory. I had no college fund or savings from my family. It made the impossible possible and gave me the resources and confidence to thrive, and I am deeply grateful for the scholarship and the program.

Willi Freire 19BBA

Connecting with a Transformational Ecosystem

As a student athlete in track and field and a Goizueta Scholar, Casey Rhode 17BBA called Goizueta home for four years. During this time, he balanced athletics and education with precision, maintaining a perfect grade point average. “It was an incredible experience,” he recalls of his quest to engage in as much as he could while part of the on-campus community.

As a sophomore, he joined forces with the Emory Impact Investing Group (EIIG), started by classmates. The organization gives small businesses throughout Atlanta greater access to investment capital, student consulting services, and low-interest loans. “Leading this organization as CEO made a huge impact on me,” he shares. “I connected with students and the community and during my time at Emory started a board of advisors to tap into the incredible ecosystem of alumni in our area, a board that I continue to participate on today.

Atlanta has some of the best and brightest people, and our students have access to them. These interactions can be formative in choosing a career.

Casey Rhode 17BBA

“My Goizueta scholarship opened doors for me within the broader community,” he says. The Goizueta Scholars Award, implemented in 2007, supports four years of undergraduate study, including study-abroad options, and ranges from one-half of tuition to full tuition and fees. Through the program, Rhode met another scholar who worked at global independent investment banking firm Perella Weinberg. He joined the firm to work in health care investment banking. “After a great experience, I made the career switch to OneOncology to work with 600 cancer care providers at over 180 community-based sites across the country,” he explains. “Community oncology is positioned to be the backbone of cancer care in the United States and to address skyrocketing costs,” he says. “To be senior director of strategic finance for a company that helps impact communities on such a high level is huge for me.”

Citing his undergraduate personal and professional development, he praises Andrea Hershatter, senior associate dean of undergraduate education and senior lecturer of organization and management. “She pushed me to do more and think more critically about what I wanted to do while I was in school. She really challenged me, and I appreciate that. She’s a great mentor to me, even today.”

Drive, Perseverance, & Bold Ideas

With explosive growth in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)-related businesses, many Goizueta students begin by nurturing both their love of science and their desire to understand the dynamics of business.

Arpita Gaggar 20Ox 22BBA received the Donahue Family Scholarship at Goizueta and pursues a challenging dual major of business and neuroscience and behavioral biology. With future dreams of opening her own clinic, Gaggar knows she needs more than scientific strength. “The business aspect is going to come into play.”

While the COVID-19 pandemic grew around the world, Gaggar’s interests aligned into sharper focus.

My scholarship was a blessing and offered me the time to explore the social issues that will shape my work in medicine. This past year, I’ve gotten more involved in social justice and opened my eyes to what’s going on in the world.

Arpita Gaggar 20Ox 22BBA

While studying from home, Gaggar researched more. “I developed an approach to thinking critically about the news media I consumed and delved deeper rather than accept statements at face value,” she says. “That’s helped me become a more knowledgeable global citizen.”

An active member of Bridging Medicine at Emory and an intern in Goizueta’s marketing & communications department, Gaggar is evaluating paths to achieve her clinic. She aspires to a dual MD/MBA degree or perhaps health care administration and consulting, along with world-expanding opportunities such as Doctors Without Borders that will enrich her relationships with the pediatric patients that she hopes to serve one day.

Like Gaggar, Goizueta Scholar Georgia Kossoff 18BBA has always been driven to uncover scientific puzzles and their impact on society. “Dean Andrea Hershatter advised me from the start that I could handle both chemistry and business majors.”

Being part of the Goizueta Scholars community provided a network of role models and mentols that shaped the course of my career.

Georgia Kossoff 18BBA

Setting sights on the intersection of health care and business, Kossoff sought for “literacy on both sides.”  She conducted student research on a relatively new corporate model, the public benefit corporation—or B Corp—that balances profit and purpose with a direct social or environmental impact.

Kossoff worked with professors Wesley Longhofer and Peter Roberts at Social Enterprise @ Goizueta, now known as The Roberto C. Goizueta Business & Society Institute. With classmates, Kossoff founded the Translational Research and Innovation Network (TRAIN), which formed multidisciplinary student research teams. Some TRAIN researchers went on to earn grant funding for their work.

A transformative experience for Kossoff came in her senior year. A Goizueta Scholars junior year seminar led by Professor in the Practice of Business Law Allison Burdette, in which students pitched the city of Detroit, Michigan, as a site for the Olympics, served as inspiration for a career-changing event. Using this previous Goizueta experience as a guide, Kossoff challenged herself.

“The location of Amazon HQ2 was under speculation,” she recalls. “A fellow Goizueta Scholar and I approached Dean Hershatter and Professor Burdette with the concept of launching a student campaign to showcase Atlanta from the student and young adult perspective. We knew it would create more opportunities for Atlanta students.” Multiple companies sponsored the initiative, and Invest Atlanta and the Georgia Department of Economic Development owned the corporate search project. With the involvement of more than 600 students statewide, “We aligned to create a video of students sharing their love for the city.”

Through the experience, Kossoff gained invaluable consulting, research, and presentation skills. Now as a consultant for Bain & Company, Kossoff is appreciative of the foundational skills her Goizueta education provided. “Outside of my core casework, all of my community involvement focuses on social impact.” 

Innovation & Entrepreneurship

As a pre-med biology major, Chis Anen 21MBA was headed for a career in medicine, but an innovative idea steered him in a different direction. With the concept blooming, the entrepreneur launched a marketplace to sell limited edition and vintage sneakers and streetwear. Fascinated by tech and encouraged by a professor, he joined an accelerator program.

At 23, Anen moved cross-country to Los Angeles, with company funding provided by famed venture capitalist Troy Carter. “At Throne, I really got to grow my business, and I managed people twice as old as me,” he recalls. With 10 employees, the company thrived until it ran out of money in 2017. “The experience was eye-opening. We tried to do too much too fast,” he explains of his learn-by-doing venture. “It was a good lesson on how to build and operate a company, and it taught me that I wanted to work in tech.”

A series of jobs with other startup ventures followed. When a boss encouraged him to seek an MBA, Goizueta made Anen’s short-list for its small class sizes and location in a city with a robust entrepreneur environment. Anen came to Goizueta through The Consortium for Graduate Study in Management, where he received a fellowship. He became an Entrepreneurship Fellow and earned both the Michael H. Lee Scholarship as well as the Apollo Scholarship for Visionary Leaders, which honors demonstrated interest in entrepreneurship and visionary leadership. Yahoo CEO Jim Lanzone 98JD/MBA funds the Apollo scholarship. “We spoke in a brief call,” Anen says, “and through that, we created a simple but valuable connection.”

His first venture—and the difficulty of raising capital for it—is never far from his mind. With 2021 MBA classmates Willie Sullivan, Alan Quigley, Kristen Little, and Chris Wolf, Anen has helped to launch the Peachtree Minority Venture Fund, a student-run venture capital fund focused on empowering underrepresented founders. It’s the start of a personal effort to create more such VC opportunities.

“For my previous company, this was one of our struggling points. It was hard for us to raise money,” Anen says. “Eventually we raised a million dollars, but it took a long time. A lot of underrepresented minorities face the same situation.”

Anen is now a project manager at Facebook, but still nurtures his entrepreneurial spirit. With classmate Lyndsey Fridie 21MBA, he is backed by a top VC firm to launch CampusTalk, a closed platform for MBA students to communicate and collaborate with peers at other institutions.

“I would like to express how thankful I am for receiving the Michael H. Lee Scholarship. Some of my biggest passions in life are business and entrepreneurship. By taking the road less traveled and starting a business early in my career, I realized how difficult and lonely the journey could be,” Anen says. “My biggest struggles were learning the best practices of entrepreneurship and accessing initial sources of capital to help spark my ideas. From these experiences, I vowed to always lend a helping hand to other underrepresented entrepreneurs while they’re on their own journey to drive change in their communities and bring new innovations to the world.”

I’m grateful that Goizueta Business School has provided me more access to founders in need and the opportunity to help create initiatives like a minority-focused venture capital fund to help embrace and grow the pipeline for future Black entrepreneurs.

Chis Anen 21MBA

Your Gift Today Truly Transforms

Pursuing an undergraduate or graduate degree is a significant financial investment, and Goizueta is committed to making educational goals become a financial reality. Scholarships transform the student experience, creating opportunities for those who would not otherwise be able to pursue their degrees and relieving the economic pressures of funding tuition, textbooks, housing, and co-curricular activities. Gifts to need- and merit-based scholarships are critical as Goizueta works to attract and retain the most talented students with a rich diversity in experiences and backgrounds. Give to support the full potential of Goizueta and our students.

To support a student like Willi, Casey, Arpita, Georgia, or Chis, please visit here.

The post Scholars Making Waves: The Transformational Gift of Student Scholarships appeared first on EmoryBusiness.com.

A Look Back

“The historical context is really illuminating. It is important to recognize trailblazers and have an opportunity to think through the events of the country and world as they collide with our local history,” says Jill Perry-Smith, senior associate dean of strategic initiatives who is charged with leading the school’s DEI strategies.

“Emory was desegregated in 1962 – not long ago from a historical perspective,” she said.  As the civil rights movement took hold, then Goizueta Dean Jim Hund embraced the opportunity for discovery, engaging social justice activists and economists to address Southern Black entrepreneurship. Awareness continued to grow through the 1970s, with matriculation of Black undergraduate and graduate-level students and the implementation of President James T. Laney’s President’s Commission on the Status of Minorities. In 1994, the school was renamed to honor Cuban immigrant Roberto C. Goizueta, Chairman and CEO of the Coca-Cola Company.

Global student recruitment gave way to worldwide outreach and a multicultural infusion on Goizueta’s campus, and Dean Tom Robertson responded to student needs by hosting the first Diverse Leadership Conference. In the following years, Goizueta appointed Alicia Sierra as its first director of diversity and community initiatives, along with naming Dean Erika James to guide our institution. Dean James made history as the first Black woman to lead a top-25 ranked business school ahead of its peer institutions.

Progress in DEI has remained a constant throughout Goizueta’s storied history, and Perry-Smith noted that three priorities are at the forefront of the school’s formal DEI Initiative: enrich our community, reflect broader society, and improve equity.

We prepare for our future, our anti-racist future, for Emory and the broader community here in atlanta – and beyond – that we serve. These conversations will serve for more action and progress, and that’s exactly what we need at this moment in time.

Greg Fenves, president, Emory University

Turning to the Future

“The work we are doing now to set infrastructure in place will enable us to make more sustainable and impactful change in the future,” Perry-Smith explained. “For many, the events of 2020 and 2021 symbolize an awakening, a call for more global conversation around vital issues of diversity, equity, inclusion, and anti-racism.”

“Our focus extends to raise awareness for individuals with identities who have been historically marginalized and who have faced systemic barriers to equitable treatment,” she said. “Beyond race, cultural upbringing, gender identity, and sexual orientation, we explore the needs of people who are neurodiverse with unique ways of processing knowledge. Our goal is to discover how every single person can contribute to their fullest to help us achieve a better campus community and society.”

Enrich Our Community: Exposure to cultural knowledge with an aim of increased self-awareness.

“We do not live in a static state. Public sentiments and individual needs will ebb and flow depending on current events and society at large,” Perry-Smith said. Last year, Goizueta Business School established the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Council,for which Perry-Smith was chosen to guide. “Our DEI Council has tentacles into key parts of the organization. We have appointed ambassadors from each program office, faculty members from each area of study, and we touch all aspects of our organization to advise and give input on pressing issues.” She noted, “We are diving into evidence-based data across all constituents. We need to be transparent about that information, even if it’s not all favorable.”

Enhanced awareness education and training is an important tool in the anti-racist cache of resources. Perry-Smith noted that while some diversity training can be ineffective and even harmful to positive outcomes, “research reveals that cognitive learning is helpful. And this is where we shine as an institution, to engage in critical inquiry based on evidence.”

One such global effort began with expanding the scope of the Common Reads Program and the Ally Education Series, both forums for shared understanding and empathy. Goizueta encouraged all students, faculty, and staff, to read Whistling Vivaldi by author Claude M. Steele. Through research and interviews, Whistling Vivaldi speaks to race, racial bias, and stereotypes, both racial and cultural. Goizueta community members participated in peer-facilitated small group discussions designed to delve into the racial biases and stereotype threats they have seen and experienced in their own lives.

Brian Mitchell 00EvMBA/00MPH, associate dean for the full-time MBA program and Goizueta’s Global Strategy and Initiatives, pointed out, “Whistling Vivaldi is a great book for students who are coming into an academic environment because it talks about biases and stereotypes as it relates to academic performance.” He went on to explain the burden these types of assumptions might add to working through an already difficult situation. “The conversation we have with students is ‘Here are some of the realities around the stereotype threat, here’s how they might affect you as a student in this program, and here are some strategies for how to work through it.”

Improving Equity: Inspire our community members to leverage the power of diversity to improve equity in business and society.

“Going beyond the walls of Goizueta, our school also has a rich history of partnership with community organizations to share expertise and insight,” Perry-Smith said. “We explore our connection to one another on many levels, including economic empowerment and social justice.”

In March, Goizueta celebrated the launch of The Roberto C. Goizueta Business & Society Institute, the new home for the faculty and staff of Social Enterprise @ Goizueta along with its programs. The institute reflects the school’s elevated commitment to social impact and seeks to transform business to solve society’s challenges. At the launch event, Goizueta Business School Associate Professor and Academic Director Wesley Longhofer led a fireside chat with Harvard Business School professor and author Dr. Rebecca Henderson, based on her book Reimagining Capitalism in a World on Fire. The conversation revolved around building a profitable, equitable, and sustainable capitalism grounded in new ways of defining the role of business in society. Longhofer shared, “As an Institute, we do not claim to have all the answers facing business and society; rather, we want to be a catalyst for asking the right kinds of questions.”

One of the Institute’s transformative programs is Start:ME, a free small business training program that provides entrepreneurs the tools and connections necessary to build and grow successful businesses in underserved communities around Atlanta. Eighty-two percent of 2021 winter cohort businesses are led by people of color, 84% are led by women, and 24% are foreign-born entrepreneurs. The 49 small businesses served represent more than $425,000 in revenue for 2020.

On a global level, Grounds for Empowerment provides women specialty coffee farmers the market connections and business know-how to enable them to reach their full economic potential. This cohort program works with small groups of women growers from Latin America through semester long consulting support and in-country workshops supported by Emory students and industry members.  

Funded by the Goizueta Business School Dean’s Innovation Fund, the Improving Goizueta’s Support of Black Entrepreneurs and Black Students Study led by K. Hall Consulting and a team of student consultants this past summer conducted interviews with 30 stakeholders across the entrepreneurship ecosystem both in Atlanta and on campus to determine where and how the business school could better partner, engage, and support Black entrepreneurs. Following up on Phase 1 report, Goizueta faculty and students will continue efforts in Phase 2 which is focused on developing an academic case on Black entrepreneurship to support classroom learning along with the implementation of other internal and external diversity, equity, and inclusion recommendations.  

In the summer of 2020, Mitchell guided candid student conversations around key events highlighting racial injustice, the impact of such instances, and changes that could be implemented. For alumnus Willie Sullivan 21MBA, the repeated rally cry for social justice at the forefront of the Black Lives Matter movement sparked a desire to lead meaningful change.

“We wanted to do something actionable,” said Sullivan, speaking of his MBA classmates. “How could we take a business case note and have students come up with strategic frameworks for a major corporation to do something about large societal issues?”

Sullivan and classmates conceived The John R. Lewis Racial Justice Case Competition to address equity and inclusion problems plaguing corporate America. Sponsored by Goizueta and with the blessing of the late Congressman and civil rights icon John R. Lewis’ family, the inaugural competition earned submissions from 105 teams from 52 of the nation’s top universities. Thousands listened to presentations to corporate partners (HP, Johnson & Johnson, Salesforce, Southern Company, Truist, and Walmart) during which bold student teams confronted issues of supplier diversity to include Black-owned businesses, minority vendor supply chain relationships, STEM careers and scholarship for Black girls, the Black wealth gap, training for people of color on house arrest, and people over profits.

Interim John H. Harland Dean Karen Sedatole praised the student-conceived, student-designed, and student-executed event. “Their passion and leadership skills are a testament to the quality of students, faculty, staff and programs that we have here at Goizueta Business School. We’re so very proud of them.”

Reflect Broader Society: Achieve a composition of our faculty, staff, and student body that fully reflects the broader society.

Goizueta has developed partnerships with a range of organizations to recruit and increase representation of students and faculty from diverse backgrounds in our business programs, including the Consortium for Graduate Study in Management, Forte Foundation, Management Leadership for Tomorrow, MBADiversity.org, National Black MBA Association, The PhD Project, Prospanica, The Robert Toigo Foundation, and Women in Technology. On campus, clubs and groups, too, celebrate the broad range of backgrounds and experiences in our diverse community, with at least 14 distinct organizations for Goizueta students.

In 2002, Goizueta formed a strategic partnership with The Consortium for Graduate Study in Management, a cooperative network of universities designed to enhance diversity and inclusion in business education while at the same time reducing underrepresentation in graduate school enrollment through merit-based full-tuition scholarships to top-tier MBA candidates. From the onset of the partnership, Goizueta has awarded more than $14 million in scholarships to Consortium members.

“I’m impressed by how the school has embraced diversity in a way we were fighting for when we were students. It’s rewarding to see DEI being prioritized,” said Nsombi Ricketts 06MBA, who came to Goizueta through the Consortium and later founded the student-run Diverse Leadership Conference at Goizueta in response to racial incidents on campus.  She noted, “When I look at Goizueta today, I’m proud to see that our work has had a tangible impact and that the DEI conversation impacts so many populations – students, faculty, and even alumni.”

“We are very encouraged by the work being done in the business school and across the university around social justice. the context that comes from addressing this crucial topic from an interdisciplinary perspective enhances understanding and adds depth and breadth to the conversation.”

Andrea Hershatter, senior associate dean of undergraduate education and senior lecturer in Organization & Management, Emory University

Impacting Community

Beyond the classrooms of Goizueta, Associate Dean of the Evening MBA Program and Co-chair for Goizueta’s DEI Council Corey Dortch stressed this point. “We want to encourage students to lean in and face head-on how they can lead on DEI in their workplaces – even where they are right now – from a framework of real-world knowledge and confidence. DEI is a skill.”

Dortch praised the many faculty and staff who listen to the students and their colleagues of color, and then make decisive moves to address concerns. “I’m proud to be part of a community that strives to get it right.”

The strategic, structural, and sustainable principles that Goizueta will continue to evolve to create impactful and lasting change among its community is also mirrored at the university.

“We seek to truly understand how racism permeates so many aspects of society, and to seek to change that, and for Emory to be a model of an anti-racist university,” Emory University President Greg Fenves said.

“We prepare for our future, our anti-racist future, for Emory and the broader community here in Atlanta and beyond that we serve,” Fenves said. “These conversations will serve for more action and progress, and that’s exactly what we need at this moment in time.”

For more information on Goizueta’s longstanding commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, please visit emory.biz/equity.

The post Continuing a Global Goizueta Conversation on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Anti-Racism appeared first on EmoryBusiness.com.

David Nour 00EMBA, CEO of The Nour Group, cringes a bit when people refer to relationship building as a soft skill. A relationship economics advisor, executive coach, and author of 11 books, Nour has spent the last 20 years researching relationships and their effect on business outcomes. During that time, he’s helped his clients create enterprise value by building sustainable, strategic relationships that go beyond the transactional. His latest book, “Curve Benders,” takes a closer look at “those transformational relationships that don’t just help us accomplish or meet our short-term goals and objectives,” he explained. “Curve-benders have a profound impact in shaping who we become.”

Like a young Roberto Goizueta, who fled Cuba and came to the U.S. during the Cuban Revolution, a teenage Nour found his life re-routed by the Iranian Revolution. In May 1981, Nour, who spoke no English, flew from Iran to the U.S. to live with his aunt and uncle in suburban Atlanta. In order for Nour to remain in the U.S., they had to adopt him. Nour’s parents, who still live in Iran and are retired college professors, instilled in Nour a deep belief in the power of education.

Nour earned his BBA from Georgia State University, and subsequently began a career in technology sales and marketing. He noticed that many of the people doing what he was doing in his twenties were twice his age.

“I wanted more,” he said. Nour decided to get his EMBA at Goizueta, after which he went into consulting, managed a startup in New York, and then worked for a private equity firm. He founded the Nour Group in 2002.

Nour credits Goizueta with sharpening his intellectual curiosity and teaching him how to communicate comfortably with executives and leaders across industries. The school also offered Nour a core foundation of relationships. Of the approximately 50 members in his cohort, Nour said he is “proactively in touch with at least 20 of them.”

In an effort to give back and to stay in touch with the school, Nour keeps in touch with several of his former professors, including George S. Craft Professor in Information Systems & Operations Management Benn Konsynski and Associate Professor of Finance and The Robson Program for Business, Public Policy, and Government’s Director Jeffrey Rosensweig.

Nour now teaches a strategy visualization seminar in Goizueta’s EMBA program. The pandemic has disrupted higher education, but Nour sees possibilities for lasting change in the post-COVID era, describing this time period as “a phenomenal opportunity to re-imagine, rethink, reinvigorate, and renew education,” he said.

As a Father’s Day gift 10 years ago, Nour’s wife bought him a Vespa scooter. It jump-started a love for motorcycles. “Riding is my happy place,” said Nour. This summer, Nour and his 17-year old son plan to venture across the Continental Divide from Albuquerque, New Mexico to Helena, Montana. (Nour’s 19-year old daughter also rides.) A few summers ago, Nour, whose motorcycle of choice is a Ducati, rode through Tuscany, Italy and stopped to tour the Ducati headquarters. On weekends, Nour and his family can often be found riding along the back roads from their home in Atlanta through the north Georgia mountains, over to Asheville, NC and back.

“It’s never just about the destination,” he explained. “It’s the journey.”

David Nour is an affiliate faculty member in the Executive Education program, where he teaches a course in Strategy Visualization.

Goizueta MBA students engage with faculty and professionals through experiential learning throughout their program. Do you know which MBA program might be right for your professional journey and lifestyle? Find out which approach suits you best.

The post Creating Relationships that Bend the Curve and Transform Who We Become appeared first on EmoryBusiness.com.

Nominated by a member of the Goizueta community (faculty, staff or a fellow student), the award recognizes one graduating BBA student and one graduating MBA student who embody the values and leadership qualities exhibited by Roberto C. Goizueta. All nominations were reviewed by a selection committee comprised of BBA and MBA program deans, as well as faculty. The winner was chosen with six leadership criteria in mind:

• Love of learning
• Inspirational Leadership
• Creative Thinking
• Courage and Commitment
• Transparency and Trust
• Excellence and Integrity

“It’s an honor to be recognized for leading in a way that reflects the legacy of Roberto Goizueta,” said Major Waidzulis. “It’s also extremely meaningful because selection required nomination and support from a community of world-class faculty, staff, and colleagues at the Goizueta Business School who have inspired me over the past two years. I further believe the credit really belongs to the servant leaders that have influenced me over the years, and it makes me feel good knowing that I have been able to pay it forward by impacting the lives of others.”

Battat is humbled to be recognized in honor of the school’s namesake. “More than anything, this award is validation of the belief that we can all achieve more when we help one another,” Battat said. “While technically I may be the recipient, this award also recognizes the selflessness and support of my parents and peers, as well as Goizueta faculty, staff and alumni. Everything I did at Goizueta was an attempt to pay forward the support I received from those who helped me — and I probably fell short.”

A member of the IMPACT 360 Leadership Board, Major Waidzulis is one of only five full- time MBA students in the class of 2020 to complete each of the elective leadership courses offered at Goizueta (the Leader’s Reaction Course, the Leadership Coaching Fellows Course, Goizueta Advanced Leadership Academy course, and the Advanced Leadership Course), and the only student to serve as president of a student club (the Goizueta Veterans Club) at the same time. As a result, Major Waidzulis also received the MBA Certificate of Advanced Leadership.

Major Waidzulis joined the Army in 2008 and has led soldiers, paratroopers, and rangers in over 300 combat operations. While at Goizueta, he took a leadership role in mentoring and teaching Emory University ROTC cadets. Major Waidzulis also volunteered in veteran support organizations, like Bunker Labs Atlanta, to further the interests of Atlanta-based veteran entrepreneurs. He was also one of only two students selected to serve on the Emory University Veteran Task Force, created to address the issues facing veterans across the university, seek opportunities for them, and enhance the recruitment effort of undergraduate veteran students.

“When the Admissions team seeks an eloquent and passionate spokesperson for the MBA, J Waidzulis immediately comes to mind,” wrote Kate Piasecki, senior associate director of MBA Admissions Waidzulis’ nomination. Piasecki was one of four faculty and staff members to nominate Waidzulis. “J exhibits a love of learning at all levels and is always willing to share his personal story with candidates,” she added. “His personalized engagement serves to increase their understanding of why continued education is so important for transitioning military and non-military to enhance their careers.”

Nominated by Jan Barton, associate professor of accounting, and a fellow 20BBA classmate, Battat has served Goizueta’s finance community well. Battat led both the Goizueta Finance Group (GFG) and the Goizueta Investment Management Group (GIMG). While president of the GIMG, Battat increased female membership from 11 percent to 37 percent and enhanced community outreach by inviting several classes from nearby Druid Hills High School to campus to attend an introductory finance lecture. Battat’s love of finance began in high school, where he began to contribute, along with investors and industry experts, to SeekingAlpha.com, a crowd-sourced website that covers financial markets. Battat also created an online profile for the GIMG, expanding the club’s reach and exposure.

“He is also highly intuitive, introspective, and just plain delightful and a wonderful human being,” wrote Barton in Battat’s nomination. “He has the intelligence, skills, and perseverance to have succeeded academically and professionally in our BBA program. He also has the personal integrity and sense of humor necessary to be a valued classmate and colleague.”

As part of the award, the student recipients identified the faculty member most influential in shaping their time at Goizueta. Battat selected Jeff Rosensweig, associate professor of finance; director, the Robson Program for Business, Public Policy, and Government. and Waidzulis recognized Ken Keen, senior lecturer in organization & management and associate dean for leadership. Battat was the first undergraduate to serve as Rosensweig’s teaching assistant, and he was thankful that the professor took a chance on him. “I have been taught by many fantastic professors while at Goizueta, but never before has one taken such a selfless and invested interest in my personal success,” said Battat. “He has shared with me invitations to engage with over a dozen leaders across numerous disciplines, allowing me to build broad connections and to explore potential areas of interests. These unique opportunities are among the highlights of my time at Goizueta.”

Waidzulis credits Keen’s mentorship with helping him navigate career challenges and working with Waidzulis to “be more vulnerable with colleagues and faculty which led to more meaningful relationships and the ability to have a more positive impact in and out of the classroom,” Waidzulis explained. “He has enriched my life in more ways than I could every hope to give in return. My hope is that he understands that his legacy of leadership has become a part of who I am and will become a part of those I touch as a leader going forward.”

Rosensweig and Keen will each receive a $5000 honorarium.

The post US Army Ranger, finance major are recipients of Goizueta’s highest student honor appeared first on EmoryBusiness.com.

Roberto C. Goizueta Award for Leadership is the highest honor given to a student graduating from Goizueta Business School. Funded by The Goizueta Foundation, it is presented annually to two graduating Goizueta Business School students—one BBA and one MBA—who during their time at school have embodied the values and leadership qualities exhibited by Mr. Goizueta. Those are: a love of learning, inspirational leadership, creative thinking, courage and commitment, transparency and trust, and excellence and integrity. Each honoree receives a $25,000 award and identifies the faculty or staff member at Goizueta who had the greatest impact on them during their time as a student. The faculty or staff members selected each receive a $5,000 honorarium. This is the second year the award has been given.

“At Goizueta, we are producing talented, principled leaders intent on having a purposeful and positive impact on business and society,” said Erika H. James, John H. Harland Dean of the Goizueta Business School. “Michael and Jason are emblematic of our graduates and both of them richly deserve this important honor. I know that as they move into their careers, they will continue to reflect and promote Roberto C. Goizueta’s leadership values.”

“We are honored to support this important award,” said Olga Goizueta Rawls, Board Chair and Chief Executive Officer of The Goizueta Foundation. “I congratulate Michael and Jason on receiving the Roberto C. Goizueta Award for Leadership and on their many important contributions to the Goizueta Business School community and their peers. Today more than ever, business schools must graduate students prepared to lead in a complex world.  Michael and Jason exemplify such leadership qualities.”

While he was still in high school, Battat began writing for the financial website SeekingAlpha.com and at Goizueta used that experience to inform his roles as president of two prestigious student organizations, the Goizueta Finance Group and the Goizueta Investment Management Group. While earning his BBA, Battat had internships at three leading companies, Perella Weinberg Partners, Invesco and Heritage Capital. His other many activities at Goizueta include co-directing the Sophomore Finance Academy, serving as lead coach at the Goizueta Career Management Center, and serving as a teaching assistant for five courses.

Battat is on the Dean’s List and was a member of the Phi Eta Sigma Freshman Honor Society, and Omicron Delta Kappa Honor Society. He is also a member of Beta Gamma Sigma Honor Society and a 100 Senior Honorary.

“It is incredibly humbling to be recognized in honor of our school’s namesake,” said Battat. “More than anything, this award is validation of the belief that we can all achieve more when we help one another. While technically I may be the recipient, this award also recognizes the selflessness and support of my parents and peers, as well as Goizueta faculty, staff and alumni. Everything I did at Goizueta was an attempt to pay forward the support I received from those who helped me — and I probably fell short.”

Battat identified Jeffrey Rosensweig as the faculty member who had the greatest impact on his experience at Goizueta. In his nomination letter, Battat wrote, “Dr. Rosensweig’s mentorship is a material reason why I have the privilege of being recognized with this amazing honor. He inspires me to be similarly selfless and supportive to others, which has manifested within my leadership capacities. It is only fitting that I recognize Dr. Jeffrey Rosensweig, a world-class educator with identical values as Mr. Goizueta and who similarly impacts the Goizueta Business School and its students. For his selflessness, countless contributions and continued mentorship, Dr. Rosensweig is incredibly deserving of this nomination.” Rosensweig is an associate professor of Finance, and director of The Robson Program for Business, Public Policy, and Government Finance.

An active duty U.S. Army Officer, Major Waidzulis has served within infantry and special operations units. Since 2008, he has led the training and deployment of several teams in support U.S. military operations across the globe. As a student, he served as a coach for Goizueta’s Leader’s Reaction Course and his performance in a core course earned him an invitation to serve as a teaching assistant for it the following year. He served on the IMPACT360 Student Leadership Board, and in that capacity, worked with first-year MBAs taking the course. He was president of the Goizueta Veterans Association, led recruiting efforts to encourage veterans and active duty service men and women to pursue advanced business degrees, and taught Reserve Officer Training Corps cadets at both Emory and Georgia Tech.

“It’s an honor to be recognized for leading in a way that reflects the legacy of Roberto Goizueta,” said Major Waidzulis. “It’s also extremely meaningful because selection required nomination and support from a community of world-class faculty, staff, and colleagues at the Goizueta Business School who have inspired me over the past two years. I further believe the credit must be shared with the servant leaders that have influenced me over the years, and it makes me feel good knowing that I have been able to pay it forward by impacting the lives of others.”

Major Waidzulis also helped raise more than $39,000 for the Goizueta Business School Veterans Association. He was selected by his peers in the Goizueta Advanced Leadership Academy (GALA) program for the GALA GLUE award for holding his team together through success, failure and physical and mental fatigue.

Major Waidzulis identified Ken Keen, as the faculty member who had the greatest impact on his experience at Goizueta. In his nomination letter, Waidzulis wrote, “Lieutenant General Ken Keen is a great example of a servant leader and can best be described as humble with an edge. I appreciate the opportunities he has given me and his willingness to candidly share 36 years of military leadership experience and knowledge to mentor me into a high potential leader for others.”  Keen is a senior lecturer in Organization & Management and associate dean for Leadership. He is also a retired US Army Lieutenant General.

About Goizueta Business School

Business education has been an integral part of Emory University’s identity since 1919. That kind of longevity and significance does not come without a culture built around success and service. Emory University’s Goizueta Business School offers a unique, community-oriented environment paired with the academic prestige of a major research institution. Goizueta develops business leaders of today and tomorrow with an undergraduate degree program, a Two-Year Full-Time MBA, One-Year MBA, Evening MBA, Executive MBA, Master of Science in Business Analytics, PhD program, and a portfolio of non-degree Emory Executive Education courses. Together, the Goizueta community strives to solve the world’s most pressing business problems. The school is named for the late Roberto C. Goizueta, former Chairman and CEO of The Coca-Cola Company.

The post US Army Ranger and Undergraduate Finance Major are recipients of Emory University’s Goizueta Business School Roberto C. Goizueta Award for Leadership appeared first on EmoryBusiness.com.

Expect “the Goizueta Effect” – the multiplier associated with teaching the tenets of virtuous business, sparking passion that ignites meaningful change, and using business as a catalyst for good in society – to be ever more powerful. The Goizueta Foundation has committed $30 million to Emory University’s Goizueta Business School — the largest gift in the school’s 100 year history. The Foundation was established by the business school’s namesake, Roberto C. Goizueta, who was one of the great business leaders of the 20th century, having led The Coca-Cola Company to unprecedented prosperity during his 16-year tenure.

The gift will support investments in three key areas reflecting his vision and legacy: establishing the Roberto C. Goizueta Global Classroom, the Roberto C. Goizueta Innovation Center, and the Roberto C. Goizueta Institute for Business and Society. These investments will provide an even stronger foundation for Goizueta students in crucial areas of business education, giving them a greater competitive edge in the job market.

The gift will support such important additions and innovations as:

• a virtual classroom;
• the use of holograms to facilitate “pop-up” campuses at remote locations (with a focus on Goizueta’s Executive MBA and non-degree Executive Education programs);
• virtual reality simulations for experiential learning;
• enhancement and expansion of the business school’s highly successful entrepreneurship and innovation programs; and
• further investment in programming focused on the impact of business on communities, and social responsibility.

“Roberto C. Goizueta believed that it is business’ responsibility to use its resources – its people, its finances, and its influence – to do well in the world and to create a dignified quality of life for everyone,” said Dean Erika H. James. “Goizueta is dedicated to advancing that notion, and it is through that belief that we are changing the narrative on how people view business in the modern era. This generous and transformational gift will allow us to make significant and sustainable investments in key areas of focus and of growth that will benefit our students, our community, and our society.”

The gift is the largest given to the business school and continues the Goizueta Business School’s fundraising momentum during Dean James’ tenure. In the last five years, the total number of alumni gifts has steadily increased and the total amount of all gifts over that time period now exceeds $70 million.

“Leveraging the support of The Goizueta Foundation and the strengths of the Goizueta Business School is the formula that allows philanthropy to be a catalyst for meaningful change. This gift will propel business education far beyond today’s classroom to redefine what it means for students in years to come and the ever-changing communities they will impact,” said Joshua R. Newton, Senior Vice President of Advancement and Alumni Engagement at Emory University.

“At The Goizueta Foundation, we believe that challenging organizations to think about education in innovative, strategic ways is part of the formula for creating life-changing opportunities for individuals and long-term benefits for the communities in which they live and serve,” said Olga Goizueta Rawls, Board Chair and CEO of The Goizueta Foundation. “The Goizueta Business School has long been at the forefront of creating those opportunities and benefits, and ensuring its graduates carry on that work. This gift encourages Goizueta to do even more to advance my father’s vision for the school.”

The Foundation gift is the capstone on the year Goizueta celebrated the 25^th anniversary of its naming after Roberto C. Goizueta and the centennial of its founding.

The post School receives $30 million gift from Goizueta Foundation appeared first on EmoryBusiness.com.

Influence.

It is a subtle element of leadership, but its power and lasting impact are undeniable. For Roberto C. Goizueta, former chairman and CEO of The Coca-Cola Company, his influence was demonstrated through example, consistency, generosity and an intuitive sense for building something greater than himself.

Even today, his mark as an influential leader on The Coca-Cola Company, its employees and truly all global businesses still resonates. The story of his remarkable journey from the shores of Cuba to the head office of the world’s largest soft-drink producer brings with it time-tested lessons that continue to educate and inspire us today.

This is that story.

A rarity and an exception

In 1981, Roberto Goizueta’s appointment as chairman of the board of directors and CEO of The Coca-Cola Company was met with skepticism. Although he’d risen to the rank of president, he’d held mostly technical roles to date and had little marketing experience—a common skill possessed by most past CEOs of the company. But Roberto Goizueta had a champion: 91-year-old Robert W. Woodruff.

Woodruff, elected president of The Coca-Cola Company in 1923 and chairman of the board in 1939, ran the company until 1959, when he stepped down as president. He remained a member of the board of directors until 1984, and Roberto Goizueta had impressed him. Although Woodruff was no longer formally in charge, he carried considerable clout as chairman of the board’s finance committee. Woodruff would invite Roberto Goizueta to lunches, sometimes just the two of them, other times to “power” lunches attended by political and business leaders from Atlanta and around the world. Reportedly, Roberto Goizueta would stop by Woodruff’s home on occasion to talk. Ultimately, it was Woodruff who convinced the board to appoint the 49-year-old executive as CEO of The Coca-Cola Company. “Mr. Woodruff trusted him and admired his integrity and saw in him a fundamental toughness,” Donald Keough, Coca-Cola’s former president and chief operating officer told Fortune magazine in 1995 (Keough passed away in 2015).

Woodruff was on to something. Under Roberto Goizueta’s guidance, the company’s market cap grew more than 3,500 percent—from $4.3 billion in 1981 to a high of $180 billion in 1997, the year of his death. What was it about this reserved but formidable man that enabled him to take a company embroiled in battles with its bottlers, laden with an odd collection of businesses (a shrimp-farming enterprise among them), and suffering from shrinking profits and ultimately create nearly $175 billion of value for company shareowners?

According to Herbert “Herb” Allen, a member of Coca-Cola’s board of directors since 1982 and the former president and CEO of Allen & Company Inc., a privately held investment firm, Roberto Goizueta was one of those leaders who come once in a generation. “He was a rarity and an exception,” says Allen.

With opportunity comes obligation

Born to a well-off family in Cuba in 1931, Roberto Goizueta’s father worked for the sugar refining business that his father—Roberto Goizueta’s grandfather—owned. The entire family—grandfather, father and son—lived in a large home in Havana. His grandfather, a Spaniard with a love of Spanish parables and a penchant for writing, made an indelible impression on young Roberto Goizueta.

Growing up, Roberto Goizueta received a topnotch education at Jesuit schools in Cuba before attending boarding school in Connecticut. In 1953, he graduated from Yale University with a degree in chemical engineering. The plan had been to return to Cuba and work in the family business, but he decided to try something else. He answered a want ad for a bilingual chemical engineer at a Coca-Cola bottling plant and got the job.

He was working for a Coca-Cola subsidiary in Cuba when Fidel Castro seized power in 1959. The new government made significant policy changes, seizing land and private businesses, and the Cuban people, especially the country’s educated upper and middle classes, lived in fear. Two months before Castro seized control of Coca-Cola’s Cuban operations, Roberto Goizueta; his wife, Olguita; and their three children fled the country, arriving in Miami with $40 and 100 shares of Coca-Cola stock. It was a courageous and dangerous decision that would ultimately change the course of their lives.

In 1969, Roberto Goizueta became a U.S. citizen, “one of the most significant days in my own history,” he told a group of “new” Americans at a Fourth of July celebration in Monticello, VA, in 1995. During his speech, he recounted his departure from Cuba. “Every material possession we owned . . . overnight became government property. But amid that turmoil, two treasured possessions remained mine because they simply could not be taken away. . . . I still had my education. And secondly . . . I still had a job. And it wasn’t just any job. It was a job with The Coca-Cola Company.”

“Roberto Goizueta was one of those leaders who come once in a generation. He was a rarity and an exception.”

Over time, Roberto Goizueta earned (a word he chose deliberately) the opportunity to lead The Coca-Cola Company. He told the Fourth of July gathering that leading the company taught him a great lesson—that “opportunity always comes accompanied by obligations.” He encouraged them to seize the obligation, to “take it in your hands and mold it . . . into value for society,” he shared. “Carry it on your back all day long. . . . Defend it.” He paraphrased Thomas Jefferson, stating that people can indeed govern themselves when they work hard “to put the interest of our nation ahead of their own personal interest.”

These ideals were reflected in Roberto Goizueta’s determination to add value to business and to the community. “He had a sense of stewardship, of leaving things better than when he found them,” says Clyde Tuggle, Goizueta’s executive assistant for six years and The Coca-Cola Company’s senior vice president and chief public affairs and communications officer from 2008 until 2017. “He understood that it was about creating opportunities for people ahead of you—not necessarily for yourself.”

As leader of The Coca-Cola Company, Roberto Goizueta’s focus was to produce long-term results. He believed a publicly traded company existed for one purpose and one purpose only—to increase shareowner value. “If it does that,” he said repeatedly, “all the other good things will follow.” According to William “Bill” Newton 75C 76G, former vice president at The Coca-Cola Company and Roberto Goizueta’s long-time executive assistant and chief of staff, the leader spoke often about business decisions being based on what was best for the organization. “He would say that if it were only about what’s best for your group or for a specific situation, then it would ultimately fail,” notes Newton. “It was about what was best for the company.”

Values and leadership

Did being with The Coca-Cola Company for over 40 years—16 of them as CEO—produce in Roberto Goizueta a leadership mindset, along with undeniable business results, that would be impossible for leaders of today to achieve? Rick Gilkey, associate professor of organization & management at Goizueta Business School, thinks the average CEO’s tenure, considered to be roughly three to five years, isn’t always accompanied by strong performance, adding, “Goizueta was an exceptional leader.”

What made him exceptional, explains Gilkey, was the fact that his values matched the values of The Coca-Cola Company. “Leaders do a lot of things we don’t often think about,” Gilkey explains. One of Roberto Goizueta’s favorite phrases was “Everything communicates.” He not only communicated directly—sending personal letters to friends and members of his network—he communicated through body language, carrying himself with grace and style. “He had tremendous presence,” recalls Newton. “He looked important.” The CEO was a meticulous dresser who believed it was better to be overdressed than underdressed. He rarely, if ever, took off his suit coat. He understood that he was a manifestation of the brand and, notes Newton, made it clear to those around him at the company that they were as well.

“Suddenly, Coke employees paid attention to how they dressed,” Gilkey says. Every weekday (when he was in town), the elevator on the 25th floor would open at 7:45 a.m. and out would stroll Roberto Goizueta. He was never late and would sometimes show up 15 minutes early for an appointment. Those around him adjusted to “Goizueta time.”

Roberto Goizueta established a level of trust and consistency within the organization. “These things deeply affected the posture of the company,” says Gilkey. “And they’re all very contagious.” One of Roberto Goizueta’s more memorable quotes was, “Communication is the only task [a leader] cannot delegate.” And he didn’t. He spoke with a level of candor and authority that remains legendary within The Coca-Cola Company.

Linda Peek Schacht, former vice president, director of public affairs and communications strategy at The Coca-Cola Company describes Roberto Goizueta’s style as “very, very direct.” Peek Schacht, in her current role as leader in residence, associate professor of practice, College of Leadership and Public Service at Lipscomb University in Nashville, recounts lessons gleaned from various leaders she’s worked with, including former President Jimmy Carter. (Peek Schacht was Carter’s White House press officer and campaign press secretary.) She believes a key trait of Roberto Goizueta’s leadership style was how his character influenced the organization. “If you have [a leader] who values truth and integrity, the organization is going to value that,” she says.

E. Neville Isdell, former chairman and CEO at Coca-Cola, witnessed the effect Roberto Goizueta’s character had on the company. “[Goizueta] clearly demonstrated a level of integrity that flowed through the ethos of the business,” says Isdell, who began his career at Coca-Cola in 1966 and became CEO in 2004. “And he had a complete dedication to The Coca-Cola Company.”

While he was Coca-Cola’s CFO, Jack Stahl 75C, who also served as president and COO, made a trip to Austria for a week of meetings. As he unpacked his bag shortly after arriving in Vienna, he received a call from Roberto Goizueta. The CEO had noticed an incorrect figure in an internal report. He told Stahl, “It needs to be fixed,” Stahl recalls. He explained to Roberto Goizueta that he’d handle the problem from Austria and report back to him when he returned to Atlanta. A moment of silence followed before he asked Stahl what flight he’d be on in the morning. Believing he’d misunderstood, Stahl reiterated that he’d focus on the problem when he returned the following week. “There was another long pause,” says Stahl, “then he said very clearly, ‘No, Jack. I want you back here on the first plane tomorrow to deal with this.’” After that incident, Stahl admits, “I paid much closer attention to reporting details.”

“He had a sense of stewardship, of leaving things better than when he found them.”

Also the author of Lessons on Leadership: The 7 Fundamental Management Skills for Leaders at All Levels (Kaplan Publishing, 2007), Stahl spent 22 years at the company and considered Roberto Goizueta a mentor. The former CEO’s leadership style and abilities make an important appearance in Stahl’s book.

Stahl, who left Coca-Cola in 2001 to assume president and CEO duties at cosmetics giant Revlon, believes a high-impact leader understands the need to be situational, and that Roberto Goizueta was one of the best at doing so. One moment, Stahl says, he was focused on the “so-called big picture  relating to our company’s strategy.” Hours later, the leader would be poring over the minute details of a complex foreign exchange transaction. “He was comfortable operating in both worlds,” adds Stahl. “His ability to do whatever was necessary to help the business had a real impact on me and so many others.”

Big picture, details and delegating responsibility

In 1996, while speaking to a group of engineers at Yale University, Roberto Goizueta reviewed the audience’s thought processes—and subsequently revealed his own. “First, we assess the big picture,” the one-time chemical engineer said. “Second, we burrow into the details. We deconstruct the problem before us. . . . Third, we follow up. We ask questions. We challenge assumptions. And then, finally, we put ourselves in the mind of someone else . . . the user of the machine, or product or process in question. We see if our thinking is correct. We confirm our beliefs. Finally, we see if it works.”

According to Peek Schacht, there was an art to how Roberto Goizueta collected the information on which he based decisions. “His news wasn’t filtered through other people,” she states. He set up a system for getting facts from out-of-the-ordinary sources. His friends around the world updated him on news and/or goings on in the company. Luminaries like former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher were special guests at company conferences. “He took time,” notes Tuggle, “to educate himself about the world in which we operated and how that affected business.”

Roberto Goizueta was famous for taking time to think and analyze. He made it a point not to overschedule himself. He roamed the hallways and ducked into people’s offices for impromptu conversations.

He understood that he didn’t know everything. He surrounded himself with smart people and wasn’t afraid to ask questions. Keough, a man who had been up for the very CEO job that Roberto Goizueta landed, was one of those people. It’s not unheard of for newly appointed CEOs to let their head-to-head competitors go. But Roberto Goizueta elevated Keough to president of the company. As Roberto Goizueta once told a group of analysts, “It would be absolutely a crime for me to try to lead the bottlers the way Don Keough can. . . . My job is to pick the people then give them the responsibility and authority to get the job done.”

Allen believes that the traits central to Roberto Goizueta’s character—intelligence, integrity, taste, energy and fastidiousness—were the traits the CEO also wanted in the people around him. When he discovered people with such traits, “He invested power in those people,” explains Allen. “He wasn’t afraid to delegate or share power with the people around him.”

This was possible not only because Roberto Goizueta was self-assured but because he believed in the betterment of The Coca-Cola Company. He saw great value in Keough’s communication skills and salesmanship and thought it would be to the company’s advantage to have Keough be the “face” of Coca-Cola. It was Keough who spoke regularly with the media, and it was Keough who appeared on national television to unveil New Coke in 1985, one of the company’s biggest product launches.

“He wasn’t afraid to delegate or share power with the people around him.”

When New Coke proved disastrous, Roberto Goizueta realized he’d made a wrong turn, admitted the mistake and quickly changed course. “He didn’t view loss or failure as a negative if you learned something from it,” notes Peek Schacht. At a press conference less than three months after the release of New Coke, Roberto Goizueta expressed his thanks to those who liked New Coke. For those who didn’t like New Coke, he added, “Our message to this group is simple: we have heard you.” The New Coke experience affirmed Roberto Goizueta’s belief that Coke was unique. He rebounded from the New Coke experience in time to utilize the media attention it received to renew the brand in the form of Coke Classic.

Loyalty and obligation

Roberto Goizueta had a tremendous amount of loyalty for the company that had given him so much. It imbued him with a deep sense of obligation to help the business succeed. He knew that 10 percent of the company was owned by philanthropic institutions and that the success of endowments and college funds, like those of Emory University, were impacted by the success of the company. His mentors, including Woodruff (who established the Robert W. Woodruff Foundation, a charitable organization, in 1937), helped Goizueta assign himself and others with “the challenge of producing something beneficial for others . . . leaving something positive in your wake, wherever life takes you.” That’s what he told the 1996 graduating class at the Emory University business school a few months before the dedication of the Goizueta Building.

Through The Goizueta Foundation, established in 1992, Roberto Goizueta’s indebtedness to his adopted country and his commitment to education are realized. Nowhere is this more apparent than at Goizueta Business School, named for Roberto Goizueta in 1994, where thousands of students continue to learn from his legacy. Roberto Goizueta understood that each graduate of Goizueta Business School carried a piece of his legacy into the world, and he explained that to graduates in 1996. “Being so closely associated with this great school ties me to each one of you,” he said. “And that’s one of the highest honors anyone could ever achieve.”

Intelligent Risk-Taking

Throughout his tenure, Roberto Goizueta took a number of calculated risks. Most paid off, but some either were misunderstood or failed completely. He learned from those failures, though, and through them gained the strength to build a dynasty.

In fact, Roberto Goizueta was known for taking intelligent risks. “If you take risks, you may fail. But if you don’t take risks, you will surely fail,” he said, adding, “The greatest risk of all is to do nothing.” Although New Coke was memorable for all the wrong reasons, many of Roberto Goizueta’s risks earned rich rewards:

• Departing from the company’s unwritten rule of not tagging Coca-Cola products with the Coke trademark, Goizueta introduced Diet Coke in 1982. Diet Coke was the most successful consumer product launch of the 1980s.
• Before Goizueta became CEO, Coca-Cola had never borrowed money. Goizueta borrowed billions, enabling him to make billions for the company.
• Goizueta spent $30 million to acquire a third of the company’s troubled bottler in the Philippines, a country where Pepsi outsold Coke more than two to one. At the time, it was Coca-Cola’s largest single investment outside the United States. (Isdell, then president of Coca-Cola’s Greater Europe Group, recalls the purchase as “a complete break with tradition, but he knew it was needed for a turnaround.”) By 1996, Coca-Cola outsold PepsiCo internationally more than three to one.
• Goizueta spent $692 million to buy Columbia Pictures in 1982. When he sold the film studio in 1989, the company netted $1.5 billion.
• The Coca-Cola Company moved into Eastern Europe immediately after the Berlin Wall fell in 1989—in spite of the fact that East Germany had no convertible currency, chaotic business regulations, and poorly designed, state-owned bottling plants. Within three years, Coke overtook Pepsi as the preferred soft drink in Europe.

The post The Lasting Legacy of Roberto C. Goizueta appeared first on EmoryBusiness.com.

To the Goizueta Business School community — and beyond: 

Business, done right can be a catalyst for so much good. So, as we celebrate 100 years of business education at Emory University, I thought it important to honor the spirit of change that pushes us forward by recognizing some of the many people who make Goizueta great. On GoizuetaBeyond.com, you will find 100 profiles of faculty, staff, students and alumni representing 100 years of excellence.

They are our inspiration, and inspiration creates meaningful, lasting impact to society.

It is not the great idea alone. No, it takes something else. It takes something more. It takes a true devotion to “go beyond” the status quo.

Why?

Because while the discovery of the light bulb held the power to change the world, business put it into homes. While new startups increase jobs, spur innovation and drive production, business provides the loan for growth. And as the healthcare industry continues to treat patients, business can help improve efficiency.

On this site, you will also find a series of business principles designed to foster integrity and pay homage to our namesake, Roberto C. Goizueta, the long-time CEO of The Coca-Cola Company.

We are a small but mighty institution of learning, fully equipped with the talent to influence the world. But we didn’t get here by luck or longevity alone. Countless men and women have gone beyond in their lives and jobs, each contributing something to society. Some of those contributions started in our classrooms. Others are an example of the determination and grit of previous generations that will surely contribute to future success.

#GoizuetaBeyond is more than a hashtag.

For a century Goizueta Business School has espoused the power of principled leadership — living out our ethos of ethics and commitment to lifelong learning. This is our call to business to strive harder for the next out-of-the-box, table-turning solution.

We want to remind everyone the world is at its best when the goals of business and humanity intersect.

I invite you to Go Beyond with us.

Sincerely,

Erika H. James
John H. Harland Dean Goizueta Business School

The post GoizuetaBeyond.com kick starts march to 100 anniversary appeared first on EmoryBusiness.com.

Respect. Integrity. Leadership. Community.

These are a few of the words that make up the newly established Goizueta BBA Creed.

With just seven words with seven short descriptions capped off with a quote from former Coca-Cola CEO and Chairman Roberto C. Goizueta, the creed is simple but is designed to speak volumes to undergraduate students.

Grace Cleland 18BBA, president of the BBA Council, was one of the driving forces behind the creed, and with the help of the BBA program office, creating a creed quickly became a top priority for the council.

“As the council and the program office were considering initiatives and areas of focus for the 2017-18 year, we considered the fact that Goizueta lacked a student-driven set of guiding principles that reflected the values, backgrounds and overarching character of the student body,” Cleland said.

Cleland started looking for volunteers to help with the creed, and Ashley Daniels 19BBA, vice president of clubs on the council, quickly jumped on board.

Daniels started researching other school’s creeds determining which format would best fit Goizueta’s BBA students. Although the creed contains only seven words, Daniels said those seven words were extremely difficult to nail down and define.

“I did find it very difficult to come up with just a few words that I thought really encapsulated everything that business school was,” Daniels said. “Even trying to define some of these ideas was really hard. Defining respect and diversity is incredibly difficult.”

With the help of the council, program office, friends and fellow students, Daniels was able to narrow down her list of words to a solid seven, all of which carry equal weight and importance.

Once the creed was finalized and reviewed by the council and program office, it was distributed to the BBA student body for a “notice and comment” period. With Daniel’s guidance, the creed was changed based on student commentary and a final draft was presented to the Goizueta administration. The final draft was put to a vote of the student body where it passed with a significant majority.

Soon after it’s passing, the creed was incorporated into the BBA Orientation in January. One session during the event called “community values” allowed new students to reflect on what got them to the point of admissions as well as consider what will get them to where they’d like to be after the program. 

“This was the first year that we integrated the creed into that session and had new admits review it, comment on the values presented and how those values would manifest in and beyond the BBA program,” Cleland said. “We then invited them to sign a book in reference to their commitment to uphold the creed, which was a really special moment for me and I think overall for the BBA Council, because we were able to see that acceptance of the values for each person and to see it resonate strongly with the new class.”

The creed has been seen as positive by the undergraduate class, and both Daniels and Cleland see the creed as being something that can create positive change for all undergraduate business students.

“I think that people generally agree with what it says, and I would hope that this would inspire them to actively try to pursue those goals,” Daniels said. “More than anything, just seeing it take root in daily activities would be incredible and finding ways to inspire people to go that extra mile, which is what Goizueta is known for.”

The creed:

“We in business have an obligation to give something back to the communities that support us. That includes serving as an example as the way relations among people should be conducted.” —Roberto C. Goizueta

The Goizueta BBA Creed is a student-driven and enacted statement depicting who we aspire to be as individuals and as a community. Members of the BBA community hold each other accountable to these principles as we pursue intellectual, professional, and personal excellence.

As members of this community, we believe:

RESPECT is believing that all community members are equally valuable. We pledge to honor the rights, dignity, and property of all people and to recognize the significance of each individual’s thoughts and experiences by giving each other our time, patience, and optimism.

SCHOLARSHIP is the honest pursuit of knowledge. We honor curious learning and believe intellect and innovation to be valuable tools. Therefore, we are eager to stretch our capacities, embrace challenges, and continuously learn from faculty, professionals, peers, and ourselves.

INTEGRITY is taking ownership of our actions, striving to be moral individuals, and having the conviction and character to stand up for our beliefs. We believe honesty, compassion, and honor are the foundations of successful group work and relationships.

LEADERSHIP is the passionate, bold process of inciting change. We pledge to seek out opportunities to push boundaries and lead our teams, peers, communities, and workplaces with principle, honor, and kindness in the creation of a lasting legacy.

DIVERSITY is the sincere appreciation of differences. We are committed to creating and maintaining an inclusive environment in which unique backgrounds, interests, beliefs, and self-definitions of personhood inspire innovation and collaboration.

COMMUNITY is lasting fellowship and service to others. We are dedicated to fully engaging with our peers, honoring the legacy of our alumni, and creating a purposeful community built upon meaningful relationships which will transcend our time at Goizueta.

CELEBRATION is the genuine pride and gratitude for Goizueta and its community members. We enthusiastically celebrate each other’s successes and differences, wholeheartedly appreciate the opportunities provided to us, and willingly give back to the Goizueta program.

By committing to the Goizueta Creed, we pledge to uphold these values and to positively impact our community.

The post Newly established BBA creed creates shared, positive values for undergraduate class appeared first on EmoryBusiness.com.

Several teams from various schools came to Goizueta Business School in October to put their marketing skills to the test.

For three years, the Goizueta Hispanic Heritage Month Case Competition has undergraduate students compete in an overnight competition to work on a real-world business case scenario.

This year’s sponsor, the Atlanta Hawks, presented a case study to student teams from the University of Georgia, Georgia State University, Kennesaw State University, Dalton State College, The University of Virginia and James Madison University. One Emory University student joined a participating student team.

The goal of the case study was to “design a marketing strategy for brand Atlanta Hawks that engages prospective members of the business community to purchase premium products with the Atlanta Hawks.”

To help prepare for the case study, students participated in workshops where they learned about marketing principles, how to work through a case, what kinds of questions to ask, how to approach the research and how to prepare a presentation that will help communicate a marketing strategy. Teams then worked with Full-Time and Evening Goizueta MBA student coaches for a few hours each day.

“It’s such a beautiful thing to see the MBAs come in and not know the teams at all, but then by the end, they just have fallen madly in love with one another,” said Rebbecca Kaplan, Spanish instructor and competition coordinator. “The MBA coaches just get so much out of the process of being able to mentor the students by helping them ask hard questions and pushing them. It’s a nice thing to have them working together.”

Students presented their final cases to a panel of judges at the end of the second day. The University of Georgia took first place and won $3,000. Second place and $2,000 went to Georgia State University and third place went to Kennesaw State University with $1,000 winnings.

Hispanic Heritage messaging is always a theme throughout the competition and Kaplan said 80 to 85 percent of the undergraduate students who participate are Hispanic.

“[Hispanic Heritage] comes up in the messaging that I give to the students in talking about the school and who Roberto Goizueta was,” Kaplan said.

Although a full Emory undergraduate team did not participate in this year’s competition, Goizueta’s MBA students can bring a great deal of experience and leadership to the table.

“I think it’s important for our MBAs to have the opportunity to give back to the community, to engage with young people and to serve — even short term — as mentors to young people,” Kaplan said. “It provides a powerful example of still relatively young Hispanics in business.”

View the Gallery:

[ngg_images source=”galleries” container_ids=”8″ display_type=”photocrati-nextgen_basic_slideshow” gallery_width=”600″ gallery_height=”400″ cycle_effect=”fade” cycle_interval=”3″ show_thumbnail_link=”0″ thumbnail_link_text=”[Show thumbnails]” order_by=”sortorder” order_direction=”ASC” returns=”included” maximum_entity_count=”500″]

The post Goizueta hosts third annual Hispanic Heritage Month Case Competition appeared first on EmoryBusiness.com.

Philanthropist, community volunteer, Emory University trustee, and chair of The Goizueta Foundation Executive Committee for fifteen years after the untimely death of her husband, Roberto C. Goizueta, in 1997, Mrs. Goizueta offered those whose causes she supported a rare combination of passionate investment and quiet effectiveness. While deflecting attention, Mrs. Goizueta nonetheless won admiration and gratitude from a diverse group of institutions and individuals. Through grants and volunteer work, she advanced the missions of organizations such as the Atlanta History Center, the Woodruff Arts Center, and the Latin American Association. Thousands of Goizueta graduates received diplomas from her at commencement, their lives lastingly changed by her family’s generosity.

When Mrs. Goizueta was elected to the Emory Board of Trustees for a five-year term in 1999, then president Bill Chace noted her wisdom and her sophistication regarding the business world and philanthropy. That wisdom evolved over a rich, eventful life that included fleeing her native Cuba in 1960 after Fidel Castro’s rise to power and starting anew in the United States with her husband, whom she had married in 1953, and their three children: Olga, Roberto, and Javier. A devoted mother and wife,

Mrs. Goizueta was tireless in her efforts to promote the well-being of those closest to her and in her community, which extended to the Holy Spirit Catholic Church in Atlanta, where she was a faithful member, and the Monastery of the Holy Spirit in Conyers, GA. She also continued to serve as Chair Emeritus of The Goizueta Foundation’s board until her death. Mrs. Goizueta is survived by her three children and nine grandchildren. Dean Erika James, in her announcement of Mrs. Goizueta’s passing, spoke for many in writing, “I cannot help but marvel at this life well lived.”—CDB

The post Goizueta says goodbye to Olga C. de Goizueta appeared first on EmoryBusiness.com.