News

Posted 10/30/2007

What is your current position in Weatherhead?    
Teacher

What is your favorite part of teaching?  What part is the most challenging?

    a)     Launching a long term learning partnership, one that extends beyond class and graduation, with each student.

    b)    Trying to improve my teaching effectiveness semester after semester, and finding meaningful ways to facilitate my students’ success after graduation.        

What do you like about Weatherhead?  What do you think of the Cleveland area?

    a)    Our students.  Nothing else is close.  Our students are terrific human beings, filled with promise.  It’s energizing.  It is a privilege to be their teacher, even when they hand in late papers.

    b)    Cleveland is a great place to start or buy a business.  We are loaded with successful entrepreneurs who are willing to recycle their wealth by investing in talented young people, like our graduates, who are willing to pay the price of elite performance.

For all those that have not yet taken a class with you, why are you called “The Gorilla”?
I love nicknames. They are a great equalizer.  They create a curious bond.  Years after they graduate, I will hear someone shout, “Hey, Gorilla”, at an airport or restaurant or wherever. By the way, anyone who has seen me recently knows that my nickname does not mean “wild and dangerous”.

Tell us about your work experience besides Weatherhead.
To express Weatherhead’s commitment to the community, I have served on a number of public and private companies’ boards of directors, and have helped many former students start or buy a company. I have tried to use these experiences to create an action learning atmosphere in my class.

Tell us more about your research.
I have been interested in applying the best practices of Sarbanes-Oxley to larger privately held firms.

What do you do in your spare time?
Grade papers, and support my good wife’s highly developed shopping skills.

What is the best book you recently read or are reading?
TEAM OF RIVALS, the remarkable story of how Abraham Lincoln converted presidential competitors into one of the most effective cabinets in U.S. history.  It is a great team-building example with applications to today’s world.