Source: Susan Scott, 785-532-6085, smscott@k-state.edu
Photos available. Contact 785-532-6085 or smscott@k-state.edu
News release prepared by: Lauren Luhrs, 913-909-5964, lel@k-state.edu
Monday, Nov. 12, 2007
K-STATE SENIORS WIN INTERNATIONAL LEADERSHIP CASE STUDY COMPETITION
MANHATTAN -- Three Kansas State University students and a student from the University of Delaware teamed up to win first place in a student case study competition at the ninth annual International Leadership Association conference, Nov. 7-10, in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Members of the winning team from K-State were Chance Lee, senior in sociology and political science with a minor in leadership studies, Manhattan; Lauren Luhrs, senior in human ecology and mass communications-public relations with minors in leadership studies and business, Overland Park; and Anthony Carter, senior in sociology with a minor in nonprofit leadership, Colorado Springs, Colo. The fourth member of the team was a senior at Delaware.
In the competition, offered for the first time at this year's conference, participating teams were given a 23-page document from the Harvard Business School which detailed specifics for leadership development at Goldman Sachs. The document provided key details for the case study, including the purpose of the leadership development program to be created. It also gave six factors that were essential in the design of the program: form and location, faculty, content and format, method, target audience, and governance and sponsorship.
"The case study competition was a fantastic opportunity to experience a variety of applicable skills in nearly any setting," Lee said. "This event made social interaction, group dynamics, leadership, communication and ethics all come to life. To win was rewarding and exciting, but the real value was in the process; learning and refining skills I will use forever."
The teams were given 43 hours to complete an executive summary and 20-minute presentation that would be given to the panel of judges. No outside help was allowed. The competition encouraged the incorporation of information learned from conference breakout sessions and speakers. The presentations were judged by a four-member panel, which included a staff member from the International Leadership Association, two university professors and a Boeing rocket scientist.
The K-State-Delaware team competed against three teams from the Sauder School of Business at the University of British Columbia and one team from Christopher Newport University's leadership program. The first-place prize included a $1,000 cash award for the team provided by Argosy University and copies of the most recent edition of "The Leadership Challenge," signed by author and keynote speaker Barry Posner.
"Our students presentation for the case study competition was absolutely brilliant and highlighted many of the values that K-State's leadership studies program stands for, such as inclusion, intercultural competencies, ethics and how to bring about positive change," said Grace Hwang, a K-State assistant professor of leadership studies who attended the conference.
"Although the other teams had great PowerPoints, used business metrics and other bells and whistles, the K-State team nailed the substance of what makes for a good leadership program -- and that is what the judges thought, too," Hwang said.
In addition to participating in the case study competition, Carter, Lee and Luhrs also were hosts of a roundtable discussion, "Through a Student Lens: Culture, Impact and Sustainability in Leadership Education."
The International Leadership Association works to create a global network for all those who practice, study and teach leadership. More than 700 people attended this year's conference.