Assessing the Value of Executive Leadership Coaches for Cybersecurity Project Managers

With the complex nature of impacts of cybersecurity breaches, it is critical that organizational have cybersecurity project managers that can make sound managerial and leadership decisions. Often cybersecurity project managers act quickly with managerial decisions at work. When time is of the essence, strategic thinking, strategic communication, and strategic decision making are critical to organizational effectiveness and productivity. Decision making and strategic communications are just a few skills that executive leadership coaches can teach. This article explores the values and potential benefits of executive coaching as a leadership development tool for information technology and cybersecurity project managers.

Big Data Analytics in Higher Education

This chapter reviews the literature on the use of business analytics in higher education. Universities have large datasets available to predict future direction and generate actionable information. An important type of analytics used to improve management processes and to make informed decisions is big data business analytics. State university executive leaders may improve the effectiveness of their decisions by integrating business analytics in the decision-making models. However, there is a need to examine the use of big data business analytics in the decision-making process at the executive leadership level of the selected state universities. Especially in the context of how descriptive, predictive, prescriptive, decisive and basic analytics, and data collection influence the decision-making process at the executive leadership level of the state universities in terms of student retention and graduation rates.

Big Business and Cadre Management in China

Leading cadres in China are subject to rotation. An interesting form of rotation takes place between big business and the political world. That means one fifth of China’s governors and vice governors have a business background as heads of one of China’s large State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs). How this takes place and which qualifications the involved business leaders possess are shrouded in mystery. Based on prosopographical studies of Chinese business leaders who have participated in the Chinese Executive Leadership Program (CELP), this article attempts to open the black box. The study examines the career pathways of CELP participants in Party, government and business positions. The study shows that 84 of the 261 CELP SOE participants (2005-2018) were subsequently promoted, and 20 of these promotions were from SOEs to leading Party and government positions. In some cases, former business leaders became Party secretaries in important provinces or ministers in key ministries. The article also argues that Chinese business leaders have managed to keep their administrative ranking in the Chinese nomenklatura system. In fact, Chinese business leaders are quasi officials (zhun guan) and form an important recruitment base for leadership renewal. As such, the article suggests that the rotation of cadres within the ‘Iron Triangle’ of Party–government–business constitutes the main unifying and stabilising factor in the Chinese political system.

A case study of change and innovation: Addiction and Mental Health Kingston, Frontenac, Lennox, and Addington

Addiction and Mental Health Services of Kingston, Frontenac, Lennox, and Addington is emerging from years of fractured leadership and operational experiences to a new era of promise—with lessons learned along the way. A case study of change and innovation describes the journey Addiction and Mental Health Services of Kingston, Frontenac, Lennox, and Addington has been on since 2020, including making a transition from a Chief Executive Officer to a Joint Executive Leadership model to meet organizational needs, and adopting an approach to governance that is collaborative and integrates existing stakeholder governance representatives to mirror the current provincial Ontario Health Team vision of service.

Forecasting uncertainty: Cindy March at Veracity

Study level/applicability This case is appropriate for use in undergraduate and MBA courses. Subject area This case can be used in courses in business ethics, leading teams and organizations or business strategy. The focus of the case aligns well with discussions of managing up, navigating changes in top leadership and conflicts between executive vision and future company growth. Instructors that choose to emphasize the ethical approach could assign this case to explore tradeoffs between loyalty to current and future bosses. Case overview Associate Director of Forecasting Cindy March faces a multi-faceted dilemma as biotech firm Veracity’s acquisition date by pharmaceutical giant Makhola approaches. After a new competitor enters the market, March expects Veracity drug Sangren’s future revenue to drop to $600m in 2019, but the outgoing Veracity CEO refuses to accept a forecast of less than $700m. March suspects that the CEO is intent on handing over a financially successful company and is overly optimistic about Sangren’s ability to maintain market share. In two weeks, March is due to present a 2019 Sangren forecast to incoming Makhola leadership, who she anticipates becoming her direct boss after the acquisition. Should March present the inflated forecasts and accept the poor reflection on her professional abilities or should she refuse to present numbers she does not believe in? Expected learning outcomes By analyzing and discussing the case, students should be able to:Evaluate the potential business and ethical conflicts arising from decision-making based on both data and intuition. Synthesize an appropriate strategy for navigating tradeoffs between current and future leadership.Analyze the gender dynamics of male-dominated executive leadership structures and strategies for female employees to combat gender biases. Supplementary materials The Behavioral Science Guys, 2015. One Simple Skill to Curb Unconscious Gender Bias. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEHi4yauhu8&ab_channel=VitalSmartsVideoTeaching Notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email [email protected] to request teaching notes. Subject code CSS 6: Human resources.