2022 Sanger Leadership Center Impact Report

SANGER MISSION STATEMENT “Accelerating leader development through bold ideas, transformative experiences, and inclusive communities.”

ORIENTATION

Incoming

Ross students can jump right into leadership activities and opportunities, thanks to the Sanger Leadership Center’s Orientation. Whether for full-time MBA students, one-year master’s students, or others, Sanger Leadership Center Orientations allow students to take part in workshops and actionbased team challenges that give them tools and skills to grow at leading themselves, others, teams, and organizations. Students gain self-awareness, set learning goals for their time at Ross, try out new leadership behaviors in a safe environment, and connect with classmates. The reflections and action-based learning during orientation provide students with a path forward to strengthen their leadership skills throughout their degree program.

“The Sanger Leadership Journey activities thus far have helped me develop the mindset to be more intentional and focused on my personal and professional leadership growth. The deeply introspective process has helped me to recognize leadership strengths as well as blind spots. This is all crucial for becoming an authentic, confident, and energized leader who aims to positively influence organizational culture and outcomes.”

— Sai Chodavarapu, MBA ’23

The Sanger Leadership Center delivered leadership programming to a whopping 649 Ross graduate students last year, including:

• 441 Full-Time MBA students

• 114 Weekend MBA students

• 19 Global MBA students

• 75 Master of Accounting (MAcc) students

Activities helped students to enhance their self-awareness, to understand the importance of an intentional culture and how to build one, and to know how to lead high-performing teams by leveraging team diversity, managing team processes to maximize agility, and leading organizations to accomplish a common goal.

• 94% of students agreed or strongly agreed that the Sanger Orientation advanced their understanding of subject matter.

• 94% of students agreed or strongly agreed that the orientation fostered an environment in which they felt their perspective was respected.

LEARNING COMMUNITIES

believes that learning communities are essential to leadership development. These communities create opportunities for skill application and provide a positive support system that offers accountability. Participants benefit from experiences such as peer coaching, which allows them to share insights, feedback, and challenges with others, none of whom have formal authority or power over the others. This promotes deeper learning and connection.

Sanger

Ross Leaders Academy

Generously sponsored by the Deloitte Foundation, the Ross Leaders Academy (RLA) is the Sanger Leadership Center’s premier leadership development community for select students across campus. During the year-long program, students make leadership development a primary focus of their Michigan experience, focusing on enhancing self-awareness, advancing personal development skills, and building strong networks. They learn from a diverse set of peers, receive 1:1 coaching, and engage with 30+ years of powerful research advanced by the University of Michigan’s innovative faculty. RLA helps students become more confident, more insightful, and with a vision to fuel their emerging careers.

• 50 students served

• 100% of students agreed or strongly agreed that RLA fostered an environment in which their perspective was respected

• 95% of students agreed or strongly agreed that RLA was an excellent program

“RLA was an incredible experience. I came to business school wanting to be more intentional about leadership by exploring who I am as a leader. RLA was the perfect opportunity to do so. I now have new perspectives, tools, and friendships to carry with me into my career in Human Resources, all thanks to RLA.”

- Rebecca Epstein, MBA ’23 Leader Experience Leader Experience (LDRx) is a student-led and Sanger-supported learning community that provides participants with training, curricular resources, and a designated peer group for cultivating crucial leadership skills. Participants meet once per week with a small group of peers throughout the academic year, utilizing a student-driven curriculum developed in conjunction with Sanger.

This past year, the program had one of its largest cohorts ever and was able to expand access to Weekend MBA students as well as full-time MBAs. LDRx helps students develop leadership skills and experimentation, and devote time for individual reflection, all with the backing of a supportive learning community.

• 119 students served

• 100% of students agreed that LDRx fostered an environment in which they felt that their perspective was respected

Leading Inclusive Teams

Generously sponsored by the Deloitte Foundation, Leading Inclusive Teams is a six-week learning community, combining asynchronous modules, small group peer-coaching, and live workshops. Participants gain evidence-based knowledge and practical tools to design and lead diverse, equitable, and inclusive (DEI) teams and organizations. They also increase self-awareness of their personal identity in the workplace, gain new skills to identify privilege, mitigate bias, call in others to crucial conversations, be an active ally, and acquire organizational tools to lead inclusive teams, create equitable organizational processes, and lead DEI strategic changes in organizations.

• 72 students served

• 100% of students agreed that the program advanced their understanding of the subject matter

• 100% of students agreed that LIT created an inclusive environment

“The Leading Inclusive Teams program offers a great space to spend intentional time thinking and talking about DEI. It really helped me to start understanding and valuing diverse perspectives and gave me a new perspective on how I interact with other people in the future. It has definitely improved my leadership skills and belief that I can be an effective and inclusive leader.”

- Zach Goldberg, MBA ’2

SIGNATURE EXPERIENCES

Sanger Leadership Center is known for its action-based learning programs. The Sanger team believes that leadership skills are best learned in situations that call for strong leaders. That’s why the Center’s signature initiatives include a suite of programs designed to immerse students in situations where they can practice their leadership skills in a safe space.

The

Leadership Crisis Challenge

In this unique program — which is generously sponsored by PNC Bank — students play the part of senior executives tasked with responding to the crisis as it unfolds. They receive emails, social media updates, phone calls, and more throughout Thursday night. On Friday, students come to Michigan Stadium to present their strategy to their board of directors (made up of esteemed U-M alums), journalists, and the public. Along the way, they receive personalized feedback from business leaders, communication coaches, and faculty experts.

Participants walk away from the Leadership Crisis Challenge having learned to think strategically, work with diverse teams, manage ambiguity and uncertainty, and develop an executive presence.

• 229 students served

• 50 alumni and faculty engaged

• 96% of graduate students and 100% of undergraduate students agreed or strongly agreed that overall, the Leadership Crisis Challenge was an excellent program

• 100% of board members said they would participate again

“The Crisis Challenge was well facilitated and a phenomenal opportunity to get real experience and perspective in the face of a crisis. It’s not often you have the chance to test your actual physical, mental, and emotional response in the face of a high-pressure situation, and this experience offers that in a low-stakes, learning-oriented environment. It is truly an awesome experience everyone should take advantage of.”

— Sammi Vittert, MBA ’23

Story Lab

Story Lab provides students with the skills necessary to communicate with impact. Through a combination of workshops, in-person storytelling events, and podcast episodes, members of the U-M community can engage in a variety of ways. This year, we were able to meet student needs with both in-person and virtual programming, reaching a larger undergraduate audience than ever before and expanding the Story Lab brand to podcasting. Story Lab identifies storytelling as an important leadership skill, showing students how to display authentic forms of leadership and executive presence, and giving and receiving feedback.

• 829 students served

• 166% increase in undergraduate participation from 2020 to 2021, thanks to strategic partnerships with M-LEAD at U-M

• 56 coaching sessions were offered to workshop participants

Legacy Lab

Legacy Lab is a two-part workshop series designed to help students unlock their personal capabilities and increase their influence and resilience. The workshops are filled with reflective activities, powerful stories, and meaningful engagement with peers. Participants craft a life purpose statement and vision, clarify values, and experiment with new ways of interacting and leading. Ultimately, they emerge as a stronger leader poised to create a lasting legacy with skills that help them build high-trust professional relationships and work cultures. Legacy Lab

• 190 students served

• 96% of students agreed it was an excellent program

• 100% of students agreed it fostered an environment in which they felt their perspective was respected

“Legacy Lab allowed me to reflect more deeply on what my values are and what my purpose is and motivated me to consider futures and dreams that I never thought were possible before. I came away with a renewed sense of purpose and motivation.”

— Allison Wei, BBA ’25

NEW INITIATIVES

endorsement’s requirements expose students to a set of insightful workshops, reflections and experimentation, courses, and actionbased learning activities.

In addition, the curriculum aims to give students a competitive advantage during recruiting and at the start of their new careers by not only providing key experiences but reflective talking points and a LinkedIn credential that can be shared widely. This program enables students to reflect upon their leadership experiences and better understand their skills, purpose, and future and helps them stand out to recruiters and have a cohesive story about how they are growing, experimenting, and reflecting as a leader.

• 60 students enrolled

Leadership Dialogues

The Leadership Dialogues speaker series is a fireside chat-style event featuring accomplished industry, political, and non-profit leaders discussing the latest ideas in organizational research and ongoing practice with U-M faculty. Speakers share advice on topics including how to develop leadership skills, lead purpose-driven organizations, and manage crises. All dialogues are free and open to the entire U-M community. This program’s learning goals vary by speaker; however, overarching program goals include: attracting students, alumni, and community members to Michigan Ross to showcase that we are a renowned center for leadership; building long-term relationships with presenters and audience members; and showcasing a diverse variety of leaders from across demographics and industries to present role models for our aspiring student leaders. The inaugural program featured a talk with Mary Barra, Chair and Chief Executive Officer of General Motors. Additional speakers have included Paul Polman, former Unilever CEO, and Robin Washington, former CFO of Gilead Sciences.

• 500 people served

• 4.5/5 score achieved for program excellence

• 43,409 social media impressions earned, including 27,112 on LinkedIn, 8,912 on Instagram, 5,295 on Twitter, and 2,090 on Facebook

Michigan Ross Leader Endorsement

The Michigan Ross Leader Endorsement is a micro-credential designed to recognize the accomplishments of students who spend a large portion of their time at Michigan dedicated to becoming better leaders. To earn the credential, students complete the program requirements at their own pace during their degree program. The

• 7 students received the credential January–May 2022

“This program, in association with the Sanger Leadership Center, is critical for long-term leadership development. It pairs intense, immersive, and challenging experiences with deep reflective, introspective ones with group mates who end up becoming some of our closest colleagues. Highly recommended for anyone not just looking for an MBA, but actually becoming a practitioner of leadership training and skills.”

Women in Leadership

Generously sponsored by General Motors (GM), Women in Leadership is a new leadership skill development program for those who identify as women and their allies. The program seeks to provide space to increase agency, amplify women’s voices, and work with women and allies to overcome barriers. In doing so, the program aims to support growth mindset development, and build self-confidence, resilience, and authenticity.

• 450 students served

• 100% of March participants agreed or strongly agreed that, overall, Women in Leadership was an excellent program (January was 97%)

• 100% of January and March participants felt that the program created an inclusive environment

• 18 GM employee participants

RESEARCH & BOLD IDEAS

TheSanger Leadership Center strives to be the world leader for the production and dissemination of the most cutting-edge research on leadership. Our nearly 40 faculty champions (who span the fields of business strategy, medicine, management, marketing, psychology, and law) and PhD students produce ideas that positively change the world of work. The newly launched Sanger Research Lab enables researchers from across campus — from Michigan Ross, to Michigan Medicine, to the Law School and more — to collaborate on emerging ideas and critique ongoing papers.

The Lab meets monthly to discuss and support early-stage research and provides research support to faculty and PhD students, including a shared research assistant and a junior faculty fellowship. The Lab collaborates closely with the marketing team at Sanger to then disseminate these ideas into the world as well as with our program teams to integrate research ideas into our leadership programs and communities.

the

The Sanger Research Lab

During the Lab meetings, faculty and PhD students bring in cuttingedge research to discuss among peers for critique, new ideas, and diverse perspectives. Below are a few recent research papers the group discussed, which are pending publication.

• Teams and hierarchy. Hierarchical elasticity, where teams can flex how they interact to engage in “flatter matter” for brainstorming and a more hierarchical manner for execution, was shown to help teams perform better in a study of a start-up idea competition and a group-lab study. Harvard Business School PhD student, Nicole Abi-Esber, presented this work, which was done in combination with our faculty director Dr. Lindy Greer, Dr. Francesca Gino (Harvard Business School), and Dr. Annebel De Hoogh (University of Amsterdam).

Information withholding. When leaders visibly withhold information from their teams, this leads their team members to engage in destructive behavior against the organization. Michigan Ross PhD student, Elizabeth Trinh, presented this research, which was done in combination with Michigan Ross faculty Dr. Derek Harmon and Dr. Susan Ashford.

the future,

Lab is excited to accomplish the following goals:

Lab membership as well as research support

production and dissemination of bold ideas

the premier leadership research conference in the world

“As a Latina, we represent the lowest number of leadership positions in corporate America. I’m very aware that post-MBA, I will see very few of me. That’s a lot of pressure to make sure I’m making room for those that come after me — that I’m not the only Latina anymore.”

A

Learning to Lead: A Conversation with Christina Weiberg, MBA ’22

s a woman of color in a leadership position, Christina Weiberg, MBA ’22, feels a responsibility to make the most of her opportunities.

“I feel a lot of pressure to make sure that I’m always fighting for diversity, equity, and inclusion, and that I’m always putting the best foot forward,” said Christina. Upon graduating from the University of Michigan Ross School of Business, she accepted a position at Amazon working with maintenance and engineering teams that build the company’s fulfillment centers. “As a Latina, we represent the lowest number of leadership positions in corporate America. I’m very aware that post-MBA, I will see very few of me. That’s a lot of pressure to make sure I’m making room for those that come after me — that I’m not the only Latina anymore.”

The Sanger Leadership Center at Michigan Ross helped her realize what good leadership looks like for her and how she can use her past experiences to more effectively communicate with and lead other people.

“When I was applying for the MBA program, one of the things I was excited about was the Sanger Leadership Center,” Christina said. “I come from a coaching background, having been a software development team coach before coming to Ross. I had put in a lot of time and effort into being a good coach for others, but I realized I wanted to spend some time figuring out what leadership meant for me, learning how I could grow in management, how I can understand my values better. When I came to Michigan, I knew I wanted to be involved in everything Sanger. I actually completed all of the programs that Sanger has for MBA students to be involved in.”

That level of involvement in everything Sanger earned Christina the Michigan Ross Leader Endorsement, a micro-credential given to participants of Sanger’s pilot program that debuted in the 2021–2022 Academic Year. Initially open to all Full-time and Weekend MBAs, the program requires students to complete the following: personal leadership reports; Sanger flagship programs (Crisis Challenge, Leading Inclusive Teams, LDRx, Legacy Lab, Story Lab); at least one leadership elective; and the Capstone Assignment. The Leader Endorsement takes most students about 65 hours to complete.

The endorsement recognizes the accomplishments of students who spend a large portion of their time at Michigan dedicated to becoming better leaders. To earn the credential, students complete the program requirements at their own pace during their degree program. The endorsement’s guidelines expose students to a set of insightful workshops, reflections and experimentation, courses, and action-based learning activities.

“It was a really incredible opportunity to reflect back on the past two years and why these programs made an impact, why I cared about understanding my values to be a better leader and communicate that to others,” she said.

Christina, who was born in Colombia and grew up in a small town west of Minneapolis, believes a good leader is one who is honest internally and transparent externally. “Being that I’m a woman of color, I am very aware of the biases that I experience. I can’t expect to understand everyone’s lived experience. If I’m honest with myself that I have a particular lived experience, that means that every other person I talk to has their own lived experience. … For me as a coach, I want to be transparent and allow there to be open dialogue and conversation about the decisions that I make or the way that I’m choosing to engage in my leadership opportunities.”

Christina’s experience with Sanger programming taught her that even though she’s an MBA graduate of a premier business school such as Ross, she doesn’t actually have to have all of the answers. “In managerial positions, there is a lot of pressure — especially after MBA — so we tend to think we have to figure it out ourselves, but we don’t actually have to. We can ask the people we’re leading who’ve been with the company for 15 years. We can ask our peers or managers or the people we’re reporting to. We can also ask employees not in management because no matter the role, it’s important to trust our team for their expertise.”

She credits Sanger’s Legacy Lab — a two-day experience of workshops designed to help students unlock personal capabilities and increase influence and resilience — for taking the pressure off of creating a legacy suitable for a Ross MBA graduate and showing her that her legacy doesn’t have to be one that changes the world. It can simply be living a life that makes her feel complete and happy.

“It really opened me up to say, ‘I’m a holistic person. At the end of the day, I just want to travel — and that’s enough of a purpose. It doesn’t have to be something grandiose that changes the world. It just has to be something that makes me happy.’ I hadn’t thought of a legacy in that way before. I always thought it needed to be very extroverted and impactful for the rest of the world.” The two-day experience conducted over Zoom during the pandemic helped solidify for Christina what she wanted for her future.

Donors of Sanger Leadership Center are providing a truly unique, oftentimes even fun, experience to MBA students, Christina said.

“Sanger is fun,” she said. “It’s fun as a student to be able to spend time dreaming big, or looking at your past, or thinking about all of the different experiences you’ve had in your life that have culminated in this moment. … So many of the things we do during MBA are: ‘What can we do to put on our resume?’ And while Sanger can be put on our resume, more often than not, people walk away from its programs feeling like they’re personally satisfied, and that’s a very unique experience to have in an MBA program.”