Distinguished Speaker Series

April 6, 2021

February 6, 2020

“Quantum Leadership - Creating Value for You, Business and the World”

“Quantum leadership introduces an entirely different paradigm of business where the purpose becomes flourishing, meaning that businesses are actually contributing to creating a better world,” said Laszlo as he addressed the hundreds of students, faculty and guests who gathered at Moloney Hall on February 6. His latest book, “Quantum Leadership: New Consciousness in Business,” looks at how companies such as Tesla, Starbucks and Nike are embracing these principles.

Read more about Laszlo's visit at What Does Quantum Physics Have to Do with Business?

Raj Sisodia

April 30, 2019

The Donahue Center welcomed Raj Sisodia, FW Olin Distinguished Professor of Global Business and Whole Foods Market Research Scholar in Conscious Capitalism at Babson College, and Co-Founder and Co-Chairman of Conscious Capitalism Inc.

"The Healing Organization"

“This is the richest country in the history of the world,” Raj Sisodia told the roomful of students, “the stock market is at record highs, and unemployment is below 4 percent.” Then Sisodia, rattled off a few sobering statistics about the current financial condition of the United States. "One hundred million Americans, two-thirds of the workforce, are living paycheck to paycheck. It doesn’t have to be this way.”

Sisodia shared stories from his latest book, “The Healing Organization,” which examines how business can become the “primary agent” for healing communities – and the world.

Sisodia said the first step is for businesses to listen for and acknowledge the “silent suffering” of employees, who often do not want to share their burdens and appear vulnerable. He noted that in the last 35 years, worker pay in America has increased 10 percent, while CEO pay has gone up 937 percent “That is unconscious capitalism. That is exploiting the system to benefit a few,” said Sisodia, whose “Conscious Capitalism” philosophy is based on the belief that a more complex form of capitalism is emerging that has the potential to enhance corporate performance while also advancing the quality of life for billions of people.

Gabriella Boudreau, a senior business administration major appreciated Sisodia’s “heartfelt” message “I like the idea of business being able to create change in people’s lives. It was definitely nice to hear.”

Read more about Raj Sisodia's visit at Can Business Heal the World?

October 30, 2018

The Donahue Center for Business Ethics and Social Responsibility presented  Jack M. Wilson, UMass President Emeritus, Distinguished Professor of  Emerging Technologies & Innovation, and Founder of the Wilson Center for Entrepreneurship.

April 30, 2018

The Donahue Center for Business Ethics & Social Responsibility invited the UMass Lowell community to join New York Times best-selling author and award-winning writer James Carroll.

"American Crusade: The Deep & Deeper History of our Present Ethical & Social Crisis"

The deep history takes us from the War on Terrorism (Bush’s ‘Crusade’) back through the Manichaean Cold War to the twin horrors of Hiroshima and the Holocaust. But the deeper history goes back even further, to the Western imagination’s embrace of Holy War (Pope Urban’s Crusade), the arming and sacralizing of “Us-against-Them,” with dread consequences for Jews, Muslims - and ultimately people of color. Until we reckon with the unfinished disorder of the past — a task of social responsibility — we are at the mercy of the criminal insanity of the present. It does not have to be this way.

Prof. John Kaag, chair of the Philosophy Department, introduced the best-selling author and historian by referencing Aristotle’s best-known work, the “Nicomachean Ethics.”
“Aristotle says the problem with teaching ethics to young people is that they don’t necessarily have the ears for the lessons,” Kaag said. “This is a great paradox, because those youngsters are the people who might actually reform their lives still.”