Chief Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Officer

Leading Change 

People often dislike uncertainty at work and often fear or avoid change altogether. One of the most important roles of leadership then is to manage change and cope with uncertainty in your teams and organizations. This session explores the challenges and opportunities involved in change management, especially the areas of employee resistance, how to overcome it, and how to champion results. This session is a joint session with other C-Suite participants. 

Faculty:  

• Dr. Tori Grady, Associate Professor of Management, School of Business, George Mason University 

Being a Leader in the C-Suite 

This session builds your capacity to engage in the successful practices of leadership as a member of the C-Suite. The emphasis is on your way of being as a leader (the observer you are) and enhancing your capacity to declare commitments to future possibilities and engage others in sharing and fulfilling those commitments. The Session discusses the importance of context in confronting managerial challenges and creating opportunities. Explores the role of leadership in shaping conversations that create empowering contexts for organizational actions. 

Faculty:  

• Dr. Greg Unruh, Arison Chair in Values Leadership, Associate Professor, College of Humanities and Social Science, George Mason University. 

Relational-Based Leadership 

It is up to leaders to create an environment in which individuals find meaning and motivation, perform, thrive, and are resilient. This comes not just from money or prestige, but because of the positive relationships they hold at work. This session allows individuals to appreciate how leaders can improve by taking a relational view towards others in the organization. To lead is to speak directly to the workforce, to understand their concerns, pinch points, frustrations, and pain. Taking a relational view goes beyond your individual relationship with each employee; it encompasses understanding the network of employee relationships. 

Faculty:  

• Dr. Kevin Rockmann, Professor of Management, School of Business, George Mason University. 

Creating a Positive Corporate Culture 

Introduces the construct of emotional culture and demonstrates the importance of cultivating a positive emotional culture for employees, teams, divisions, and organizations. Distinguishing among the key emotions impacting culture and describing how individuals and organizations can achieve enhanced employee health and wellbeing. Provide evidence-based techniques that managers can integrate into their daily work practices to increase personal and professional success. 

Faculty:  

• Mandy O’Neill, Associate Professor of Management, School of Business, George Mason University. 

Building Business Acumen for the C-Suite 

Provides an overview to the principles and practices of business acumen; what separates C-Suite Executives who excel from those who do not; and how to successfully engage with other members of the C-Suite by applying the principles to everyday conversations and interactions. This session is a joint session with other C-Suite participants. 

Faculty:  

• Dr. Tom Davies, Executive-in-Residence, School of Business, George Mason University 

Value Creation and Customer/Stakeholder Equity 

In this session, participants will learn how executives make decision to create, communicate, capture, and deliver value to their customers or stakeholders. Successfully developing and deploying a critical value-based strategy that focuses on maximizing customer/stakeholder value and need satisfaction is essential for organizational performance and mission successful. 

Faculty:  

• Dr. Brett W. Josephson, Associate Professor of Marketing, School of Business, George Mason University. 

Business & Sustainability 

Historically, social expectations of businesses have been limited to the creation of wealth for shareholders and the simultaneous creation of jobs and economic development in their communities. Now, however, the last two decades has seen societal expectations shift toward creation social and environmental value in addition to economic returns. This course provides participants with frameworks and strategies they can use to align their business value creation with emerging social and environmental expectations.  

Faculty:  

• Dr. Greg Unruh, Arison Chair in Values Leadership, Associate Professor, College of Humanities and Social Sciences. 

Innovation 

This session strengthens the participant’s innovation acumen by acquainting them with the latest thinking on innovation and exposing them to proven strategies and best practices to transforming promising ideas into actionable innovations that move their organizations forward. 

Faculty:  

• Dr. Tom Davies, Executive-in-Residence, School of Business, George Mason University 

Strategic Thinking, Value Proposition Models and Mission Fulfillment 

This session provides analytical tools to focus on value creation in an organization through the concept of business model innovation and its links to strategic management and strategic thinking. This session is a joint session with other C-Suite participants. 

Faculty:  

• Dr. Mahesh Joshi, Associate Professor of Management, School of Business, George Mason University 

Developing and Executing a Strategic Plan 

In this session, participants will gain an understanding of what is strategy. Identify links between organizations and types of strategy as well as how resources and assets link to different business models and mission objectives. 

Faculty: 

• Dr. Mahesh Joshi, Associate Professor of Management, School of Business, George Mason University. 

Community Involvement

In this topic, we will discuss the value of listening to our communities. We will also explore how to elevate the funds of knowledge that exist within our communities, empathize with their needs, and learn how to co-create possibilities with these diverse and dynamic communities. This topic will ask participants to identify conscious and unconscious biases that create positive and negative impacts (either intended or unintended)  on the services, operations, policies, practices of their community relationships. 

Faculty:

• Cathy Harrell, Consultant and Operations ProfessionalConsultant and Operations Professional, DreamVision Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Consultants, LLC 

Measuring Diversity

The purpose of this topic is to engage participants in lively discussion around leading practices in measuring diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), while exploring practical tools to support measurement along with the business case for DEI systems within a variety of organizations.

Faculty:

• Chuck Barber, Chief Diversity Officer, National Science Foundation
• Mark Livingston, Assistant Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Manpower, Personnel, Training and Education, US Department of the Navy

Anticipating Change

This topic will focus on strategies for developing an enduring DE&I framework with controls to monitor sources to anticipate change.  This topic will also highlight best practices for maintaining strategic focus through effective communications, stakeholder management, governance, and various other strategies.

Faculty:

• Chuck Barber, Chief Diversity Officer, National Science Foundation
• Mark Livingston, Assistant Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Manpower, Personnel, Training and Education, US Department of the Navy

Stakeholder Management

The purpose of this topic is to introduce participants to best practices for managing DEI with both internal and external stakeholders. Managing internal and external stakeholders creates a more significant impact on DEI efforts and strategies.

Faculty:

• Chuck Barber, Chief Diversity Officer, National Science Foundation
• Mark Livingston, Assistant Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Manpower, Personnel, Training and Education, US Department of the Navy

Barriers to Effectiveness: Mindsets and Biases

The purpose of this topic is to increase awareness among participants of assumptions, biases and mindsets, assist them in identifying them in the workplace, and understand the impacts they have on their organization’s diversity, equity, and inclusion agenda.

Faculty

• Anne Lauer, George Mason University, School of Business, Dean's Teaching Faculty Fellow

The Tone From the Top: Internal Engagement

The purpose of this topic is to introduce participants to best practices for managing DEI internally.  Strategy, key outcomes, measures of effectiveness and the DEI operational concept are critical to providing leadership vision and tone from the top.

Faculty:

• Chuck Barber, Chief Diversity Officer, National Science Foundation
• Mark Livingston, Assistant Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Manpower, Personnel, Training and Education, US Department of the Navy

A combination of Mason faculty, adjuncts, and subject matter experts teach in the program. 

An advisory council of professionals at the c-suite level help George Mason University develop the program curricula, which is dynamic and changes based on feedback and emerging practices. 

Not at this time. 

Preferred pricing for government employees is $7,650. A promotional code will be provided to those accepted into the program. Please call (703) 993-8275 if you are a Mason employee or would like to discuss a group rate.   

The $8,500 program cost includes all materials, activities, catering, receptions, and a certificate of completion. 

You must first submit an online application. Once accepted into the program, you will be provided directions on how to register and pay. 

Participants should expect to spend six full days at the George Mason University Arlington Campus as well as participating in 5-6 online topics delivered in two-week increments. For each two-week topic there will be approximately 8-10 hours of learning including readings, videos, video presentations, live sessions, discussion boards, and assignments. 

As a hybrid program, topics are covered during two multi-day in-person sessions and online.  

There are six in-person days and approximately four months of online delivery.  

Online topics include a combination of asynchronous components such as discussion boards, presentations, videos, and assignments, as well as live synchronous sessions. Expect one to three scheduled live sessions for each online topic. These generally start between 7 and 8 p.m. ET. Live sessions are recorded and posted the next day. 

Zoom or Blackboard Collaborate is used for live online sessions. A tutorial is provided to participants in pdf form, and an optional live tutorial session is offered as well. All registered participants are given access to Blackboard approximately two weeks prior to the start of the program. 

This is a non-credit executive development program so you will not earn university credit. However, CEUs (continuing education units) authorized by George Mason University are available upon request. At least two weeks prior to the start of the program, please send your request to execdev@gmu.edu. You will be asked to provide additional personal information in order to have your CEUs properly recorded.   

Participants will not be graded, but In order to receive a certificate of completion, participants will need to complete a minimum of 80 percent of the work assigned (including assignments, deliverables, discussion boards, and live sessions). At the end of each topic, faculty are asked to provide a summary of participant’s engagement. 

The maximum number of participants for a single cohort is 20. 

Most participants have at least six years of management experience and are at the Director level or above. Approximately half of the participants have been from the public/non-profit sector and half from the private sector. The average age of participants is 45. 

No. Participants are admitted on a rolling basis up to the start of the program or until the cohort is full.