Leadership Forum at William Paterson University

As some of you may know, I am a member of the Dean's Advisory Board for the Cotsakos School of Business at William Paterson University in Wayne, NJ. The school is accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Business Schools (AACSB) a very prestigious recognition for the school. The Cotsakos School of Business is led by Dean Sam Basu. Dean Basu wants to grow & develop the school and so, in a recent meeting, we talked about the idea of creating a Leadership Forum. The purpose of the Forum is to have a steady stream of accomplished individuals come before the students and impart helpful information to them about their career accomplishments. I will be the "host", asking questions of the "guest" leader. I will try to draw out interesting anecdotes and helpful information from the guest leader to help the students learn more about what it takes to effectively lead.

Our first Leadership Forum will be held on December 1. Although the event will not be open to the public, we expect to have a few VIP guests on hand to listen to the conversation I will have with Dr Bami Bastani. Bami is a fascinating person. He came to America from Iran in the mid 1970's to get his college degree and rose to become CEO of Anadigics, (AN: NASDAQ) a supplier of computer chips for the cellular telephon business. This is going to be fun because Bami's story is so interesting. The students will get plenty of opportunity to ask Bami questions after the initial conversation with me.

Who knows how this Forum will benefit a future leader sitting in the audience that night? That is another key aspect of what makes the Forum so interesting.

I will be writing more about the Leadership Forum in future blogs.

I hope is going well with you and invite your comments or questions.

Warm regards
Keith