39. Michele Williams

The Iowa Idea: Michele Williams

“2020 Is really the year of sensemaking.”

In this episode of The Iowa Idea Podcast, I sit down with Dr. Michele Williams. Professor Williams, Tippie College of Business, University of Iowa, has taught negotiations to executives, startups, MBAs, and undergraduates at leading schools of management for over ten years. She is co-author of the Four Capabilities Assessment. Michele’s research focuses on negotiation, leadership, sensemaking, and trust, as well as women in leadership and entrepreneurship.

We discuss the importance of diversity and inclusion improving sensemaking capabilities. We dig into the importance of sensemaking through the lens of her latest article “The Overlooked Key to Leading Through Chaos.” If you’re looking at ways to improve leadership in your organization, you’ll love this episode. Links to resources from Dr. Williams are in the episode description.

It was an honor having Michele on the podcast. I thank her for her time and insights. I hope you enjoy the episode.

About Michele

Professor Michele Williams, Tippie College of Business, University of Iowa, has taught negotiations to executives, startups, MBAs, and undergraduates at leading schools of management for over 10 years. She is co-author of the Four Capabilities Assessment.

The research and work of Dr. Williams (University of Michigan, Ph.D.), which began with a focus on Trust and Relationships at work, now intersects with work on Women in Leadership & Entrepreneurship. She addresses two challenges that organizations face:

Trust and Relationships—Building, maintaining, and repairing trust in team-based relationships and across demographic and organizational boundaries; Sustaining high performing, cross-boundary relationships.

Women in Leadership & Entrepreneurship— Social construction of gender; Gender equity within firms and across established and entrepreneurial ventures; Factors affecting women as team members, boundary spanners, and business owners.

Michele, assistant professor and the John L. Miclot Fellow in Entrepreneurship, recently joined the Management & Organizations’ faculty at the University of Iowa’s Tippie College of Business. She is also a scholar at Cornell University’s Scheinman Institute on Conflict Resolution and with the Smith Family Business Initiative Cornell’s Johnson College of Business. Previously, she was a member of the faculty at Cornell University and MIT’s Sloan School of Management.

She has authored papers and case studies, published in notable academic journals, and speaks at academic and professional conferences on her topics of research. She produced a unique course offering on Women in Leadership, Negotiation & Entrepreneurship, and has spoken on this topic at JP Morgan. She is co-author The Four Capabilities Leadership Assessment—an online 360° assessment used by organizations to enhance the leadership potential of managers.

Dr. Williams earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology at Johns Hopkins University, her Master of Arts degree in Education from Teachers College, Columbia University, and her Ph.D. in Organizational Behavior from the Ross School of Business, University of Michigan.

Sensemaking quiz:  https://drmichelewilliams.com/leading-through-chaos-quiz/

Sensemaking article: https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/the-overlooked-key-to-leading-through-chaos/

Website: HTTPs://drmichelewilliams.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drmichelewilliams/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/MicheleWilliamz

Credits

Episode produced by Spark Consulting Group (www.inspiredbyspark.com) in Iowa City, with support from Executive Podcast Solutions (https://www.executivepodcastsolutions.com/)

The Iowa Idea Podcast music written and performed by Paisley Bible (https://paisleybible.bandcamp.com/).