Susan J. McGregor Memorial Lecture on Women's Leadership

Reimagining Leadership: Who Gets to Lead and Why?

Featuring Shari Dunn
Journalist, lawyer and executive changemaker

Livestream April 30

The details

Reimagining leadership: Who gets to lead and why?

Wednesday, April 30, 2025

7 – 8 p.m. (PDT)
Austin Auditorium, LaSells Stewart Center
Limited seating available
Available via livestream on April 30
Free to attend 

 

Empowering the next generation of ethical leaders

In this thought-provoking lecture, Shari Dunn examines how our unspoken assumptions about what leaders should look like, sound like and act like create barriers to building truly innovative organizations. This discussion occurs as technology, changing workplace demographics and evolving social values are fundamentally reshaping leadership expectations.

Dunn directly challenges the outdated "Great Man Theory" of leadership that still unconsciously influences hiring, promotion and succession planning in many businesses. In its place, she introduces the concept of "Leader as Learner" — a framework that values adaptability, collaboration and diverse perspectives as essential business advantages rather than optional add-ons.

By understanding how bias affects leadership selection, our students and community members gain the awareness needed to create and work within more equitable workplaces where every individual's potential can be nurtured and realized.

Drawing from personal experience, leadership theory and research, Dunn explores how gender, race and cultural expectations shape our ideas of competence and authority. She also offers concrete strategies for future business leaders to navigate and change not only the narrative but reality.

This lecture connects directly to the College of Business's commitment to sustainable and socially responsible solutions. By recognizing how leadership diversity fosters innovation, improves decision-making, and creates more resilient organizations, we advance our mission of crafting business environments where technological advancement and human potential reinforce each other.

Please join us in person or livestream.

About the Speaker

Shari Dunn brings real-world expertise from her diverse career spanning journalism, law, higher education and executive leadership. Named Executive of the Year (2018) and a Women of Influence Award recipient (2019), her insights on leadership and workplace dynamics have been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Time magazine and Fast Company.

Dunn's groundbreaking work on "competency checking" offers practical solutions for organizations seeking to build more equitable and effective leadership pipelines — precisely the kind of innovative thinking that drives positive societal change in business. Her book, "Qualified: How Competency Checking and Race Collide at Work," is available now.

Susan J. McGregor

About Susan J. McGregor

The Susan J. McGregor Memorial Lecture on Women's Leadership is made possible through the estate of Susan J. McGregor in keeping with her interest in support of the advancement of women.

Susan J. McGregor, College of Business '85, passed away in 2014 after a valiant battle with brain cancer. Her career included stints at the Internal Revenue Service and Coopers and Lybrand before she joined Microsoft, where she rose through the ranks of the tax department to become one of the company's first female general managers in 2007. She was an Alpha Phi, an avid Beaver believer and a generous friend to the OSU Foundation.

The College of Business is honored to be able to continue her legacy by hosting this endowed women’s leadership lecture in her honor every year.

Center For Advancing Diversity, Equity and Inclusion In Business
This lecture is hosted by the OSU Center for Advancing Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in Business, which empowers students, alumni, business professionals and organizations with strategies, research and training to foster inclusiveness. Learn more about the center and how to contribute to our community.