UPenn, NWFA Finalize Curriculum for Business Leadership Course

The University of Pennsylvania's School of Arts and Sciences, along with the NWFA and three other flooring trade associations, has finalized the curriculum and established dates for the customized learning program that is the basis of The Institute for Leadership and Business Growth.

The institute is designed to enable participants to study the essentials of business management and develop new skills and strategies to grow their businesses. Access to the newly formed institute is limited to members in good standing of the NWFA, Association of Rug Care Specialists, North American Association of Floor Covering Distributors and the World Floor Covering Association.

"Leaders of the four trade associations and the Penn faculty and staff have invested a great deal of time and effort in ensuring that the courses offered provide value and an excellent return on investment," said NWFA Chairman Rick Holden.

The customized learning program will balance traditional classroom work with online courses, reducing the amount of time participants spend away from their businesses. Faculty will include professors from Penn's Wharton School, widely recognized as one of the world's leading business schools, and the School of Arts and Sciences' Organizational Dynamics Program, among other Penn faculty and practitioners.

The program will begin with a networking dinner on Jan. 13 on the University of Pennsylvania campus. This will be an opportunity for participants to network among themselves, meet and share background on their individual businesses with the faculty who will be instructing them, and define specific, business-related team projects in which they will be involved. Following, on Jan. 14-16, participants will reside on the Penn campus and study courses such as: Family Business Issues, Customer-Centric Innovation, and Negotiations.

Next, participants will take several online classes offering real-time classroom lectures, discussions with faculty and peers, and storage of all course work. Participants will be required to spend three hours or more per week taking classes in:

• Financial Management: Theory and Practice
• Entrepreneurial Marketing
• Communications and Branding
• Operations Management
• Human Resource Management: Recruitment and Retention Strategies

In April, participants will return to the Penn campus for a final two days of focused in-classroom learning. Course topics during this period will be:

• Leadership and Organizational Culture
• Leadership Development
• Leading Organizational Change
• Succession Planning as a Leadership Tool

During the final day, participants will present the findings and results of team projects. The presentations will be followed by a celebratory dinner, during which participants who have successfully completed the coursework will receive certificates from the University of Pennsylvania.

Participants must be business owners, senior managers or managers being groomed to lead a business in some capacity. Tuition is $7,800 per student, and a $2,000 deposit is required upon enrollment.

Interested participants can register here. For more information, contact Rita McGlone at [email protected].