The conceptual roots of THE COMMON GOOD run deep in history, in society, and in the study of leadership. Just what is best for a group may require sacrifices by some group members. Sometimes, these costs are borne by few and sometimes, by many. Almost always, The Common Good asks that we constrain or rethink self-interest. How can the resulting good be truly common if some people suffer in the process of achieving it? And who decides who sacrifices?
The Jepson Leadership Forum 2009-10 Season explores the complicated tensions between the individual and the community, cooperation and competition, regionalism and globalism, and partiality and impartiality.
2009
The Individual and Society:
How Would Mill Define ‘The Common Good'?
Richard Reeves I Sept. 16 I 7 p.m. I Jepson Alumni Center
Tickets available Thursday, Sept. 3, online or by phone (804) 289-8980
Considered by just about everyone to be the greatest public intellectual in British history, John Stuart Mill was a man full of ideas and a man fully engaged with the world. In his own time (1806-1873), he stood at the intersections of conflicts between enlightenment and romanticism, liberalism and conservatism, and historicism and rationalism. He was no ivory tower philosopher and to this day serves as a model for thinking about human problems in a serious and civilized way. Richard Reeves' biography John Stuart Mill: Victorian Firebrand explains Mill, a man who all his life attempted to define and promote individual liberty. Some 150 years ago, John Stuart Mill addressed a number of issues we still discuss today. When is freedom of speech trumped by national security? What is the place of religion in secular politics? When and on what basis can the state interfere in the behavior of individuals?
About the Speaker: Recognized as European Business Speaker of the Year in 2007, Richard Reeves' career spans business, the media, academia, central government, and the nonprofit sector. He is the co-founder of Intelligence Agency, an ideas consultancy, and has worked with many companies on corporate strategy and organizational change. Reeves was recently appointed director of Demos, a think tank with a vision of "a democracy of free citizens, with an equal stake in society." He holds a degree from Wadham College, Oxford University. The former economics correspondent of the Guardian and an editor of the Observer, he is well-known in the United Kingdom for his journalism.
Richard Reeves' appearance at the Jepson Leadership Forum is partly sponsored by the Robins School of Business and is also part of the James MacGregor Burns Lectureship in Leadership Studies and Biography.
A History of Violence
Steven Pinker I Oct. 7 I Noon I Jepson Alumni Center
Tickets available Thursday, Sept. 24, online or by phone (804) 289-8980
"The reduction of violence on scales large and small is one of our greatest moral concerns," so wrote Steven Pinker in his groundbreaking The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature. "We ought to use every intellectual tool available to understand what it is about the human mind and human social arrangements that leads people to hurt and kill so much." Has human life become more or less violent over the centuries? What should we expect, based on our understanding of human nature? And what have been the major trends, and what has caused them? Pinker will discuss the features of the human mind that lead to violence as well as those that lead to peace, and how the balance between them has shifted over time. With his light touch and deep intelligence-and with examples from everyday speech and pop culture-Pinker demonstrates how our words reflect the thoughts we think, the emotions we feel, and the relationships we hold.
About the Speaker: A native of Montreal, Pinker is Johnstone Family Professor of Psychology at Harvard University and has also taught at Stanford University and, for 21 years, at MIT. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, has won a number of teaching prizes, and was named among Newsweek's "100 Americans for the Next Century." Pinker was recently named one of the top 100 public intellectuals in the world by Foreign Policy magazine.
Dr. Pinker's visit to campus is partly supported by the Department of Psychology.
Hard Truths on Poverty and Human Rights
Irene Zubaida Khan I Oct. 23 I Noon I Modlin Center for the Arts
Tickets are not required for this event
Indignity, deprivation, suppression, insecurity, inequality: All are common experiences for many people. What does living in dignity mean to us? What responsibility do we have to advocate for the rule of law, the right to peaceful protest, and the need for a global, holistic, economic, social, and cultural solution to poverty and human rights abuses? Irene Khan, leader of Amnesty International, shares her view on the state of our world, from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, from the streets of Iran to the oil fields of the Niger Delta.
About the Speaker: Irene Zubaida Khan is the Secretary General of Amnesty International, the human rights organization. She is the first woman, the first Asian, the first Bangladeshi, and the first Muslim to hold the organization's highest leadership position. Khan grew up in a relatively wealthy family in what was then the eastern, Bengali-speaking wing of Pakistan (now Bangladesh), which was racked by poverty. Human rights abuses during the Bangladesh Liberation War, in which Bangladesh achieved independence, shaped Khan's activist viewpoint. She left Bangladesh as a teenager for school in Northern Ireland, and later studied at the University of Manchester and earned a law degree at Harvard University. She helped create several human rights organizations and then spent 20 years at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. She led important teams in India and Kosovo. In 2001, her first year as Amnesty's leader, she reformed Amnesty's response to crisis situations and initiated a global campaign against violence toward women.
Irene Zubaida Khan's visit to the University is partly supported by the Office of International Education, Women Involved in Living and Learning program, and the Westhampton College dean's office, which collaborates with Jepson on occasional "women in leadership" programs.
Dead Aid: The Moral Imperative to Find a Better Way in Africa
Dambisa Moyo I Nov. 16 I NOON I Modlin Center for the Arts
NOTE THIS IS A TIME CHANGE FROM PREVIOUS ANNOUNCEMENT AND FROM THE BROCHURE
Tickets available Thursday, Nov. 5, online or by phone (804) 289-8980
Economist Dambisa Moyo unflinchingly confronts what she sees as one of the greatest myths of our time. In the past 50 years, more than $1 trillion in development-related aid has been transferred from rich countries to Africa. There are three types of aid: humanitarian or emergency aid, dispensed in response to disasters; charity-based aid, disbursed by organizations; and systematic aid, paid directly through government-to-government transfers or through institutions like the World Bank. Not only has this aid not improved the quality of life for Africans, it has hurt more than it has helped. Moyo argues that foreign aid should be phased out and replaced with innovative ways to finance development including trade with China, accessing the capital markets, and microfinance. Suggesting that Western leaders are so desperate for answers about Africa that they will listen to anybody's advice, she dismisses today's celebrity culture of philanthropy and bashes the likes of Bono and Bob Geldolf.
About the Speaker: Born and educated in Zambia, Dambisa Moyo brings to her subject a rare combination of academic expertise and world experience. Her training in economics took her from the World Bank to Harvard University and on to Oxford University, where she obtained her doctorate. She also worked for eight years at Goldman Sachs. The author of Dead Aid: Why Aid is Not Working and How There is a Better way for Africa, she was named one of Time's most influential people in the world for 2009.
Dr. Moyo's visit to campus is supported in part by the Office of International Education, Modlin Center for the Arts, the Department of Theatre and Dance, Greater Richmond Alumni Chapter, and the Robins School of Business.
The African Company Presents Richard III
Dr. Moyo's Nov. 16 talk will be presented from the set of The African Company Presents Richard III in Alice Jepson Theatre. The play, written by Carlyle Brown and directed by Chuck Mike, is set in 1821 New York, where Billy Brown's African Company has mounted a financial and critical success with its all-black production of Shakespeare's Richard III. But the all-white Park Theatre next door mounts its own production and will stop at nothing to subdue their increasingly popular competition. Based on the true story of America's first black theatre company, this play eloquently tells the story of a small group of actors prepared to stand up and take center stage whatever the cost. This production began as a staged reading at Modlin in 2009 and then toured the United Kingdom. It is produced by the University of Richmond Department of Theatre and Dance and the University Players in collaboration with the African American Repertory Theatre and Collective Artistes (U.K.).
The performance runs Nov. 13-15 and 19-21.
To reserve tickets, call the Modlin Center Box Office at (804) 289-8980 or visit modlin.richmond.edu.
Tickets are $15 for adults, $12 for seniors (65+) and alumni, $10 for students, and $6 for children (0-12).
2010
Living with Relativism:
Can We Find a Common Good in a Morally Diverse World?
Jesse J. Prinz I Jan. 27 I 7 p.m. I Jepson Alumni Center
Tickets available Thursday, Jan. 14, online or by phone (804) 289-8980
Throughout the historical and anthropological record, we find striking examples of moral variation. The evidence suggests that human societies do not revolve around a shared stock of values, but rather vary on almost every imaginable dimension. Such variation has led to insights into the origins of morality, and it has helped researchers in psychology and neuroscience recognize that moral values have a basis in emotion rather than pure reason. This is illuminating, but variation also poses a practical challenge. Societies are increasingly pluralistic, and international relations often bring together nations with opposing perspectives. We praise mutual respect, but the very psychological factors that underlie moral variation also tend to promote a degree of moral absolutism, and we see our moral adversaries as deplorably confused. We must find ways to cope with this predicament. Ironically, the search for a common good may begin with the recognition that, in some sense, there is no common good.
About the Speaker: Jesse Prinz is a philosopher who studies how the mind works. Appointed Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York in 2009, Prinz works primarily in the philosophy of psychology, broadly construed. He thinks that philosophical accounts of the mental can be fruitfully informed by findings from psychology, the neurosciences, anthropology, and related fields. He examines the nature of the concept of good, arguing that it cannot be expressed simply as a set of objective standards or a projection
of individual preferences, but rather exists as a combination of the two. Prinz has also authored several related works, including Furnishing the Mind (2002), Gut Reactions (2004), and The Emotional Construction of Morals (2007). He holds a doctoral degree from the University of Chicago.
Dr. Prinz's visit to campus is partially sponsored by the Department of Philosophy and the Program in Philosophy, Politics, Economics, and Law.
The Power of We
Robert B. Cialdini I Feb. 17 I 7 p.m. I Jepson Alumni Center
Tickets available Thursday, Feb. 4, online or by phone (804) 289-8980
Leadership above and beyond anything else is a set of relationships among people. No scholar is better qualified than Robert B. Cialdini to discuss what moves people to work together toward a common good or goal. What he calls "the influence process" is a set of principles such as reciprocation, commitment, and social validation that define a leader's capacity to generate and manage change.
This program will consider some of the most vexing questions people face in working with others in any setting-be it within a business or organization or community or political setting. Just how do groups of people arrive at a common good? How can we build relationships to facilitate goals? What can change rivals to make them want to work together? What can make seemingly unrelated, angry people bond together to accomplish meaningful goals? What can we do to create a "we" relationship? And how can this be accomplished ethically and effectively in our world? A vast body of scientific evidence, much of it generated by Dr. Cialdini, shows how, when, and why people act in response to others.
About the Speaker: In the academic field of influence and persuasion, Robert B. Cialdini is the most cited social psychologist living today. Extensive scholarly training, together with more than 30 years of research, has earned Cialdini an international reputation as an expert in the fields of persuasion, compliance, and negotiation. His works Influence: Science and Practice, Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, and Yes! 50 Scientifically Proven Ways To Be Persuasive examine reasons why people comply with requests in business settings. Worldwide, Influence has sold nearly two million copies, has been published in 24 languages and is on the CEO Read's 100 Top Business Books of All Time. Cialdini received his Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina and postdoctoral training from Columbia University. He teaches at Arizona State University.
Dr. Cialdini's visit to campus is partly supported by the Department of Psychology and the Robins School of Business.
A Community Conversation on the Common Good
March 2 I Jepson Alumni Center
Attendance will require registration: Details available in January
The Jepson School of Leadership Studies, the Bonner Center for Civic Engagement at the
University of Richmond, Leadership Metro Richmond, and LEADVirginia-all organizations interested in building social capital and furthering public discourse around topics of mutual concern-are organizing a daytime event to bring people together in conversation on topics of concern. Seating will be very limited for this event. No tickets will be issued, but registration will be required. To be added to the e-mail list for further information, e-mail Jepson@richmond.edu with "March 2" in the subject line or call (804) 287-6522.
Private Money/Public Causes
Spring 2010 I Jepson Alumni Center
Attendance will require registration: Details available in January
The Jepson School of Leadership Studies and Westhampton College will co-host a program on Women in Leadership and Philanthropy. Details will be available in January 2010. Check the
University calendar or www.jepson.richmond.edu, or call (804) 287-6522. To be added to the e-mail list for further information, e-mail Jepson@richmond.edu.
- Refer to each event listing for the date that tickets become available for that event.
- Reserve tickets by calling the Modlin Center Box Office at (804) 289-8980 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays.
- Or, for a nominal processing fee, tickets may be reserved online at modlin.richmond.edu.
- Patrons may pick up tickets at the Modlin Center Box Office prior to the day of the event or at the Will Call table the evening of a Forum.
Please keep in mind that seating is limited for Forum events. While the Jepson School of Leadership Studies opens these programs to all as a public service, many seats are reserved for students, faculty, and other partners. Seats released to the
public go fast.
For more information on tickets, groups, and parking, visit our Web site.
jepson.richmond.edu/forum/2009-10/tickets.html
