Delta Sigma Pi at Wisconsin School of Business, March 2020 Kayla and Alex gave a talk on their publication, Women’s Leadership is Associated with Fewer COVID-19 Deaths: Quantitative and Qualitative Analyses, focusing on the key findings and implications for young leaders. During the first half of the talk, Kayla and Alex reviewed the literature on women’s leadership, explained their study which examined women governors during the COVID-19 pandemic, and discussed directions for future research. During the last half, they answered student questions.
Women’s Leadership in a Crisis: Executive Speaker Series, Sept 2020 Kayla facilitated a panel discussion on Women’s Leadership in a Crisis, hosted by Edgewood College. The coronavirus disease that emerged in 2019 shed a light on the need for effective leadership in a crisis. Dr. Sergent’s research found that women tend to be preferred over men as leaders during uncertain times. She was joined for this engaging discussion by a panel of successful female leaders across higher education – Dr. Victoria Palmisano, politics – WI Senate Rep Kelda Roys, the nonprofit sector – President and CEO of United Way Dane County Renee Moe, and industry – Assembly General Supervisor at John Deere Michele Kaiser. Each shared their insights on what it takes to be an effective leader during a crisis. Over 200 RSVPs were received.
Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development, February 2020
Kayla and Alex gave a talk on their book, Cognitive Automation, focusing on the differences between algorithmic vs. real managers and system 1 and system 2 thinking. The talk provided an overview of priming, reviewed the latest empirical evidence, and discussed practical applications.
Executive and Evening MBA Research Colloquium, October 2019
New business realities have placed a premium on employee cognitive processing to fulfill complex jobs. But conscious cognitive capacity is limited, making it nearly impossible for employees to keep up without being overloaded. Stajković and Sergent refuted the common assumption that technological automation is the only way forward. Instead, they tackled the issue of employee cognitive overload by proposing an alternative solution. The professors discussed cutting edge research with nearly 40 alumni of the WSB MBA programs. The talk canvased a broad range of knowledge concerning employee cognitive overload in contemporary organizations.
HR@UW 2018 Innovating in HR, December 2018
In today’s organizations, fewer employees than ever report harboring prejudice, yet reports of work discrimination are rising. This creates an equivocal social dilemma. Are people misreporting their true beliefs or are those claiming discrimination too sensitive? Alex and Kayla provided 75-minute talk on the interaction of conscious and subconscious prejudice as causes of workplace discrimination to a full room of over 80 Human Resource Professional’s as part of the UW-Madison Central HR’s 2018 Conference. In their presentation, they explained how conscious and subconscious prejudice interact to cause unintentional discrimination by detailing how subconscious prejudice forms, how it can be primed without awareness, and how it undermines conscious intent not to discriminate.
WE Energies, October 2018
Kayla assisted Alex with a full day program on Organizational Culture to over 40 employees in the We Energies environmental department. This program was designed in three parts: 1) What is organizational culture; 2) Organizational culture change; and 3) Employee assimilation to the new organizational culture.
HR@UW 2017 Building Partnerships for Success, December 2017
Kayla assisted Alex with a 75-minute talk on Motivating Exceptional Performance by Transformational Leadership to a full room of over 80 Human Resource Professional’s as part of the UW-Madison Central HR’s 2017 Conference.
Cummins, August 2017
Alex and Kayla provided a three-day training on Creating a Culture of Creative Presence to over 35 engineers. How do we create a culture of creative presence? How do we find creative employees? These questions stump executives. They know creative thinking is a “secret sauce” in hypercompetitive business world. However, they have had little training about techniques that can foster creativity. This program was designed to address this need. It consists of three integrated themes: Creativity foundations, creativity killers and enhancers, and application. Each theme is based on creativity literature, and is infused with experiential activities, short videos, podcasts, and visual aids.
HR@UW 2016 Developing a Culture of Collaboration, December 2016
Kayla assisted Alex with a 75-minute talk on Motivating Exceptional Performance by Transformational Leadership to a full room of over 80 Human Resource Professional’s as part of the UW-Madison Central HR’s 2016 Conference.