Supporting local economic growth with the latest offering in the Business and Society Lecture Series
Staying at the forefront of business and local economic trends is of high priority for the School of Business and Economics (SBE) at UW-Stevens Point. Since 2020 business practices have had many shifts and changes, requiring agility. Understandably, it can be extremely challenging to stay up to date on these new practices on top of the extra workload so many companies and organizations are facing.
Forbes defines an agile leader as having some of the following qualities: openness, accepting, collaborative, comfortable being uncomfortable, always listening, continuously learning, resilient, curious, leading by example, and being flexible. To meet the rapidly changing economy, SBE is bringing in Liz Nilsen, associate director of the Agile Strategy Lab at the University of North Alabama, director of operations of the Strategic Doing Institute and co-author of the award-winning 2019 book, Strategic Doing: Ten Skills for Agile Leadership for the upcoming Business and Society Lecture Series. Through her experience and research Nilsen is the right fit for expanding agility in the Central Wisconsin community.
“Strategic Doing empowers leaders to design and guide new networks that generate innovative solutions. It is a new strategy discipline that is lean, agile and fast—just what organizations, communities and regions need to survive and thrive,” said Nilsen.
In today’s global economy, focused collaboration and innovation are key for success. Strategic Doing is a framework designed to facilitate collaboration amongst the loose networks common in business today. These networks could be composed of different businesses and community partners with a common goal or different units within a single organization. The Strategic Doing framework is ideal for tackling complex, interconnected problems.
Nilsen’s background includes leadership of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) initiatives at local, regional, and state levels, as well as work with a number of higher-education change initiatives. Her nonprofit experience includes program design and management, fundraising, operations, and executive leadership. Nilsen has authored research articles as well as publications for organizations seeking to address issues of community vitality. She earned her BA from Stanford and an MBA from Northeastern University. As a Strategic Doing Fellow, she regularly teaches innovation and collaboration to many university, business and community groups.
On Oct. 28, Nilsen will present Strategic Doing: Leadership for Flourishing Communities. The presentation will be sponsored by the Tommy G. Thompson Center on Public Leadership at UW-Madison. Additionally on Oct. 27, as the keynote speaker, Nilsen will present Strategic Doing: Beyond the Big Idea at the UW-Stevens Point Women Trailblazers and Entrepreneurs Conference in Wausau. The conference is focused on impact, action and motion.
Do you want to take your leadership to the next level? Looking for ways to improve your community collaboration? To learn more about the Women Trailblazers and Entrepreneurs Conference visit uwsp.edu/wtec. To learn more about the Business and Society Lecture Series visit uwsp.edu/business or contact Carie Winn at 715-346-2448.