Instructor: Michael Lenox, Tayloe Murphy Professor of Business Administration, Special Advisor for the Dean, UVA Darden School of Business 

Critical to working as an independent researcher, or in a business, or any organization, is learning to think strategically. In this session, you will explore the meaning and importance of business strategy to an organization's competitive positioning and success. You'll learn about strategic analysis and SWOT, competitor, and environmental analysis tools. Central to the success of any organization is the ability to leverage capabilities to deliver value for all stakeholders. In this session, we'll also examine the tangible and intangible assets that form an organization's strength. 

Cohort Description: Most people associate the term “business” with the private sector. However, business skills and models are widely applied in every sector: public, private and non-profit (which includes academia). You are acquiring many transferable skills in your Ph.D. program that can be applied in academic roles as well as within a variety of industries and job functions. Join the business skills learning cohort to better understand foundational concepts and language of business. This learning cohort includes experiential learning in the form of group capstone presentations under guidance of alum mentors. 

Broad Topics include:

1. Purpose, ethics, and responsibility: stakeholder theory

2. Analysis of strategy and operations 

3. Data science in business

4. Leadership and mentoring

5. Negotiation

6. Financial 360

7. Business Communications

8. Business of higher ed