Dixie State College of Utah’s Udvar-Hazy School of Business will host its penultimate bi-monthly noontime Business and Ethics Forum of the 2009 spring semester this Thursday, April 2, featuring a presentation by St. George area real estate and investment professional Steve Wilson.
The Business and Ethics Forum, presented every other Thursday throughout DSC’s spring semester, will be held in the Boeing Auditorium (Room 121) of the DSC Udvar-Hazy Business Building. DSC students, faculty and staff, the entire Washington County business community, and the general public are all invited to attend. Admission is free.
Wilson will share his presentation entitled “The 5 ½ Secrets to Happiness & Success in Life & Business,” which will draw upon his almost 30 years of experience in the corporate world and will attempt to illuminate the path ahead for those working to complete their education and get on the road. He will incorporate the insights of some of the world’s greatest thinkers, such as baseball great Yogi Berra, who is attributed for having said “You can observe a lot just by watching.”
In addition, Wilson will argue that greed has caused us to think in terms of business ethics, as if there is a different code of ethics that should govern business dealings, and he will discuss how many individuals get into trouble in business by focusing on selfish desires rather than the secret of serving others. Wilson will also share a number of his other business secrets, including having an attitude of gratitude, along with the law of attraction and the six degrees of separation (Network Theory), among others.
Wilson currently runs Wilson Realty and is a managing partner of Will2Win, CRW Holdings and BTW Investments. Prior to that he worked for over 20 years at Dixie Regional Medical Center, where he served as CEO along with other management positions.
Wilson is a graduate of Brigham Young University, where he earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Social Psychology and a Master’s Degree in Public Administration. In addition, he is working toward his Ph.D. in Health Services Management from the University of Iowa. Wilson has served on a number of civic and business councils and committees and has earned a number of awards, including an Honorary Doctorate of Humanities from Dixie State College in 2004.
The Forum will wrap up its 2008-09 schedule Thursday, April 16, with a presentation by Jack Rolfe, physical therapist and founder of the School of Life Foundation.
Each speaker throughout the semester will speak on business matters in their respective professions and have been asked to integrate ethics into the discussion.
The bi-monthly forum, along with campus’ Institute for Business Integrity, was created by former DSC president Dr. Robert Huddleston in 2006, as a way to integrate ethics into the curriculum, and have it serve as a blueprint to ensure that students graduate with a set of ethical tools to help them get along in the professional world.
In 2006-07, Dixie State’s business program sought initial accreditation with the high profile Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB). In order to become accredited with the AACSB, ethics were required to be integrated into the college’s business curriculum. As a result, each business class on the DSC campus now includes an ethical component.
Dr. Huddleston noted that the business forums will give students – and current and prospective local business owners – an added dose of ethics training that is so sorely needed into today’s business world. His hope is that by the time students leave Dixie State, they have been exposed to enough ethical cases that, when they get out in the workforce, they will have the wherewithal and the intestinal fortitude to do the right thing, even when their job might be on the line.
“The Institute for Business Integrity has brought an important opportunity for the business community, as well as DSC faculty and students, to emphasize the significance of social responsibility for business and industry in Washington County,” Dr. Huddleston said. “As research indicates, ethics contribute to employee commitment, investor loyalty, customer satisfaction and to profits.”
The Dixie State College Institute for Business Integrity is a partnership between the Udvar-Hazy School of Business at Dixie State College, the Small Business Development Center, the Washington County Economic Development Council, and the St. George Area Chamber of Commerce.
For questions regarding the DSC Institute for Business Integrity forums, contact Dr. Huddleston at huddleston@dixie.edu or 435-652-7740.
