Dr. Jeana Wirtenberg Chaired an All Academy Symposium at the Academy of Management ( www.aomonline.org * was held on Sunday August 8 from 4:15-5:45 PM in the Le Palais Des Congres, 516C, Montreal, Canada. The Symposium featured luminaries Riane Eisler www.partnershipway.org speaking on her book "The Real Wealth of Nations:Creating a Caring Economics" along with esteemed panelists Peter Senge, Jay Barney and Jane Dutton.

The 2010 Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management was held on August 6-10 in Montréal, Canada. The conference theme, Dare to Care: Passion and Compassion in Management Practice and Research, dares all of us to care more deeply about our role in our family, in our workplace, and in our society. The theme wants all of us to have passion about what we do and compassion for the people for whom we do our work.

Eisler writes, "we need a new economics appropriate for the postindustrial era and for the sustainability and welfare of people and our planet. The choices we make today will determine our future. Leaders in business, governments, educational institutions, and NGOs are all looking for new models and practices.

Terms like care and caring, once shunned as too "soft," "feminine," and "impractical," are gaining currency in recognition of evidence that they are essential. This symposium examines a new theoretical framework and examples of empirical findings that validate the need and practicality of a caring economics."

The commentators on Eisler's presentation have each already made important contributions in this arena. The intention of the symposium is to break new ground and spark agroundswell of scholarly research and theory to expand, refine, and validate this new direction for economic policies, rules, and measurements as well as management and other business practices.

The symposium included interaction that invited scholars and researchers to help fuel and deepen this conversation.

"Creating a Caring Economics: Theory, Research, and Practice"

Keynote Speaker:

1. Riane Eisler, JD. President, Center for Partnership Studies Email: Eisler@partnershipway.org (also see flyer on pdf)

2. Chair: Jeana Wirtenberg, Ph.D., Senior Advisor, External Relations & Services, Institute for Sustainable Enterprise, Silberman College of Business, Fairleigh Dickinson University, and President and CEO, Transitioning to Green, LLC E-mail: jwirtenberg@transitioningtogreen.com

Panelists:

3. Peter Senge, Ph.D., Founding Chair, Society for Organizational Learning, Sr. Lecturer, MIT

4.. Jay Barney, Ph.D., Professor and Chase Chair of Strategic Management, Fisher College of Business, The Ohio State University

5. Jane Dutton, Ph.D.,  Robert L. Kahn Distinguished University Professor of Business Administration and Psychology, Stephen M. Ross School of Business, University of Michigan

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