Lifelong Learning What do you most need to learn to be an even more effective leader?

What strategies are most effective for managing upwards? How do you compel higher-ups within your company, or your client, to do things when you have little formal authority to compel them

How to align and focus on the big picture; best practices in strategy formulation and implementation.

An overview of the challenges, opportunities and cultural patterns that are inherent in not-for profit organizations, and strategies for navigating successful careers shifts into those organizations and roles.

Developing the capacity to: not hold back anything that needs to be said but to remain collegial; providing current, direct, complete, and “actionable” positive and corrective feedback to others; letting people know where they stand; facing up to people problems on any person or situation (not including direct reports) quickly and directly; willingness to take negative action when necessary.

Development of strategies and networks to facilitate reentry into the workplace after a brief or extended hiatus.

A lot has been written on IQ, EQ, etc. as they relate to leadership. One new area of intelligence is spiritual intelligence. Spiritual intelligence (distinct from both spirituality and religion) is defined by Cindy Wigglesworth as "the innate human need to be connected to something larger than ourselves, something we consider to be divine or of exceptional nobility." It would be interesting to see this concept influences leadership.

Many of us after graduating with our MBA go out to find the job of our dreams. But after a few years we either don't find meaning in what we are doing, don't feel like we are learning anymore, or are just ready to try something new. People are now known to change careers multiple times throughout their lives and it would be very interesting to get some insights into this from our more experienced alumni or others with this experience.

How does one transition to become a successful Director on an organization's Board? Defining legal responsibilities, current best practices, case studies on working through challenging issues and suggestions as what to make board vs. shareholder issues in documentation could be a useful topic that will apply to many current and future Wharton alumni.

Creating a climate in which people want to do their best; motivating many kinds of direct reports and team or project members; assessing each person’s hot button and use it to get the best out of him/her; pushing tasks and decisions down; empowering others; inviting input from each person and sharing ownership and visibility

Negotiation skills are the most critical and one cannot get enough training. Aligned to that are training how to portray "presence". The latter is important the more senior one gets

How to create and lead teams that work collaborately towards achieving results. Setting expectations, getting buy-in, leading without direct authority, navigating interpersonal challenges.

When and how to best utilize various communication methods, and ways to craft messages effectively. Special attention should be given to the benefits and challenges of different methods - i.e.: txt v. email v. Facebook. When to use paper and snail mail v. electronic communication...

Studies show that past $75K annually, there is little correlation between wealth and happiness. What should we do with data?

Real estate's central role in the Great Recession needs to be reviewed by a highly knowledgeable speaker, who then will discuss regulatory, taxation, industry, and other proposed reforms that will dramatically lessen the chance of another debacle like the one that we're currently enduring. I might suggest Peter Linneman, economist and former Wharton Real Estate Center director, to be the speaker. This topic, which is general in nature, should be relevant and important to everyone at the reunion.

How to encourage and support collaborative efforts that span across organizaitonal functions. Breaking down silos; managing expectations, roles, resources; motivating around shared goals and commitments.