Category Archives: General Info

You can return after 40 years – perspectives from my U of Chicago Booth School of Business Reunion – Part 1 of 2

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Doing what I love most on my birthday – teaching diversity and inclusion prior to attending my 40th MBA class reunion.

What fortuitous luck! I had been assigned to teach the National Diversity Council’s DiversityFIRST Certification class in Chicago during my 64th birthday and immediately prior to my 40th MBA class reunion. So after having not been back in 35 years (I did go to a 5th year class reunion dinner) I signed up.

Yes – you can “go back home” as the say after four decades; it was a wonderful experience. I actually did not meet anybody from my class who I knew while in school, but I did meet many wonderful new classmates and other people. And a highlight was going back to three special classes taught by current professors for alumni. I loved the intellectual stimulation! Part 2 will focus specifically on the content of those classes.

The first stop was going to the newish Gleacher Center in downtown Chicago on Thursday May 2nd; that building did not exist when I was in school 40 years ago. I loved the energy right away while riding the elevator with two professors who were discussing the importance of having passion for whatever you are doing – such a vital message for all of us.

The University of Chicago downtown Gleacher Center – my first time being there!

That evening was the huge cocktail reception with all the classes. Luckily I was able to run into three alums from my class (and two of their spouses) among the crowded noisy room of hundreds of people. One of the three was from Germany, underscoring the international flavor of the University of Chicago’s program.

Friday May 3rd was the annual Management Conference now normally held in conjunction with the reunion. Booth School of Business Dean Madhav Rajan kicked off the luncheon session (where I sat with some additional 40 year graduates including one from France) with a summary of Booth’s uniqueness and progress. Points included:
• Booth’s analytic data-driven approach to decision making is perhaps unique among business schools.
• The Booth School of Business has 3 Nobel Prize Winners on the faculty, which is 3 times the number of all the other top business schools combined!
• 42% of the current entering class are women (compared to about 15% when I was there.)
• He emphasized that our learning needs to have a positive impact on public life.

This is one thing I love about Chicago Booth – it is not all about greed and getting rich – the theme of having a positive impact on society kept permeating the weekend’s activities, including addressing poverty.

Attending a class at the new Gleacher Center

The Dean’s address was followed by an interview session with investor extraordinaire Howard Marks, 1969 Booth graduate and co-founder of Oaktree Capital Management with over $120 billion in assets. Mr. Marks’ comments were sprinkled with his down to earth style and a great sense of humor. And we all received his latest book, “Mastering the Market Cycle.” Then we went back to various classes (read about the ones I intended in part 2) and that night I enjoyed a wonderful intimate dinner with the 25, 40, 45 and 50 reunion classes and a panel a distinguished Economic Professors.

And the weekend closed with meeting many younger diverse graduates and students later Saturday at the Booth LGBT gathering before heading to the airport for my late night flight home.

Here is Part 2 (link) where I write about the classes I attended Friday afternoon and the return to the Hyde Park main campus on Saturday.

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Stan Kimer, Booth MBA ’79, retired after a 31-year career at IBM and then formed his own diversity and career development consultancy, Total Engagement Consulting by Kimer.

LGBT Pride Month – Five ideas for your organization to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Stonewall

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With lots of useful links!

50 years ago on a weekend in late June in the Greenwich Village in New York City, a revolt took place that changed the course of history for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) people all over the world. Patrons of the Stonewall Tavern, led by several transgender women and drag queens stood up to unfair police brutality and stated that they would no longer let their human rights be unfairly trampled. Since that fateful night, most LGBT pride celebrations are held in late June.

This blog contains five suggestions for engaging your corporation or organization during June Pride Month, followed by a short history of major LGBT milestones in the US, starting with Stonewall 1969!

    Five ideas to recognize and celebrate LGBT Pride Month:

1) Bring me in to speak and train. I continue to offer myself as a nationally recognized LGBT diversity speaker and trainer for your employees, management training, or employee resource groups, with a broad range of 9 LGBT diversity workshops from the business oriented to the more lighthearted (including culture and history of LGBT in the US) to the more personal. In fact, why not invite me in for a day and I can do various meetings with HR leaders, managers, employees and your employee resource groups? Use this link to download my speaking packages that include topics and bio, or Email me at [email protected] to request the info.

2) Start a productive group dialogue around transgender people. Check out my recent blog, “Explore transgender diversity through a cool one-woman show,” about how JJ Marie Gufreda uses her edgy thought provoking show, including original music, to share experiences and to create open dialogue about transgender people.

3) Financially support the Pride in the Triangle’s LGBTQ+ Workplace Equity Toolkit, which we hope to launch this summer if we can raise the rest of the funds soon. Even if you are not in the Triangle region of North Carolina, you can still support this project and send participants to our 2-day “Training of Trainers” to be held in our area.

4) Take an online crash course. Whether you just want to be a better ally to LGBTQ people, or want to create a better workplace, home, or organization for everyone, consider this online LGBTQ Diversity Training Crash Course (link) from one of my business associates, Sean Kofosky. This inexpensive yet valuable offering covers basic LGBTQ terminology / definitions,the difference between sexual orientation and gender identity, ways anti-LGBTQ attitudes and behavior reach into many corners of society, and simple actions you can take to be an ALLY!

5) Make a contribution to your local LGBT Center. Google “LGBT Center” and find one in your city or town or nearby, and make a corporate contribution in honor of the Stonewall 50th anniversity. Or consider a similar contribution to your state’s LGBT Equality group.

The Stonewall Tavern, Circa 1969

    Very Short List of Selected Major Milestones

June 28 – 29, 1969: Stonewall riots in Greenwich Village, New York City

June, 1970: Christopher Street Liberation Day on June 28, 1970 marked the first anniversary of the Stonewall riots with an assembly on Christopher Street; with simultaneous Gay Pride marches in Los Angeles and Chicago.

December, 1973: The American Psychiatric Association removed homosexuality from its list of mental disorders.

1993: Minnesota became the first state to ban employment discrimination based on both sexual orientation and gender identity when it passed its Human Rights Act.

October, 2002: The Human Rights Campaign introduces its Corporate Equality Index to measure corporate support of LGBT equality.

2009: Sexual orientation and gender identity added to US hate crime legislation.

June, 2015: The US Supreme Court rules for recognition of same-gender marriage in all 50 states.

June, 2016: President Obama announced the establishment of the Stonewall National Monument, a 7.7-acre site in Greenwich Village to be administered by the National Park Service.