The NYU SPS Division of Programs in Business (DPB) concluded its Spring 2021 Industry Connection Series (ICS) with a webinar featuring award-winning management expert Mario Moussa, PhD on April 21, 2021. Along with Derek Newberry and Greg Urban, Mario is the co-author of the forthcoming book, The Culture Puzzle: Harnessing the Forces That Drive Your Organization’s Success. A self-described “business anthropologist,” Mario’s organizational work centers on the human-driven aspects of teams: communication, collaboration, and culture. He has written books on each of these domains, and his latest offers a blueprint for leveraging the essential elements of organizational culture.
Mario defines “culture” as a timeless, distinctly human, collective process of learning and adaptation. At the start of the webinar, he further elaborated on this term and shared illustrative examples, before introducing the “Four Forces.” When human beings come together as a group to solve problems, they are driven by these four elements: vision, interest, habit, and innovation. The most successful companies with thriving culture are able to prioritize and harness each of these forces. Mario offered a four-step checklist for making these core factors concrete, as well as a “Culture Evaluator” to assess team dynamics and implement change. He also answered questions from the audience on building trust, furthering diversity and inclusion efforts in business culture and strategy, and the pandemic’s impact on culture. To learn more, graphic notes of the session can be found below.
Now in its fourth year, the Industry Connection Series has garnered a growing audience for thought-provoking talks such as "The CEO Test," "Presenting Across Cultures," and "Leadership and Empowerment Lessons from an Everest Summiteer." Each session provides DPB students, faculty, alumni, and staff with leading-edge insights into current business trends and industry developments.
Mario Moussa is a noted management consultant, author, keynote speaker, and executive educator. Currently an Adjunct Lecturer at NYU, he has taught at the world’s leading academic institutions, including UCLA, Duke, the University of Virginia, and the Wharton School. As a consultant, he advises senior leaders about top team effectiveness, communication, organizational culture, and large-scale change initiatives. His consulting clients have included such prominent organizations as State Farm, PNC Bank, GlaxoSmithKline, McKinsey and Company, Nielsen, UnitedHealth Group, Russell Investments, KieranTimberlake Architects, and MasterCard. Mario's upcoming executive education offering with NYU SPS, Business Resiliency in Challenging Times, begins May 18th.
DPB is the largest division at NYU School of Professional Studies, with over 2,200 students, 500 faculty, and over 7,000 alumni. The Division comprises four centers of excellence that educate leaders in the functional areas of an enterprise. Each department’s credit and non-credit portfolio of offerings serves students at every level of their careers, providing them with the knowledge and skills required to succeed in critical positions in their professional development.
