With nearly 30 different events and 60 speakers, Business Leadership Week aims at providing students and community members with a leg up in business industry knowledge.
Business Leadership Week is McCoy College of Business’ signature professional development event where students are granted the opportunity to engage with the business community through conversation and presentations. This year BLW was held this past week, Feb. 24-28. BLW has been a signature McCoy College event for over 10 years.
This year’s BLW theme is authentic leadership. The events range from topics of diversity and inclusion in the industry, family businesses and entrepreneurship.
Alexis Stokes, chair of BLW, said this year’s week focused on authenticity in the job site and examined the concepts of being true to your passion, acting with ethics and integrity as well as being vulnerable and real in leadership.
Stokes said the curriculum for BLW has been designed in a way that is relevant, topical and market-driven for students interested in pursuing a career in the industry. She said students will benefit from the networking opportunities provided by BLW.
“Many students find that Business Leadership Week is their first (opportunity to make an) impression on future employers,” Stokes said. “We’ve had students land internships and even jobs through Business Leadership Week.”
Bruce Howard, career advisor for McCoy College, said the importance of BLW is to provide students with information on the business industry and connect students to professionals who can potentially give students an opportunity to launch their careers.
“By attending these presentations and workshops, it increases your awareness of what the market wants, in regards to your career,” Howard said. “The more you know about where you want to go, the more equipped you’ll be to accomplish that.”
Professional Development Coordinator of McCoy College Stephanie Solansky said the workshops and presentations hosted by BLW allow students to learn more about the business industry as well as grant them the opportunity to network.
“It’s about networking not just with other students but business professionals,” Solansky said. “You never know when those connections are going to serve you in a valuable way in the future.”
Feb. 25, Solansky presented the workshop “Negotiations: Dos and Don’ts,” which focused on providing students with practical strategies on negotiating salary.
“A lot of business students are graduating and so them having a little more training on how to negotiate that first job offer can really position them better as they move further into their careers,” Solansky said.
Taylor Laque, computer information systems senior, attended Solansky’s “Negotiations: Dos and Don’ts” workshop. Laque said even though negotiation can be a touchy and awkward subject, she said the workshop provided information that most students are afraid to ask about.
This is the first year Laque attended BLW. She said each event she has attended has been interesting and informative, as a student pursuing a career in the business industry.
“I think a lot of the workshops cover topics that a lot of us business students don’t really think about,” Laque said. “These workshops give us knowledge that we didn’t know would benefit us in our career paths.”
BLW 2020 was McCoy College’s biggest BLW in terms of the number of events, speakers and students in attendance. Stokes said thousands of students attended the events of BLW.
“I think we reached more students with the programming this year,” Stokes said. “We were very intentional with the way we scheduled our programs in order to reach as many different students in as many different years and majors as possible.”
Overall, Stokes said she is pleased with the turnout and success of BLW 2020. She said has the feedback from students has been positive.
“Our students are telling us they feel empowered, they feel heard and that the programming resonated with them,” Stokes said. “That’s our goal. To help improve the student experience.”
For more information on McCoy College of Business, visit https://www.mccoy.txstate.edu/.