Are Today's Corporate Scandals the Watergate of Tomorrow? Town Hall Meetings Launched by University of Michigan Business School Professor Noel Tichy.

Business Editors

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 1, 2002

Ongoing corporate greed, accounting scandals, and executive malfeasance are disillusioning American youth to an extent not seen since the Watergate era.

To address the impact the widespread corporate scandals are having on tomorrow's business leaders, University of Michigan Business School Professor Noel Tichy in association with Junior Achievement, is launching a series of "Town Hall" meetings across the country.

These "Town Hall" meetings will be a first step toward re-establishing trust between the business community and the public. Leaders may be able to put an immediate stop to illegal corporate behavior. They can also reshape corporate cultures and role model the values of fairness and integrity. The health of the free-enterprise system, however, depends on more than reforming corporate morals. It requires rebuilding the confidence of a public that has been abused and disillusioned.

"The cynicism and lack of trust that I am hearing from young people today rivals what I heard during the Watergate era," says Tichy. "In order for the free-enterprise economy to thrive, business leaders and students must come together. The students need opportunities to meet honest, dedicated leaders face-to-face. They need to talk to them, to challenge them and to be able to draw their own conclusions. At the same time, the leaders will benefit from getting a candid, unvarnished view of what the young people are thinking and a better understanding of what it will take to re-gain their confidence."

Tichy has spent over 25 years advising CEOs and engaged in leadership development around the world, including running GE's famed leadership development institute, Crotonville, for Jack Welch in the 1980s. He is a leading academic researcher on leadership and was ranked as one of the top management gurus (#9) in America by Business Week.

The inaugural "Town Hall' meeting will be kicked off in New York City on October 2nd. This event is taking place in partnership with The University of Michigan Business School Club of NY and the Junior Achievement of New York and it will be hosted by Pfizer. The moderators will be Noel Tichy and John Byrne of Business Week. Over 200 business executives and 25 Junior Achievement young people will be exchanging meaningful dialogues about leadership and ethics for the future and the lasting legacy of the current leadership for the future generation.

"I have a real concern that the corporate scandals of today could be this generation's Watergate. A healthy free enterprise system needs leadership integrity and role models for the next generation. The town hall meeting on October 2nd brings together executives and young people to share in a dialogue on how to build leaders for the 21st Century," says Doug Schallau, the director of Junior Achievement of New York.

When:             Wednesday, October 2, 2002
                  6-8 p.m.


Where:            Pfizer World Headquarters, Conference Center
                  235 East 42nd Street, between 2nd and 3rd Avenues