How extraordinary last week was! On Tuesday and Thursday, I sat in a classroom on the sixth floor of Duques Hall, here at the George Washington University School of Business, to listen to Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke explain the recent financial crisis, the Fed’s response to it, and the lessons we can take from it.
While there were only 30 (very attentive and somewhat anxious) undergraduate students in the classroom and a handful of professors whose lectures in this course will follow Chairman Bernanke’s four initial classes (no pressure …), the classes were live streamed and are now archived online at http://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/lectures/about.htm
This was the first time that the Chairman of the Fed has given a set of lectures on the Fed, why it was founded, what its functions are, what it has done historically, and what it did during the financial crisis. This is truly extraordinary and part of the new era of Chairman Bernanke’s leadership, which is bringing transparency and accountability to an institution that has inspired books with titles like “Secrets of the Temple: How the Federal Reserve Runs the Country.” But what was more extraordinary was to listen to the leader of this institution, who more than anyone has done so much to turn the economy away from the brink of collapse, speak with such rigor, depth, and also humility. As he stated in his classes, because of what we do not know, we have to be humble.
I recognized in Chairman Bernanke the brilliant professor from Princeton, who finished his slide presentations right at the minute he was supposed to end, whose historical perspective was so deep and impressive that the students gave him, at the end of his set of lectures, a framed page of the 1933 issue of the New York Times as a gift. The front page of that issue announced that the United States was abandoning the gold exchange standard, a topic Chairman Bernanke covered in class in fascinating detail. But he also brought to the classroom the mastery (and agony) of leading a very powerful institution at a time when problems are not only domestic but also global.
And what a difference it made to be able to see him reflect on the lecture notes that were projected on the screen, walk around the classroom, call the students by name, and stay a few minutes overtime to answer questions. At the end of his last lecture he took a group photo with both the students and the faculty. It was extraordinary!
As if this wasn’t enough for one week, on Friday I got to go to the Clinton Global Initiative University here at the Smith Center to listen to former President Clinton speak. He launched the Clinton Global Initiative University (CGI U) in 2007 to engage the next generation of leaders on college campuses around the world. As described on their website, each year, CGI U hosts a meeting at which students, national youth organizations, topic experts, and celebrities discuss solutions to pressing global issues.
As many as 1,200 attendees came to GW, and at Friday’s opening session President Clinton spoke with an infective passion about this initiative. On stage with him was Madeleine Albright, who spoke of her experience as Secretary of State and her fight to protect human rights; Ray Barcott, a former marine with an MBA from Harvard Business School who described how he founded Carolina for Kibera, an organization aimed at breaking cycles of violence in and developing leaders from the Kibera slum of Nairobi, Kenya; Sadiga Basili Saleem, who founded and directs schools for girls in Afghanistan; the President of George Washington University, who spoke of the GW Center for Civic Engagement and Public Service and his involvement and promotion of the Center. And also on stage was Usher, yes, Usher, who spoke of his foundation and the work they do. Written questions were submitted to the panelists, and a student asked Usher about his inspiration, noting that “singing the answer is encouraged.” Usher reply by singing Whitney Houston’s “Greatest Love of All.” It was extraordinary!
And so I spent my week listening to the wisdom all of these amazing people, taking from each of them some lessons I hope to apply to my work on financial literacy.
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The Financial Literacy Seminar Series restarts
I am very happy to announce that the Financial Literacy Seminar Series restarts this week. I have mentioned the series in previous posts and I am eagerly anticipating the inaugural seminar of the spring term to be held this Thursday, March 8.
After our last seminar in December we fielded a short online survey to ask our seminar attendees about the series. We received a lot of feedback and we have been analyzing it to continue to improve the series. Because we are nerdy economists, I cannot resist providing some of the statistics from the survey (but I will spare you the graphs and pie charts). As many as 76% of seminar attendees rated the seminars of consistently high quality—a finding that boosted my ego. Given that we had different seminar formats last fall, we asked what was preferred; nearly half of respondents prefer a seminar with one discussant and about one-third like short presentations with a panel discussion. We also asked about seminar topics. Retirement planning/saving, measurement of financial literacy, and financial education programs are the topics of interest cited most frequently by survey respondents.
Armed with all of this evidence and determined to do better each term, we have implemented the following changes to the seminar series:
Starting this semester we will have a Distinguished Financial Literacy Lecture. For this special seminar we will invite a speaker who has made a long-standing contribution to the field and who will discuss his or her research program rather than a specific paper. The distinguished speaker for the spring 2012 term is Peter Tufano, Dean of Oxford’s Saïd Business School.
We will coordinate our seminar series with DC meetings of other groups focused on financial literacy to maximize attendance. This spring, we plan to coordinate the seminar series with events organized by the American Savings Education Council (ASEC), the Insured Retirement Institute (IRI), and FINRA Investor Education Foundation.
We will conduct short interviews with the speakers about the main findings in their papers. These interviews will be posted on the FLSS web page along with the papers and presentations. Together with blog entries written to provide a summary of each seminar, we hope to distill the research presented in the series to its essential findings and implications.
We are exploring ways to encourage interaction between our seminar series and researchers and practitioners beyond the DC area. We are making contact with several national networks of researchers and practitioners working in financial literacy and plan to make use of technology to connect with remote audiences. We will also explore the possibility of sponsoring a conference on financial literacy, potentially with several government agencies interested in this topic.
Finally, we will have not only discussants but also a panel of experts to present work on effective financial education programs, and we will try to cover several of the topics that were of interest to seminar attendees.
We are thrilled that Peter Tufano has accepted our invitation to give the Distinguished Financial Literacy Lecture this week. His accomplishments are so many that I can’t begin to list all of them. He has developed courses on consumer finance, founded a non-profit R&D lab for new financial product development (www.d2dfund.org), and served on advisory groups in the US (and now the UK) addressing the issue of financial inclusion. Before joining Oxford, Tufano spent 33 years at Harvard, most recently serving as Professor and Senior Associate Dean at Harvard Business School, as well as being the co-Founder of the Harvard University Innovation Lab (i-Lab).
I can only say that I cannot wait to hear Peter’s talk this Thursday!
The program for the spring 2012 Financial Literacy Seminar Series is provided on our web site: http://business.gwu.edu/flss/.
After our last seminar in December we fielded a short online survey to ask our seminar attendees about the series. We received a lot of feedback and we have been analyzing it to continue to improve the series. Because we are nerdy economists, I cannot resist providing some of the statistics from the survey (but I will spare you the graphs and pie charts). As many as 76% of seminar attendees rated the seminars of consistently high quality—a finding that boosted my ego. Given that we had different seminar formats last fall, we asked what was preferred; nearly half of respondents prefer a seminar with one discussant and about one-third like short presentations with a panel discussion. We also asked about seminar topics. Retirement planning/saving, measurement of financial literacy, and financial education programs are the topics of interest cited most frequently by survey respondents.
Armed with all of this evidence and determined to do better each term, we have implemented the following changes to the seminar series:
Starting this semester we will have a Distinguished Financial Literacy Lecture. For this special seminar we will invite a speaker who has made a long-standing contribution to the field and who will discuss his or her research program rather than a specific paper. The distinguished speaker for the spring 2012 term is Peter Tufano, Dean of Oxford’s Saïd Business School.
We will coordinate our seminar series with DC meetings of other groups focused on financial literacy to maximize attendance. This spring, we plan to coordinate the seminar series with events organized by the American Savings Education Council (ASEC), the Insured Retirement Institute (IRI), and FINRA Investor Education Foundation.
We will conduct short interviews with the speakers about the main findings in their papers. These interviews will be posted on the FLSS web page along with the papers and presentations. Together with blog entries written to provide a summary of each seminar, we hope to distill the research presented in the series to its essential findings and implications.
We are exploring ways to encourage interaction between our seminar series and researchers and practitioners beyond the DC area. We are making contact with several national networks of researchers and practitioners working in financial literacy and plan to make use of technology to connect with remote audiences. We will also explore the possibility of sponsoring a conference on financial literacy, potentially with several government agencies interested in this topic.
Finally, we will have not only discussants but also a panel of experts to present work on effective financial education programs, and we will try to cover several of the topics that were of interest to seminar attendees.
We are thrilled that Peter Tufano has accepted our invitation to give the Distinguished Financial Literacy Lecture this week. His accomplishments are so many that I can’t begin to list all of them. He has developed courses on consumer finance, founded a non-profit R&D lab for new financial product development (www.d2dfund.org), and served on advisory groups in the US (and now the UK) addressing the issue of financial inclusion. Before joining Oxford, Tufano spent 33 years at Harvard, most recently serving as Professor and Senior Associate Dean at Harvard Business School, as well as being the co-Founder of the Harvard University Innovation Lab (i-Lab).
I can only say that I cannot wait to hear Peter’s talk this Thursday!
The program for the spring 2012 Financial Literacy Seminar Series is provided on our web site: http://business.gwu.edu/flss/.
New wave of STAR EMBA students
The new wave of STAR EMBA students has arrived on campus, and they started classes last Friday. I have written about this program in previous posts. This is an Executive Master in Business Administration (EMBA) at the George Washington University School of Business for Special Talent, Access and Responsibility (STAR) students, targeted to athletes, celebrities, and others. In addition to active and retired football players, the current class includes PGA golfers, Olympians, a TV personality, a music mogul manager, and a filmmaker. It is impossible not to spot them in the hallways of the business school, not only because on the first days they are wearing business suits and moving in groups, but also because of their “size,” in particular the football players.
As the School mentioned in the description of the program, “we continue to strive toward our mission of creating a powerful, informed and educated group of athletes and entertainers who are starting businesses, building media platforms, and getting recognized as national change makers and philanthropists.” It is exciting to have such a group of students, and I look forward to teaching them next week.
There are a few characteristics of this program and these students that are especially noteworthy. First, most of these individuals are very active in the community; they are involved in charitable organizations or have or plan to start their own foundations. The majority of these foundations are devoted to helping underprivileged children. Second, the program is open to spouses, as well. As with the first wave of students, in the second wave we have three spouses participating in the program. Finally, women are a growing group in this program. Let’s not forget, there are a lot of STAR women!
A group of faculty had dinner with this class last Friday both to welcome them to campus and to have them meet with Washington, DC-based students from the previous class. It was good to witness their enthusiasm for the program, passion for their work and activities, and curiosity to meet the other students. We had a guest speaker for dinner—an entrepreneur who spoke about his new firm, from how the idea originated to what it took to create and launch it. He spoke for a long time (and since dinner was not served until he finished, for me it felt very long), and so many hands went up after his talk that he kept answering questions for another hour (yep, and the dinner was delayed even further). I sat between two football players, one of whom was from the New York Giants. Of course we talked about the Super Bowl game but I refrained from asking him about the last five minutes of the game. Now that I know a lot more about football, I can have some good conversations with this group of students, and it is a lot of fun. Naturally, they are very conscious about their healthy eating. Since no one ate their bread, I could stuff myself with my and their bread while waiting for dinner to be served. The dinner—when it finally arrived—was very good, but the company was even better.
As the School mentioned in the description of the program, “we continue to strive toward our mission of creating a powerful, informed and educated group of athletes and entertainers who are starting businesses, building media platforms, and getting recognized as national change makers and philanthropists.” It is exciting to have such a group of students, and I look forward to teaching them next week.
There are a few characteristics of this program and these students that are especially noteworthy. First, most of these individuals are very active in the community; they are involved in charitable organizations or have or plan to start their own foundations. The majority of these foundations are devoted to helping underprivileged children. Second, the program is open to spouses, as well. As with the first wave of students, in the second wave we have three spouses participating in the program. Finally, women are a growing group in this program. Let’s not forget, there are a lot of STAR women!
A group of faculty had dinner with this class last Friday both to welcome them to campus and to have them meet with Washington, DC-based students from the previous class. It was good to witness their enthusiasm for the program, passion for their work and activities, and curiosity to meet the other students. We had a guest speaker for dinner—an entrepreneur who spoke about his new firm, from how the idea originated to what it took to create and launch it. He spoke for a long time (and since dinner was not served until he finished, for me it felt very long), and so many hands went up after his talk that he kept answering questions for another hour (yep, and the dinner was delayed even further). I sat between two football players, one of whom was from the New York Giants. Of course we talked about the Super Bowl game but I refrained from asking him about the last five minutes of the game. Now that I know a lot more about football, I can have some good conversations with this group of students, and it is a lot of fun. Naturally, they are very conscious about their healthy eating. Since no one ate their bread, I could stuff myself with my and their bread while waiting for dinner to be served. The dinner—when it finally arrived—was very good, but the company was even better.
After the Super Bowl
I have watched most of the football games this season and now that the season is over, I wonder how I will spend my Sundays. Since I am new to this sport, I have sometimes watched the games while reading “Football for Dummies,” a book that turned out to be much better than I expected and does not deserve the smirks that my colleagues have offered (but perhaps they are smirking at the fact that I am such a football nerd). With football in mind, I want to discuss three topics in this post: fun, skill, and inspiration.
The games were very fun to watch and I enjoyed what comes with them as well. For Super Bowl, we had a pre-game party at my place, with all of my football fan friends. We ended up in an interesting discussion about strategies; I may have eaten too many nachos, but I did not understand the last five minutes of the Super Bowl game. We also enjoyed the commercials of course; I could not take my eyes off the TV screen.
Throughout the season, I saw great skill displayed on the field, the capacity to make critical decisions in a split second, the strenuous defense that some teams were able to put up, the ability to be so very precise, and the capacity to stay calm in a crisis. I have watched so many reversals of fortune just minutes before the end of a game that I have learned that one often cannot predict the winner until the second before a game is over. It is a tough game.
In addition to the games, I enjoy listening to player interviews. The players are articulate and succinct (a rare quality, believe me), and they are aware that many of their fans are watching. Like many, I like Tim Tebow a lot. He is unusual, but like other players, he is using his power and growing fame to make a difference in the lives of young people. Because of their enormous fame, football players have the capacity to influence so many people, to inspire them, to be role models.
And speaking of role models, when I talk about football players to young students, I point out that all of the players have college degrees and many of them from very good schools. I listened carefully to all of these schools at the Super Bowl when the players were running onto the field. Hey, Tom Brady is from the University of Michigan, and Eli Manning is from the University of Mississippi, and guess what, Eli majored in Business—how about that!
Another inspiring talent that players have is the capacity to inspire and motivate their team. I watched the video of Ray Lewis talking to his team after the loss against the Patriots. That was a very tough game and Ray offered both comfort and motivation to never give up and to do better the next time. The video ended with Ray greeting a very young fan and one of the players of the Ravens holding a little curly haired girl. Priceless! I, too, am a fan, and I can’t wait until next season.
The games were very fun to watch and I enjoyed what comes with them as well. For Super Bowl, we had a pre-game party at my place, with all of my football fan friends. We ended up in an interesting discussion about strategies; I may have eaten too many nachos, but I did not understand the last five minutes of the Super Bowl game. We also enjoyed the commercials of course; I could not take my eyes off the TV screen.
Throughout the season, I saw great skill displayed on the field, the capacity to make critical decisions in a split second, the strenuous defense that some teams were able to put up, the ability to be so very precise, and the capacity to stay calm in a crisis. I have watched so many reversals of fortune just minutes before the end of a game that I have learned that one often cannot predict the winner until the second before a game is over. It is a tough game.
In addition to the games, I enjoy listening to player interviews. The players are articulate and succinct (a rare quality, believe me), and they are aware that many of their fans are watching. Like many, I like Tim Tebow a lot. He is unusual, but like other players, he is using his power and growing fame to make a difference in the lives of young people. Because of their enormous fame, football players have the capacity to influence so many people, to inspire them, to be role models.
And speaking of role models, when I talk about football players to young students, I point out that all of the players have college degrees and many of them from very good schools. I listened carefully to all of these schools at the Super Bowl when the players were running onto the field. Hey, Tom Brady is from the University of Michigan, and Eli Manning is from the University of Mississippi, and guess what, Eli majored in Business—how about that!
Another inspiring talent that players have is the capacity to inspire and motivate their team. I watched the video of Ray Lewis talking to his team after the loss against the Patriots. That was a very tough game and Ray offered both comfort and motivation to never give up and to do better the next time. The video ended with Ray greeting a very young fan and one of the players of the Ravens holding a little curly haired girl. Priceless! I, too, am a fan, and I can’t wait until next season.
Financial Literacy Program Wins “Business Gives Back” Award
Last weekend I attended an event organized by George Washington School of Business (GWSB) called “Business Gives Back.” Funds raised from these events are given to student-selected organizations and initiatives. At this particular event, a student who led a high impact initiative in the DC or global community was going to be given an award.
I am very happy to report that Amir Abdallah, who founded the Financial Literacy Program at GWSB, won the award. Amir founded the GWSB Financial Literacy Program (FLP) last spring in response to the growing need for increased engagement in the community around the issue of financial literacy. The FLP is a student-run volunteer placement program that sources financial literacy volunteering opportunities in the DC area. It is open to all GW graduate students, faculty, and alumni, regardless of program or professional background, and equips volunteers with the training and support-base to learn and spread financial literacy throughout our community. The mission is to provide opportunities that are mutually beneficial, meaningful, and challenging and that utilize the talents of the GW community to spread financial empowerment on and off campus. As their website, which is listed at the end of this post, says: “As responsible professionals and recipients of higher education, we are particularly well positioned to serve as ambassadors of financial education.”
Amir emailed me last year asking if we could meet to discuss financial literacy. I hadn’t met him and was curious to hear about his interest in financial literacy. The person who came to my office that day was a very soft-spoken Global MBA student, who sat down with a notebook and took many notes while we talked. He told me about his program, the way it is organized, and what it aims to achieve. He spoke with simplicity but with the pragmatism of a person who understands that things need to get done and implemented. There was passion in his voice and in his words for this topic—something I am always paying attention to.
Perhaps because he is slim and so articulate, that day Amir reminded me of a young President Obama; a young person who has thought to use his knowledge and skills to lead initiatives that can benefit society. And on Saturday, we celebrated the Financial Literacy Program that, from its inception, has reached 340 individuals (many of whom are students in poor schools). Amir was there on center stage. He described the program yet again using the combination of passion and pragmatism he had displayed when we first talked. He was irresistible and won by a wide margin. This blog is to celebrate a young leader.
http://gwsb.campusgroups.com/flp/home/
You can see Amir’s big smile in the Washington Post article about the event: (http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/capitalbusiness/gwu-honors-grads-social-responsibility/2012/02/03/gIQAmc39rQ_story.html).
I am very happy to report that Amir Abdallah, who founded the Financial Literacy Program at GWSB, won the award. Amir founded the GWSB Financial Literacy Program (FLP) last spring in response to the growing need for increased engagement in the community around the issue of financial literacy. The FLP is a student-run volunteer placement program that sources financial literacy volunteering opportunities in the DC area. It is open to all GW graduate students, faculty, and alumni, regardless of program or professional background, and equips volunteers with the training and support-base to learn and spread financial literacy throughout our community. The mission is to provide opportunities that are mutually beneficial, meaningful, and challenging and that utilize the talents of the GW community to spread financial empowerment on and off campus. As their website, which is listed at the end of this post, says: “As responsible professionals and recipients of higher education, we are particularly well positioned to serve as ambassadors of financial education.”
Amir emailed me last year asking if we could meet to discuss financial literacy. I hadn’t met him and was curious to hear about his interest in financial literacy. The person who came to my office that day was a very soft-spoken Global MBA student, who sat down with a notebook and took many notes while we talked. He told me about his program, the way it is organized, and what it aims to achieve. He spoke with simplicity but with the pragmatism of a person who understands that things need to get done and implemented. There was passion in his voice and in his words for this topic—something I am always paying attention to.
Perhaps because he is slim and so articulate, that day Amir reminded me of a young President Obama; a young person who has thought to use his knowledge and skills to lead initiatives that can benefit society. And on Saturday, we celebrated the Financial Literacy Program that, from its inception, has reached 340 individuals (many of whom are students in poor schools). Amir was there on center stage. He described the program yet again using the combination of passion and pragmatism he had displayed when we first talked. He was irresistible and won by a wide margin. This blog is to celebrate a young leader.
http://gwsb.campusgroups.com/flp/home/
You can see Amir’s big smile in the Washington Post article about the event: (http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/capitalbusiness/gwu-honors-grads-social-responsibility/2012/02/03/gIQAmc39rQ_story.html).
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