Washington, DC: Reclaiming Humanity at Work

Sponsored by the Women of Hopkins Affinity

Note: This program is not exclusively for alumnae. Alumni, guests, and friends of all gender identities are welcome!

The leadership approaches reinforced in organizations are systems-focused that see people as costs or replaceable cogs in a wheel. This goes contrary to employees’ and customers’ increasingly prevalent search for purpose and meaning.

Join us for an interactive 3-hour workshop to explore the ways you can generate a positive impact using human-centric leading. You will leave the workshop with a new mindset and toolkit through which you can speak to the human needs that lead to happiness, fulfillment, collaboration, and innovation.

Speakers:

Eleni Pallas (SAIS '95) is knee-deep into her second career after spending 20 years in global strategy and business development groups, primarily leading partnership and acquisition projects in the BRICs and emerging markets. A life-altering car accident in Siberia caught her by surprise when she realized that life can change from one day to the next and doing what she loved is better than doing what seemed safe. Since 2008, Eleni has been on a mission to equip leaders and change-makers with strategies that humanize the workplace. This means designing team cultures that create collaborative and innovative mindsets from which to respond ingeniously to market changes. Eleni has worked with leaders and teams in organizations such as UC Berkeley, Mercer, Whole Foods, SFSU, Ashoka and a wide variety of smaller social impact organizations. She has earned an MBA from George Washington University (with honors), a BS from the University of Maryland at College Park and coaching certification (PCC) from the International Coach Federation.

SHADI ABOUZEID: is in his second career after 20 years that started by leading strategy and implementation initiatives for a major holding company in the Middle East and Eastern Europe. He then grew his own consulting firm in Dubai to a multi-million dollar business. In 2017, after Shadi moved to DC, he joined forces with Leaders for Good, creating a second-generation team culture design boutique that helps leaders adapt swiftly and ingeniously to market changes. Shadi’s experience highlights that success and failure are correlated with the way leaders and stakeholders perceive, contribute to and support the team/organizational culture. This insight instigated a parallel self-development journey, through which he now sees people, actions and activities through a different lens. Shadi has an MSc in Operational Research and Ph.D. in Management Science.