Professor Leigh Hafrey taught a class on “Values into Leadership” to Tsinghua International MBA program (IMBA) first-year students on 23 October 2008. A lecturer in ethics, communication, and leadership at MIT's Sloan School of Management and a moderator of the Aspen Executive Seminar, Professor Hafrey emphasized the importance of values and how they could be applied in the workplace.

Opening the class with findings by the Aspen Institute in the 2008 “Where will They Lead” survey series, Hafrey highlighted MBA students’ appreciation of the role of corporate ethics today. The surveys were conducted amongst MBA schools in the US, Europe and China, and presented insights on the differing prioritization of values by the students of different gender and backgrounds.

Hafrey followed on with a discussive format for the class. Engaging the students to compile a list of values, Hafrey explored the diversity of values amongst different people.

Next, based on Stephen Frears’ film The Queen, Hafrey led students to critically examine the interplay of differing values, hierarchy and personal influence amongst the film’s key characters of Queen Elizabeth II, ex-British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Princess Diana.

The lesson built up to a final exercise from the Giving Voice to Values series by the Aspen Institute, with students exchanging personal workplace episodes where values were challenged. One issue which emerged was the ability to stand up after compromising for the first time. From the exercise, students appreciated that there were different methods of standing up for one’s values to preserve one’s integrity.

This was Professor Hafrey’s 15th visit to Tsinghua since he first came in 2001. A career spanning education, journalism and consultancy fields, Hafrey’s areas of work cover international development, communication, and professional ethics. Since 1995, Hafrey has been Senior Lecturer in the Behavioral and Policy Sciences area at MIT Sloan, teaching in the MBA, MIT-China, and Leaders For Manufacturing, and MIT executive education programs

Hafrey’s lecture was part of a series of lectures by four visiting professors from the MIT Sloan School of Management for the semester. Tsinghua and the MIT Sloan School have collaborated closely to build up Tsinghua’s IMBA program. The two schools also jointly organize forums and promotes student collaboration through initiatives such as the China Lab program.