ERIC Number: EJ1248320
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2019
Pages: 12
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0024-1822
EISSN: N/A
A Liberal Arts Approach to Business: Beating the Competition through Constant Adaptation
Allison, Chris
Liberal Education, v105 n3-4 Sum-Fall 2019
Chris Allison was working as a public relations executive, and had no formal business training when his father phoned and asked him to take over the reins of his Pittsburgh telecom equipment business. His father needed to focus his energies on his other business which was struggling. Because of his Liberal Arts background Allison knew exactly what to do. When presented with a problem, liberal arts majors read. Allison immediately headed over to the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh and read books on every subject from management, finance, accounting and electrical engineering to telecom trade rags. Although he taught himself how to function as a CEO through reading, Allison believes that he would not have been able to lead his company to success without lessons from literature, history, and other liberal arts classes. He writes that it was those courses that helped him develop the soft skills necessary to adeptly manage employees and present business strategies to investors and customers. This article describes how Allison has taken that experience with him to Allegheny College -- where he now teaches and uses it to make business education more holistic by bridging it with an interdisciplinary approach. Allison claims that such an approach ensures that students from a range of backgrounds who study in a variety of fields learn team-based approaches to problems, oral communication, ethical decision making, and myriad written communication techniques. He closes by reminding readers that the true gift of liberal education is the ability to teach oneself.
Descriptors: Liberal Arts, Telecommunications, Administrator Role, Business Administration, Majors (Students), Information Seeking, Success, Educational Background, Skill Development, College Faculty, Business Administration Education, Interdisciplinary Approach, Teamwork, Problem Solving, Ethics, Decision Making, Written Language, Communication Skills, Adjustment (to Environment)
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Pennsylvania
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A