Berges Lecture Analysis

The second lecture in the Berges Lecture series was a presentation by John Heiser, President and Chief Operating Officer, Magnetrol International, Inc., discussing the idea that leadership is a journey and began his talk by reflecting on his on journey of leadership. John went to college to become a lawyer and after graduating from law school, began his career as a lawyer. After 10 years however, John had an intervention in which he ultimately decided that his current career path was not what he wanted to do anymore. One week later, he had accepted a position at DuPont Pharmaceutical company and began to work for them, saying that sometimes you must move laterally to advance yourself in your career. During his time at DuPont, the company was in the process of launching a new AIDS drug, that was being met with large criticisms from activists and other stakeholders who claimed that the price was too high and that it was inaccessible to those who needed it most.. John was assigned by his CEO to go and talk with the activists who were protesting outside the company's facilities in order to open up dialogue between the two groups. This dialogue, although sometimes combative, helped both groups to understand each others …show more content…
John also mentioned that during this process, he began to see that a business had not only a duty to make a profit, but to also better the world or add value to society. This lesson influenced John not only at DuPont, but in his current position where he implemented a program called Aspyr, which allows adults with autism or other cognitive disabilities to work at Magnetrol in areas such as data entry where they tend to be very successful. Aspyr benefits both Magnetrol and those with disabilities as it allows those with a specific set of skills to be gainfully