Anne Chow on 'Lead Bigger: The Transformative Power of Inclusion'

Following the conversation, we invite you to join us for a meet-and-greet with the author, book signing and light refreshments.

Lead Bigger: The Transformative Power of Inclusion (Simon & Schuster, September 2024)

Anne Chow, Former CEO, AT&T Business

In Conversation with: Nouman Ashraf, Associate Professor, Teaching Stream, Organizational Behaviour and Human Resource Management

Drawing from over three decades of experience, former CEO of AT&T Business Anne Chow shares how to lead bigger by leveraging inclusion beyond DEI, to elevate your work, workforce, and workplace.
For generations, when we’ve needed to innovate and grow, we’ve been told to “think bigger”—it’s now time to Lead Bigger.

In a world that’s become more interconnected yet polarized, inclusion has been overly politicized and narrowly defined to issues of gender and race. As a result, we need a new approach to inclusive leadership that goes beyond DEI, harnessing its power for innovation and growth. In Lead Bigger, Anne Chow reframes inclusion as the required leadership competency of expanding our perspectives for greater performance in our work, workforce, and workplace.

As former CEO of AT&T Business, she was the first woman of color to hold the position of CEO in the company’s over one hundred and forty year history. Chow draws from her expertise in transforming organizations to teach you how to create a dynamic environment that engages everyone you and your company interact with—as well as those you wish to be connected to—while adapting to the ever-changing world. This book equips you with the necessary tools to expand your inclusive leadership skills, including prompts, tactics, and enriching insights from leadership visionaries General Stanley McChrystal, Arianna Huffington, and Adam Grant.

Chow illuminates a seismic shift in the business world, in which a more humanistic approach is required as technology upends work as we know it. If you’re committed to advancing work that matters, engaging a dynamic workforce, and fostering an agile workplace, you’re ready to Lead Bigger.

As the former CEO of AT&T Business, was the first woman and first woman of color to hold the position of CEO at AT&T in 2019, overseeing more than 35,000 employees who collectively served 3 million business customers worldwide during her time there. She is currently the Lead Director on the board of Franklin Covey, serves on the board of 3M and CSX, and teaches at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. You can listen to Anne on Harvard Business Review’s , and .

Nouman Ashraf is Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream within the Organizational Behavior and Human Resources Management area at the Rotman School of Management. He possesses a broad range of professional, academic and research interests, with a specialized focus on enabling innovative and inclusive practices within organization life. For the last decade and a half, he has held progressively senior roles at the University of Toronto. He is a recognized thought leader in governance, and has taught thousands of directors in the national Rotman program on Not for Profit Governance in partnership with the Institute for Corporate Directors since its inception in 2007.

An award winning faculty member, Nouman teaches Emancipatory Leadership within the Executive MBA as well as the OMNIUM Global Executive MBA Program, Leading Social Innovation within the 2 and 3 Year MBA programs, and Leading across Differences within the Rotman Commerce Program. He is the Academic Director of various custom leadership programs in partnership with Rotman Executive Program clients. His previous consulting clients include Telus, Cliffs Natural Resources, Bayer, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the Ontario Trillium Foundation, United Way Toronto, and numerous post-secondary and healthcare institutions.

At Lunch time, he can be found at Massey College within the University of Toronto, where he mentors exceptional post-graduate students in his capacity as Senior Fellow.

This event is available to attend in-person only.

Rotman Events is committed to accessibility for all people. If you have any access needs or if there are any ways we can support your full participation in this session, please email [[email protected]] no later than 2 weeks in advance of the event and we will be glad to work with you to make the appropriate arrangements.

The event will be hosted in Desautels Hall at the Rotman School of Management (105 Saint George Street, Toronto, ON M5S 3E6).

• Refunds will only be issued for cancellations received in writing NO LATER than 24 hours prior to the event. Please email [email protected] for processing.
  

• In-person registrants who do not pick up their book at the event will have 5 business days to request postal delivery by emailing us at [email protected]. All unclaimed books will be returned to the publisher after that time.

Questions: [email protected], Megan Murphy

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Rotman School of Management, 105 Saint George Street, Toronto, Canada