The initiative strives to foster a culture of integrity, and promote thought leadership and inquiry among scholars, students, and business leaders to address the ethical challenges inherent in our increasingly complex business world.
What We're Doing
The Sam M. Walton College of Business began the Business Integrity Leadership Initiative in January 2020 to bring a more comprehensive, strategic and influential approach to business ethics for our students and other stakeholders.
We are equipping future business leaders with a mindset that encourages them to act with integrity. We are also equipping current business leaders with a mindset that encourages them to lead with integrity for long-term, sustainable business success.
We’re accomplishing this by creating and sharing thought leadership and encouraging innovation through three channels: education, research and outreach. Our Initiative’s approach is practical, integrated, and experiential in nature.
Michele Edwards was a guest speaker for the Let's Talk about Keeping Your Word program. Michele Edwards has over 25 years of experience in fraud, compliance risk management, auditing and monitoring. In 2017, Edwards served as Chief of Staff for the independent compliance monitor and auditor team appointed by the Department of Justice for the VW monitorship.
12/07/2023
Learn from experts about the importance of keeping your word and following through with your actions.
08/24/2023
Generative AI tools like ChatGPT, Bard, and DALL-E are disrupting the business world. How can leaders optimize this technology while keeping ethical guidelines?
06/30/2023 | By Cindy Moehring
In business, managers and leaders must act and lead with integrity to attain long-term, sustainable business success. That means all business students, and those managing and leading businesses need to understand business ethics, and how it affects a company’s strategy and operations.
To thrive, companies must be trusted. Studies indicate that stakeholders base their trust in a company primarily on their view of that company’s ethics.
Despite this, business leaders and even some CEOs fail to understand that their own unethical behavior affects how stakeholders view their company’s culture of ethics and integrity. In the past few years, we have unfortunately seen a record number of CEOs let go for unethical behavior.
With this Initiative, Walton College is poised to help reverse this trend and positively affect the amount of trust that current and future business leaders create for stakeholders.
With 24 years of leadership experience at Walmart, Meredith Taylor is known for cultivating high-performing teams and driving sustained business success .
She now channels this expertise into her role of Managing Director of the Walton College Business Integrity Leadership Initiative at the University of Arkansas. She is also an instructor of the Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility course at the Walton College
In addition to her roles in academia, Meredith has her own coaching practice, Redbird Coaching, where she helps leaders quiet their inner critics, align their leadership with core values, and build emotional resilience for long-term growth. She works with professionals who aspire to lead authentically, helping them navigate the challenges of modern leadership. Her approach empowers clients to lead with confidence, integrity, and a deep connection to their vision.
Meredith has contributed her expertise to the University of Arizona Eller College of Management's Center for Leadership Ethics, serving on its advisory board for several years. She is a past president of the Community Clinic of Northwest Arkansas Board of Directors, and a current member of the Board of Directors for Pathfind, Inc., continuing her commitment to community focused-leadership.
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