Michigan Ross Launches Initiative to Champion Values-Based Decision-Making in Business
At a time when business decision-making is under increasing scrutiny, the University of Michigan Ross School of Business is launching a donor-funded program aimed at elevating values-based and ethical leadership and decision-making. Housed at the Ross School of Business, this new initiative aims to equip all University of Michigan students with tools to promote critical thinking and values-based and ethical reasoning, furthering their future leadership as responsible and innovative business leaders.
The Values and Ethics-Based Leadership Initiative was conceived by a group of Michigan Ross alumni and donors, including Jason Koenig, BBA ’95, JD ’98, and his spouse, Jamie Kohen.
“Our motivation and focus are on engaging people to re-evaluate decision-making in business using a framework based on ethics and values,” said Koenig. “We found that when driving strong businesses with long-term growth, operating with a clear framework around right and wrong, ethics, and internal values makes hard decisions easy. Kohen added, “Young people are not getting enough of this reinforced in their daily decisions. As a result, they struggle with taking ownership and making decisions. One can work hard, be aggressive, and play to win, and also operate ethically.”
Grounded in Research
The idea came to life after several years of collaboration between Koenig, Ross faculty, and Michigan’s development team. Felipe Csaszar, Chair of the Ross Strategy Department and a global thought leader in organizational decision-making, sees this initiative as pivotal for future business leaders. “Strategy is fundamentally about what firms should do, and ethics is about what anyone should do. There’s a deep relationship between the two,” Professor Csaszar said. “If companies focus only on profits, it leads to a simplified view that can cause harm. Integrating ethics into strategy helps organizations make decisions that account for multiple goals—financial performance as well as their impact on society and the environment.”
Csaszar’s research explores how decision structures in firms, including the emerging role of artificial intelligence, shape outcomes like innovation and social responsibility. He emphasized, “When you care about more than one goal—such as financial and social performance—your organization may actually discover better solutions than if you only focus on one. Looking at ethics formally is becoming even more essential as AI starts making decisions we once thought only humans could make.”
Associate Director of Advancement Madison Montambault, who played a role in shaping the structure of the initiative, described its genesis: “These donors wanted to do something transformational, which would make an impact not only for Ross but for the University of Michigan as a whole. With the help of Felipe and his team, we proposed a program that merged their vision with the goals of the Strategy Department.”
The program’s central feature is an annual residency bringing a distinguished leader—whether an academic or an industry practitioner—to campus to engage with students, faculty, and the broader campus through open lectures, workshops, and collaborative projects. “The planning committee will include faculty members from across disciplines within the business school, ensuring that the selected ethical and values leader and their programming are relevant, thought-provoking, and tailored to the community’s interests,” Montambault explained. “We anticipate that this ethicist-in-residence program, and all the programming it inspires, will scale and grow, becoming a hallmark annual event for the community.”
Engaging the University At Large
The initiative’s reach is intentionally broad. “Programming will serve undergraduates, MBAs, and even those outside the business school. We want engineering students, economists—anyone interested in ethical decision-making—to participate,” Montambault said. “What’s unique is the structure: as the program grows, other supporters can support the initiative to increase the level of impact and opportunity for the U-M community. It’s designed for collaboration and scalability.”
Looking ahead, the initiative stands to establish Michigan Ross as a leader in values-based business education. “What I would hope is that years from now, we look back and see that this became an important part of graduates’ leadership imprinting,” Csaszar said. “That Ross alumni are known as ethical leaders who understand values much more deeply than peers elsewhere.”
A truly collective and philanthropic effort, the Values and Ethics-Based Leadership Initiative promises to become a cornerstone of the Ross experience—empowering graduates who are just as committed to ethical principles as they are to business performance.
