Personal and Professional Development for Business Students

Paul Dowson has a business background and gained his MBA from the University of Leeds in 1992. To pursue his interest in teaching he joined Leeds Metropolitan University in 2002 where he lectured in the area of Personal Development for ten years. In 2005 he developed with Engage Mutual Assurance ‘LifePlan’, an innovative Corporate Responsibility (CR) programme aimed at defining personal and professional pathways for adults of all ages. From 2007 to 2012 Paul was a Senior Lecturer in the School of Applied Global Ethics and working with Prof Simon Robinson developed the Responsible Engagement programme which sought to build student identity around taking responsibility for self, other and global concerns; as well as introducing students to Corporate Responsibility.

• IntroductionPart I – The land of opportunityWhere you are nowAn A to Z of Skills developmentGraduate skillsCompetences and ways of operating in the Twenty First CenturyGoing GlobalPart II – Self awareness and developmentSelf-development and profilingIntegrity Matters: The integrated self and organizationCareer and life planningThe nuts and bolts of career communicationVolunteering and internshipsPart III – The Responsible PractitionerFreud & Sons: A vocabulary for understanding psychosocial developmentResponsible business practiceResponsible leadership and governancePart IV – Humanity and FuturesSupporting ResourcesFutures

This book is unique in the areas of personal development, employability and responsibility in business. First, it brings all these areas together in a coherent and rigorous fashion.  Second, it recognises what is needed for the Twenty-First Century business student in an environment, which demands both integrated thinking and integrity.  Third, it is focused in practice, recognising the different functional areas and outlining what responsibility looks like in each of these.  Fourth, it acts as a credible means of integrating the business curriculum by embedding personal development in each of the professional areas. The book is for students, academics and practitioners, setting up a dialogue that will enable the most effective career development.