Fuqua/Coach K Center on Leadership and Ethics

09/04/2026

It’s so good to see Duke's Fuqua School of Business' Second Year Daytime MBA students back on campus after their Summer Internships.

As part of the 2-day core Collaborative Leadership (C-LEAD 2) classroom experience, COLE curated and led a session on “Everyday Courage”, with three exceptional leaders: Anna Maria Chávez (CEO, Arizona Community Foundation and former CEO, Girl Scouts of USA), Jay Bilas (Renowned ESPN Analyst, Bestselling Author, and Leadership Expert), and Megan Dempsey Bailey (EVP and President, Central Laboratory Services and International, Labcorp). The session was moderated by COLE executive director, Sanyin Siang.

Here are some takeaways from the panel on Courageous Leadership:

▶️ Great leaders are great human beings. Empathy, belief in others, and an alignment with ones’ values are part of the greatness we can achieve.
▶️ You have everything in your CORE to be the best you can be. Don’t let people define who you are and what you should be.
▶️ If you can, do something fulfilling rather than something safe. Do something that energizes you.
▶️ Chase purpose and impact, not titles.
▶️ It takes courage to be vulnerable.
▶️ Demonstrate integrity and character and people will follow you. Trust your own judgement.
▶️ There is never a wrong time to do the right thing.

Thanks to our panel of leaders for sharing their impactful stories and real life lessons with 400+ MBA students as part of the C-LEAD2 programming.

C-LEAD2 was led by Professor Angela Passarelli, faculty advisor to COLE MBA Leadership Fellows.
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The C-LEAD2 experience launches students into their second and final year at Fuqua, encouraging them to be intentional about their development as a leader of consequence. Through a series of experiences, students learn about their teammates and gain insight into their own strengths and areas for growth as effective team members and leaders.

1️⃣ The Business Improv session: Students practice building self-awareness, empathy, and relationships to help develop their personal leadership capability.
2️⃣ The Duke basketball experience led by former Duke basketball players: Students learn and practice effective leadership and teamwork, using Coach K’s “Fist” analogy - Communication, Trust, Collective Responsibility, Care and Pride.
3️⃣ The Developing as a Leader of Consequence sessions: Students reflect on their personal vision, explore who they want to become as leaders, examine the role of self-awareness and renewal, and translate insight into meaningful development goals for the year ahead.
4️⃣ The COLE Center Real Life Lessons for Consequential Leadership panel: An opportunity to glean lessons of experience from leaders, and learn how to exercise courageous leadership.

07/28/2026

Congratulations AJ Forchette, Shezaz Hannan, and Ruchin Raj (COLE Leadership Fellows-Class of 2026), on your recognition as a Fuqua Scholar.

It’s inspiring to see your commitment to service and leadership matched by a commitment to academic excellence.

Fuqua Scholars are students whose cumulative grade point average places them in the top 10% of the graduating class. “Being a Fuqua Scholar is a highly significant achievement. From a cohort where all students are extremely talented, these students have managed to distinguish themselves via sustained academic excellence during their time at Duke's Fuqua School of Business”.

07/28/2026

Some of our Leadership Fellows (Fuqua MBA'26) were among the Duke's Fuqua School of Business students recognized for their exceptional leadership and outstanding service to the school and the Fuqua community during the 2026 Daytime MBA and AMBA Awards Ceremony, as part of the graduation festivities.

▶️ Damali Egyen-Davis, Bianca Valladares, Philip Coale -"Bill Boulding Deans' Recognition Award”.
▶️ Carlos Ochoa, recognized for his mentorship of fellow students as well as his commitment and service to the larger community – “Alan D. Schwartz Award for Mentorship”.
▶️ Jesi Liu (General Management Club -"Professional Club of the Year").
▶️ Bianca Valladares (American Latinx Management Association – “Affinity Club of the Year").

Congratulations to you and other award winners, on the recognition of your leadership and for exemplifying what it means to be a .
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The Bill Boulding Dean’s Recognition Award acknowledges and celebrates the student, in the opinion of the peers, faculty, and the Dean’s Office, truly exemplified outstanding services to the school.

The Alan D. Schwartz Award for Mentorship was established to encourage mentorship among the entire Fuqua community.

The Club of the Year Award is given to a club that has shown collective and exemplary leadership in building relationships and opportunities with a variety of constituents to include students, alumni, companies and faculty.

07/22/2026

What if the most powerful thing you could ever give someone isn't advice, isn't money, isn't even your time, but simply telling them you believe in them?

In this unforgettable Season One finale of the Impossible Dreams Podcast, host Aaron Lazar sits down live at Duke University with Mike "Coach K" Krzyzewski, for a powerful conversation about dreams, adversity, preparation, family, Duke, ALS, and what it means to keep becoming.

This episode brings together Coach K’s perspective on leadership and resilience with Aaron’s deeply personal ALS journey and his broader mission to build awareness, community, and support through Impossible Dreams.

In this short clip Coach K reminds us that growth does not stop. Purpose does not stop. Becoming does not stop. We are always becoming.

Watch the full episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=It9bUffyTfY

Duke's Fuqua School of Business

07/08/2026

“Legacy is never really about us. It’s about how we create positive futures by investing in those who come after us.” – Sanyin Siang, COLE Executive Director.

This was fully in expression during our meaningful end-of-year rituals for the COLE Leadership Fellows (CLFs). Each spring, we gather both the graduating class and incoming class and what happens in that room captures everything we believe about leadership. The graduating fellows share their hard-won advice and hand off journals to the incoming fellows, they celebrate a fellow who exemplifies the ethos of the fellowship, and we all get to learn from Coach K.

In Sanyin’s latest Leadership Playbook newsletter, she shares how these COLE rituals reinforces our culture and values. https://leadershipplaybook.substack.com/p/passing-the-torch-investing-in-futures?r=jzqan&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email&triedRedirect=true

Duke's Fuqua School of Business

Insights to help your team and organizations flourish

06/24/2026

The Traveling Trophy 🏀🏆: A Special Peer Recognition of our COLE Leadership Fellows.

This academic year (2025-2026), the Class of 2026 COLE Fellows recognized seven of their peers with the Traveling Trophy-a basketball signed by Coach K. Every month, Fellows passed the ball to a peer who best embodied the Fellowship's values of ethics, empathy, integrity and inclusion, and who made a positive impact on the Fellowship. That recipient would keep the ball until it was time for them to select the next Fellow to receive it.

The seventh and final recipient of the Traveling Trophy is Elisabeth Scott. Elizabeth was recognized and presented with the ball during our meaningful end-of-year rituals for our COLE Leadership Fellows. Coach K was present to hear why her peers chose her and why she gets to keep the traveling trophy for good.

"Elisabeth doesn't just participate in the Fuqua community; she actively elevates it, embodying the "Team Fuqua" spirit through her actions and her unwavering dedication to her peers. A great example of this that stood out to me was Elisabeth's role during Selection Day. What could have easily been an exhausting, stressful 10-hour ordeal was transformed into a smooth experience largely due to her foresight, management, and positive energy. Whether Elisabeth is leading as the Blue Cup Bowling Captain or serving on the MBAA External Affairs Cabinet, she puts her heart and soul into every role. She is driven by a genuine desire to leave the program better than she found it, and her dependability makes her a cornerstone of the Fuqua community."

Congratulations Elisabeth!!
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Recipients of the “Traveling Trophy” for the 2025-2026 Academic Year:
1️⃣ Leah Strassburg: https://lnkd.in/e74xS9Vy
2️⃣ Harini Ravikrishnan: https://lnkd.in/eABM3fhz
3️⃣ Olivia Termini: https://lnkd.in/ebjX6UTt
4️⃣ Kaley Tobin (Hecht): https://lnkd.in/eenrWNGK
5️⃣ Tyler Johnson: https://lnkd.in/e85gjuSE
6️⃣ Rohit Fonseca: https://lnkd.in/eZwwMtvH
7️⃣ Elisabeth Scott: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7474864049277767680

The Traveling Trophy is an annual tradition begun by the Class of 2024 COLE Leadership Fellows.

05/08/2026

A Day of Learning and Reflection.

This Spring Term has been one of continuous learning and community building for both the graduating class of 2026 COLE Leadership Fellows and the new cohort (Class of 2027).

Recently, both cohorts came together for a day of learning and reflection.

Leadership Development Day began with a session on “The Art of Feedback”, with both classes working together to unlock the power of:
1️⃣ Feedback that strengthens teams
2️⃣ Communication that lands with impact
3️⃣ Conversations that elevates leadership.

The second half of the day focused on deepening the new cohort's understanding of leadership. COLE Faculty Director, Sim Sitkin, introduced Fellows to the Six Domains of Leadership Model (SDLM) and guided them in demystifying the insights from their Six Domains of Leadership Survey (SDLS). The Survey requires COLE Fellows to rate their own leadership and ask others who are familiar with their leadership to complete confidential evaluations of their leadership capabilities.

A special thanks to:
▪️ Class of 2026 COLE Leadership Fellows- Bianca Valladares, Tinashe Nyamupingidza and Ana Hernandez- for planning a day centered on growth and learning.
▪️ Bob Kulhan and Josh Pryor for a energetic and engaging Business Improv session.

We are excited to continuing working (and walking) with the newest cohort of COLE Fellows as they grow as leaders and prepare to serve as mentors, coaches and facilitators to the incoming Duke's Fuqua School of Business MBA Class of 2028.

https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7457873493670440960

04/17/2026

Congratulations to the latest Traveling Trophy recipient, Rohit Fonseca! 👏🏀✨🏆