Announcing The Opening of The Wilson Center
A Resource Center for Leadership, Education and Innovation
Clarence, NY, January 3, 2009
We arepleased to announce the opening of The Wilson Center for Leadership and Innovation, a non-profit corporation dedicated to cultivating responsible leadership, innovation and an entrepreneurial spirit in a challenging global economy.
Research conducted at The Wilson Center reveals that successful leaders, inventors and entrepreneurs share common characteristics. It is this research that forms the basis for the Center’s mission to cultivate and teach responsible leadership and innovation though publishing and distributing educational training aids, including books, seminars, webinars, and online interactive blogs, discussions, surveys and tutorials, and to make these materials accessible and affordable locally, nationally and worldwide.”
The concept for The Wilson Center was inspired by the world-renowned contributions of Wilson Greatbatch as a leader, innovator and entrepreneur, whose most famous invention, the implantable cardiac pacemaker, keeps the rhythm of millions of heartbeats and helps people live longer and more fulfilling lives. Mr. Greatbatch was born in Buffalo, NY in 1919. His U.S. Naval service in World War II enabled him to receive a bachelor's degree in engineering from Cornell University as a GI Bill student (1950). He received a Master's Degree in Electrical Engineering from the University at Buffalo (1957), followed by four honorary degrees. He holds over 220 patents, is a member of the National Inventors Hall of Fame and the National Academy of Engineering, among others. At 89 he is determined to tell his story and to encourage others to learn from his experiences.
Wilson Greatbatch tells young people that the first step to achievement is identifying a problem that you think you can fix. Then, he says, you need to identify your partners – the talent that you need to help you accomplish your goals. He says, “Don't fear mistakes, learn by them,” and as he reflects upon his own trials and errors, he says that it was a sincere determination to succeed that made all the difference. "I seriously doubt if anything I ever do will ever give me the elation I felt that day when my own two cubic inch piece of electronic design controlled a living heart," Wilson scribbled in his lab diary in 1959.
The creation of The Wilson Center emerged from a series of conversations between Wilson Greatbatch and renowned author, researcher and educator, Emmett C. Murphy, regarding the need to cultivate responsible leadership and innovative and entrepreneurial talent. Both recognized that the spirit and skills of the innovator entrepreneur combined with responsible leadership are central to the development of vibrant, dynamic and healthy societies.
Dr. Emmett C. Murphy, the President of The Wilson Center, is the author of Talent IQ™: Make or Break Strategies for Winning the Talent Wars, published in mid-2007. He is also the author of the New York Times, USA Today and Gannett business bestsellers Leadership IQ™, The Genius of Sitting Bull: Thirteen Heroic Strategies for Today’s Business Leaders, and Leading on the Edge of Chaos: The 10 Critical Elements for Success in Volatile Times, among others. The title for newest and soon to be released book is The Responsibility Driven Leader. Dr. Murphy’s books and research on leadership have been translated worldwide and reported in such national and international media as USA Today, Chicago Tribune, The Los Angeles Times, New York Times, and International Herald Tribune. As a leadership analyst and commentator, he has been called on by such national media as CBS, CNN, ABC, NPR, MSNBC, among others.
Although Dr. Murphy and his family have made Clarence, New York their home, his consulting practice, Murphy Leadership, takes him throughout North America and Europe. He is the former Senior Partner and Chairman a management consulting firm and former Chairman and CEO of E. C. Murphy, VHA, LLC, the management consulting subsidiary of VHA, Inc., the world’s largest business services and healthcare system. His clients have included IBM, Chase Manhattan, Hewlett-Packard, the Department of Defense, Johns Hopkins and Stanford University Hospitals. Dr. Murphy has held faculty, administrative, and consulting positions with the State University of New York, Harvard School of Medicine/Brigham Hospitals, the American Management Association, Booz-Allen Hamilton, and the London University, among others, and has served as Executive Consulting Officer and CEO for such organizations as University Hospital of UMDNJ, Los Angeles County Medical Center, Rome Cable Corporation, and over 100 others throughout the US and Europe.
Dr. Murphy holds a PhD in Organizational Psychology from the State University of New York, with post-doctoral studies in Operations Research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and in Clinical Counseling at Upstate Medical Center of SUNY, as well undergraduate degrees in English Literature and Psychology.
In addition to assisting current and aspiring business, non-profit and health care leaders to achieve their goals, both Dr. Murphy and Mr. Greatbatch share a passion for cultivating leadership in youth and education. Their plans include a Summer Youth Leadership Program as well as awarding scholarships to local high school students. For more information, visit The Wilson Center’s website at www.thewilsoncenter.org.
