Historian Nancy Koehn is the 2021 Westmont President’s Breakfast speaker. A Harvard historian and bestselling author, Koehn will discuss courageous and principled leadership at the 16th annual Westmont President’s Breakfast, 8 a.m. Friday, March 5.
Tickets to the virtual event, which cost $35, go on sale Feb. 12 at westmont.edu/breakfast.
Koehn, the James E. Robison professor of business administration at the Harvard Business School, focuses her research on crisis leadership, and how leaders and their teams rise to the challenges of high-stakes situations.
Her most recent book “Forged in Crisis: The Power of Courageous Leadership in Turbulent Times” was a 2017 Wall Street Journal bestseller. The historical narrative spotlights five masters of crisis, including President Abraham Lincoln and environmental crusader Rachel Carson, and what today’s leaders from a range of organizations and pursuits can learn from these extraordinary stories.
Among other speaking engagements, Koehn has addressed the World Economic Forum in Davos ,and the Aspen Ideas Festival.
Koehn identifies key leadership lessons, behaviors and tools from history that businesses, government institutions, and nonprofits can apply today. The author of numerous books, articles and Harvard Business School case studies, Koehn also writes for The New York Times, Washington Post, and Harvard Business Review Online, and contributes to National Public Radio.
A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Stanford University, Koehn earned a master of public policy at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government before completing her master’s degree and doctorate in history at Harvard.
The Westmont Foundation, local businesses and individuals sponsor the President’s Breakfast to promote discussion of significant issues. Bank of the West is the lead sponsor; Westmont Choir sponsor is David and Anna Grotenhuis; and speaker sponsor is In Memory of Jim Haslem.