Upward mobility for the masses starts with enterprising individuals who know how to harness the human potential within market systems, Distinguished Scholar-Teacher Rajshree Agarwal said on Oct. 19, 2017, at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business.

Aspiring leaders will maximize their potential for success and happiness when they develop five distinct characteristics, BB&T Chairman and CEO Kelly S. King said Sept. 26, 2017, at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business.

Rajshree Agarwal, Rudolph P. Lamone Chair and professor of entrepreneurship at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business, delivered the keynote speech at the Strategic Management Society Conference on Strategic Human Capital. The conference took place in March 2017 in Milan, Italy.

SMITH BRAIN TRUST — Kelly S. King works long hours with electronic currency as chairman and CEO of BB&T, one of the largest U.S. banks. So on the weekends he likes to put on old jeans and putter around his family’s North Carolina lake house. “I like to build things and plant things,” he said Sept. 26, 2017, at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business. “It’s very tangible. Most of my work is very intangible.”

SMITH BRAIN TRUST — The worst performance review you ever had was the one where your boss told you that you’re doing great and don’t need to improve, BB&T Chairman and CEO Kelly S. King said Sept. 26, 2017, at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business.

SMITH BRAIN TRUST — If you’re good at your job and can do it comfortably, then you’re wasting company resources and should delegate, BB&T Chairman and CEO Kelly S. King said Sept. 26, 2017, at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business. "You need to disrupt yourself," he told faculty, staff and students at the BB&T Colloquium on Capitalism, Ethics and Leadership.

SMITH BRAIN TRUST — Leaders who search for ways to motivate their teams are focusing on the wrong thing, BB&T Chairman and CEO Kelly S. King said Sept. 26, 2017, at the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business. "I can't motivate you," he said. "You can't motivate anyone else."

SMITH BRAIN TRUST — Call him old school, but BB&T Chairman and CEO Kelly S. King believes in absolutes. “You should be absolutely 100 percent honest,” he told faculty, staff and students on Sept. 26, 2017, at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business. “There are a lot of people in academia who will disagree with that, who will say there are no absolutes. They will tell you there is nothing that is really objective. It’s all relative.”

“How was your summer?” Everyone asks this pinnacle question on the first day of fall semester classes. Maybe you’ve been crafting the perfect response, perhaps you haven’t given much thought to it, or most likely, you still wish it was summer. Either way, hopefully, you had a rewarding break. For many students in the Ed Snider Center for Enterprise and Markets at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business, summer was jam-packed with adventure and opportunity.

Professor Evan Starr at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business was awarded the 2017 Research Communicator Impact Award from the University of Maryland. The award recognizes faculty members who take a proactive approach to sharing their research with the public.