New Course, New Honors for Drucker’s Patel

Anyone who follows global business developments probably knows at least one thing about commentator Ryan Patel: the phrase “wearer of many hats” clearly applies to him.

Not only is Patel a go-to authority on political economy and corporate governance, but he’s also a global business executive and frequent contributor to a wide variety of media outlets, including CNN, BBC, Yahoo Finance, Fox Business, The Hill, CGTN, and more. He’s also an advisory board member and senior fellow with the Drucker School of Management. And soon he will be offering a transdisciplinary course on global leadership.

Now Patel has been named by the National Association of Asian American Professionals (NAAAP) as one of this year’s recipients of the NAAAP100 Award, which recognizes the exemplary leadership and entrepreneurial achievements of members of the Asian and Pacific Islander communities.

“Patel’s unique and inherent knowledge of the ever-changing nature of trends,” the NAAAP announcement said, “has been vital in providing valuable strategy and leadership in developing domestic and international growth plans across multi-cultural and cross-functional teams for some of the world’s most innovative companies.”

NAAAP is one of the oldest, largest, and fastest-growing Pan-Asian organizations in North America. Previous award winners include the late Senator Daniel Inouye, Pepsico CEO Indra Nooyi, Superbowl MVP Hines Ward, and playwright David Henry Hwang.

In Patel’s acceptance remarks he said that although he wished he could speak at the conference and meet everyone in person, “this ‘new normal’ is an opportunity for all of us to still use our voices and to come together.”

This is already evident, he added, in the cultural awareness being spread across news and media right now.

“I’m looking forward to actual impact, not just a tokenism of diversity and inclusion, but an actual place where we have accountability, results, and all of us can come together,” said Patel.

New Course Teaches Global Leadership in Real-Time

Before he was a news contributor and senior fellow at Drucker, Patel was a key player at some of the world’s most well-known companies such as Wet Seal Retail (Arden B and Wet Seal); Jamba Juice; BJ’s Restaurants; Panda Restaurant Group (Panda Express); and Pinkberry, which he helped expand into 23 countries.

This fall, you will find him leading a new transdisciplinary course at CGU, “Global Leadership,” which will explore what global leadership means and how it is practiced in today’s business world and beyond.

The course—which is listed as TNDY 305 in the university’s course catalog–is open to all CGU students (you don’t have to have a business background, he says).

Patel will be covering seven modules on topics and issues central in most financial discussions today: the global economy, marketing and brand, corporate leadership, technology, diversity, inclusion, equity, and scaling businesses for a global market.

Patel’s goal is to draw on his regular engagement with business media on breaking global business news to immerse his students in real-world scenarios taking place in real-time.

“I’m excited about this. I really want this experience to be different for my students,” he said. “This course will focus on individuals learning to work on teams and how to build brands for themselves. I’m going to assign them group projects that will allow them to address some of the kinds of situational problems that I’ve encountered in my career.”

• Read more here about Patel’s new CGU course TNDY 305