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Experts discuss pandemic’s impact on small business, family and relationships

Kellogg School webinars open to media April 23 and 30

Two upcoming webinars led by renowned scholars at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management will explore the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on small businesses and on family and relationship dynamics.

Best-selling author and psychologist Eli Finkel leads an April 23 discussion of how stay-at-home orders will affect birth and divorce rates and how remote work will impact relationships with colleagues.

On April 30, leadership expert Jennifer Pendergast explores how family businesses will cope with the long-lasting impacts of the pandemic.

Journalists interested in covering the events or interviewing the speakers should email kayla.stoner@northwestern.edu and register using the links below.

COVID-19 webinar events

Headshot of COVID-19 relationship webinar speaker Eli Finkel

Work, love and relationships in the time of coronavirus

Noon CDT, Thursday, April 23

Speaker: Best-selling author and psychologist Eli Finkel

COVID-19 has upended life for billions of people around the world. Much discussion surrounds the public health and economic impacts, but what about the effects on our closest relationships? Will we see a surge in divorces? A baby boom? Is it possible to stay productive when, all of the sudden, our “coworkers” are ages three to five? How does this impact our relationships with colleagues? Best-selling author and psychologist Eli Finkel addresses such questions in this webinar, leaving plenty of time for Q&A. 

Finkel, author of the bestselling book “The All-Or-Nothing Marriage: How the Best Marriages Work,” is a professor of psychology in Northwestern’s Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences and a professor of management and organizations at Kellogg. In his role as director of Northwestern’s Relationships and Motivation Lab, he has published 150 scientific papers and is a contributor to the op-ed page of The New York Times. The Economist has identified Finkel as "one of the leading lights in the realm of relationship psychology.”

REGISTER HERE

Headshot of coronavirus small business webinar speaker Jennifer Pendergast

A test of family enterprise purpose and values: Planning for the future impact of COVID

Noon CDT, Thursday, April 30

Speaker: Leadership expert Jennifer Pendergast

Family business leaders and owners are turning to longer-term implications of the COVID-19 crisis. Join us for a conversation about how family enterprises are planning for the future. Leadership expert Jennifer Pendergast will share best practices and examples of how families are addressing issues related to employees, culture, customers, communities and enterprises they own.

Pendergast is the inaugural John L. Ward Clinical Professor of Family Enterprise and faculty director of the Center for Family Enterprises (KCFE) at Kellogg. In this capacity, she guides the market-leading executive education and MBA programs and the research agenda for KCFE. Previously she served as the U.S. leader of the Egon Zehnder’s Family Business Advisory.

REGISTER HERE