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Carole Robin

Carole Robin
Lecturer, Organizational Behavior
Contact Info
CaroleRobin
Dorothy J. King Lecturer in Leadership
Academic Area: 
Organizational Behavior
Additional Administrative Titles
Director, Interpersonal Dynamics for High-Performance Executive Program

Teaching Statement

Carole Robin, PhD, is the Director of the Arbuckle Leadership Fellows program and winner of the 2011-2012 MBA Distinguished Teaching Award. As a consultant and executive coach, she has been helping people and organizations thrive in the business, nonprofit, and public sectors since 1985. Dr. Robin’s experience as a former high-tech sales and marketing senior manager and past partner/principal of an organization consulting firm provides her students with pragmatic, solution-oriented approaches grounded in “having been there.” Her belief is that adults learn best by doing. Her courses combine a high degree of experiential-based activities with case method, theory, and research to ensure rigor, relevance, and practicality. In addition to teaching Leadership Fellows, she teaches courses on interpersonal dynamics, influence, leadership and coaching at the Graduate School of Business.

Bio

For 30 years, Carole Robin has provided executive coaching, leadership development and executive team building to a wide range of business, government, and nonprofit clients. She has consulted to organizations ranging in size from startups to global and Fortune 500 organizations. She is an experienced facilitator in whole system change and numerous organizational improvement and decision-making processes (including G.E.’s Work-Out®). Dr. Robin was formerly a partner and principal at Destra Consulting Group, LLC, an international consulting firm prior to becoming a full-time member of the faculty at the GSB. Prior to becoming an organization development consultant and executive coach, Dr. Robin was a National Account Manager for Honeywell’s Industrial Controls Division (1975-1980) as well as the 13-state Western Regional Manager for the Modicon Division of Gould, Inc. (1980-1985)

Dr. Robin has been affiliated with Stanford University since 1998 and a lecturer at the Graduate School of Business since 2002. She is currently the Director of the Arbuckle Leadership Fellows Program and winner of the MBA Distinguished Teaching Award. She holds a full-time lectureship appointment in the Organization Behavior area where she teaches Interpersonal Dynamics, High Performance Leadership, Leadership Coaching and Mentoring and Taking Stock and Moving Forward to MBAs and Sloan students and Interpersonal Dynamics for High Performance Executives to executives (Executive Education).

Dr. Robin was also the Faculty Director of “Beacon, Charting Your Next Phase”, a program within the alumni Life Transitions Initiative and previously taught Interpersonal Influence and Leadership at the Stanford Law School (an interdisciplinary course open to Law School, School of Engineering, and School of Earth Science graduate students), and Interpersonal Dynamics for High Performance Leaders (offered to alumnae through the Life Long Learning Program.) She is now the Faculty Director of the Interpersonal Dynamics for High Performing Executives Program offered through GSB Executive Education.  Her research interests focus on emotional intelligence, influence and leadership, coaching and mentoring, executive team development, appreciative inquiry, and existential perspectives on meaningful work.

Dr. Robin has been a Guest Lecturer at MIT’s Sloan School of Business and is a member of the NTL Institute of Applied Behavioral Science. She has served on numerous boards including Leadership Midpeninsula, Palo Alto Foundation for Education, and the Fielding Graduate Institute Board of Trustees.

Dr. Robin has a PhD in Human and Organization Systems and a Master’s Degree in Organization Development. She was raised in Mexico City, Mexico and speaks fluent Spanish. She is the recipient of two Congressional Awards for Community Service and resides in Palo Alto, CA with her husband and two children.

Academic Degrees

  • PhD, The Fielding Graduate Institute, 1998
  • MA, The Fielding Graduate Institute, 1995
  • BS (cum laude), Northwestern University, 1975

Academic Appointments

  • At Stanford University since 2002
  • Instructor, School of Engineering Management, Stanford University, 1999–2000
  • Guest Lecturer, MIT Sloan School of Business, 1999–2000

Professional Experience

  • Principal and Partner, Destra Consulting Group, 2003-2010
  • Partner, Avista Consulting Group, 2001-2003
  • Independent Organization Consultant, 1985-2001
  • Regional Director, Gould Inc., 1980-1985
  • National Account Manager, Honeywell Inc., 1975–80

Awards and Honors

  • Robert K. Jaedicke Silver Apple Award, Stanford GSB Alumni Association, 2013
  • MBA Class of 2011 and MBA Class of 2012 Distinguished Teaching Award, 2011
  • MBA Class of 1978 Lecturer for 2007-2008, and 2011 through 2014
  • Who's Who Among America's Teachers and Educators, 2007

Courses Taught

Degree Courses

2015-16

The Arbuckle Leadership Fellows Program plays an integral role in the GSB leadership curriculum by bringing together a group of talented second years to support the leadership development of the first-year class. OB330, an 8 unit two-quarter MBA2...

This course is the continuation of Leadership Fellows I, an 8-unit course that begins in Autumn Quarter. During this quarter Fellows will continue to deepen their coaching and mentoring skills, and will focus exclusively on in-depth 1:1 coaching...

PRE-QUALIFICATION IS REQUIRED BY THE DEADLINE (APPROXIMATELY FIVE WEEKS BEFORE THE QUARTER BEGINS). The focus of this course is to increase one's competencies in building more effective relationships. Learning is primarily through feedback from...

2014-15

The Arbuckle Leadership Fellows Program plays an integral role in the GSB leadership curriculum by bringing together a group of talented second years to support the leadership development of the first-year class. OB330, an 8 unit two-quarter MBA2...

This course is the continuation of Leadership Fellows I, an 8-unit course that begins in Autumn Quarter. During this quarter Fellows will continue to deepen their coaching and mentoring skills, and will focus exclusively on in-depth 1:1 coaching...

PRE-QUALIFICATION IS REQUIRED BY THE DEADLINE (APPROXIMATELY FIVE WEEKS BEFORE THE QUARTER BEGINS). The focus of this course is to increase one's competencies in building more effective relationships. Learning is primarily through feedback from...

Stanford University Affiliations

Service to the Profession

  • Member, NTL Institute for Applied Behavioral Science
  • Member, Organization Development Network
  • Advisory Board, Leadership Midpeninsula

In the Media

Business 2.0 , July 1, 2004

Insights by Stanford Business

June 11, 2015
Giving and receiving constructive criticism takes practice.
November 27, 2013
Seven tips for giving feedback to others.

School News

February 22, 2016
One recent participant in a Stanford Executive Education program discovered that changing the world begins with educating himself.