Responsibility, respect and reward are the three principles of real leadership, according to J. Richard "Dick" Munro, UConn's 1997 Wolff Distinguished Lecturer in Entrepreneurship.

"The leaders of the new generation must be developed to recognize the crucial components of leadership not only in an enterprise, but also in other ventures of life," said Munro in his lecture, Leading in the Age of Entrepreneurship, November 19 at the Jorgensen Auditorium.

The lecture was the highlight of a series of sessions sponsored by the School of Business Administration to celebrate two events, the 10th anniversary of the Thomas J. and Bette Wolff Program in Entrepreneurship and Connecticut Entrepreneurship Day.

Munro is chairman of Genentech, a biotechnology company in San Francisco that uses human genetic information to develop, manufacture and market pharmaceuticals. He also is a director of the Mobil Corp., the Kellogg Co. and the K-Mart Corp. Before being named chairman of Genentech in December 1996, he was chairman of Time Warner Inc. and Time Inc.

"True leadership is about respect for our fellow men and not intimidation; it is being accountable for our actions and rewarding people for their work," he said.

The Wolff Family Program in Entrepreneurship, supported by an endowment by Thomas and Bette Wolff, sponsors courses that foster new enterprise creation, brings entrepreneurs to the campus on an ongoing basis, and gives the students and faculty an opportunity to interact with successful entrepreneurs.

"Recognizing this unique celebration of entrepreneurship and acknowledging the vital role that entrepreneurs play in the state's economy, Governor Rowland declared this day as Entrepreneurship Day in the state of Connecticut ," said Richard N. Dino, assistant professor in residence and executive director of UConn's Institute for Developing Entrepreneurial Advantage.

One of the day's objectives was to create awareness among students of entrepreneurship as a career alternative - seeking and seizing an opportunity and meeting challenges not only in the context of entrepreneurship, but in the context of life as a whole, Dino said.

An afternoon panel discussion, Entrepreneurship as a Process, featured Munro and other successful alumni entrepreneurs including Brian J. Foley '74, president of Apple Health Care and owner of the Connecticut Pride, a Continental Basketball Association franchise, who was a finalist in Inc. Magazine's Entrepreneur of the Year competition; Robert Kaufman '74, founder and president of Bob's Discount Furniture and Hartford Area's Business Leader of the Year in 1997; Raymond Neag '56, executive vice president of Arrow International Inc. of Reading, Pa; and Lisa Wilson-Foley, Southern New England's 1995 Entrepreneur of the Year, who has established six separate companies since 1989, including several healthcare businesses, a building products firm and a golf course.

The day's events also featured sessions that included an interactive business case presentation by second-year MBA students and a student-developed business plan competition that offered $5,000 in rewards.

Thirty business plans from the Stamford MBA program were reviewed in this competition. The first prize, $2500, was awarded to Reed Overby for his business plan to perform pre-employment background checks on prospective job applicants; the second prize, $1500, was awarded to Jason Ward; and the third prize, $1000, was awarded to Craig Connell.

Usha Palaniswamy