Working Lunch with Olin webinar series
Working Lunch with Olin is a monthly webinar series from WashU Olin Business School delivering expert and actionable insight on timely business topics.
These webinars are designed for busy professionals and focus on practical guidance and real-world examples — across topics from leadership and strategy to workplace dynamics, technology, and team performance.
Led by Olin faculty and grounded in modern business challenges, the insightful conversations offer new thinking and clear takeaways, tools, and ideas you can use right away. Learn how organizations are changing, what effective leaders are doing differently, and how to apply proven ideas to your own career — without disrupting your day.
Olin faculty are recognized globally for their research and impact, ranking #5 worldwide in research productivity (Financial Times, 2024) and #14 in the United States for academic research (Financial Times, 2026). At Working Lunch with Olin, you’ll experience that expertise in a format built for today’s pace of work.
Upcoming Session
Influence Without Authority: Getting Things Done at Work
Presented by Professor Andrew Knight
Getting things done at work doesn’t always come from formal authority, but often comes from the ability to influence others. In this session, Professor Andrew Knight, an expert in leadership, collaboration, and organizational behavior, explores how professionals can build influence and navigate the human side of organizational systems and politics.
Drawing on his research in workplace relationships and team dynamics, the session will introduce a practical framework for assessing your capacity for informal leadership. Participants will learn how to evaluate their sources of power, strengthen their approach to influence, and develop the awareness needed to drive impact across teams and organizations.
Friday, May 29, 2026 at 12 p.m.
Prior Sessions
The New Rules of Negotiation
Presented by Professor Hillary Anger Elfenbein
Strong negotiators aren’t born—they’re developed. In this session, Professor Hillary Anger Elfenbein, an expert in negotiation and organizational behavior, explores the key concepts behind successful negotiation and the evidence-based research on gender differences at the bargaining table.
Friday, April 17, 2026 at 12 p.m.
How to Tell If You Have a Winning Business Idea
2/20/26, presented by Professor Doug Villhard
Most great business ideas don’t start out looking like billion-dollar opportunities. In this session, Professor Doug Villhard—serial entrepreneur, angel investor, and Academic Director of Olin’s top-ranked entrepreneurship program—shares how experienced founders and investors evaluate ideas, identify real market signals, and decide what’s worth pursuing. Drawing on decades of startup and investing experience, Doug will offer practical frameworks for testing ideas, making progress when teams feel stuck, and using AI as a thinking partner in the early stages of innovation.
Designing Better Decisions: Behavioral Science and Real-World Impact
1/30/26, presented by Professor Elanor Williams
Why do smart strategies often fail at the point where decisions are made? In this webinar, Professor Elanor Williams at WashU Olin Business School showed how behavioral science can help leaders design choices that make better decisions easier – especially when turning goals into action. Focusing on the “last mile” of decision-making, the session explored how nudges and small design changes can influence behavior. Participants learned a clear, practical framework and real-world examples that can be immediately applied to improve decision-making for customers, teams, and organizations for the year ahead.
Working Across Generations: Practical Tools for Effective Collaboration
12/17/25, presented by Professor Gisele Marcus
Gisele Marcus, vice dean and professor at WashU Olin Business School, presented practical strategies for collaborating more effectively with colleagues across generations. She outlined approaches to navigating diverse communication styles, addressing generational misunderstandings, and leveraging the distinct strengths that each age group brings to the workplace.
Advance Your Career
When you want to enhance your business knowledge, turn to Olin.
We offer a suite of executive education programs, from multi-day courses to in-depth certificate programs. We also offer part-time degree programs to fit your needs and lifestyle.
Executive Education
Learn more about our suite of executive education programs, from multi-day courses to in-depth certificate programs.
Flex MBA
Learn more about our Flex MBA, designed for working professionals and offered in the evenings — in person or online.
Executive MBA
Learn more about our Executive MBA, a once-a-month weekend program for senior leaders.