Former Nissan executive shares leadership principles with students

Liberty University School of Business welcomed former Nissan Motor Corporation human resources executive Mark Stout to speak to several undergraduate and graduate classes Monday and Tuesday.

Stout began his time with Nissan in 1989 as an HR representative at a vehicle assembly plant in Tennessee. He rose to the rank of Corporate Vice President for Global Human Resources in 2018 and retired with Nissan last year.

School of Business Dean Dave Brat expressed excitement at the opportunity for students to hear from a high-level business executive.

“Our faculty do a great job of teaching the theory and practice across all the positions of the CEO, the CFO, the COO, the Board, et cetera, and you see the infinite knowledge that is required to execute at that CEO level. What’s different here is Mark was in the room and he was actually managing all those high-power people for one of the biggest global corporations,” Brat said. “That was the special sauce to have him here. We had a lot of student engagement; every student was riveted. The faces were all zoomed in on him, and he won them over as a Christian, as a teacher, as a mentor.”

During his visit, Stout spoke in four classes and took time to meet and interact with students. He addressed HR principles, employee growth, high level leadership frameworks, and decision-making strategies, allowing time for student questions.

In one of the classes, Stout emphasized the need for leaders to find strong team members to support them.

“As you move through your career, you better learn how to build teams around you,” Stout told the students. “Build teams around you. You’re the leader. Absolute gamechanger. Period. End of sentence. No more discussion. It’s that simple. Because if you don’t have a team around you that is capable and that you have confidence in, that can manage the complexity of whatever it is that you’re doing, then you’re going to micromanage.”

The School of Business has placed a strong emphasis on hosting industry professionals who can help students as they prepare to enter the workforce. Earlier this month, the school hosted a panel of former and current FBI members to discuss investigating financial crimes.