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The McDonnell International Scholars Academy was founded in 2005 to bring together future leaders during their time at Washington University as master’s or doctoral students. The Academy recruits Scholars from partner universities around the world and a few from the United States, and it provides tuition and a living stipend for their time to degree. The annual cohorts of 15–20 Scholars represent all seven schools at Washington University and to the extent possible all 31 partner institutions. The Academy currently has 72 alumni and 67 in-residence Scholars.

A basic assumption of the McDonnell Academy is that diversity does not just happen when we put a diverse group of people together; it has to be fostered. In addition to recruiting students who say they want to be part of a diverse community, we need to encourage productive forms of interaction. To do this, the Academy strives to build trust, encourage networking, and foster friendships and professional relationships that yield “McDonnell Academy Scholars for Life.”

Through the Academy’s experience, we have learned that some useful ingredients for “doing diversity” are bring together a wide mix of people who would not normally meet; build trust among this group by creating a “safe place for unsafe topics”; discuss topics that divide as well as unite the group and find the common threads that lead to productive engagement; organize initiatives and events that are part of the institutional structure of the university so as to foster involvement from all constituents; and create living communities that encourage interaction and deepen connections among a wide variety of individuals.

The Academy experiences and structure can serve as a possible model to expand the idea of “doing diversity” across graduate schools, across disciplines, and across cultures and backgrounds.

The origin of perfumery can be traced back to the true cradle of human civilization and culture in ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt. The world’s first referenced chemist was a perfumer named Tapputi-Belatekallim who lived in Babylon more than 3,000 years ago. She used her intimate knowledge of chemistry to develop various formulations and techniques to revolutionize the process of perfumery creation. Similarly, Ajmal is one of the first companies in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) to have pioneered the science and art of perfumery creation. This case study describes the inspiring journey of Ajmal Perfumes which began in the farms of a small village located in Hojai, Assam, to becoming a world-class perfumer with a global reach of over 45 countries. From “Farm to Flacon,” (Flacon a.k.a glass bottle) the company’s perfect control over their seamless value chain has enabled them to sustainably grow their business while maintaining high standards of quality. Their performance across five major dimensions (finance, market, processes, people, and corporate social responsibility [CSR]) is used to gauge their success. In this case analysis, the strategic framework behind the success of Ajmal Perfumes is captured. Transformational Leadership (TL), Customer Centricity (CC), Intrapreneurial Behavior (IB), Total Quality Management (TQM), Innovation Success (IS), Absorptive Capacity (AC), and CSR are identified as their key drivers of success. A critical review of existing literature related to success drivers was also undertaken that brought forward knowledge gaps and future areas of research in the domain of TQM and AC.