An MIT Professor of International Management, Don Lessard, encouraged us this morning to set goals for ourselves in three areas for the coming year as Sloan Fellows:
I think this is great advice throughout our careers as leaders whenever we have opportunities to learn.
I’m headed to MIT this June as a member of the Sloan Fellows class of 2012. This week I’m fortunate to be attending what’s been an incredible week long orientation to the program.
This year’s Sloan Fellows have been orienting us to life in and out of the program – and beyond it, as well. They are an incredible group of current and future leaders. I have been inspired by everyone I’ve met since Monday morning.
We’re also getting to know the members of our own cohort, the class of 2012. Another inspiring group!
Today we had the opportunity to hear Admiral Thad Allen speak. He’s a Sloan Fellow alum from 1989. It was music to my ears when he spoke of how Peter Senge’s text, The Fifth Discipline, informs the work he’s done and continues to do. Allen currently teaches a course in George Washington University’s MPA program, and he requires his students to read this text above all others.
Allen believes in the power of mental models to capture, as best as possible, current problems and the types of solutions leaders can work toward in solving them. He gave a number of examples that spoke to his commitment to the power of mental models, all of which were experiences he has lived through and learned from in conjunction with those who have been part of his support team.
At the end of his presentation, one of our classmates, somewhere who had served under Allen, stood up to thank Allen for the handwritten note he’d received from him on the day his mother died in 2002. This was the first time he’d shared this story.
What was powerful about this experience was Allen’s thoughtfulness, clarity, willingness to stand up for his principles, ability to communicate clearly and effectively, and his utter humanity.
Did you ever hear of the Research Center for Leadership in Action at NYU’s Wagner School? I hadn’t. But I had the good fortune of connecting with the center’s Deputy Director, Amparo Hofmann-Pinilla, who took the time to talk to me about the research that’s taking place there, locally, nationally, and globally, with adults and youth.
I was particularly energized by the ways in which they talk about their approach to leadership research:
RCLA scholars move beyond questions of who is a leader and what leaders do, to how leadership is practiced and how leadership makes change possible. We conduct research with leaders rather than on leaders to uncover and cultivate insights that describe leadership clearly and with an authentic voice.
Researchers research with leaders and participants, often through a collaborative inquiry approach. By engaging in research together to learn more about the “how” of leadership, everyone involved gains greater insight into all of the facets of the change process.
The tools they use to examine the practice of leadership can benefit all leaders. At this point, I’m trying to gather 7-9 school leaders to use these tools to examine their own practice, in order to reflect, discuss, write, and share the “how” of what they do.
Interested?