Students Practice Leadership Individually and Collectively

    Across the sample it was clear that students practice leadership individually and collectively was one of the most significant attributes that emerged in this study. Quite simply, students learn leadership by doing it, and programs that provide opportunities for student leadership practice create ripples of positive outcomes for students and society.

Actions. Students practice leadership individually and collectively is animated in programs in four different ways. First, programs engage students in practicing the leadership skills and concepts they are learning through group development processes within the program, in class projects, and with individual leadership plans. Second, programs engage students in practicing leadership in various out of class projects in the community and on campus. Third, programs engage students in practicing leadership through assuming positions and roles within the program to share responsibility in operating the program and teaching fellow students. Fourth, programs create opportunities for students to become involved in tangible ways outside of the program in the community, campus, and within other organizations.

Effects on students. There are four significant effects of students practice leadership individually and collectively for program participants. First, students find their voice, gain self efficacy, and see leadership as something they and others are capable of through experiencing first-hand that one can overcome fear, challenges, and lead. Second, students think about who leaders are and what leadership is in broader and inclusive ways. Third, students gain a greater understanding of organizations, group dynamics, and how to develop a team through motivating others. Fourth, students learn balance, time management, and problem solving from the demands and imperfection of their projects.

        

Cluster II: Student Centered Experiential Learning Experiences

Student centered experiential learning experiences is the second of three clusters of attributes in this grounded theory of high quality leadership programs. Stakeholders spoke most frequently about this cluster area in the interviews when considering what was done in the program to help students develop as leaders. Seven attributes were identified within this cluster: students practice leadership individually and collectively, students engage in reflection activities, students apply leadership concepts to themselves in meetings, students encounter episodes of difference, students engage in service, and students engage in self discovery through retreats.

        

Participants Cultivate One-on-One Relationships

Across the sample of study participants, students and practitioners identified the value of one-on-one relationships in helping students to become better leaders. These relationships happened between practitioners and students and also between students of different classes or between peers within program activities. For mentoring and developmental feedback, the relationships were both formal and informal in nature.

Actions. Programs animate participants cultivate one-on-one relationships in two major ways. First, programs facilitate participants giving and receiving feedback to one another in critical instances after they have had time observing each others’ leadership style. Second, programs utilize a wide variety of teambuilding activities and structures at the beginning of the program and throughout to allow participants to meet and connect on a one to one basis.

Effects on students. There are two effects of participants cultivate one-on-one relationships. First, students learn how to give and receive feedback through practice of giving and receiving feedback that contributes to their ability to implement positive changes in their leadership. Second, students learn the skills to develop better interpersonal relationships through listening to others and seeking to understand.

        

Participants Foster a Culture of Challenge and Support

One crucial element which matters for student leadership development and learning is the culture within a program. This culture is one of both challenge and support that is fostered by the program participants themselves. This culture is not always easily visible or structural within the program but it is present and felt by the participants.

Actions. There are two primary actions taken by leadership development programs to enact participants foster a culture of challenge and support. First, participants challenge each other to risk and learn from mistakes, ask difficult questions, and think for themselves all within a safe encouraging atmosphere. Second, practitioners set community standards and encourage participants to be approachable, encouraging, and willing to help fellow participants outside of the program as well as within.

Effects on students. Two major effects on students were discovered when participants foster a culture of challenge and support. First, students develop courage and expand their comfort zone through being challenged and encouraged to risk while supported. Second, students establish trust with self and others through vulnerable honest dialogue focused on their personal growth when confronting important issues.

        

Participants Unite Through Small Groups

Program size can oftentimes be large, and a structure is needed to make the program smaller, not only for the usual “smaller class size” sake of learning but also for the social fabric the students experience in the program. Students wanted to develop real relationships with others, be a part of the larger program community, and also be a part of a smaller group. Students cited the forming of groups within the large program as very effective for their development in a variety of ways. Learning happened for students when programs structured the learning community in smaller ways that allowed the students to interact with each other.

Actions. Programs enable participants unite through small groups in three significant ways. First, programs make the large learning community enrollment smaller through a structure that places students within smaller groups in the program. Second, programs allow students to shape and share in a group identity and work together to develop the small group, cluster, or team to which they belong. Third, programs utilize the small group as a laboratory to learn about leadership where students teach each other, engage in activities, work on projects, overcome challenges, and bond through developing as a team.

Effects on students. There are two major outcomes that students gain from programs that have the attribute of participants unite through small groups. First, students learn how to have a positive relationship with individual group members and how to develop relationships within a group. Second, students learn to practice collaborative leadership by identifying their own skills, taking on team roles, and utilizing skills of different people for a common group purpose and achieving as a team.

        

Educators Model Leadership and Support

The students interviewed spoke often about just listening to or observing their teacher or program administrator and modeling from their leadership. The support that practitioners provided also mattered greatly for students’ leadership development and ability to be successful in the program and afterward.

Actions. Programs enact educators model leadership and support within their programs through three actions. First, educators reduce status differences, are open and accessible, empower students, demonstrate integrity, care, and model exemplary leadership practice through their interactions with students. Second, educators tell their stories, share real experiences, and ask thought-provoking questions. Third, educators mentor and support students outside of program meetings.

Effects on students. Educators model leadership and support had a notable effect on their students. Students develop holistically and gain courage to be more authentic and congruent leaders from practitioner modeling and support. This effect was significant for an individual’s development as a leader and as a person, and it is derived from the relationship with their practitioner.

        

Experienced and Committed Practitioners

Students and stakeholders spoke consistently about the importance of teachers, facilitators, administrators, and staff members for student leadership development. Educational practitioners who are committed and experienced in working with students and teaching leadership had a very positive impact on students and modeled leadership practice. Practitioners emerged in forms other than the traditional one teacher leading a class. Guest leaders from the community as well as team-facilitated programs from a group of facilitators all played instrumental roles in advancing student learning and development.

Actions. Programs enact the experienced and committed practitioners attribute within their programs through two actions. First, programs hire student-centered educational practitioners as teachers and administrators to facilitate students’ leadership development. Second, programs create opportunities for leadership practitioners from a variety of fields and careers to serve as guest leaders, sharing their experiences through panels, discussions, and conversations with students.

Effects on students. Experienced and committed practitioners had two primary and distinct effects on students. First, students clarify and broaden their leadership thinking including assumptions of who a leader is and how a leader leads from observing practitioners. Second, students acquire a realness of how leadership can be used, supplemented by motivation to formulate a future vision for themselves from the guest leader real world practitioners.

        

Diverse and Engaged Students

Students who participate in a program determine the quality of a leadership program. Indeed, students themselves bring to the “leadership learning table” their previous experience and background. Not only the quality of students but also how they differ from each other and their level of commitment play a great role in a successful leadership development program. This notion was repeatedly emphasized in interviews from both students and educational practitioners.

Actions. Stakeholders enlisted diverse and engaged students in the program through two primary means. First, programs utilize an application and selection procedure to select students who are invested in their own and others’ development and are committed to engaging fully in the program. Second, programs recruit from many sources and bring together a mix of students from a variety of backgrounds to create a diverse learning community.

Effects on students. There are two primary leadership development and learning outcomes which students experience from actions taken to enact the diverse and engaged students attribute. First, students learn to form collaborations and a network rich in social capital for their leadership endeavors. Second, students acquire new ideas and an enriched understanding through hearing personal experiences and perspectives offered by diverse students in the program.

        

Cluster One: Participants Engaged in Building and Sustaining a Learning Community

High quality leadership programs contribute positively to student leadership development as a result of the contributions and perspectives of a community of stakeholders whose participants collaborate to engage in building a learning community. This community fosters leadership development and learning for participants. The attributes of the participants engaged in building a learning community cluster include:

•    Diverse and engaged students
•    Experienced and committed practitioners
•    Educators model leadership and support
•    Participants unite through small groups
•    Participant foster a culture of challenge and support
•    Participants cultivate one-on-one relationships

This is Cluster One of Three. Each cluster contains 3-7 attributes of high quality leadership programs. Each attribute is described in terms of actions taken to enact it and the learning and leadership development outcome it relates to achieving in the learner. I will blog attribute by attribute over the upcoming weeks. Next up, "Diverse and engaged students."

        

On this ProgramInnovation blog and on my Twitter page I will be trying something new. This will be a a new kind of learning experience or a new way to share research. I've  done a few articles, and am finishing a book on high quality leadership programs but thought I would try to use social media to share the key findings that could help people create, develop, and facilitate high quality leadership programs. In the grounded theory model of high quality leadership programs I created from my research, there are 3 clusters of best practices which contain a total of 16 attributes which are enacted by 40 actions and relate to impacting 34 outcomes. Over the course of the upcoming weeks I will blog about each attribute and it's actions and outcomes and will also share the core information on twitter. So if you tune in you should be able to learn some tips for creating or enhancing your leadership program. Perhaps one of the attributes or actions will validate something you are doing or perhaps you will gain a new idea for something to integrate into your leadership program. For more information on the study that produced these findings see the Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies article:
Eich, D. (2008). A Grounded Theory of High-Quality Leadership Programs: Perspectives From Student Leadership Development Programs in Higher Education. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies, 15(2), 176-187.

        

I began by research interest focused on leadership programs, which is a large focus because there is so much to a leadership program and so many different kinds of things a person can learn from such a program. About four years ago I narrowed my focus within leadership programs to look at those kinds of things we can teach in programs that people can actually not only learn but also do within the program. The key thing I became interested in was innovation, specifically the thinking part of innovation, namely idea generation. I saw this as a critical leadership skill that should be learned and practiced. People can generate ideas within programs so I set out to discover different methods and activities that people could learn and do to innovate and brainstorm more systematically. I've done a number of webinars on this topic and in 2009 integrated it all together and did a 4 part webinar series on systematic idea generation and innovation. The webinar series turned out to exceed my expectations and we had a number of organizations from across the globe join us for the live course we did each week. Now the recordings, handouts, and accompanying materials from this webinar series are available online at InnovationTraining.org. This is more of an "online workshop" since the purpose is for the learners to do a series of activities for their own innovation project rather than passively just sitting back and watching. I would like to do more innovation workshops like this where we customize the projects to a specific challenge or organization.

        

The National Leadership Symposium is one of my favorite small conferences for leadership educators. Here is the key information for the July 9-12 2009 Conference at University of Richmond from the NCLP website:

Now in its 19th year, the National Leadership Symposium is a professional development experience designed for faculty members, student affairs professionals and other education practitioners involved with promoting college student leadership education.

The National Leadership Symposium is a joint program coordinated by the National Association for Campus Activities (NACA) and the National Clearinghouse for Leadership Programs (NCLP). Given the intense learning environment of the Symposium (included required reading prior to attending) it is advised that participants have significant professional experience in leadership education. Registration is limited to 50 people.

This year's symposium will explore the meaning of leadership in a global context. According to many practitioners and scholars global leadership is an emerging field that seeks to understand and explain the impact of globalization processes on leadership. Our scholar authors will provide theoretical frameworks and practical considerations for this exploration. They will also provide thoughtful discourse and perspectives on what it means to prepare students for a global society. Participants will engage in rich dialogue and examine the intentional development of programs that can support students' understanding of the emerging language, style and practice of leadership, which fully values and takes into account an international viewpoint. The concept of cultures interrelatedness and interdependence will be discussed as these connections relate to the establishment of global priorities and mobilization toward purposeful action.

Learning objectives of the 2009 Symposium include:

    * Understand the qualities and attribute of global leaders.
    * Identify key competencies and concrete experiences that influence global leadership development.
    * Acknowledge the distinct differences of Western Cultural approaches to leadership within the global context.
    * Consider the intersection of Western Culture and the global perspective
    * Provide participants with a foundation to support students in making meaning of what leadership signifies in a global context.
    * Creation of a network of practitioners, educators and scholars that explores and informs a current understanding of leadership in a global context.

        

I did a short interview recently about developing leadership retreats. Here is the text from Magna Publications:

Student Affairs Leader recently interviewed Eich about the topic in preparation for the live event.

SAL: What advantages do retreats have over other leadership development experiences?

Eich: In traditional leadership program activities, students might meet on campus only once every couple of weeks, if that often. In contrast, a retreat is intensive. Instead of spending eight hours learning about leadership over eight sessions during a semester, they spend eight hours learning in one day. And because the retreat is nonstop, students must participate in the entire experience; in semester-long programs, they can skip sessions.

Because students are together in retreats for a longer continuous time block, they can warm up and extend their comfort zones to have better, deeper conversations. Also, retreats are often offsite, overnight, and feature different ways of learning, such as using problem-based learning, ropes courses, and other activities that are more creative than traditional lectures. Students learn leadership best by doing it and reflecting on it. A retreat also offers students a special place to step back and reflect on what they do and who they are.

SAL: Should retreats be "stand alone" experiences, or should they be part of a larger leadership development program?

Eich: Retreats can be stand alone or part of a larger program. If a leadership program is just starting, a great way to begin is by offering a retreat and growing from there. This gets a group of students involved and gives them an intensive learning experience as well as interest in being a part of or even co-creating other leadership program sessions. So you can grow a larger program from that first retreat.

Also, leadership learning and retreats can be offered by a wide variety of college departments—they don't always need to be owned by the leadership program office. Residence life, student government, multicultural student organizations, religious organizations, Greek life, athletics, or even the English department can offer a retreat and help students learn about leadership and themselves. These departments can hold single retreats that then plug students into the larger leadership program on campus.

Any larger leadership program should have a retreat component. Most begin the year as well as end the year with a retreat. The retreats have become great campus traditions and catalysts for deeper involvement, learning, and development for students.

        

I have another article from my dissertation on high quality leadership programs published in the January 2009 issue of Student Affairs Leader. The title is: Accelerating Learning and Development with Student Leadership Retreats. A well-designed leadership retreat can be one of the most memorable, powerful parts of a student leader's college experience. You can learn more about retreats and also access the article online at: http://www.magnapubs.com/issues/magnapubs_nocr/37_1/

        

I'll be doing another online seminar with Student Affairs Leader on January 29th. The one I did in the Fall was about high quality leadership programs and this upcoming one will focus on leadership retreats. Here is the description they created about the seminar. I'm looking forward to digging deeper on a favorite topic:

Student Leadership Retreats: Research-based Best Practices

Featured Higher Education Presenter:
Dr. Darin Eich, Ph.D.

Are you looking for ways to create more effective student leadership retreats?

Retreats and conferences that are student-centered and facilitated have been shown by research to help students develop as leaders. At these conferences, students create and facilitate activities themselves and as a result come away with positive learning and leadership development experiences.

One of the benefits of supporting your students in directly facilitating their learning at a retreat—as opposed to having them learn through lectures or other teacher-centered formats—is that you can spend more time evaluating the impact of their learning both at the conferences and on campus afterward.

Now you can learn firsthand how to achieve more effective and meaningful student leadership retreats by attending our new online learning seminar on January 29. Led by Dr. Darin Eich, Student Leadership Retreats: Research-Based Best Practices will give you helpful tips, resources and success stories for creating and facilitating a quality student leadership conference.

Dr. Eich is a nationally renowned authority on college student leadership experiences. During this insightful, information-packed 90-minute seminar, he will:

• Provide you with ideas for creating a new retreat or enhancing an existing one.
• Show you how to structure a conference that emphasizes learning and relationships.
• Discuss how to facilitate a retreat without lectures while getting better results.
• Demonstrate how to implement successful conference activities.
• Connect retreat practices with research on student leadership development.
• Help you understand different characteristics of successful conferences.
• Explain how to improve retreat assessment and planning.

In addition, during the seminar, Dr. Eich will show you how to create a variety of potential activities to use with students. As a result, you will actually spend time at this seminar on developing activities that you can use for a future conference.

During this live, interactive seminar, you will also have a chance to ask questions and to get responses directly from Dr. Eich, whose research shows that retreats that offer students positive, engaging activities and practices succeed in attaining desired learning and leadership development outcomes.

This is a great opportunity to learn from an expert on student leadership development, as Dr. Eich currently consults with colleges across the country on developing and facilitating innovative, high-quality student leadership programs and conferences. Join us and get the research-based knowledge and practical insights that you need to:

• Create a new retreat or strengthen an existing one.
• Structure a conference that emphasizes learning and relationships.
• Get better results without using lectures.
• Implement retreat activities successfully.
• Improve conference assessment and planning.

        

My article entitled "A Grounded Theory of High-Quality Leadership Programs" was just published in the Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies. You can access the article from the hard copy of the Journal or from the website. Aside from the actual dissertation, this will be the most thorough presentation of the theory and methodology. There are other articles forthcoming that will focus on the theory in practice and actions individuals can take to enact the attributes of high quality leadership programs. The abstract of the article is as follows:

Drawing on the experiences and perspectives of multiple stakeholders closely associated with diverse types of successful student leadership programs, the purpose of this study was to identify the attributes of leadership programs—including the specific actions associated with these attributes—that contribute significantly to undergraduate student leadership development. A total of 62 interviews was conducted with individuals across the four programs in the sample. The researcher employed the constant comparative method to construct a grounded theory model. The theory of high-quality leadership programs developed in this study is grounded in those programmatic attributes that, when enacted, contribute significantly to enhancing student learning and leadership development. The data analysis revealed 16 attributes of high-quality leadership programs organized into three clusters: (a) participants engaged in building and sustaining a learning community; (b) student-centered experiential learning experiences; and (c) research-grounded continuous program development.

        

The International Leadership Association Conference is in Los Angeles this year in November. It is a big conference and one I've enjoyed attending. Consider it and joining ILA if you are interested in leadership education. Here is the announcement from ILA:

Global Leadership: Portraits of the Past, Visions for the Future
November 12-15, 2008
Los Angeles, CA, USA (Hyatt Regency Century Plaza)

is now available at our new online registration site: www.ilamembers.org

Conference highlights include:

Keynotes by Christine Loh, Jay Conger, and Connie Rice.

Lifetime Achievement Award Ceremonies for Manfred Kets de Vries, James
MacGregor Burns, Warren Bennis, and Frances Hesselbein. Ceremonies include
remarks from each recipient.

100+ simultaneous sessions plus a special session of roundtable and a
special poster session.

Author book signing and reception, Connecting for Change event (co-sponsored
by the Dalai Lama Center) and the Global Mindset Inventory (with Mansour
Javidan, Thunderbird School of Global Management).

Complete conference details including draft session agenda, are available
at: www.ila-net.org/conferences

        

An important thing to think about in leadership programs is “What to I want to do leadership for?” What do I want to do with my life? It seems that people want more than a job…they want a calling. What we’ve found is that finding your calling is more of a journey than a destination. People are continuously discovering, creating, and innovating themselves. This journey of discovery, creation, and experience gives a person insight on what they can do with their life. A concept I like, “Innovate Yourself,” is about creating an idea for who you can become based on who you are and then developing and taking action on that. It is a constant journey, but after all, the journeys are more fun than the destination in many cases. Finding our calling is not solo journey, it is one we can take with our friends and people we may have never even met before. We can help each other out.

ThroughCollege created a Facebook Application called "What's My Calling?" This is an activity that can be used with students in leadership programs...a way of bringing Facebook in to programming. The description of the application/activity is this: "What should you do with your life? Have your friends help you figure it out! What's My Calling helps you find a career that matches your personality by asking the people who know you best…your friends! Or….if you don't feel like thinking about your career right now you can suggest to your friends what careers they should pursue!" Here is the philosophy behind this application. When you know who you are from your experiences--your strengths, skills, values, and passionate interest--and you know what others know of you, you can combine these to start the journey to find your calling. For this facebook application you identify your career areas, and then most importantly type in specifically your ideas for what your calling is based on what you’ve identified. The powerful part is when you ask friends you know you to do the same for you…and then the app will bring it all together, show you the top career calling areas for you, and show you the ideas and insights your friends typed for you.

How do you think you find your calling? Do you have a good story about the journey towards finding your own calling? How did you learn about yourself, your strengths, passionate interests, and values? What were the memorable and meaningful experiences for you? So, please share your wisdom and send us your own stories, ideas, or resources and we can share them with others on this site.

        

Salsa, Soul, and Spirit: Leadership for a Multicultural Age

I would like to highlight this book from Juana Bordas as being a refreshing contribution to the world of leadership books. I read it for the National Leadership Symposium and was very engaged with turning the pages. It was filled with excellent stories and metaphors and Juana herself is quite a passionate leader and teacher. In addition to leadership, I learned a lot about other cultures and how they have approached leadership both historically and today. This book would be a great addition to any leadership class or class on diversity. It would be a perfect fit for a multicultural leadership program or course but could be valuable in any setting. Plus, it is an inexpensive book which would make most students happy who have a large burden of buying expensive books for courses.

Stated Description: As the world becomes flatter and globalization creates a world village, it is imperative that leaders have the cultural flexibility and adaptability to inspire and guide people from very distinct backgrounds that represents the whole rainbow of humanity. Salsa, Soul and Spirit: Leadership for a Multicultural Nation puts forth a multicultural leadership model that integrates eight practices from African American, Indian and Latino communities. Using principles such as “Sankofa,” the ability to learn from the past; “I to We,” From Individualism to collective identity; and “Mi casa es su casa,” Developing a generosity of spirit, this model offers leaders new approaches that will increase their interpersonal effectiveness with diverse populations by incorporating the influences, practices and values of a variety of cultures in a respectful and productive manner.
 

        

Recommended Leadership Books from CollegeMotivation.com

Bennis, W.G. (1989). On becoming a leader. Massachusetts: Addison-Wesley Publishing.

Bennis, W. & Nanus, B. (1995) Leaders: The Strategies of Taking Charge. New York: Harper & Row, Publishers.

Bolman, L., & Deal, T. (2001). Leading with soul. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Burns, J.M. (1978). Leadership. New York: Harper & Row.

Covey, S.R. (1991). Principle-centered leadership. New York: Summit Books.

DePree, M. (1989). Leadership is an art. New York: Doubleday.

DePree, M. (1992). Leadership jazz. New York: Dell Publishing.

Drath, W. (2001). The deep blue sea: Rethinking the source of leadership. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Gardner, J. (1990). On leadership. New York: The Free Press.

Goleman, D., Boyatzis, R., & McKee, A. (2002). Primal leadership. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.

Greenleaf, R. (1977). Servant leadership. New York: Paulist Press.

Greenleaf, R. (1996). On becoming a servant leader. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Heifetz, R.A. (1994). Leadership without easy answers. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press.

Higher Education Research Institute. (1996). A social change model of leadership development: Guidebook version III. College Park, MD: National Clearinghouse For Leadership Programs.

Hughes, R.L., Ginnett, R.C., & Curphy, R.C. (2001). Leadership: Enhancing the lessons of experience (4th ed.). Boston: McGraw-Hill.

Komives, S.R., Lucas, N., & McMahon, T.R. (1998). Exploring leadership: For college students who want to make a difference. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Kotter, J. (1996). Leading change. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.

Kouzes, J. & Posner, B. (2002). The leadership challenge (3rd ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Matusak, L.R. (1996). Finding your voice: Learning to lead…anywhere you want to make a difference. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Northouse, P.G. (2001). Leadership: Theory and practice (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.

Rost, J. (1991). Leadership for the twenty-first century. New York: Praeger.

Senge, P.M. (1990). The fifth discipline: the art and practice of the learning organization. New York: Doubleday.

Wren, J.T. (1995). The leader's companion: Insights on leadership through the ages. New York: The Free Press.

        

In researching and writing a couple of earlier publications on leadership courses as well as leadership retreats, I reviewed a number of leadership books used with students. I'd like to highlight five books that could be great for students and used within courses or programs. I choose books that are relevant for and geared towards students, are good theories to develop educational experiences around, and are readily applicable for leadership practice by students. 

Exploring Leadership: For College Students Who Want to Make a Difference 
 
You could build your leadership education experience around the five components of the Relational Leadership Model which is a good leadership framework for college students.

1. Inclusive
2. Empowering
3. Process-oriented
4. Purposeful
5. Ethical

Stated Description: This book provides a unique view of leadership as a participatory process, and helps students and young adults to develop their own potential for leadership in the organizations, groups, and communities of an increasingly diverse and complex world. This book is widely used and was developed specifically for college students. An instructor’s guide is also available online.

The Leadership Challenge

Using this book you can build the content of your course or experience around the five exemplary practices of leadership.

1. Challenge the Process
2. Inspire a Shared Vision
3. Enable Others to Act
4. Model the Way
5. Encourage the Heart

Stated Description: The Leadership Challenge has become one of the best-selling leadership books of all time. The Leadership Challenge is grounded in extensive research and based on interviews with all kinds of leaders at all levels in public and private organizations from around the world. In this edition, the authors emphasize that the fundamentals of leadership are the same today as they were in the 1980s, and as they've probably been for centuries. Leadership is not a fad. While the content of leadership has not changed, the context has-and in some cases, changed dramatically.

This is a leadership book that has sold over one million copies and is based on a large amount of research. It is not written specifically for college students but is applicable. It proposes the five exemplary practices of leadership. The Student Leadership Practices Inventory, an instrument for college students, and The Leadership Challenge Workbook, would make excellent companions to the book for conference developers.

Primal Leadership

You can build the leadership learning content around Personal and Social Competence and/or the Emotional Intelligence Domains.

1. Personal Competence
a. Self-Awareness
b. Self-Management

2. Social Competence
a. Social Awareness
b. Relationship Management

Stated Description: Daniel Goleman’s international bestseller Emotional Intelligence forever changed our concept of “being smart,” showing how emotional intelligence (EI)-how we handle ourselves and our relationships-can determine life success more than IQ. Now, Goleman teams with renowned EI researchers Richard Boyatzis and Annie McKee to explore the role of emotional intelligence in leadership. Unveiling neuro-scientific links between organizational success or failure and “primal leadership,” the authors argue that a leader’s emotions are contagious. If a leader resonates energy and enthusiasm, an organization thrives; if a leader spreads negativity and dissonance, it flounders. Drawing from decades of analysis within world-class organizations, the authors show that resonant leaders-whether CEOs or managers, coaches or politicians-excel not just through skill and smarts, but by connecting with others using EI competencies like empathy and self-awareness. And they employ up to six leadership styles-from visionary to coaching to pacesetting-fluidly interchanging them as the situation demands. T

his New York Times national bestseller is from the author of Emotional Intelligence (EI). This book could be interesting for students as it looks at leadership through a different lens of emotion.

Emotionally Intelligent Leadership

This new book provides a guide for students on emotionally intelligent leadership. You could build your leadership development experience around the core facets of the model of emotionally intelligent leadership.

1. Consciousness of Context
2. Consciousness of Self
3. Consciousness of Others

Stated description: Because the campus environment provides a rich array of diversity and opportunities for honing leadership skills, college students are in the unique position of having a "learning lab" at their disposal. Emotionally Intelligent Leadership is a groundbreaking book that combines the concepts of emotional intelligence and leadership in one model—emotionally intelligent leadership (EIL). This important resource offers students a practical guide for developing their EIL capacities and emphasizes that leadership is a learnable skill that is based on developing healthy and effective relationships. Step by step, the authors outline the EIL model (consciousness of context, consciousness of self, and consciousness of others) and explore the twenty-one capacities that define the emotionally intelligent leader. Leadership, the authors explain, is within everyone's ability to develop and is not just for those in official roles in formal organizations. The book explores the concept of leadership as a process among people working together productively in the group rather than simply a top-down phenomenon. Emotionally Intelligent Leadership offers a clear and engaging perspective on leadership as well as a practical guide for applying leadership skills. The book offers tools for reflection on the concepts of leadership. It also provides students with exercises to learn more about themselves, work more productively with others, improve relationships, and be more effective in demonstrating their leadership.

A Social Change Model of Leadership Development

The three components of the leadership development model and/or the “seven C” values are good content for leadership educators.

1. Individual Values
a. Consciousness of self
b. Congruence
c. Commitment

2. Group Values
a. Collaboration
b. Common purpose
c. Controversy with civility

3. Societal/Community Values
a. Citizenship
b. Can also add a section on "Change" if you need another C!

Stated Description: This approach to student leadership development was initially developed by a 15-person “Working Ensemble.” The approach differs in certain basic ways from traditional approaches that view “leaders” only as those who happen to hold formal leadership positions and that regard leadership as a value-neutral process involving positional “leaders” and “followers.”

This short guidebook was developed for leadership educators to use with college students. Citizens of Change: The Application Guidebook and The Socially Responsible Leadership Scale are companions for using the social change model with a conference. The Citizens of Change Application Guidebook is excellent. It is filled with many different activities that correspond to each of the social change model values. I highly recommend it for your leadership development resource library. It is available from the National Clearinghouse for Leadership Programs.

Many of these books were originally featured in an earlier publication of mine. I've adapted from Eich, D. (2005). Developing a quality leadership retreat or conference: Intensive learning for personal and group development. Leadership Insights and Applications Series #20. College Park, MD: National Clearinghouse for Leadership Programs.

        

I spent two weekends in June helping with a couple of leadership retreat type conferences for high school students. I was the closing speaker for both the HOBY (Hugh O'Brien Youth Program) conference in Madison, Wisconsin as well as WILS, the Wisconsin Leadership Seminar, which is held in Milwaukee. I made it through the Wisconsin flooding to be with amazing groups of high school students each weekend. I’ve been helping with conference such as these for a handful of years and they are always very powerful experiences for the students, if not the most powerful experience they have had in their life up to that point. They leave visibly changed. Here are some key elements that may make the experience so powerful for the students.

Firsts.
For many students it could be their first leadership learning experience. It could be their first retreat. It could be their first time in residence at a college. It could be their first formal experience to learn about themselves. Our first experiences are often times our most impacting.

Early Start.
It looks like leadership development can be provided to students younger and younger. The students at these conferences just finished their sophomore year of high school. It seems like the time is ripe for them to start discovering themselves and their leadership. After all, they will be applying to college soon and a conference or experience like this could help them with that process and thinking about their future. Perhaps students can even start younger with leadership retreats such as these.

New Peers.
The students arrive as the only student from their high school. They meet other students from similar situations…being their school’s ambassador. It can be powerful to leave your normal peer group to be amongst new peers, especially peers interested in and willing to engage in a leadership conference.

Experience Leadership.
It is experiential. Students do service projects, group projects, and other kinds of projects. They are learning about leadership and themselves through doing it with new people. Though there are a lot of panels where the students sit back and listen to people practicing leadership, the experiences they practice for themselves may be key for them. The students also are very willing to experience. They will be eager to do almost any new experience or activity you ask of them.

Small Groups.
Students are a part of a small group. Through this group they are able to see how new groups can form and lead together through actually experiencing it. For many of these students it is more engaging and easier to share with one another in this small group format.

Craziness.
Crazy might be a close relative of creativity or courage. Students are not only allowed but encouraged to get a little crazy. They use their creativity and energy in full force. The cheers resonate through the whole weekend of the conference. Students can try out new actions and display their talents. A major focus is on being yourself and coming out of your shell.

Key Questions.
At the stage of leadership development the students are at, I’m proposing that they should be encountering self discovery and the diversity of experiences that allow for that self discovery to occur. From reflection on the experiences they have had students can begin to look inward and answer some key questions. I believe that these are key questions for students to start thinking about:
What are my most meaningful experiences?
What are my strengths?
What are my interests?
What are my values?
What new experiences should I gain to learn more about myself?

I have heard over and over again from participants how much their experience with HOBY, WILS, or other first leadership retreats had meant to their life...even 10 years later. I wish I would have had the opportunity to participate in something like this as a high school student before preparing for college application. In conclusion, I believe that we can use many more of these weekend leadership retreats for high school students. The impact seems to be so high at the right time for the students. States, schools, and various programs could certainly offer similar experiences to impact students leadership development and get them on the right track for thinking about college and their future.

        

I am excited for the 2008 National Leadership Symposium! The theme is "Authenticity as a Spiritual Framework for Educating a New Generation of Leaders"
July 10-13, 2008
University of Richmond Richmond, VA

Here is the information about the Symposium and how to register while there are still spots available:
To register, please visit www.naca.org
You do not need to be an NACA member to register online.
Regular Registration Fees: $525

Now in its 18th year, the National Leadership Symposium is a professional development experience designed for faculty members, student affairs professionals and other education practitioners involved with promoting college student leadership education. The National Leadership Symposium is a joint program coordinated by the National Association for Campus Activities (NACA) and the National Clearinghouse for Leadership Programs (NCLP). Given the intense learning environment of the Symposium (included required reading prior to attending), it is advised that participants have significant professional experience in leadership education. Registration is limited to 50 people. This year' s symposium will explore the connection of spirituality to leadership and paves the way for scholars and practitioners to revisit the foundation of leadership based on authenticity. Our scholar authors will provide a theoretical framework for defining authenticity and value-based leadership with an emphasis on spirituality. Participants will engage in critical discussion and consider the intentional development of programs that can support students' deeper meaning of leadership. As well, participants will consider the purposeful action colleges and universities can take to develop morally authentic habits in students, which can serve to influence communities and organizations toward a deeper commitment to social and civic responsibility.

Learning objectives of the 2008 symposium include:
Understanding the intersections between spirituality and leadership. Explore values and character development and their effects on leadership. Revisit one's own leadership philosophy. Creation of a network of practitioners, educators and scholars that informs a more current understanding of the collective work in spirituality and leadership.

Program Chairs:
Karl Brooks Doctoral Candidate, Director of Leadership Institute DePaul University, Chicago, IL Dr. Lucy Croft Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs University of North Florida, Jacksonville, FL
National Leadership Symposium Scholars-in-Residence
Dr. Jon C. Dalton Associate Professor in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL Dr. Sharon Daloz Parks Associate Director and Faculty Whidbey Institute, Clinton, WA Ms. Juana Bordas President, Mestiza Leadership International Denver, CO

Required Reading:
In order to fully participate in the Symposium experience, delegates are expected to have read the following books:
Encouraging Authenticity & Spirituality in Higher Education by Arthur Chickering, Jon C. Dalton, and Liesa Stamm Big Questions, Worthy Dreams: Mentoring Young Adults in Their Search for Meaning, Purpose, and Faith by Sharon Daloz Parks Leadership Can Be Taught: A Bold Approach for a Complex World by Sharon Daloz Parks Salsa, Soul, and Spirit: Leadership for a Multicultural Age by Juana Bordas

        

Valerie Johnson, a graduate student interested in leadership programs synthesized the results of an online brainstorm about leadership program innovation and wrote the following article. This brainstorm is ongoing and you can still add ideas and vote! Thanks for the article Valerie!

A recent brainstorm on brainreactions.net gathered ideas about providing quality and innovative leadership programs. The following questions were posed: “What is the high quality leadership program of the near future like? What practices, activities, features, etc. would be part of a great leadership program? What tips do you have for what works now that should be built upon? What are new ideas for things to include in the program? How can learning, development, and positive outcomes be accelerated?” From this discussion, the responses were coded based on commonalities. From these codes, some primary themes emerged including the selection of students for your leadership programs, how to reach students, the importance of encouraging change, and partnerships.

Selecting a Wide Range of Diverse Students
One suggestion was to select a number of students from a wide range of backgrounds could benefit your program. Because of this, you open the door for students to be exposed to wide range of backgrounds that they may have never encountered before. Helen Keller sums up this thought in her quote: “The highest result of education is tolerance.” Decide how you will select students into your program. Will you use an application, an interview or something different? Is it worth to you know each students leadership story before they enter the program?

Know Your Audience
Remembering who your audience may be essential to the success of your program. Some suggestions stated that many of the current students use current web applications like Facebook and Myspace. Is there a way for you to tie in these applications to recruit students and to assist in the projects completed in your program? Capitalizing on where the students spend time may open the opportunity for leadership to be practiced every day in the normal routines students already have.

Create opportunities for Change
Another highlight from this brainstorm was to encourage the potential for creating a change, as it relates to leadership. A suggestion was given of setting this up as a problem for students to solve while they explore leadership. By having students work to facilitate the process of solving an every day process they gain knowledge on the problem, learn about goal setting, and acquire new organizational skills. Through this process there is a natural opportunity for evaluation, which may be a starting discussion point for you and your student(s).

Partnerships for Mentoring, Advising, and Learning from Others Experience
A final thought to consider when constructing your leadership program is the possibility of collaborating with others to make your program stronger. Partnerships are not always easy and may take time, but once they are successfully establish the results may be numerous. Partnerships may include a student mentor who has already completed the program, a mentor from outside of the program, or guest speakers from across campus and the community. Utilize these partnerships to build relationships with your students and others on campus.

In conclusion, there is not one single quality that makes for a strong leadership program. The best method for an establishment of leadership programs is to assess what is going on your campus and to gather information from the students. When you take the time to for this assessment, you develop the information you need to start a successful program.

Author: Valerie Johnson

        

In my consulting work, we hear from many organizations that they desire a positive culture of innovation within their organizations that relies on the collaboration, contribution, and shared leadership of all employees. At BrainReactions, we have created a program to achieve positive outcomes in this area. During the final three years I worked on my doctoral dissertation studying high quality leadership programs, I was also creating and testing an innovation program for BrainReactions. This was a leadership program designed to help participants learn and engage in ideation and innovation for real purposes.

Like many companies, we highly value creating and sustaining a positive culture of innovation in our organization. Achieving this requires an intentional approach to develop the people of your company as exemplary creators, innovators, and leaders. Our vision with our leadership training program at BrainReactions involved moving from brainstorm sessions to a front end of innovation leadership program. This moves from just generating the ideas to also including training and development of the people who innovate.

In addition to the research of high quality programs, which included interviews of 62 stakeholders across four different exemplary leadership programs, the researcher developed and tested a new innovation program and individual program sessions with BrainReactions brainstormers. During a three-year period of research and testing, approximately 100 sessions where conducted, assessed, and improved accordingly. Sessions were qualitative and consisted of 5-12 individuals per session. Sessions were recorded, transcribed, and assessed for participant engagement, idea quantity and quality. The researcher employed the constant comparative method, an analytic induction grounded theory data analysis technique, to explore the data and construct a theory.

The theory of high quality leadership programs developed in the dissertation study is grounded in those programmatic attributes that, when enacted, contribute significantly to enhancing learning and leadership development. The data analysis revealed 16 attributes of high quality leadership programs organized into three clusters: a) participants engaged in building and sustaining a learning community; b) student-centered experiential learning experiences; and c) research grounded continuous program development. Through the program attributes, participants learn about innovation, leadership and themselves in the course of engaging in the leadership process while reflecting on and applying their new learning and skills in collaborative action with others.

The results of this multi-case grounded theory study of high quality leadership programs could be applied and adapted to enhance leadership development and innovation in a wide range of organizations. This theory will allow organizations to enhance their programs and participants’ leadership development by helping participants improve themselves through self-discovery, personal development, reflective practice and collaborative leadership action with others. This leadership action and learning can be directed towards idea generating for innovation to meet changing needs and opportunities for the organization though helping individuals contribute to and share leadership in an organizational culture of innovation.

To be a high quality program involves anchoring the systems and program in research, both what has happened elsewhere and what you have discovered internally. Our high quality leadership program for innovation that has yielded numerous positive individual, organizational, and client outcomes involves three clusters of attributes for program development. Both the diverse and engaged participants cluster as well as systems learning for continuous program improvement cluster are leveraged for development in addition to the individual centered experiential brainstorming experience cluster.

In essence I recommend more organizations to implement a leadership program that allows all employees to contribute to a positive culture of innovation through participating in innovation together. Programs can be constructed and facilitating using the identified clusters of attributes that matter most for learning and development. There is a report identifying attributes of high quality leadership programs and how BrainReactions put these attributes into practice for their own innovation program and programs they develop for clients. Email Darin Eich at darin.eich@brainreactions.com for more information or to receive the report.

        

There is an online brainstorm live that anyone can contribute to. The purpose is to innovate leadership programs. Please visit www.brainreactions.net/brainstorms/1917 to contribute your ideas for what the high quality leadership program of the future could be like or feature. So far there are over 30 ideas on the brainstorm from 6 different individuals. This is a brainstorm so contribute many ideas without fear of judgment...they are just ideas at this stage and the meaning making will happen later. Hopefully we can develop some new ideas for folks to try who are creating new programs.

        

This dissertation is not yet available for purchase through ProQuest, the source to buy dissertations. I am making my edited dissertation and some accompanying materials available as a PDF for $29 each for education/non-profit organizations or individuals or $58 for businesses. Please email Darin at darin@programinnovation.com if you would like to receive a copy. This book would be helpful to leadership learners, program developers, teachers, and researchers.

        

I defended my dissertation on July 17th, 2007! A BIG thank you goes out to all of the leadership educators who contributed to this study in a number of meaningful ways. Here is the dissertation abstract.

A GROUNDED THEORY OF HIGH QUALITY LEADERSHIP PROGRAMS:
PERSPECTIVES FROM STUDENT LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS IN HIGHER EDUCATION

Darin J. Eich

At the University of Wisconsin-Madison

       This study investigated four high-quality leadership programs to illuminate the “black box” of what contributes to learning in leadership development programs. Drawing on the experiences and perspectives of multiple stakeholders closely associated with diverse types of student leadership programs, the purpose of this study was to identify the attributes of leadership programs -- including the specific actions associated with these attributes -- that contribute significantly to undergraduate student leadership development. 
       For the purposes of this research, program sites were selected based upon their long-term record and reputation from other leadership educators for creating significantly positive student learning and development outcomes. Theoretical sampling was utilized as a strategy to conduct 62 one-on-one interviews with individuals (students, teachers, administrators, student staff, and alumni) across the four programs in the sample. While primary data source for this research was interviews, documentary evidence and observation were utilized as secondary data sources. The researcher employed the constant comparative method, an analytic induction grounded theory data analysis technique, to explore the data and construct a theory.
      The theory of high quality leadership programs developed in this study is grounded in those programmatic attributes that, when enacted, contribute significantly to enhancing student learning and leadership development. The data analysis revealed 16 attributes of high quality leadership programs organized into three clusters: a) participants engaged in building and sustaining a learning community; b) student-centered experiential learning experiences; and c) research grounded continuous program development. Through the program attributes, students learn about leadership and themselves in the course of engaging in the leadership process while reflecting on and applying their new learning and skills in collaborative action with others.
      The results of this multi-case grounded theory study of high quality leadership programs could be applied and adapted to enhance leadership development in colleges and universities. This theory will allow institutions to enhance their programs and participants’ leadership development by helping participants improve themselves through self-discovery, personal development, reflective practice and collaborative leadership action with others.

        

This monograph illustrates how to create a new leadership course or enhance an existing one through improved teaching, learning, and course content. Particular emphasis is given to foundational level courses that educate students about leadership and develop their personal leadership skills. Key sections include establishing a course for credit, text books, companion books, projects, activities, assessment, syllabi, and other print and online resources. This 74 page Leadership Courses publication authored by Darin Eich is a part of the "Leadership Insights & Applications" series available currently only through the National Clearinghouse for Leadership Programs.  http://www.nclp.umd.edu/

        

I'm trying to identify some publications that would be key resources for those leadership program practitioners in colleges and universities.  I was anticipating this book and read it during my day of traveling yesterday.  I found it to be an excellent resource and it would benefit many leadership educators and program coordinators.  There was a chapter on funding leadership programs which I found particularly timely and useful.  I learned something new about particular foundations and grants they award. The handbook was full of great examples and resources.  The "Handbook for Student Leadership Programs" is edited by Susan Komives, John Dugan, Julie Owen, Craig Slack and Wendy Wagner.  The stated description of this handbook is: "An excellent guide for establishing or enhancing campus leadership programs, the Handbook includes timely information, resources, and practical advice. Topics included: leadership models, leadership learning outcomes, structure and design of leadership programs (curricular, co-curricular and comprehensive), working with diverse populations, funding leadership programs, assessment and others." This 222 page publication published in 2006 is available at http://www.nclp.umd.edu/

        

This publication will be of benefit to those who are developing or enhancing a leadership retreat, conference, institute, or workshop. The purpose is to help you construct and facilitate a quality experience and to maintain fidelity to the outcomes inherent in a leadership development retreat by creating a space for leadership learning as well as development: personal, group, and ultimately leadership. Through examples of content, organizational structures, activities and projects, as well as planning tips, resources, and national examples, this monograph will help you create a quality leadership retreat or conference.  This 77 page "Developing a Quality Leadership Retreat or Conference" publication authored by Darin Eich published in 2005 is a part of the "Leadership Insights & Applications" series available currently only through the National Clearinghouse for Leadership Programs at  http://www.nclp.umd.edu/

        

The ILA conference brings together leadership scholars, practitioners, and educators each year. Every other year the conference is held in the United States.  It is a large conference and offers a wide variety of sessions to attend.  At the ILA conference in Washington DC a couple years ago, myself, Denny Murray, and Craig Slack enjoyed presenting a session entitled "Constructing a Quality Leadership Education Experience for College Students."  The purpose of the workshop was to share ideas, tools, resources, and practices for developing a quality leadership education experience that enhances student leadership development and learning. We discussed lessons learned from visits to ten U.S. and Canadian universities and one U.S. university's efforts to design a leadership program that impacts an entire campus culture.  I also shared my framework at the time for creating a high quality leadership education experience.  This conference was a good one to kick off my dissertation at and I'll look to present my findings at the next ILA conference in the United States.  The 2007 conference will be held in Vancouver in November and it looks like proposal submissions are due February 28th, 2007.  Visit http://www.ila-net.org/Conferences/index.htm for more info.

        

An association I like to recommend to people that are interested in "leadership" and not solely in the context of higher education is The International Leadership Association (ILA). This is the global network for all those who practice, study and teach leadership.  While NCLP is very targeted towards higher education and developing leadership to students, ILA is general and a place of connection for those who are leadership researchers or highly involved in practice.  I've enjoyed the student rates for membership my years as a graduate student!  I'll certainly miss that!  According to the ILA, they promote a deeper understanding of leadership knowledge and practices for the greater good of individuals and communities worldwide.  They strive to strengthen ties between those who study and those who practice leadership; serve as a forum where people can share ideas, research and practices about leadership; foster effective and ethical leadership in individuals, groups, organizations, and governments in the global community; and generate and disseminate interdisciplinary research and develop new knowledge and practices.  You can visit the ILA website at http://www.ila-net.org.

        

The National Leadership Symposium is probably my favorite conference for leadership educators.  It is a small and intensive experience that happens each July.  I had a great time serving as an associate at the Symposium each year from 2002 to 2005.  I'd like to be back in 2007 because it is not only a really fun time but you also learn so much and get to meet some like minded leadership educators.  The location at the University of Richmond is also very special.  The Jepson School is one of the major leadership centers at Universities in the U.S., so there is much to be experienced at the Symposium.  I just saw that the theme for the 2007 Symposium will be "Celebrating the Social Change Model of Leadership: Insights and Applications for the Future."  Scholars-in-Residence include Alexander and Helen Astin as well as Susan Komives. 

        

The Harry T. Wilks Leadership Insitute at Miami University is very intriguing.  The misson of the Institute "is to strive to ensure that Miami's students graduate with the highest ethical standards, ready and eager to serve their communities, their nation, and their world. The Institute will strive to ensure that Miami University is at the forefront nationally in leadership education."  The first part of the mission statement is important, I resonate with it and so do many other institutions of higher education.  The second sentence is intriguing to me.  This is intriguing because they are explicitly interested in helping Miami University being a leader in "leadership education."  You hear many colleges and universities generally speaking of the importance of leadership but not nearly as specifically as Miami University does through this Institute.  There are also good resources available on their website: http://www.units.muohio.edu/saf/wilks/

        

One of my favorite organizations that can be a great help to those that develop leadership programs, leadership teachers, and those interested in leadership development (especially in the context of higher education) is the National Clearinghouse for Leadership Programs.  I've done some work with this organization in a variety of capacities for a number of years and really value the mission of ths organization.  The purpose of NCLP is this: "The National Clearinghouse for Leadership Programs, through the development of cutting edge resources, information sharing, and symposia, supports leadership development in college students by serving as a central source of professional development for leadership educators. The National Clearinghouse for Leadership Programs also works to connect leadership educators to one another and support those developing leadership programs in their communities."
You can visit the NCLP Web site at http//www.nclp.umd.edu

        

There is a new Facebook group for leadership program people.  The Facebook group is for people who value leadership programs! This includes educators and staff members who teach, facilitate, develop and innovate programs as well as students who have found their participation in leadership programs to be a highlight of their college experience. This group will be a place to share resources, knowledge, resources, experiences, activities, tips, and ideas. Most importantly it will be a community where you can meet and connect with fellow leadership program people!  The group is located at http://wisc.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2230943458

        

I've created this website for a couple of different reasons.  The first is to be innovative in how I present my academic research.  Typically one would do a dissertation and then create a scholarly book that few read, is expensive for people to buy, and is not easy to acquire.  I'd like to make my research and acquired knowledge more accessible.  I believe there are a lot of people from many different walks of life who are interested in leadership development and program innovation.  Accordingly, I've decided to innovate the way dissertations and academic research make their way out of Universities.  So, instead of devoting a lot of energy to the scholarly journal articles I'll make it a priority to put information and the theory from my research here, on this blog.  In addition to writing we will probably have some podcasts, link & resource sharing, and new ideas through online brainstorms.  Hopefully it will also be an interactive way for people to comment, contribute, and connect as well.  Perhaps we will even extend the research further and generate ideas on how to put the attributes and actions into practice.  We may even share some stories along the way to creating better leadership programs and helping others to develop as leaders. 

        

When you write your life story, what stands out?  For me it was leadership conferences and retreats.  I realized that the greatest experiences of my life were often times at leadership conferences.  I guess this is why I’ve been doing this.  I want others to also experience some “greatest experiences of their life.”  My name is Darin Eich.  I've recently finished my Ph.D. in Educational Leadership & Policy Analysis (Higher Education) at the University of Wisconsin at Madison.  I've spent nearly the past seven years devoted to the study, research, development, and teaching of leadership and leadership programs.  I'm most interested in how programs can be created or improved to help people develop as better leaders and contributors to all sorts of leadership processes.  How an individual’s life can become better because of participating in a leadership program.  What I’m presenting here is my life’s work.  Since it is my life’s work I thought it would be appropriate to also tell you my story and my leadership development journey.

I began my journey at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse as a student profoundly changed by involvement in leadership programs. Most notable to my development as a leader and passion for this research was my participation in the NACURH conference and also involvement in Residence Life.  The Residence Life program at UWL was incredible and had elements of high quality leadership programs embedded within it.  I was able to participate in multiple day staff retreats, trainings, leadership workshops, delegations that traveled to Virginia for the NACURH conference and Canada for the GLACURH conference, as well as weekly development meetings as an RA and desk manager.  I see now that this profoundly affected me, my career choices, and development as a leader.  Though I went to work full time in business for three years I knew I would be back at some point devoting myself to the kinds of activities that impacted me as an undergraduate student.
            Later, after working in business for a few years I decided to go back to graduate school full time to pursue what I was really interested in, leadership development and leadership programs.  While as an undergrad I was given many opportunities to do some speaking on campus.  So as a senior in college I started a small organization which is now CollegeMotivation.com and started to do some motivational speaking professionally.   It was tremendous and I wanted to focus in on doing this with my life.  This has been very enriching work for me because I was able to visit many other institutions and introduce myself and my ideas at many different places.  While as a graduate student I was able to help develop leadership conferences or speak at many different Universities.  Some of my favorites have been University leadership conferences at USC, Colorado, Central Michigan, Florida International, Cal Lutheran, Central Florida, Dayton, and Towson to name a handful.  I’ve also enjoyed speaking to athletes at Notre Dame and high school students at WILS and in the Key Club. 

I remember the precise moment when I decided to leave the business world and go to graduate school to focus in on being a leadership educator, entrepreneur, and speaker.  One of my life dreams I had identified was that I wanted to speak at the NACURH conference that had changed my life as a sophomore in college.  This is a very big conference with about 3,000 students who attend from all around the country and Canada.  With a bit of serendipity I was able to be the speaker and MC of the conference two years after I had graduated from college.  I remember sitting in a pizza place during the conference and looking out the window at the students and advisors who formed delegations from each school. They were together, energized, and doing cheers.  They were dressed a little crazy and acted more than crazy.  They had so much enthusiasm and life.  The professional advisors stayed young like nobody I had ever seen.  I felt this was how I wanted to be. It was living life like it was meant to be lived. So there and then in that pizza place I opted to go down this path, to get back into the University and engage myself in crafting my own life.  This involved jumping headfirst into leadership development. 

So, I moved from Wisconsin to Williamsburg, VA to complete my Masters degree in Educational Leadership (Higher Education) at the College of William and Mary.  It was at this wonderful place that I not only got to grow my CollegeMotivation.com and speaking endeavor, but I also got to develop a leadership program at the College.  This was an amazing experience.  Researching, developing, and facilitating were all tasks I loved within leadership programs.  While a student I dedicated all of my projects, papers, and literature reviews to exploring leadership, leadership development, and leadership programs.  After I finished my Masters degree I decided to keep studying this and to keep speaking and facilitating.  I applied to get my Phd and was excited to be accepted at the University of Maryland, which I felt was the best place to study leadership development programs.  I also was so fortunate to get an assistantship at the University where I was able to develop another leadership program, facilitate leadership sessions, and teach leadership courses.  It was amazing.  I also was able to learn from some remarkable people at the University who had such a vast amount of knowledge and experience in leadership development.  Craig Slack and Susan Komives in particular were two people that provided me with great learning.  Also, I was able to serve as an Associate with the National Clearinghouse for Leadership Programs and help with the National Leadership Symposium. 

After one year at Maryland I felt called back to Wisconsin.  So, I sadly said goodbye to some great people at Maryland and moved to Madison, Wisconsin to continue my Phd in Educational Leadership & Policy Analysis.  This was also an exciting move because the department was ranked #1 in the country and who doesn't love Madison, the #1 college town?  I’m not a numbers guy but the numbers looked good and I had a lot of friends in the area.  I also looked forward to working with my advisor who had great experience and knowledge and taught some interesting classes about qualitative research and also curriculum and learning.  It was these areas that I needed to intersect with my knowledge about leadership development.  So the fit was also good for my learning.  Truth be told, I don’t like to stay in one place for too long, love Universities, and looking back on it my experience has been more valuable and the memories better going to three different amazing graduate schools rather than two.  Maryland was also a special place for me and I didn't want to lose some of the roots I had buried there...even if it was only for one year.  Honestly, the year I was at Maryland was the year that I had learned the most in my life…by far.  With great appreciation I was still able to serve as an Associate with the National Clearinghouse for Leadership Programs and help with the National Leadership Symposium for 4 years in a row.   I also started to publish some monographs for leadership educators through this organization.  I did one on Leadership Courses and another on Leadership Retreats.  These were great ways for me to integrate what I was researching in the literature and to try to help others bring the knowledge into practice.

During this time after Maryland and before Wisconsin I was able to become a part of another great program called LeaderShape.  One Fall I spoke at a leadership event at the University of Illinois.  Someone was at my speech who recommended I help to facilitate this program called LeaderShape.  I had heard so many wonderful things about this program.  I took the advice and ended up helping at the National Session of LeaderShape that summer.  This was an important event for me.  Not only was it an incredible program but I made a lot of friends!  Most importantly, it led me to my favorite involvement while a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin.  Not only was there a national session of LeaderShape but there were also campus based sessions.  It so happened that the University of Wisconsin had a session each summer and I was able to help facilitate that for a couple years in a row.  I had also worked at the University developing and facilitating leadership programs for graduate students, but the actual weeks of LeaderShape were the most special because I made so many friends and learned so much about others.  I was also receiving.

It was at the first LeaderShape that I helped to facilitate that I met a student at the session named Anand Chhatpar.  Anand and I became friends and ultimately business partners.  We operate a company called BrainReactions which stemmed from Anand's vision at LeaderShape to connect creative college student idea generators with those organizations that have a great need for ideas.  Anand had a great capacity for both leadership and development as a leader.  Less than a couple years later Anand was named by Business Week as one of the top 5 entrepreneurs under 25 and the vision had become a reality doing projects for the United Nations and other important organizations.  Sharing leadership in BrainReactions now is my full time endeavor.  I really enjoy facilitating the brainstorms, teaching people how to be more creative, innovative, and generate hundreds of ideas.  I hope to always continue to do a bit of speaking, teaching, and program development consulting each month since that is my original passion.  Through BrainReactions we also developed and launched Innovation Trip, which was one heck of a leadership program.  We brought together executives from around the globe to the United States for a one week tour and learning experience about leadership and innovation.  We were in Boston, Palo Alto, and San Francisco and visiting Harvard, MIT, and Stanford brining together some of the best innovation consultants in the country.  It was pretty cool and the program was developed grounded in my research on high quality leadership programs. 

That brings me to this.  After about 7 years of studying leadership development, I am nearing finish of my dissertation.  I interviewed over 60 teachers, educators, and students from 4 high quality leadership programs around the country to develop a theory of high quality leadership programs. This theory will hopefully help organizations and institutions develop new programs or innovate their current activities to be of greater quality and have a more positive impact on learning and leadership development.  With some luck, this theory will be put into practice to help institutions and organizations create new and better leadership programs and opportunities for participants of the programs to have some “greatest experiences of their life.”  I owe a lot of the meaning and memories of my life to leadership programs and I hope this research will have ripple effects on others.  If you would like to get in touch, just email me at darin@programinnovation.com