Why We Believe in This Program

Our Research Leadership Academy* was built in response to needs identified in focus groups and unstructured interviews. We created the first-in-class Research Leadership Academy, starting from the ground up.

Someone recently asked me why universities shouldn’t just tap their business schools. The response that popped out of my mouth was, “Because they’d just try to spread butter on bread they don’t understand.” Someone else pushed the metaphor farther: “They’re trying to butter the outside of the loaf.” It’s a quirky metaphor, but I think it works. Standar business school approaches assume a certain kind of hierarchy and set of rewards. That doesn’t work for the academey.

Every member of a research team is, in fact, a leader. To create a program that supported leaders no matter what their formal position, we delved into what it means to lead, be a leader, informed by research, data, and lived experiences. We spent 18 months co-creating a curriculum, demonstrating pieces of it with specific audiences before launching. Now, we know it’s effective because our graduates have returned to tell us so, and we see it play out in their lives. 

You can bring a Research Leadership Academy to your institution as an intensive retreat, great for kicking off an internal program. You can send faculty (or yourself) to our virtual version. In both versions, we invite participants to investigate their own values and experiences. Away from their daily responsibilities, they have time to reflect on the content and share their ideas and questions, and to receive insights and support from their cohort. Working together, in small groups and as a whole, we offer pathways to develop and to become the kind of leaders who can influence change at all levels of the systems in which they operate—leaders who know themselves and influence their environment though inclusive, intentional, and integrated practice.

What is a leadership quality you admire in others, and how have you seen it in action? Tell us in the comments section below!

*Originally named LEAD-in3