Leadership Institute

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Leadership Institute

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Our mission

We are striving to raise the standard of evidence-based practice in global leadership by:

Putting leadership research into practice; translating the latest findings into a real world context through learning and outreach activities, inspiring leaders to rethink and improve their processes
Creating a generation of leaders with a global view, a strong sense of community, and who lead with their heart as well as their head
Being a globally recognised destination for leaders to access research, education, and practice on leadership.

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The drivers of effective leadership – the individual traits, behaviours and values applied in authentic moments that a leader faces every day – are just as critical as a leader's mindset. It is our job to help ensure you have the tools, innovative principles and self-understanding to lead in a way that makes a powerful and lasting impact.

We connect leaders to the world through our learning, research and outreach efforts, starting with a deep understanding of the current challenges faced by businesses, governments and communities. Through path-breaking research, learning and practitioner insights, we showcase best practice, as well as unique leading-edge approaches, on a global stage.

We uncover case studies you haven't heard of, create ones that will surprise you and dissect the ones you already know.

Our focus isn't just on well-known leaders from renowned corporations, but people who make small, important changes that have great impact. From micro-entrepreneurs in South African townships to big businesses connecting with society, the Institute's work accelerates leadership capability and creates an authoritative force; showcasing leading-edge thinking from across the globe.

The Leadership Institute places research at its core. Our research program produces rigorous, independent thinking from a multi-disciplinary group of faculty and other academic contributors to offer fresh perspectives on leadership.

To learn more about the Institute's research efforts, explore our four research pillars below.

What we do

With the generous support of our donors, we achieve our mission through a number of activities including:

Research and research-funding
Case studies
Case clinics
Seminars, symposia and conferences
Collaborations with LBS Executive Education & Degree Programmes
Student-led activities and incubator projects
Events and webinars.

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Leadership Research

Findings that shine a light on the topical leadership issues affecting the lives of people and the organisations they work for, across the globe.

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Our leadership pillars

Diversity: return on inclusion
Believing the focus of diversity is simply a combination of gender, race, or national origin is an easy trap to fall into. It's all of that and more. For the most effective leaders, varied perspectives in high-performing teams are not a nice to have, they are a business imperative.
By providing new insights on leading ‘return on inclusion’, we empower people to unlock the potential of diversity. We expose the benefits of uniting people and help leaders to support individuals to bring their whole self to work, change assumptions, and multiply the impact of their actions in the world.
Leading effective organisations
If you designed the most effective workplace for individuals and teams, what would it be? Leaders who choose to engage with the modern workforce and meet these demands with respect, authenticity and openness succeed. We show how organisations can operate at their upmost potential, allowing people to do their best work.
The most effective organisations are ones where individual differences are nurtured, where the work is meaningful and where the company adds value to stakeholders, employees, customers and shareholders alike. We offer guiding principles to design, build and sustain such places.
The future of leadership
‘Business as usual’ doesn’t exist. With the explosion of global business, leaders are faced with unremitting change and managing through complexity. Technology has opened the door to disruption – the call for immediacy, hybrid competitors and virtual stakeholders, all demand leadership agility.
Fundamental changes in demographics, geopolitics and access to natural resources, as well as the impact of unexpected global events, will reshape our future world and the way we work. We arm you with knowledge to identify the values, approaches and constructs to lead deep engagement with the world and to make a real difference.
Leading ethically: principles into practice
Ethical businesses do not run themselves. It takes ethical leaders to create a responsible, sustainable world. It also takes leaders who can foster environments that inspire or even reward ethical behaviour. We uncover organisations with ethics at their very core, as well as those more in need of a moral compass reset.
Fresh insights, such as which ethical blind spots could hold leaders back and what triggers people to be dishonest in the workplace, provide practical interventions to promote ethical decision making, mindsets and values. We explore how moral code, once unlocked, can create long-term value for all stakeholders – investors, customers, employees, community and nurture our most precious resource: the earth.

Our donors

We thank our lead alumni donors, Vina Mak MSc19 (1985) and the late Mike Salamon MSc14 (1981) for their generous supporting in establishing the Leadership Institute, and continued support of David and Ruth Lewis Family Charitable Trust, Gerry Brown LEP18 (1974), Roshy Dwyer SLN2001 and Catherine Moore MBA2003 that allows us to fulfil our mission.

"It’s my great pleasure to give back and see the Leadership Institute enrich tomorrow’s leaders with truly global attitudes."

Vina Mak

MSc19 (1985)

Our team

It’s my great pleasure to give back and see the Leadership Institute enrich tomorrow’s leaders with truly global attitudes.

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