Leadership is a Choice: Challenging How We Think About Power and Leadership

Reject the "outside-in" case study approach

Traditional business education teaches leadership by analyzing other leaders, but true development requires understanding your own natural instincts and unexpected perspectives.

Your deviant tendencies are your leadership foundation

Gruenfeld's first-grade story of coloring a black lion despite teacher disapproval illustrates that leadership often begins with questioning authority rather than conforming to norms.

Collect data with the "green pen" technique

Students write pre-experience plans and post-experience reflections to track behavioral patterns over time and become their own coaches.

Decode your earliest leadership memory

Analyzing your first leadership experience reveals your innate response to authority and group dynamics before you learned organizational conformity.

Abstract to the "mezzanine" level

Effective reflection extracts principles that are generalizable enough to apply across situations yet specific enough to guide concrete action.

Become "wiser younger" through self-awareness

Systematic reflection allows students to gain the perspective-taking abilities and life satisfaction typically reserved for older age without waiting decades.

Use collective wisdom to sharpen individual insight

The workshop model combines private written reflection with group discussion to help participants see patterns in their own data that they might miss alone.