The Leadership Exploration Project: Development and Analysis of a Leader Definition and Persuasive Presentation

Students are often frustrated and confused by the study of leadership since the field cannot offer an agreed-upon definition of the construct. Students are expected to develop leadership skills without understanding what leadership actually is. The Leadership Exploration Project is a multiweek exercise that gives late undergraduate or graduate students the opportunity to develop and appreciate their own leader definition through personal reflection grounded in academic- and practitioner-based research. To then exercise proper use of the term, students choose an autobiography or biography of a businessperson and evaluate that person against their leader definition. The project culminates in students arguing for whether their businessperson is a “leader” through a persuasive Pecha Kucha presentation