Improving Leadership Development Programs with Tom Kolditz

Dr. Nathan Regier welcomes Tom Kolditz to today’s episode. Tom is the founding director of the Ann and John Doerr Institute for New Leaders at Rice University. The Doerr Institute was recognized in 2019 as the top university leader development program by the Association of Leadership Educators and named the #4 Leadership Development Program in the world by Global Gurus, London.  Prior to Rice, he taught as a Professor in the Practice of Leadership and Management and Director of the Leadership Development Program at the Yale School of Management.    Tom Kolditz holds a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Sociology from Vanderbilt University, three Master’s degrees, and a Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Missouri. A retired Brigadier General, Tom led the Department of Behavioral Sciences and Leadership at West Point for 12 years.  In that role, he was responsible for West Point’s teaching, research, and outreach activities in Management, Leader Development Science, Psychology, and Sociology, and was titled Professor Emeritus after retirement. A highly experienced global leader, General Kolditz has more than 35 years in leadership roles on four continents.     In today’s episode, Tom and Nate are talking about a movement Tom has started to improve leadership development in colleges and universities, and a lot of it is captured in Tom’s latest book Leadership Reckoning: Can Higher Education Develop the Leaders We Need?    Key Takeaways: [2:40] Tom shares something particularly meaningful about his professional journey. [4:54] What problems does Tom see in the current state of leadership development? [7:03] What are some of the barriers that universities encounter to develop proper leadership development programs? [9:06] Tom talks about the things Universities preach to teach students to be better leaders but in fact do not produce any change in students. [11:10] Tom talks about the only workshop framework that gives clear measurable effects. [12:55] Tom shares some specific research he‘s done and what he’s found that has helped him develop his leadership program at the Doerr Institute. [17:23] Tom talks about how he uses coaching and the results he has found. [20:42] Tom uses professional real-life coaches from the community. [22:15] What is Tom tracking to know that what he is doing works? [25:53] Did Tom discover anything unexpected? [30:24] Faculty shouldn’t be asked to do leadership development. [31:29] What message does Tom have for organizations that want to join his movement and don´t know where to start? [35:10] Nate and Tom talk about intellectual honesty. [36:16] Tom explains how he organized the support resources for his book. [40:17] Lighting round questions. [44:08] Nate shares his three takeaways of an amazing conversation with Tom Kolditz.    Mentioned in this episode: The Compassion Mindset Learn more about Thomas Kolditz Doerr.rice.edu Leadership Reckoning: Can Higher Education Develop the Leaders We Need?, Thomas Kolditz Learn more about Lina Hidalgo   Tweetables: “Leadership development in higher education is mostly a broken promise.” #oncompassion “We want more and better leaders coming out of university.” #oncompassion  “Leaders must be created in the context of their work.” #oncompassion “Mentors are really good for career development, but they are almost useless for leader development.” #oncompassion “One of the biggest challenges to leadership development is that our universities are individual performer cultures.” #oncompassion “Leader development is a core function.” #oncompassion