Positive Leadership
Positive leadership occurs when people follow a person because they are inspired by the excellence with which that person exhibits the virtues that are relevant to a situation. A person in a position of authority may or may not lead, even when they manage other people, and people without any authority may still lead.
Leadership Tools
The Structured Ethical Reflection (SER) tool is a worksheet that people can use to help them think more intentionally about, and exhibit more nuance in, the ethical issues involved in their management practice. It is oriented primarily toward practicing managers, but it can be adapted for use by full-time students by having them apply the tool to case studies, having them interview practicing managers, or through other, similar applications. A teaching note can be requested by emailing CPL@louisville.edu.
Coaching as Leadership ToolkitThis toolkit offers a series of activities and frameworks to help managers and leaders enhance their ability to support their teams and organizations with a coaching mindset. It contains five tools to support effective practice.
Core Stories ExerciseThe core stories exercise is a classroom activity designed to give students a visceral experience with empathy and storytelling, and to generate personal insights into relationships, group dynamics and leadership. It involves having small groups of students share personal stories from their lives, and then reflecting together, as a class, on the meaning of the experience of sharing these stories. In the courses in which the exercise is used, many students consider it to be the peak experience of the course. However, it is also a highly sensitive activity, and should only be undertaken with great care and authenticity on the part of the instructor, and usually only after earlier coursework has been done to prepare students for the experience.
Development of a Student Based Positive Leadership Instructional ResourceLeadership Amplifiers Users GuideLeadership as a MarathonThere are incredible parallels between running a marathon and leadership. Like a marathon, leadership can be exhausting, but can also be highly rewarding. Race times vary widely in marathons, sometimes with hours between the first and last place runners. Similarly, there is often significant variance in leadership performance. Perhaps the most important parallel is that you cannot train for a marathon in a day and shortcuts will only come back to hurt you. The same is true for leadership – you certainly didn’t become a leader in a day, and it doesn’t happen by accident. Performance in a marathon depends in large part on the months that precede the actual race. Similarly, the attention you give to your development as a leader often determines your performance in the long term. In other words, training for a marathon and becoming a leader takes time, patience, and planning.
Lift: The Fundamental State of LeadershipManagement Team Conflict Role Play – CEO/COO RoleManagement Team Conflict Role Play – CFO RoleManagement Team Conflict Role Play – CHRO RoleManagement Team Conflict Role Play – CMO RoleManagement Team Conflict Role Play – CTO RoleMoral InsightOrganizational Culture and Positive Leadership Technical NoteThis technical note provides us with valuable illustrations of organizational culture and the benefits and limits of management: Managers were able to come up with and direct others to engage in a set of behaviors that made their project successful but were unable to make positive changes last. In this note, we introduce the idea of positive leadership and examine its role in changing organizational culture in meaningful and ethical ways. To do this, we explain organizational culture and management in more detail. With these concepts as a background, we then introduce the ideas of leadership and positive leadership.
Speak Up! Engaging and Fearless Public SpeakingThis dynamic tool will help you elevate your presentation skills by incorporating effective storytelling, time-tested principles, and practical, easy-to-apply techniques to increase engagement and drive your influence! Watch the event recording for a full demonstration. The PPT can be requested by emailing CPL@louisville.edu.
The Other – Praising Emotions ExerciseIn this exercise, students recall details from their lives about their experiences with five other-praising emotions, interview a partner about their own and their partners’ experiences, and then participate in a class discussion about how an understanding of other-praising emotions can help them improve their leadership. A teaching note can be requested by emailing CPL@lousiville.edu.
University of Louisville Athletic Department: The Endless ComebackThis case study describes abrupt changes in leadership at the University of Louisville and its Athletic Department.
Experts
Denise Cumberland
Affiliated Faculty, Associate Professor of Leadership, Evaluation, and Organization Development
College of Education and Human Development, University of LouisvilleLuckett Davidson
Affiliated Coach and Consultant
Zac Goldman
Affiliated Faculty, Director of Online Teaching and Learning, Program Director, Online MBA and Associate Professor of Practice, Management & Entrepreneurship
College of Business, University of LouisvilleMeg Hancock
Affiliated Faculty, Associate Professor, Department of Health and Sport Sciences, College of Education and Human Development
University of LouisvilleRyan Quinn, PhD
Academic Director of the Center for Positive Leadership and Chair of the Management & Entrepreneurship Department
University of Louisville College of BusinessGennaro Vito
Affiliated Faculty, Professor of Criminal Justice
College of Arts and Sciences, University of LouisvilleBenefit of Positive Leadership
People who practice positive leadership make themselves better, inspire others to be better, and make the world a better place for others. Positive leadership is harder and more complex than it appears at first, but when people commit themselves to pausing and practicing it, their impact becomes more positive and more meaningful, and the resources gained far outweigh the cost.
Recorded Events
In today’s rapidly changing and volatile world, leaders struggle with disengagement, lack of innovation, and overwhelm. How…
16 Oct 2024
Whether you are a seasoned leader or stepping into a leadership role for the first time, it…
22 Aug 2024
Every month, the Center for Positive Leadership offers new leadership tools to help people increase their impact…
Virtues are standards of Moral Excellence.
When we say excellence, what we mean is excellence that deviates from norms or conventions.
If you want to improve yourself and be a greater leader amidst change, pressure, uncertainty, and complexity,…
Howard Behar, former president of Starbucks, receives a positive leadership award from Ryan Quinn, Academic Director of…
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