Mission, Vision and Values

Building knowledge, skill and confidence to deal with the challenges of
leadership as it is and as it could be

Mission

To be the first port of call for those interested in leading, in leadership development, or in the study and critique of leadership and its social significance.

Vision

To be a community of practice, composed of leaders, leadership developers and scholars of leadership, collectively engaged in studying and improving the lot of leaders, the effectiveness of their work and the social contribution of all concerned with leadership.

We fulfil this by providing:

• Effective ways to become a better leader and leadership developer;
• Excellent education in leadership studies;
• Professional development for others working in leadership, management and organizational development;
• Research into the dilemmas faced by leaders, how leadership is developed, what leadership is, and its relation to organizational performance;
• Leadership development opportunities for the South West
• A window onto leadership studies on a world-wide scale
• A lively multi-disciplinary environment at the heart of the University of Exeter

Strategy

The Centre for Leadership Studies will grow by developing 7 ‘portfolios' of work.

1. Academic Programmes
2. Research and Discovery
3. Consultancy
4. Regional activities
5. Professional Development
6. In-company programmes and executive courses
7. Outreach, knowledge sharing and Networks.

In our work we value the following:

• Relevance: As a university centre, CLS aims to develop substantial knowledge about various aspects of leadership. We therefore expect our work with leaders and organizations to provide insights and experience that are relevant to our research interests and projects.

• Curiosity : How are organisations led, what is going on amongst leaders, in the rhetoric about leadership, in the scholarly study of the subject? We want to help leaders and leadership developers and researchers; and believe that the best way of doing so is to help them to ask pertinent questions and to structure their enquiry in ways that are likely to be fruitful.

• Inconvenience : We are interested in asking questions that might challenge accepted ways of seeing, established patterns of privilege, and assumed notions of what is good.

• Creativity : We expect to be engaged in work that requires us to be inventive. We are more interested in dissolutions than in solutions. We seek powerful intellectual solutes in which to dissolve pat explanations and off-the-shelf nostrums, and to act as catalysts for the emergence of new, more relevant, creative and curious insights into leadership.

• Closeness: We value work that is close to the decision point, to where perceptions and preferences have an impact on choice and behaviour. Our academic programmes try to stay close to the experience of participants; our research tends towards engagement in the qualitative activities of individuals, groups and organizations; our consultancy stays close to the needs of our clients; our networks foster connections that have an impact on leadership practice.

• Influence: We aim to do work that ‘matters' and that will have a beneficial and enduring influence on both the practice and theory of leadership. We seek to be engaged in work with a clear impact on policy, ideas and actions (whilst retaining our independence and criticality) and to concentrate our efforts where these are most likely to contribute to more humane, creative and sustainable ways of life.