“The key to growing as a leader is to narrow that gap by developing a deep self-awareness that comes from straight feedback and honest exploration of yourself, followed by a concerted effort to make changes.”
Bill George, Professor at Harvard Business School, in
Open Debate, Fast Company, April 2007
Issue 114, p. 112.

“When people reach a certain level of success, they are less likely to face flaws of skill, intelligence, or personality.  What hinders them are weaknesses in leadership behavior.”
Marshall Goldsmith, Executive Coach
"Now Go Out and Lead!",  Business Week
January 8, 2007, Issue 4016, p73.

About the Institute

The Chicago School Institute for Leadership Development provides executives in the nonprofit and for-profit sectors leadership development programs based on sound principles of human behavior.  We know from recent research that leaders who successfully engage their employees have organizations that deliver superior financial results.  Skills essential to engagement—coaching and motivating direct reports, holding people accountable, being able to receive feedback, among others—are rarely taught in business school.  Self awareness, forming productive relationships, and building trust have been shown to be key elements in the repertoire of highly successful leaders.

Our cornerstone leadership development program, Leader Accelerator, grew out of years of leadership assessment experience that taught us that taking action on critical feedback, especially for high-potential and high-performing leaders earlier in their career, pays rapid dividends and high return on investment.  This is true not only in for-profit organizations, but also in nonprofit organizations where having effectives leaders is critical to leveraging resources, most importantly people.

Longitudinal studies by McKinsey conclude that making executive development a longer term strategic commitment would make a significant positive impact on retaining top talent and building the leadership of tomorrow .  They note that the highest performing organizations create a culture where this is possible and valued.  Accenture, formally Andersen Consulting, asserts that more than two-thirds of the value of a company lies in its talent rather than its products, making retention and even higher priority than in the past.

Our research department is dedicated to finding useful answer to specific questions our clients may have about the impact of their initiatives on the effectiveness of their organizations.

Our Sustainable Competitive Advantage

• Our substantial experience  in organizational psychology and leadership
• Our expertise in building productive relationships and human development
• Our Chicago School model of pedagogy that blends coaching, instruction and action learning
• Our core curriculum has no close competitor in the market