Lindsay lecture to launch IUR’s Program for the Study of Leadership

BY FRANZ BROTZEN
Rice News staff

D. Michael Lindsay will share lessons learned from interviewing 500 of the nation’s leaders during a lecture that will launch the Program for the Study of Leadership at Rice’s Institute for Urban Research (IUR).

	MICHAEL LINDSAY

An assistant professor of sociology and Rice Scholar at the Baker Institute for Public Policy, Lindsay will present “Selecting and Developing the Best” at 5 p.m. July 20 in Duncan Hall’s McMurtry Auditorium. The lecture is free and open to the public. Dessert will be served following Lindsay’s remarks and a question-and-answer session.

Lindsay’s academic work has focused on top American leaders, and within recent months he has presented preliminary findings from his research on the development of senior leaders before several audiences, including a presidential commission at the White House. The July 20 presentation will be the first time Lindsay has spoken since completing his 500th in-depth interview with senior leaders in government, business and the nonprofit sector.

This research project has taken several years to complete. Lindsay said the experience has been quite gratifying. ”Who wouldn’t relish the chance to sit down with Colin Powell, Ted Turner, the founder of eBay and the president of Harvard within the span of several months?” he said. “I’m excited to distill some of the lessons I’ve learned through this research and to work with my colleagues at Rice in studying and developing global leaders in the years ahead.”

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In addition to profiling the White House Fellowship, which Lindsay believes is one of the most effective leader-development programs, he will share several stories of ordinary people who have become extraordinary leaders because they learned how to leverage early opportunities that came their way. The lecture is co-sponsored by Leadership Rice and will be the first of several events organized by the Program for the Study of Leadership during the 2010-2011 academic year.

The Institute for Urban Research is home to not only the Program for the Study of Leadership but also the Race Scholars at Rice initiative and the Program on Religion and Public Life. The IUR was created earlier this year to study patterns of change in Houston and other cities and conduct innovative research on other urban issues

For more on the IUR, go to http://iur.rice.edu/.