About

We believe that:

1. All people are capable of effecting positive change. Creating change of any kind can be made by people with or without a formal position.
2. Leadership and followership are required when change is necessary.
3. ‘Walking the talk’ of diversity and inclusiveness increases the probability of success when it is a purposeful component of an overall organizational strategy. Diversity is a competitive advantage.
4. Becoming a leader requires profound self-examination, critical reflection, and practice throughout a career and lifetime. Yet, effective leaders understand that leading is about the followers and stakeholders, not the leader. Genuine humility is characteristic of many effective leaders.
5. Effective change makers are passionate about the subject or focus of their leadership. That passion is often expressed in part through an extraordinary work ethic and discipline in achieving goals.
6. In addition to passion and discipline, our program cultivates competent, confident, and conscientious citizens.
7. Good leaders and followers have strongly held positive values and beliefs. Ethical standards and behaviors to match those values should be visible publicly and privately.
8. We are all socially constructed people influenced by systems, individuals and events, both good and bad. To make sense of these elements requires systematic study, research, and ongoing reflective critique.
9. People come in all shapes, sizes and shades and often become influencers by the simple act of stepping forward and saying, “I’ll do that.”
10. Quality, compassion, inclusion, respect, and humility are the are essential expectations for faculty, staff, students, and partners associated with the WVU Leadership Studies Program.