University seeks leadership talent

This spring sees the start of an unusual masterclass: Leadership.24. The 24 best students with leadership talents - overt or hidden - will be brought together to explore their relationship with leadership as it is expected to be practised in 2024.

Journey of discovery

The new Leadership.24 masterclass is due to start shortly, in April or May. Menno Mennes and Dr Jan Adriaanse are intending to bring together the 24 best students with leadership talents. They will be sent on a journey of discovery seeking the answer to the question of how leadership should look in the future. The initiative for this masterclass came from the Executive Board.

Expectations

The assignment set for the students might appear simple: carry out broad research into the expectations of students, top managers, politicians, entrepreneurs, CEOs, civil servants and society in general for leadership in 2014. What do our country and the rest of the world need? How can Leiden's students of today lay the foundation for leadership in 2024? And what can Leiden University contribute?

The journey is the goal

The masterclass is intended to result in a book on the theme of 'Leadership in 2024'. The team will explore and reach its own conclusions on all aspects of the research, including the approach to the issue, the problem definition, the research, reporting on the investigations and publication. 'The leadership effect for the students is not in the book, but in the journey towards the book,' explains Mennes. 'Adriaanse and I are the only lecturers and we will be keeping a close eye on their progress. The idea is that students should come up against their own limitations. We will show them what their strong points are, but also where they are weaker, and give them the opportunity to work on their less developed skills. The masterclass is meant to be an opportunity for the students to learn about themselves.'

Motivate people

Adriaanse is a management specialist and Mennes is a psychologist. He developed a method of motivating staff, that he applied successfully within Motorola, Philips, IBM, KLM, Shell, TNT Express, TNT Post, KPN Mobile and Telecom Italia. He gradually became more interested in research and is now working on his dissertation that focuses on the subject of motivation.

Hidden talent

Mennes has met a lot of managers in the business sector. 'What I noticed particularly is that the really good managers, those excellent individuals who make you think 'Wow!', are very modest people. I've often wondered if they realise how good they are. I can't believe they thought at an earlier stage in their lives that they wanted to be managers. This is why I hope that students will apply for the course who have hidden leadership talents and who tend not to push themselves to the forefront or automatically take leadership roles upon themselves, but who nonetheless have it in them. I hope they will ovecome their natural inhibitions and apply for the course.'  

Talking and testing

The masterclass can take a maximum of 24 students. They will be assessed for their leadership talents (both overt and hidden).  But how do you do that? Mennes: 'We talk with them and also test them. And apart from that I trust my and Adriaanse's insight.'

Leadership24

(9 March 2010/Corine Hendriks and Carlijn Casteleijns)