Miami University-Case Western Reserve Leadershape Students Learn to Lead with Integrity!

By Debra Gawrych

The six-day program began with 54 students from both Miami University (Oxford, Ohio) and Case Western Reserve University (Cleveland, Ohio) piling off buses into a sunny field at Grailville, an amazingly pastoral retreat north of Cincinnati.  Little did these students or even the facilitators, for that matter, know what was in store. For this week proved to be a defining moment for many, if not all.

Most of the 54 students were already leaders in their own communities, whether it was for academic or social based-organizations. They were selected as emerging leaders and invited to spend a week out of their summer delving into the philosophical and practical implications of leadership. They were hoping to learn more about being a leader. What they learned was that “Successful leadership begins with leading yourself.”  within a ground-breaking community-based six-day leadership curriculum called Leadershape.

These 54 students started on a journey of self-exploration that began with ice-breakers, team-building ropes courses and personality assessments and ended with a vision statement and blueprint for action that they would take back into their respective university communities. They were given an intense experience of the most recent innovations in leadership, along with time to process and facilitate what these innovations meant to them. Expert facilitators from both the academic and corporate worlds led their small group (family cluster) discussions, and guided them to dig deeper into their awareness of vision, purpose, integrity and mission.

Learn to lead with integrity is a key phrase in today’s current corporate and organizational environment. This program prepared the Miami-Case students to do just that by guiding them to discover a vision that was crafted from their hearts. Along the way they were asked to face their own issues of power and integrity and eventually were asked to prepare formal action plans to implement their visions that were compelling, bold future pictures of where they want to be.

These courageous students developed visions such as these:

  • The creation of a whole-campus communication system for students, staff, and faculty in order to foster better relations.
  • A program for under-privileged children in Cleveland to benefit from some of the research and man (woman) power available from their medical staff.
  • A communications/PR program to communicate the various volunteer and charitable activities for the students and community to be involved in.
  • Campus-wide initiatives for diversity, and multi-cultural experiences
  • A campus-wide environmental initiative.
  • A college accredited curriculum to facilitate “Staying in Action” of the action plans developed during the Leadershape program.
  • An outdoor education experience for elementary-aged children
  • An after-school program for middle-school students to do volunteer work in the community

Each student had a vision they had passionately developed. As a facilitator, I’ve kept in touch with many of the Leadershape students and have been pleased to see the support to keep their passion for their visions alive. They are continuing to demonstrate what successful leaders have known all along, the way to keep the fire going, is to ignite it in someone else. As they come together to support and fuel each other’s excitement, they also help to calm each other’s fears and frustrations. They have created a community of leaders with the courage to do something more, something more than what they could do alone.

Leadershape, Inc.

Leadershape’s Vision
To improve society by inspiring, developing, and supporting more people committed to “leading with integrity.”

A university-based high-quality, state-of-the art leadership program focused primarily on young men and women which facilitates both an intense initial experience and on-going support to more effect lasting and real change.

The LeaderShape Institute held its pilot program in 1986 at the Allerton conference Center near Champaign, Illinois. Originally developed  by Alpha Tau Omega Fraternity as a means of improving campus leadership, The LeaderShape Institute now serves young adults representing a wide variety of organizations throughout the United States.

In 1988, LeaderShape, Inc. was formed as a separate non-profit corporation to take charge of The LeaderShape Institue and further its mission of developing young adults to “lead with integrity.”   In 1992, the University of Michigan College of Engineering invited LeaderShape to create a partnership to bring The LeaderShape Institue to its campus and run a session of the program exclusively for Michigan students. This project was very successful and created the opportunity for more schools to operate “Campus-based” sessions of the Institute. Thirty-four partners will conduct campus-based sessions for their students in 2002.

  • Bowling Green State University
  • Brenau University
  • Central Michigan University
  • Clemson University
  • Denison University
  • Eastern Michigan University
  • Georgia State University
  • Georgia Tech
  • Illinois State University
  • Indiana University
  • Loyola University Chicago
  • Marietta College
  • MIT
  • Meredith College
  • Miami University
  • Case-Western Reserve University
  • Michigan State University
  • Michigan Tech
  • Penn State
  • Purdue University
  • Salt Lake City Community College
  • The Ohio State University
  • University of New Hampshire
  • University of Southern California
  • University of Georgia
  • University of Illinois
  • University of Kansas
  • University of Michigan
  • University of Nebraska
  • University of North Carolina-Charlotte
  • University of Texas
  • University of Utah
  • University of Wisconsin
  • Washington University

To date, just over 13,000 participants from colleges, universities, and corporations from across the country have attended The LeaderShape Institute. In addition, more than 2000 volunteer faculty have contributed their time and talents since the program began in 1986.

LeaderShape, Inc. is governed by a Board of Trustees, staffed by a team of employees, and supported by numerous committed volunteers.  If you want to find out more, please visit www.leadershape.org.

One’s capacity to lead with integrity can be developed over time through disciplined practice. A commitment to the discipline of leadership development is a lifetime journey.