The Institute for Contemporary Leadership

Our mission

The Institute for Contemporary Leadership is an applied-research learning center. Our mission is to enable senior leaders to make a step change in their leadership and to have greater impact in their organizations and beyond.

Why contemporary leadership

The problems leaders face today rarely have a single right answer. They are adaptive rather than technical, shaped by systems that no one fully controls, and they ask leaders to grow in how they think, not only in what they know. The Institute exists to study that kind of leadership and to help leaders and the professionals who develop them practice it.

Intellectual foundations

Our work draws on complexity leadership theory, adult development, and systems thinking, informed by the work of scholars such as Mary Uhl-Bien and Russ Marion, Robert Kegan and Jennifer Garvey Berger, Ronald Heifetz, Dave Snowden, Peter Senge and Donella Meadows, and tested in the field through Contemporary Leadership Advisors' client work. These ideas are developed further in The End of Leadership As We Know It by Stephen Garcia and Dan Fisher.

How the Institute works

01

Think tank — Talent Management Collective

A members-driven community of in-house talent leaders pushing the boundaries of leadership and organizational development.

Visit TMC ↗

02

Innovation lab — EdgePoint

A community of senior executives committed to pushing themselves and one another to their growth edge, where new leadership programs are designed and tested.

Visit EdgePoint ↗

03

Standards — the ICL Certification in Leadership Complexity Coaching

The ICL certification for coaches who have completed Contemporary Leadership Advisors' Coach Certification Program.

About the certification →

Governance

The Institute is the governing body for the Talent Management Collective and EdgePoint and sets the standards for the ICL coaching certification. It operates as a sister organization to Contemporary Leadership Advisors, which remains the parent brand.