Fisher College of Business has taken a groundbreaking step forward in the advancement of leadership research and practice with the creation of the International Leadership Consortium (ILC).

The organization, founded by Dr. Timothy Judge, who holds the Joseph A. Alutto Chair in Leadership Effectiveness at Fisher and is executive director of Fisher’s Leadership Initiative, unites experts from across the country to explore pressing problems and solutions in leadership study.

“There are 65,000 leadership scholars who have published in the last 20 years in peer-reviewed journals, and yet there’s no association of those scholars to try to understand where research practice gaps exist, how we can leverage that scholarship to be more effective and really make the difference we want to,” said Judge, who was named the most influential author in industrial and organizational psychology, according to the journal Industrial and Organizational Psychology: Perspectives on Science and Practice.

At its inaugural meeting in April, the ILC featured thought leaders from The Ohio State University, the University of Arkansas, the University of Florida, the University of Iowa, the University of Minnesota, the University of Virginia and Duke University.

The event also connected scholars with leadership practitioners to align ideas and perspectives with those who practice it on a day-to-day basis, such as CEOs.

“The panel was composed of some of the best leaders I know — both inside and outside of Ohio State,” said Judge.

Invited panelists included:

• Dr. Javaune Adams-Gaston, senior vice president of Student Life at The Ohio State University
• Michael C. Eicher, senior vice president for Advancement and president of The Ohio State University Foundation
• Sandra W. Harbrecht, APR, president and CEO of Paul Werth Associates
• C. Robert Kidder, board member for Advanced Drainage Systems, Inc. and Microvi Biotech
• Tom Murray, CEO of Perio, Inc.
• Gene Smith, director of athletics at The Ohio State University 
   

Dr. Ben Tepper, a Distinguished Professor and chair of Fisher’s Department of Management and Human Resources, said the field of leadership is fragmented.

“As a consequence, when practitioners ask different scholars some of the same questions, they get different answers. What they would like to have is some kind of common set of answers to similar types of questions,” he said. “To get to that point, we’re all going to have to work together and it could take a while. But I think we can arrive at a common model, a common understanding of what leadership is, and to be able to address problems that come up in organizations.”

Dr. Javaune Adams-Gaston, senior vice president for Student Life at Ohio State, was impressed with the panel.

“We’re really trying to effect change and to not talk about the leader as a positional place, but to think about how it has to do with making meaning so that we can move things forward,” she said.

Anil Makhija, dean at Fisher, said the academic side of leadership must “learn and feed” the practice of leadership.

“We had outstanding leaders from Ohio State and the central Ohio community in a deep conversation with the outstanding academics, and the synergy that comes with that exchange will propel the Fisher Leadership Initiative much further,” he said, noting that the study of leadership has roots at Ohio State.

“Some of the leading figures in the history of leadership research and some of the leading theories of effective leadership can be traced back to right here,” Makhija said. “That’s just one of the many examples of our commitment to leadership throughout the past century.”