Honors program is building resilient leaders

Great leaders not only understand themselves, but they also have compassion, a deep understanding of those around them and can motivate and empower others. They openly communicate, are emotionally intelligent, can empathize with others and are accountable to their vision and values.

But how does one learn to marry these soft skills with business acumen to become a resilient leader?

That’s the question Fisher’s newly redeveloped Honors Leadership Program aims to answer. It’s a chance for third- and fourth-year business students to develop these skills, put them into practice and understand how to employ them with poise and grace.

Creating resilient leaders

During the launch of the Honors Leadership Program in autumn 2024, Maria Landekhovskaya, program academic director, introduced these concepts to third-year students in the program. The resilient leadership seminar, facilitated by Tarun Galagali from leadership and management coaching firm Mandala, focused on building relationships through shared values, understanding change and chaos and managing change by understanding themselves and those around them.

“The students learned the essential pillars of curiosity, connection, compassion, centeredness and commitment,” said Landekhovskaya, who is also a senior lecturer in the Departments of Marketing and Logistics and Management and Human Resources. “By coming together each week, checking in with each other and having open, honest discussions, the students deepened their self-awareness and emotional control and built lasting connections with one another.”

Through role-playing and real-life character scenarios, students explored:

• how to lean into their curiosity by connecting with their feelings;
• how to employ nonviolent communication and compassion to connect with others during difficult situations;
• how to stay connected to their values as a leader.

“A leader who can understand where others are coming from and control their emotions will be better able to lead others through organizational challenges,” said Keely Croxton, associate dean of academic programs at Fisher. “Being curious, connected and compassionate helps us in our relationships with ourselves and the world around us. After graduation, that’s what will benefit our students most as they navigate their careers ― building the foundational skills of resilience and doing so with peers.”

Over six weeks during autumn semester, students learned how to be more compassionate toward themselves, develop a deeper curiosity for the lived experiences of others, use appropriate communication to solve a problem and use breathing techniques to relieve stress and control their emotions.

"The information focused on resilience, emotional intelligence and mindful leadership, with opportunities to collaborate and learn from our classmates and understand the importance of having difficult conversations,” said Jacob Gurdin, a third-year finance student. “We learned the impact of meditation and mindful breathing exercises that I have already begun implementing. I've noticed improvements in my ability to manage stress, to navigate complex challenges, and to lead with clarity and confidence.”

By gaining an understanding of how the brain works and studying and discussing real-life work scenarios, the students acquired a deeper knowledge of how to help others as leaders and how difficult situations can be handled with empathy and understanding.

“A lot of the things in this program focused on how the small aspects like nonviolent communication can leave a very big impact,” said Patrick Heile, a third-year finance major and psychology minor student. “This program builds leaders based on these small aspects that make a big difference.”

The course helped students understand how to help themselves and others.

“I became better at understanding others and myself, who my inner critic is and the importance of showing empathy and compassion with every interaction I have,” said Megan Witt, a third-year marketing and hospitality management minor student.

At the end of the semester, a survey of the resilient leadership seminar students revealed that nearly all felt:

• more prepared to enter the workforce;
• reduced levels of burnout;
• their resilience had improved;
• better prepared to take on leadership roles.

Each of the students reported feeling a deeper sense of community and belonging on campus.

 “I learned how to show up as my authentic self in all situations,” said Lucy Scott, a third-year marketing major and economics/pre-law minor student. “Before, I was a little more reactive to my emotions, and now I’m more proactive about how I’m handling things that arise.”

Individualized leadership opportunities

Landekhovskaya sees the Honors Leadership Program, formerly known as Honors Contract, as a startup company that provides 30 third- and 30 fourth-year students the chance to learn and grow through extended global internships offered at Fisher, a leadership challenge and opportunities inside and outside of Ohio State that are not typical business career pathways.

Students take classes such as personal leadership, organizational behavior and human resources, strategic management and tailored honors seminars that help them complete a special two-year leadership challenge. The challenge is a self-directed, individualized project on a subject about which they are passionate. Its goal is to increase curiosity and ambition and push their limits to make a meaningful impact on their community.

“This challenge is something the students can use as a showcase of what they can accomplish,” Landekhovskaya said. “The project helps the students create a story and vision of where they want to be in the future.”

To help broaden their perspectives, Honors Leadership students are required to have a second major or minor outside of Fisher. The program also includes site visits to locations such as Ohio State’s Keenan Center for Entrepreneurship, backstage at the Schottenstein Center and a research lab at the Wexner Medical Center that show business career opportunities beyond traditional paths such as banking or finance. The students also visit local corporations, such as the headquarters of the Wendy’s Company and an Amazon fulfillment center, to understand the marketing and operations of well-known industries.

“We take these tours to help remind them that at the end of the day, it’s not where you are right now, but where you’ll be in the future,” Landekhovskaya said. “We do this to show them life is not just typical business. It’s the idea that, as a leader, you’re not just stuck in one pathway.”