Now in its 19th year, the National Leadership Symposium is a professional development experience designed for faculty members, student affairs professionals and other education practitioners involved with promoting college student leadership education.

The National Leadership Symposium is a joint program coordinated by the National Association for Campus Activities (NACA) and the National Clearinghouse for Leadership Programs (NCLP). Given the intense learning environment of the Symposium (included required reading prior to attending) it is advised that participants have significant professional experience in leadership education. Registration is limited to 50 people.

Are you headed to Providence this summer? If not, you should be! Visit the Association of Leadership Educators (ALE) website to learn more. Great event, with great people, talking about a fascinating topic…you can’t lose. – Scott J. Allen

I am going out on a limb to suggest that many little league teams have a greater level of intentionality than some of the managers and educators with whom I have worked. After all, in Little League they have their roles established, the rules in mind, and a plan for practice and even a strategy to approach each game. Not always the same for your boss at the beginning of the day. At least not from a leadership standpoint. Now, if there is intentionality, it’s at times, off base or blatantly Machiavellian – “don’t let them get to close to you.” Approaches that the research would suggest do not work (at least in the long run). Intentionality. We need more of it. Not just in leadership development, but all aspects of life. Followers of faith need to be more intentional about living the values their religion espouses. Athletes need to intentionally remind themselves that they are role models for our youth. I need to intentionally close out this blog and go spend more time with my family. – Scott J. Allen

I love the word Intentionality. In fact, I think it may just be my favorite word in our language. There is so much behind it. I think it was dictionary.com that defined it as “done with intention or on purpose; Intended.“ So much of leadership is not approached in an intentional manner. Think about it. Leadership is all around us and how many transformational leaders do you stumble upon in your day to day work? How many Level 5 leaders (if you are a fan of Jim Collins)? I imagine, not many. The cause – perhaps, in part, a lack of intentionality. Maybe the leaders around you do not know leadership theory. If they do, maybe they cannot translate this knowledge into behavior change. Maybe they simply don’t care or are afraid to look in the mirror. More on this soon. For now, just sit back and observe and see what you think…Scott J. Allen

I was speaking at the University of South Florida last weekend and learned that those involved in their Center for Leadership and Civic Engagement had hosted artist Robert Shetterly.  I was fortunate to see some of his work and was intrigued by his take on leadership.  Browse his collection of portraits – it is pretty amazing. – Scott J. Allen