What happens when you start a PhD at 20, discover your path mid-dissertation, and spend the next 30 years helping leaders unlock their potential?
In this week’s ConnectED episode, we welcome Dr. Dan Hiltz, founder of Leadership Squared and longtime leadership development expert. With a PhD in sociology from the University of Notre Dame, Dan has designed and led programs for organizations like the US Navy Blue Angels, Harvard Business School, Twitch, and Mastercard.
In this episode, we explore:
- How starting a PhD with no roadmap led to a lifetime of leadership work
- His three-part framework for choosing a dissertation topic (that works for careers too!)
- What early career teaching in corporate settings revealed about pedagogy and people
- Advice for PhDs looking to break into leadership development
- Why leadership is personal—and what new managers get wrong
Resources Mentioned:
- Book: The Structure of Scientific Revolutions by Thomas Kuhn
- Book: It’s Your Ship by Mike Abrashoff
Leadership Squared – leadershipsquared.com
Connect with Dr. Dan Hiltz:
- LinkedIn – Dan Hiltz, PhD
Stay Connected with Me:
- Instagram – @connected_phd
- LinkedIn – Haille Trimboli, PhD
- YouTube – @TheConnectEDNetwork
- Spotify – ConnectED
Enjoyed this episode? Subscribe, leave a review, and share it with your PhD or leadership-curious crew.
#ConnectED #LeadershipDevelopment #PhDJourney #PhDToIndustry #AltAc #AcademicTransitions #PhDCommunity #LifelongLearning
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