Dr. Tim O'Brien - Looking for the Development in Leadership Development

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Dr. Tim O’Brien is a Lecturer in Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School where he teaches Exercising Leadership and Developing People in degree programs and chairs the Leadership for the 21st Century and Art & Practice of Leadership Development executive programs. Tim designs and delivers leadership development programs for government, business, and non-profit organizations across the globe. His research interests focus on the complex challenges people hope to address, the understanding they bring, and the meaning-making they need to address those challenges. This lens on leadership development emphasizes self, group, and organizational awareness over content and discrete skills. How to develop and cultivate that self-awareness is the primary concern of Tim’s research. His teaching methods are experiential, collaborative, and reflective in nature and help participants develop the insight, inquiry, and purpose they need to meet the demands of the challenges they face. 

Before his appointment at HKS, Tim was a leadership consultant for INSEAD Business School’s Management Acceleration Program and faculty for the Harvard Graduate School of Education’s Programs in Professional Education. Tim graduated from New York University and earned his Ed.D. in Human Development and Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. He earned his 100-ton captain's license directing sail-training programs aboard traditionally-rigged wooden schooners in the Atlantic and Caribbean.

A Quote From This Episode

• "To really make an organizational-level impact, you've gotta pull the work into the organization."

Resources Mentioned in This Episode

• Article: Looking for the Development in Leadership Development by O'Brien
• Book: An Everyone Culture by Kegan and Associates
• Book: Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here by Jonathan Blitzer
• Book: Course Design and Assessment by Kathy Lund Dean and Associates

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