The LEADS INSTITUTE answers the call for a new readiness paradigm. The LEADS Institute fosters preparedness and a new form of readiness in response to complex emergencies and non-traditional threats to enable rapid-decisive resilience through “unity of cause.”

Too often, leaders in multi-partner environments are not well prepared to deal with the complex challenges they encounter, operationally or culturally. They must quickly build rapport with counterparts whose culture and traditions they don’t understand; must negotiate with counterparts whose organizations may have differing agendas; and must solve unfamiliar problems by collaborating.

To be successful, leaders at all levels of society, whether in cities, nations, or major geographic regions will need a knowledge of joint and partner capabilities; skills in building rapport, negotiating, and influencing; and positive attitudes towards ambiguity and unfamiliar approaches. These competencies are not well developed by current training and education programs.

The LEADS INSTITUTE approach to Training and Education is to develop conferences, workshops, seminars supported by digital applications including simulation and gaming to assure experiential learning in a team environment. Our approach is facilitator-led (as opposed to instructor-led) Training and Education activities that are focused on collaborative problem solving events, virtual and constructive simulations, and gaming that incorporates the development of interpersonal skills.

In sum, the LEADS INSTITUTE works to develop a web-enabled, communicative, “knowledge sharing” network of Communities of Practice (COP) – organized around various aspects of defense management and international security cooperation, drawing together partners from around the world into a global collaboration framework, making knowledge actionable, and moving from challenges, to opportunities, to solutions.