Our Initiatives

The Center for Leadership and Strategic Thinking at the University of Washington Foster School of Business will integrate the best suite of learning strategies and experiences to develop authentic, effective, ethical leaders who fully understand the first, second and third order impact of their actions. The following activities highlight areas of focus as the new center is developed.

  • Strategic Leadership Model: Testing a model of strategic leadership development that enhances the leader and follower interface at all levels of organizations.
  • Leadership ROI: Validate tools to help calculate an organization’s return on leadership development efforts.
  • Business Partnerships: Develop signature strategic relationships with innovative organizations to create experiential “cases without borders.”  These cases will offer teams of business students the opportunity to tackle real-world, real-time issues – and interact in parallel with the individuals within the organization tasked with addressing the issue.
  • Field Leader Labs: Establish collaborative partnerships with regional, national and global organizations to create “Field Leadership Labs.” These labs are focusing on creating high impact, relevant, and rigorous strategic leadership projects that advance both the partnering organization’s leadership effectiveness and the center’s research agenda. The center is currently working in partnership with the U.S. Military Academy at West Point to design an ethical leadership decision simulator that will be used throughout the U.S. Army to assess and develop ethical leadership among its soldiers.
  • Foster Panel: The center is developing a community of 5,000 alumni who will remain actively engaged with the Foster School to help shape curriculum, shape experiences for the current student body, and challenge the school to test and develop new approaches to advancing leadership development  while also receiving continued high value development support.



“Leaders are not born. They develop, evolve and grow. The new Foster School Center for Leadership and Strategic Thinking can be the premier institute of higher education in the understanding, nurturance and transmission of this crucial process.”

Terence Mitchell, Foster Professor of Management & Organization
"Our focus on not only leadership but also strategic thinking underscores the importance of thinking broadly about the effects of our decisions on both current and future stakeholders. Leaders who can place the long-term interests of the group ahead of their personal goals are more likely to ensure the long-term survival and success of the organization."

Morela Hernandez, Foster Assistant Professor of Management & Organization

Blog Calendar Contacts Directions Foster Library Invest in Foster MBA Career Services © 2002 - 2008 Michael G. Foster School of Business, University of Washington