Leadership Programs Designed to Develop Creative Leaders : a Multi-Case Study

Problem. The topic of this study is creative leadership and how it is developed. Three creative leadership development institutes were studied to determine how each provided leadership development: Leadership Development Institute on the campus of Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Florida; International Center for Creative Leadership on the campus of Buffalo State College at University of New York, in Buffalo, New York; and the Banff Centre, in Banff, Alberta, Canada. The purpose of this study is to describe the approach and specific components of these three leadership development programs that attempt to deliver training that produces leaders who practice creative leadership. Method. The data gathered for this research came from personal site visits to the three leadership institutes, interviews with faculty and staff at each institute, observations of faculty, review of documents, faculty lectures, faculty meetings, institute web pages, and followup phone calls once the site visits were completed. Experts in the field of creativity, leadership, innovation, and creative leadership were studied through current literature, articles, blogs, and on-line publications. Results. The findings from this study illuminate how three different types of creative leadership development are designed, developed, and delivered. Each site held that effective leaders are those who embody creativity and the creative process and therefore lead from an emerging future. A core component to the teaching and learning opportunities at each of the sites was that faculty and staff drew a deep connection between leadership and creativity, what Kahane considers necessary for future vision and forging new ground. Each site retained a faculty that was committed to creating and sustaining a culture of creativity where participants were taught how forgiveness ignites the creative process and allows individuals to hold an open mind, heart, and will. Other vital components included a living-system approach to leadership, shared language, and specific creativity models where the collective intelligence and creative capacity could be accessed. All three sites used different creativity models as the framework for creative problem solving. Creative models served as a way to access and enhance dynamic feedback loops and create a framework for a living system where the group could collectively engage in creative problem solving. The practices and processes at all three sites aligned with Scharmer’s Theory U. This theory considers creative leadership to be a living system that accesses everyone within the group. Such an approach is highly effective and relevant due to its focus on aligning the leader to their authentic self. Theory U provides a framework where leaders can lead on all four levels: self, group, institution, and community. Perhaps the most compelling testimony to each site’s commitment to creativity, leadership, and creative leadership is the fact that each of these sites was founded by different people for different reasons and in a different time. Yet today each site stands for the same purpose, which is to help leaders from the world over to access their creative capacity and leadership potential in order to access the full potential of an emerging future and bring relevant answers to an increasingly complex and threatening world. Conclusions. The findings from this study provide deeper understanding into creative leadership, how it is developed, and how such an approach has the potential to ignite the full potential of a leader and the group they lead. Such findings are valuable in a time when the complexities of today’s world require a new type of leaders who can transcend patterns of the past in order to vision and realize a new future

Stimulated emission of phonons in an acoustic cavity

This thesis will present experiments on stimulated emission of phonons in dilute ruby following complete population inversion of the Zeeman-split E(2E) Kramers doublet by selective pulsed optical pumping into its upper component. The resulting phonon avalanches are detected by use of the R1 luminescence emanating from the inverted zone, located near the end face where the laser beam enters the crystal. The phonons appear to team up into a highly directional phonon beam. The phonon frequency is tunable from, say, 10-100 GHz via the magnetic field splitting of the doublet. Remarkably, the population of the lower doublet component, which is a measure of the number of phonons generated, evolves with a sequence of distinct steps. The time interval in between these steps equals 2L/v, corresponding to the time the phonons need to return to the inverted zone by reflection at the opposite end face at a distance L. The end faces of the ruby crystal thus form an acoustic cavity. The phonon beam passes the inverted zone repeatedly to be amplified further, in a manner similar to light in an optical laser. In other words, the basic ingredients for a phonon laser have been established

Working from Within: Observations of Non-Governmental Efforts to Decrease Social Marginalization in Buenos Aires

This essay is a modification of an excerpt from the senior thesis written for the Chancellor’s Honors Program at The University of Tennessee. The complete project—titled “Bringing the Outside In: An Examination of Non-Governmental Aid Organizations in Buenos Aires”—first examines the political and economic history of Argentina as a context from which to understand the current stage of actors in the social sector. Then, drawing from my fieldwork in the slums surrounding urban Buenos Aires, it introduces the twelve organizations I studied that work with issues of poverty and development, exploring organizational elements that aid or limit a nonprofit’s efficacy. Finally, it concludes with my own project proposal; a submission of a way to incorporate the most effective elements into one organization. As this paper is just a piece of a larger work, I have chosen to highlight only the data from my time spent in Buenos Aires in 2011, leaving out the introductory sections that give political and economic context, as well as the project proposal. This paper assumes the economic context as briefly mentioned above, and focuses wholly on the characteristics of the studied organizations, and how they enhance – or hinder – organizational efficacy. It examines the structure and program implementation of these organizations, critically reviewing them as agents of change

Prosecuting International Terrorists: The Abu Sayyaf Attacks and the Bali Bombing

In May 2001, three Americans were kidnapped and held hostage by members of Abu Sayyaf, a guerilla group attempting to establish an Islamic state in the southern Philippines. Two of those Americans were later killed. In October 2002, a nightclub on the Indonesian resort island of Bali was destroyed in an explosion, killing over 200 people, 88 of whom were Australians. Members of the Islamic group Jemaah Islamiyah are suspected of masterminding the attack. The Abu Sayyaf suspects have yet to be caught, but Indonesia is preparing to prosecute some of the Bali bombing suspects beginning in May 2003. Using these two attacks as illustrations, this Comment explores the various options available for prosecution of individuals suspected of committing terrorist attacks: extradition, home prosecution, abduction or seizure, United Nations sanctions, the International Court of Justice, and the International Criminal Court. The viability of each option with respect to international terrorism situations depends on certain factors weighing in favor and against the use of each option. These factors create a multi-step balancing test to determine the best method of prosecution for suspects in future, similar attacks. The balancing test is then applied to the Abu Sayyaf and Bali situations. This Comment concludes that in situations similar to the Abu Sayyaf attacks, home prosecution is best for several reasons: the relationship between the countries involved, the relative strength of the Philippine judiciary, and the relatively low global interest in the crime. However, the best forum for prosecution of suspects involved in attacks similar to the Bali bombing is the International Criminal Court. This conclusion is based on the high level of international interest, the apparent instability of the Indonesian justice system, and the fact that the attacks are systematically directed towards a specific group of people

Polypeptides: Conformational Transition and Complex Formation With Catechins and Procyanidins.

Theoretical explanations of the $\alpha$-helix to coil transition which employ rotational isomeric state calculations are reviewed. Recent advances in this field include the development of similar fundamentals for the intramolecular antiparallel $\beta$-sheet to coil transition. This dissertation adds to the current body of knowledge by outlining a formularization to calculate the mean square end-to-end distance, \langle{\rm r}\sp2\rangle\sb{\rm o}, of a homopolypeptide for the transition from random coil to intramolecular antiparallel $\beta$-sheet conformation. The formularization is translated into a computer program in the C language and values of \langle{\rm r}\sp2\rangle\sb{\rm o} are calculated for a number of different statistical weights. These are analyzed parallel to other statistical parameters such as the fraction of residues in the $\beta$ sheet conformation, the average number of residues per sheet, the average number of strands per sheet, and the average number of residues per strand. Included are plots of \surd\langle{\rm r}\sp2\rangle against the fraction of residues in a sheet, two experimentally obtainable parameters. Catechins and procyanidins, flavenoids synthesized by plants, are the monomers and dimers of the group of larger molecules known as tannins. Tannins are known to interact with proteins, rendering certain digestive enzymes inactive and casuing the precipitation of otherwise soluble proteins. Experimental research revolves around the effect of catechins and procyanidins on the conformational transitions mentioned above. The effect of catechins and procyanidins on the transition is studied by following the transition of a number of polypeptides in the presence and absence of catechins and procyanidins. The polypeptides vary by the degree of hydrophobic nature, and charge density in their side chains. The systems are also observed by fluorescence to determine the degree of interaction of catechins and procyanidins with the various side chains. Results of the experimental work support earlier proposals that the interaction of tannins and proteins is uniquely favored for the amino acid residue, proline. There may also be a slight effect on the $\beta$-sheet coil transition of poly (S-carboxymethyl cysteine). This is proposed to be due to a stabilization of the initial strand of the sheet by hydrogen bonding to the backbone

Alternative polarisation retrieval for SCIAMACHY in the ultraviolet

International audienceWe introduce an alternative method for the retrieval of polarisation in the ultraviolet by the satellite spectrometer SCIAMACHY. Unlike the operational polarisation retrieval algorithm, this method does not use the Polarisation Measurement Devices (PMDs) onboard SCIAMACHY, but only requires the reflectance signal. This makes the algorithm more robust and less sensitive to calibration errors caused by either improper characterisation of the instrument's response functions (key data) or degradation of the optical components. The alternative polarisation retrieval is able to retrieve the full state of atmospheric polarisation in the wavelength range between 330 and 400 nm, which is essentially the wavelength region covered by SCIAMACHY's PMD 1. This allows a direct comparison with the current operational product. When we compare the alternative polarisation algorithm with the operational algorithm, we find in some cases agreement, but not in other cases. The alternative algorithm compares well with an analytical model of the polarisation of a cloud-free scene. Using the alternative algorithm the polarisation-sensitive feature in the SCIAMACHY reflectance around 350 nm is automatically corrected for