Early in her career she held academic and administrative positions at Fordham University, Tufts University, Fairleigh Dickinson University, and George Washington University.
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“My definition of leadership is if person A can get person B to do what A wants them to do, whether or not B wants to do it, whether or not B shares A’s values, whatever, whatever, if A can get B to do what A wants B to do, then A is leading.”
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“Consider the context. Consider the situation. Consider who’s around you. Consider the players. Consider the task that you are being asked to undertake. Consider the history of your interaction and then make a decision as to what you should do and when and how.”
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“ [I]f Hitler’s part of your conversation and among your earliest memories, along with Roosevelt and Churchill and eventually Mao and Stalin, you get – this is a world that’s not just about good leadership, it’s a world about bad leadership. You get those complexities. So do I think those early years had a profound influence on what I ended up doing? 100%.”
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Barbara Kellerman earned her PhD in Political Science at Yale University in 1975. Early in her career she held academic and administrative positions at Fordham University, Tufts University, Fairleigh Dickinson University, and George Washington University. From 1998-2000, she was the Director of the Center for Advanced Study of Leadership, James MacGregor Burns Academy of Leadership, University of Maryland. Since 2000, Dr. Kellerman has been affiliated with the Center for Public Leadership, Harvard Kennedy School, serving as Founding Executive Director (2000-2003), Research Director (2003-2006), and James MacGregor Burns Lecturer in Public Leadership. Barbara Kellerman has a distinguished publication record in leadership studies. She has authored or co-authored, edited or co-edited sixteen books. Among her recent, highly influential books: Followership: How Followers are Creating Change and Changing Leaders (2008). The End of Leadership (2012) and Hard Times: Leadership in America (2014). Barbara Kellerman has received numerous recognitions. She was ranked by Forbes.com among the “Top 50 Business Thinkers” and by Leadership Excellence in the top 15 of “thought leaders in management and leadership.” The Financial Times listed The End of Leadership as one of the Best Business Books of 2012, and Choice highlighted it as essential reading. The International Leadership Association awarded Dr. Kellerman a Leadership Legacy Lifetime Achievement Award in November 2016.
Explore the complete oral history of Barbara Kellerman“Most people who teach leadership don’t self-reflect, don’t question, don’t measure very much. They assume what they’re doing is teaching leadership. On the other end, you have a much smaller number who says, no, leadership can’t be taught. And in the middle you have a mix – I suppose I would put myself in the middle -- of people who say that maybe perhaps under certain circumstances, certain things can be taught. But when people ask me that question, I will say, 'Can playing the piano be taught?' Well, yes. Can you be taught certain skills? Even the most unmusical person can be taught over time to play the reasonably good piano. Can they be taught to become a wonderful pianist? Unless they have innate skills, innate musical skills, bloody unlikely. ”
