Research Center
Collaborate and grow with the
NLA research community
Our aim is to exchange knowledge, initiate joint studies, and develop new research directions in the field of leadership — from how executives fail to how children learn to lead.
Virtual departments
We are organised in virtual departments, led by field experts
Departments are hubs for collaboration — webinars and journal clubs, contributions to the free Case Study Center, and joint studies within each field.
Executive Failure & Organizational Governance
Studies why leaders and organisations break down — hubris, isolation, misalignment, silent attrition — and the governance frameworks that prevent it. Its working corpus is the 30 organisational models of DISLEADERSHIP, extended through new case research and practitioner studies.
Youth Leadership Development
Researches how leadership is learned between ages 4–12 — level-based progression, confidence formation, gamified learning, and the role of Socratic AI guides in COPPA-compliant children's education. Its findings shape the Young Leader curriculum.
Psychometrics & Behavioral Assessment
Studies how leadership style is measured — DISC-based profiling, report validity, debrief methodology, and how measured self-awareness changes leader behaviour in individuals, teams and students.
Coaching Science
Applied research on what makes executive coaching work — assessment-first engagement design, measurable behaviour change, goal architectures, and outcome measurement across Discover–Design–Deliver–Measure engagements.
Organizational Culture & Talent Retention
Researches how culture forms, decays and recovers — psychological safety, accountability systems, disengagement detection, and the leadership behaviours behind why good people stay or leave.
AI & the Future of Leadership
Studies how artificial intelligence changes what leaders must know and do — responsible AI adoption, leading hybrid human-AI teams, AI in education, and the leadership competencies of the coming decade.
Leadership in America
Runs the academy's flagship annual study — surveying and interviewing American leaders on how leadership is changing, what development programmes keep missing, and what the data says organisations should do differently.
Membership
Become a member
Membership is open to leadership researchers, practitioners, coaches and educators— from academia, from organisations, and from the academy’s own community of certified learners. Members are expected to contribute: join discussions, engage in collaborative studies, and attend department events.
Shape the center
Create your department
The Research Center evolves with its members. If an important area of leadership is not yet covered, members may establish a new virtual department.
Who can propose one?
Experienced members: practitioners or academics with a substantial record of leadership practice, teaching or research, or those leading a published body of work in their field.
What it involves
Departments are the Research Center — they bring it to life:
- —Organising webinars and virtual journal clubs for members.
- —Contributing case studies to the free NLA Case Study Center.
- —Publishing findings through NLA Insights and the annual research agenda.
- —Identifying common research interests and fostering complementary expertise.
- —Exploring collaborative studies and joint publications with other members.
- —Supporting the academy’s curricula — from Young Leader levels to the institutes.
How it is approved
Each new department is approved by the NLA research board, to keep the centre aligned and the quality bar consistent. We guide you through the process.
Calendar
Upcoming events
No sessions are scheduled yet. Department webinars and journal clubs are announced here and to members by email — join the centre to be told first.
From the center
Latest publications
Keep going
Where to go next
The Research Center feeds the rest of the academy — and draws on it.