Professional Experience
Adam Goodman was appointed Director of Northwestern University's Undergraduate Leadership Program and Lecturer in the School of Communication in August, 2007. His previous roles include: a founding partner of the NorthStone Group; CEO of the University of Colorado's Leadership Institute and its Presidents Leadership Class; and, Special Assistant to 3 University of Colorado Presidents.


Teaching and Research Interests
Goodman focuses on the fundamentals of leadership and how people learn to become more effective leaders. He is currently working on a leadership assessment, an executive education course, a book and other material under the title “6 Leadership Questions ® ”. While at the University of Colorado, more than 20 colleges and universities adopted his work through his direction of the National Leadership Education Project and the Colorado Leadership Alliance.

In addition, Goodman has held numerous roles in leadership studies, including co-chair of the research section of the International Leadership Association and distinguished visiting professor at Johnson & Wales University. His work has been recognized and supported by organizations that include the Adolph Coors Foundation, the Boettcher Foundation, El Pomar Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the Gates Family Foundation, and IBM Corp.


Private and Public Sector Interests
Goodman regularly advises leaders of companies and other organizations in the private, public, and nonprofit sectors. Typically, he works as an executive coach or facilitator with boards of directors, CEOs, other C-level executives, and senior management teams. He also develops, delivers and evaluates custom leadership programs. His clients have included Ball Corporation, the Government of Canada, the Leeds School of Business, New Belgium Brewing, the Public Education and Business Coalition, Sun Microsystems, and TIAA-CREF. He continues to consult through the NorthStone Group and is an advisory board member of Solbourne, Inc.


Civic Interests
Goodman is an active and long-time community volunteer, including work with Room to Read (founded by Northwestern alum John Wood), the University of Colorado and Johnson & Wales University. He is also a home building volunteer in Juarez, Mexico. During his many years in Colorado, Goodman mentored emerging leaders and connected them with experienced leaders in the private, public and non-profit communities. He sponsored countless internships and established other programs to introduce college and high school students to many of the most challenging issues of the day including health care, building healthy communities, economic and international development, and criminal justice.

Education
As a Presidential Fellow at the University of Colorado he earned a master's degree in management and, later, a Ph.D. in leadership from the Graduate School of Public Affairs.

On Learning About Leadership
"All told, I've earned a living for nearly 20 years thinking deeply about how people learn to lead and I've spent even more time working with and observing talented leaders. People work every day to improve their leadership (and the leadership of those around them). There's a lot of material to draw from: articles, books, videos, assessments and on-line content. Much of this material describes desired leadership abilities such as ‘put first things first,' ‘encourage the heart,' and ‘take risks.' The goal is to get people to adopt the author's abilities for effective leadership."

"However, as leaders learn about and work to apply these abilities, they discover at least two hurdles that make true mastery largely unattainable. First, adopting someone else's universal list of abilities is more often than not a poor fit. Like designer clothes, they look great on the model but are lumpy in all the wrong places when others put them on. The result is new leadership behaviors that are impossible to sustain because they're just not comfortable. Second, there are far too many examples of great leaders and leadership that are contradictory. For every leader whose charisma and conviction created unqualified success I can find a leader whose humility and adaptability or whose work ethic and focus on quality led to success. What researchers like me have long suspected really is true: there's no leadership grail, set of universal abilities, essential laws or similar nonsense. So, stop looking at others and develop your own abilities." 

A Favorite Leadership Reading
"Not Enough Generals Were Killed by Peter Drucker…. Everything you need to know about leadership in 6 pages by one of the best management thinkers of any background, age or experience."


Three Personal Passions
"Mini Coopers, dessert of any kind, undermining conventional wisdom."

Three Things That Need Work
"Learning how to sail, biking accident free, and reading fiction."

Updates coming soon!