Leadership Intensives

The rising generation of public leaders must be able to communicate with courage and integrity in an increasingly diverse, divided, and disrupted world. This workshop will help strengthen your capacity to be a brave leader and communicator in whatever setting or sector you choose. This workshop is open only to students who have not taken Dr. McCarthy’s course "REAL TALK: The Art & Practice of B.R.A.V.E. Communication" at HGSE.

When

Friday, October 3, 2025 
8:45 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.

Facilitator: Timothy McCarthy

Finding Your Authentic Voice is designed to help participants feel empowered to use the full potential of their voice as leaders for social change. Through activities that explore culture and personal identity as well as vocal exercises, we will explore ways to best utilize the power of our voice to communicate authentically and effectively.

When

6–8 p.m. on:

Facilitator: Carla Canales Dirlikov

Carla Canales has created and led programs concerning cultural diplomacy and cultural entrepreneurship at leading universities worldwide and has served as an Arts Envoy for the United States Department of State since 2005.  In addition, she has won acclaim on leading stages around the world as an opera singer while also being recognized with multiple awards and honors for her work as an arts advocate and as an entrepreneur.  In 2023, Carla was appointed by the White House to serve in a newly created role at the National Endowment for the Arts, as Senior Advisor and Envoy for Cultural Exchange. Prior to joining the Biden Administration, Carla oversaw cultural diplomacy initiatives at both Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. Since 2021 she has been a Social Innovation Initiative Fellow at the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard’s Kennedy School and as was also 2021 Advanced Leadership Initiative Fellow at Harvard, the youngest fellow in the history of the program to date. During the Obama Administration, Carla served as a member of the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities Turnaround Arts Program.  She is the founder of The Canales Project, a non-profit arts and advocacy organization focusing on using the arts to address issues of identity and culture.  As a classical singer, Carla has been in demand for her portrayal of Bizet’s Carmen, a role she has performed over eighty times in twelve countries.  In other leading roles and as a concert singer she has performed on five continents including, in the U.S., performances at Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall, Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center. Carla has authored two recent book chapters on Soft Power and Cultural Diplomacy, as well as several academic publications.  She is fluent in Spanish, French, Italian, German, and English and is currently working on achieving proficiency in Mandarin.

In this series of six workshops, you will learn the essential skills for effective leadership through simulations, role plays, case studies, and personal reflections. Each student will have a one-on-one mentoring session with the faculty.  The program begins with an on-campus session, followed by an intensive all-day field trip that same weekend to an island managed by Outward Bound, where you will participate in hands-on leadership exercises. The subsequent workshops include: 

• Self-awareness and empathy
• Radical listening
• Creating teams
• Persuasive communication
• Perseverance and managing adversity 

When

• Tuesday, September 23, 2025 (5:45–8 p.m.)
• Saturday, September 27, 2025 (daylong, off-campus session)
• Tuesday, October 14, 2025 (5:45–8 p.m.)
• Tuesday, October 28, 2025 (5:45–8 p.m.)
• Tuesday, November 18, 2025 (5:45–8 p.m.)
• Tuesday, December 2, 2025 (5:45–8 p.m.)

Facilitator: Rand Wentworth

Rand Wentworth teaches environmental politics, leadership and negotiation at the Kennedy School and received the Carballo Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2021. Wentworth is president emeritus of the Land Trust Alliance, a DC based national conservation organization that leads over 1000 land trusts with 8,000 staff, 16,000 board members and 4.6 million members. He is widely recognized for expanding the pace and quality of land conservation in America. Wentworth has testified before the U.S. Congress on multiple occasions and built a bi-partisan coalition that convinced Congress to pass environmental legislation. He was the founding director of the Trust for Public Land in Atlanta where he tripled the size of the national park honoring Martin Luther King, Jr. and protected a 70-mile national park along the Chattahoochee River. Prior to his career in conservation, Rand was president of a commercial real estate development company. He is graduate of Yale University and holds an MBA in finance from Cornell University. 

The Negotiation Clinic is an intensive clinic designed using best practices in negotiation skill development and a research-based coaching protocol. The Clinic is an opportunity for students to improve their negotiations performance through one-on-one feedback from a trained coach who will understand their personal goals, observe them in multiple exercises, and provide feedback and an opportunity for guided reflection.

When

• Friday, October 24, 2025, 12:30–5 p.m.
• Saturday, October 25, 2025, 8:30 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Eligibility

You are eligible if you:

• Are a current graduate student or fellow at Harvard
• Have taken/are currently enrolled in a simulation-based negotiations course
• Are available for the entirety of the two-day workshop

Facilitator: Monica Giannone

Monica Giannone is the Director of the Negotiation and Conflict Resolution Collaboratory at the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard Kennedy School. Giannone is an Instructor at Harvard Kennedy School where she teaches in Executive Education programs and co-teaches degree program courses on negotiation. Giannone is also an Adjunct Lecturer in the Management Division at Babson College and teaches negotiation in the MBA program.

The Negotiation and Conflict Resolution Collaboratory’s work on negotiation, conflict management, alternative dispute resolution, and intersectional leadership seeks to expand the way the HKS community and the broader field studies leadership and negotiation. Giannone’s current areas of work focus on international climate negotiations, overcoming partisan divide in U.S. legislatures, negotiation in cities and local government, value-based conflict, situations of low-power, and gender and negotiation.

Giannone has worked with foundations, non-profits, government institutions, and companies in the public and private sectors to deliver customized trainings on interest-based negotiation focusing on two-party negotiation, multi-party negotiation, team based/internal-external negotiation, influence and persuasion, and situations of low-power and/or status differences. Clients include European, Burmese, Israeli, Palestinian and other international diplomats and political leaders, U.S. Congress, U.S. military, multinational foundations, and private sector companies in the manufacturing, consulting, and tech industries.

Giannone has a Master’s in Public Policy (MPP) from Harvard Kennedy School and a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Political Science and Religion from Wake Forest University, where she graduated Phi Beta Kappa.

The Trump Administration entered office with an aggressive agenda to restructure and redefine the Federal Government with the stated goal of making it smaller, more limited in scope, and to eliminate fraud, waste, and abuse. All new Administrations inherit organizations consisting of civil servants, technology, rules, regulations, and processes that deeply influence their ability to translate an ambitious policy agenda into tangible results. Yet too often little attention is given to how to effectively manage, engage, and lead—i.e., what it takes to succeed—in this complex environment. During this four-session study group—which is geared toward students who care deeply about civil service, politics, and public leadership—we’ll dissect current trends and explore dynamics inherent to enacting government reform. Essential questions include how effective has DOGE been in achieving its stated goals? What role do civil servants play in any reform agenda? How can government serve the citizenry better? What role should innovation and technology play? Can or should government be run like a business? Together, we’ll discuss the importance of principled, effective leadership in the public sector while evaluating recent and historic reform efforts. Each session will build on the next, helping you map your own vision of modern, trustworthy, and effective government. 

This Leadership Intensive is co-sponsored by the Institute of Politics.

When

5–6:30 p.m. on:

• Monday, September 22, 2025  
• Monday, September 29, 2025  
• Monday October 6, 2025  
• Monday, October 20, 2025   

Facilitator: David A. Lebryk 1983, MPA 1988

David A. Lebryk 1983, MPA 1988 served the Treasury Department with distinction for over 35 years under six Administrations and twelve Secretaries of the Treasury. He widely known and respected for his dedication to public service and ability to lead complex operations and major transformational initiatives, as well as for his character, integrity, and principled leadership. As Fiscal Assistant Secretary, Lebryk served as the senior career official at the United States Treasury, responsible for some of the most important functions of government—the financing of government operations, making of payments, collections or receipts, managing the government’s cash, and accounting and reporting of government financial activity. He also led several transformational government initiatives: delivery of 480 million economic impact payments in response to the pandemic; implementation of the DATA Act of 2014, the first open data law; and the implementation of a detection and fraud prevention program, preventing $7.2 billion in fraud in its first year. Lebryk started his career as Presidential Management Intern and held numerous positions throughout the Department, including Acting Secretary of the U.S Treasury in 2025. He is a 2025 recipient of the Alexander Hamilton Award, Treasury’s highest honor, and was recently named the 2025 Samuel H. Heyman Service to America Federal Employee of the Year. He is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.

Stephen King's IT is arguably among the best horror novels ever written. Although it's been adapted for both film and television (with a new prequel series arriving in October), neither effort—though quite excellent in their own rights—captures the narrative sophistication of the book. This CPL Leadership Intensive provides participants with an opportunity to read Stephen King's magnum opus in a unique way, approaching it as a text that offers important lessons in moral leadership on how to build a resilient community in opposition to the forces of oppression and authoritarianism. How can people effectively confront an all-present evil that's locked a town in its (slimy) grip for many years and that thrives on fear and indifference? How can they find the capacity to keep that fight going when it requires a commitment across decades?

IT is a hefty volume, but we will be reading it at a pace compatible with people's busy schedules. Budgeting roughly 15–30 minutes of reading (or listening, if you go the audiobook route) per day will be more than enough to keep pace. We will tackle the first half of the book in the fall, meeting once every two weeks on Zoom for an hour to discuss it. These sessions will be led by Christopher Robichaud, Senior Lecturer in Ethics and Public Policy, who will draw out some of the important lessons of the novel as well as offer insights on how to productively approach pop culture in general, and horror in particular, through the lenses of leadership and ethics.

Students will be required to acquire a copy of IT based on their preference: audiobook, ebook, paperback, or hardback. IT is widely available in libraries and at used bookstores.

Application Deadline

Friday, September 19 

When

Tentative Fall Schedule

Meeting via Zoom at 7–8 p.m. on:

• Thursday, September 25
• Thursday, October 9
• Thursday, October 23
• Thursday, November 6
• Thursday, November 20
• Thursday, December 4

Facilitator: Christopher Robichaud

Christopher Robichaud is Senior Lecturer in Ethics and Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and Director of Pedagogical Innovation at the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics. He received his doctorate in philosophy from MIT. His interests surround ethics, political philosophy, and social epistemology, with a focus on examining the role of truth and knowledge in well-functioning democracies, and on understanding what the post-truth age of politics is. Dr. Robichaud has been a member of the faculty since 2006. Previously, he has taught philosophy courses at Texas A&M University, the University of Vermont in Burlington, and Tufts University.

Dr. Robichaud's work at the Harvard Kennedy School focuses primarily on developing ethics pedagogy for professional policymakers. He is the course head for the MPP core ethics program and has led efforts to transform the ethics curriculum into a case-based and simulation-driven enterprise. He has overseen the recent development of several agent-focused cases looking at Edward Snowden, Kim Davis, and Congressman Bart Stupak, as well as new policy-focused cases about Eric Garner and social justice, and the minimum wage and economic justice.

Dr. Robichaud has devoted considerable energy to creating simulations that give professionals opportunities to explore ethical decision making in the context of practicing leadership skills and engaging in negotiations. In addition to appearing in the MPP program, these simulations are used in a variety of executive education programs at the Harvard Kennedy School, including Emerging Leaders (for which he is co-chair), Leadership and Decision Making, and Senior Executive Fellows. They have also been used in programs at the Harvard Medical School, Harvard Business School, and Harvard Graduate School of Education. New simulations he is working on will soon appear in the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy, the Institute of Politics, and the Harvard Law School. Dr. Robichaud recently delivered a TEDx talk discussing his work on ethics and simulations.

In 2015, he was the first recipient of the Innovations in Teaching Award at the Harvard Kennedy School. He is among the faculty who will be working on the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative, and he regularly collaborates with the National Preparedness Leadership Initiative, which is part of the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health.

Dr. Robichaud is also dedicated to bringing philosophical ideas to a wider audience, and pursues this goal by looking at issues in moral and political philosophy that arise in pop culture stories, especially superhero narratives. His articles can be found in the volumes Superheroes and Philosophy, Supervillains and Philosophy, Batman and Philosophy, Iron Man and Philosophy, X-Men and Philosophy, Spider-Man and Philosophy, Superman and Philosophy, Watchmen and Philosophy, The Avengers and Philosophy, Heroes and Philosophy, True Blood and Philosophy, Walking Dead and Philosophy, Game of Thrones and Philosophy and Dungeons & Dragons and Philosophy. He is currently under contract with Harvard University Press to write a book of public philosophy that interrogates superhero characters and stories.

He has contributed online content to the EdX Smithsonian course, "The Rise of Superheroes and Their Impact on Pop Culture" and has developed a new joint Smithsonian-Harvard EdX course, "Power and Responsibility: Doing Philosophy with Superheroes," which launched in the spring of 2017.

This series of lectures and discussions will provide an overview of three bodies of knowledge for leadership across four sessions:

• Foundational principles
• A diagnostic and strategic framework
• An internal framework for managing oneself

Application Deadline

Friday, September 26

When

6:15–7:30 p.m. on:

• Tuesday, October 7
• Thursday, October 9
• Tuesday, October 14
• Thursday, October 16

Facilitator: Ronald Heifetz

Ronald Heifetz is among the world’s foremost authorities on the practice and teaching of leadership. He advises heads of governments, businesses, and nonprofit organizations across the globe. In 2016, President Juan Manuel Santos of Colombia highlighted Heifetz’s advice in his Nobel Peace Prize Lecture. 

Heifetz founded the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard Kennedy School where he is the King Hussein bin Talal Senior Lecturer in Public Leadership. Heifetz played a pioneering role in establishing leadership as an area of study and education at Harvard, in the United States, and around the world. His research addresses two key challenges: developing a conceptual foundation for the analysis and practice of leadership; and developing transformative methods for leadership education, training, and consultation.  

Heifetz co-developed the adaptive leadership framework with Riley Sinder and Marty Linsky to provide a basis for leadership practice and research. His first book, Leadership Without Easy Answers (1994), is a classic in the field and has been one of the ten most assigned books at Harvard and Duke Universities. Heifetz co-authored the best-selling Leadership on the Line: Staying Alive through the Dangers of Change with Marty Linsky, which serves as one of the primary go-to books for practitioners across sectors (2002, revised 2017).  He co-authored the field book, The Practice of Adaptive Leadership: Tools and Tactics for Changing your Organization and the World with Alexander Grashow and Marty Linsky (2009). All  three books have been translated into many languages. Heifetz’s HarvardX online course, Exercising Leadership: Foundational Principles (2020), has reached more than 700,000 people and was one of five finalists among global online courses for the 2021 EdX Prize.

Heifetz began his focus on transformative methods of leadership education and development in 1983. Drawing students from throughout Harvard’s graduate schools and neighboring universities, his courses on leadership are legendary; his core course won the alumni award for the most influential course in the careers of alumni six out of six years. His teaching methods have been studied extensively in doctoral dissertations and in Leadership Can Be Taught, by Sharon Daloz Parks (Harvard Business Press, 2005). 

A graduate of Columbia University, Harvard Medical School, and Harvard Kennedy School, Heifetz is both a physician and cellist. He trained initially in surgery before deciding to devote himself to the study of leadership to address the major challenges facing societies and organizations. Heifetz completed his medical training in psychiatry to provide a foundation for developing a political psychology of leadership. As a cellist, he was privileged to study with the great Russian virtuoso, Gregor Piatigorsky.