By Lily Kelly-Radford

Sometimes it seems we’re stuck in the 19th century with its Great Man Theory of leadership.

When you’re sitting through a presentation about leadership and the PowerPoint slides display quotes and case studies of white American men, exclusively, you have to wonder: do they really get it? Too often we’re still channeling those “great men” of the 21st century: Jack Welch, Tom Peters, Ray Kroc, Elon Musk, Bill Gates. Living or dead, they’re trotted out and we all absorb it.

Sure, there’s a lot to learn from this cast of white American men who have achieved success. But aren’t we narrowing the range of acknowledged talent with this limited scope? While people of color around the world can learn from Steve Jobs’ success, why can’t leadership education review leaders that look more like its audiences?

This is why I’m publishing our first Not-So-White Paper: “Next Generation Models of Leadership–A more globally inclusive presentation of leaders for executive development.” It’s in two parts, with 14 leaders in each.

You can download Part 1 here, for free.

“Next Generation Models of Leadership” is short review of 28 leaders, men and women from around the world whose backstories widen our lens of leadership examples. From Ann Sarnoff of Warner Brothers to Eric Yuan of Zoom to Indra Nooyi of Pepsico, I’ve curated a sampling of mostly CEOs with the aim of inspiring and widening our focus in education.

Whether you’re a student of leadership or leading the discussion, “Next Generation Models of Leadership” will both inspire leaders and kick start our teaching to show what tomorrow’s leaders might look like.