Getting started

My name is Denny Roberts. I'm a student affairs staff member and adjunct faculty member at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, USA. I've been studying leadership for 30 years and consider myself a perpetual student. (Actually, I think that anyone who is serious about leadership has to be a perpetual student.) I haven't been into blogging before this morning but I've decided to do this because I'm embarking on a pretty interesting adventure as of October 23, 2005. I have the good fortune of being able to go to Miami's Luxembourg campus in Differdange to teach for six weeks. I have seven students who will take my seminar on "Global Leadership." We will attend the International Leadership Association conference in Amsterdam and then return to Luxembourg to explore the ideas, models, and questions raised by attending the ILA conference. We have several core concepts to explore but we are open to pretty much anything that helps us understand leadership. (I write as if all my students are with me and I'm not sure that's the case. I hope they will be with me once we get acquainted and get started.)

My plan is to use this blog to stay in touch with students, staff, and friends back in Oxford and elsewhere around the USA. In addition, I plan to use this as a place to express and explore issues of leadership - what is it, where does it come from, and how can it be fostered in others... I am looking forward to seeing what blogging can do to push my insights and I'm interested to see if this can actually be a teaching tool as well. I look forward to jumping in with anyone who cares to join me.

I'm preparing for my departure on October 23, 2005, and welcome advice from anyone about places to go and things to do to understand leadership while I'm in Europe. I teach on Tuesday nights so will be in Luxembourg on those nights. The rest of my time will include travel, meetings, and lots of writing. I am likely not to post much until I actually get on the road but advice is welcome now.

Best,
Denny Roberts