Program

Objectives of the Chair:

The Chair has two objectives:

• To create a center of expertise on different aspects of diversity and the role they play in developing sustainable leadership. Beyond legal obligations, we focus on how the integration of diversity in management practices can be a vector of individual and organizational performance (e.g. making companies and individuals more responsible, developing creativity, innovation, and company reputation).

• To offer specialized teaching to about twenty Chair students each year in order to prepare the leaders of tomorrow to deal with the complexity of organizations and their environments through the diversity lens.

Research activities:

The aim of the ESSEC Chair of Leadership and Diversity is to develop knowledge, relevant to both managerial and academic audiences, through research related to the theory and practice of diversity and its relationship to leadership, taking into account the different perspectives of stakeholders.

• Exploring the meaning and conceptualization of diversity within an organizational or managerial context.

• Exploring the role of diversity in developing new approaches to leadership.

• Examining interrelations between different diversity elements such as gender, disabilities, sexual orientation, cultural and age diversity and organizational practices and outcomes.

• Examining institutional and legal contexts, their evolution and impact on diversity and leadership in firms.

• Dissemination of this knowledge to a wide audience including ESSEC students, managers, firms and public institutions.