In this episode of Made to Lead, Michaela interviews one of the Assistant Directors of the Illinois Leadership Center, Marcus Kelley. In this episode, Michaela and Marcus talk about the Clifton Strengths assessment, which is a key component of Marcus' role as an ILC Assistant Director. Marcus and Michaela talk about the process of discovering your talents and strengths, why knowing your strengths is important, and how you can use them to grow as a leader. In addition, they discuss the ILC leadership competency of self-reflection as it relates to knowing your strengths, in addition to why it is generally important to engage in self-reflection for your personal and professional growth.

In this episode of Made to Lead, Michaela interviews one of the Illinois Leadership Center Faculty Fellows, Dr. V Chunoo. Dr. Chunoo is an Assistant Professor for ALEC at UIUC; his ILC research proposal and project focuses on cultural responsiveness to leadership, namely in the classroom. By investigating how classroom instructors utilize their resources and specific teaching practices, Dr. Chunoo aims to find out how professors handle, manage, and consider their student’s perspectives on leadership in the classroom. Building on this topic, we discuss the importance of accessible leadership and why diversity education and leadership matters.

In this episode of Made to Lead, Michaela interviews one the Pre-Professional Graduate Assistants for the Illinois Leadership Center, Bianca Lopez. In part one of this interview, Bianca speaks about the work she does in overseeing the Education team for the ILC, which involves managing workshop requests, workshop facilitation, and curriculum design. Bianca discusses her favorite workshop, Dare to Lead, and highlighting the importance of vulnerability in leadership. In addition, Michaela and Bianca dive into the ILC leadership competencies of openness and innovation; Bianca explains why these competencies are so important to her and the professional development she has seen by embracing openness and innovation.

In this episode of Made to Lead, Michaela interviews Dr. Chadly Stern, one of the Illinois Leadership Center Faculty Fellows. Dr. Chadly Stern is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology and his ILC research proposal and project focuses on the mental images that individuals create of leaders and the impact these images have on individual's personal perceptions of leadership. Michaela and Dr. Stern discuss the lack of diversity in leadership and the impact that has on how we as a society understand leadership on an individual and global scale. 

In this episode of Made to Lead, Michaela interviews Dr. Gayle Spencer, the Director of the Illinois Leadership Center. They take a deep dive into the history of the ILC and discover how the Center came to be what it is today. In addition, Michaela and Gayle discuss the ILC Leadership Competencies and Model, how each came into existence, and why they are so important to what they ILC does and how they do it.

In this episode of Made to Lead, Michaela interviews Dr. Jasmine Collins, one of the Illinois Leadership Center Faculty Fellows. Dr. Collins is an Assistant Professor in the College of ACES, teaching specifically undergraduate courses in the Organizational and Community Leadership concentration. Her current research proposal and project focuses on the campus racial climate in the digital age; Dr. Collins aims to understand how students' race-related experiences and observations both on-campus and online shape their overall campus experience.  Touching on her personal and professional background, Dr. Collins and Michaela talk about why Dr. Collins is passionate about this research and the implications it could have on universities across the country.

In this episode of Made to Lead, Michaela introduces how the podcast came to be.  Through responses from the Illinois Leadership Center staff, she explores the question of, “why does leadership education matter?” and explains the 'why' behind this podcast.

Welcome to the Made to Lead Podcast, brought to you by the Illinois Leadership Center at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. We want to unleash your leadership potential, because the world needs better leaders.