TDLI Hosts Successful Leadership Conference

May 2022

The Terrence E. Deal Leadership Institute hosted its inaugural Leadership Conference on April 21 at the University of La Verne College of Law and Public Service. Dozens of students, faculty, staff, alumni, and friends of the University of La Verne attended the event in person and via Zoom.

The conference was a culmination of work produced by the Institute’s inaugural class of TDLI Leadership Fellows. Throughout the spring 2022 semester, 10 University of La Verne students worked as research fellows to explore the conference’s theme of ‘metaphor and leadership.’

The student fellows represented both undergraduate and graduate students, and their work explored various ways metaphor is used by leaders and can describe leaders. The fellows’ presentations covered how metaphor can be used by lawyers as leaders in the courtroom, how metaphor is a key tool of communication among leaders, and even used metaphor to describe the dark, non-glamorous side of leadership. Robust discussion between the student fellows and audience members followed each of the presentations. All student fellows’ work will be published in the coming months.

Additionally, a graphic recorder was present during the conference to visually capture the ideas presented by the student fellows. At the conclusion of the event, the graphic recorder’s work was revealed as a physical metaphor of all that was discussed throughout the morning.

The Terrence E. Deal Leadership Institute was established in 2013 by Dr. Terrence “Terry” Deal and his wife Dr. Sandy Deal with the purpose of exploring leadership through non-traditional means. The TDLI Leadership Conference is intended to become an annual event exploring a different lens of leadership each year.

Event Photos