Berry Center > Cornell LEADS

Cornell LEADS

Cornell LEADS (Leadership, Entrepreneurship, and Distinctive Service) is a distinctive leadership program in which students examine the qualities of leadership and its social importance by interacting with leaders from all walks of life. Each year a select group of 20 students has the extraordinary opportunity to learn about leadership by participating in a seminar, a panel discussion and a field trip in which they meet distinguished leaders in eastern Iowa and Chicago.

The 2012-2013 Program

Students attended a leadership seminar hosted by former Cornell president Les Garner, participated in a panel discussion on entrepreneurship, and traveled to Chicago to visit a charter school, an incubator for digital startups, the Shakespeare Theater, and a thriving catering business operated by a Cornell alumnae.

Les Garner

_{President emeritus}
_{Les Garner}

In the seminar hosted by Les Garner students considered the “10 Commandments of Leadership” by viewing contrasting leadership styles in the BBC docu-drama “The Last Place on Earth”, chronicling the race to the South Pole between Roald Amundsen (Norway) and Robert Scott (Britain) in 1911.

LEADS 2

_{Students interact with panelists}

The panel discussion event allowed students to interact with young entrepreneurs in the area to talk about leadership challenges associated with launching start-up businesses. Through this initiative students have met entrepreneurs who are involved in a variety of business including a moped rental company, a frozen yogurt store, a data visualization service and a social media marketing agency.

LEADS 3

_{Students at the Museum}
_{of Science and Industry}

The Chicago field trip enabled LEADS participants to meet with leaders in various fields of endeavor dedicated to creating opportunity by overcoming long odds. The students visited the following organizations:

The Rowe-Clark math and science academy, an urban charter school dedicated to preparing students with limited opportunities for entry into college
1871, a major business incubator providing collaboration space for digital startups
The Chicago Shakespeare Theater, which grew from humble beginnings to become a significant cultural institution
Amazing Edibles, a Chicago catering company which was started on a shoestring by a Cornell alumnae and developed into a million dollar business

The Chicago Experience in Previous Years

The LEADS program enables Cornell students to visit major civic institutions and organizations in Chicago and to meet with their leadership teams:

Chicago Tribune newsroom
Notebaert Nature Museum
Motorola Corporation Museum of Science and Industry
Albany Park Chamber of Commerce

Cornell LEADS is supported by a generous endowment gift from Tom Jarom ‘66, a life trustee, and a former chair of the Cornell Board of Trustees.

For more information about Cornell LEADS,
please contact the Associate Director of the Berry Center.