Rebuilding a Leadership Program

Eric Koester said he is rebuilding a leadership program for 41 technical leaders and has the work about 75% complete. (x.com) Koester described the effort in a public post on X, where he said the program is being rebuilt during a period of organizational uncertainty rather than under stable conditions. (x.com) He said the redesign favors “adaptive, timely leadership” over a fixed set of principles, shifting the program toward decisions leaders can use as conditions change. (x.com) That framing puts leadership development closer to product iteration than to a one-time curriculum build: update the material, test it with a cohort, and revise it while the organization is still moving. Research on adaptive leadership describes the approach as helping organizations respond to changing environments instead of relying on static playbooks. (x.com; sciencedirect.com) Koester’s background is in entrepreneurship and innovation education. Georgetown University says he teaches technology innovation, corporate innovation, and startup creation, and his current writing and workshop work focuses on innovation, talent development, and change. (msb.georgetown.edu; erickoester.substack.com) His update did not name the organization running the program or give a completion date, but the numbers in the post — 41 leaders and 75% complete — suggest a cohort-based rebuild already well into delivery. (x.com) The post also treated leadership development as unfinished work by design, not as a finished framework to roll out once and preserve. In Koester’s telling, the program is being built to change with the moment it is meant to serve. (x.com)