The International Leadership Association (ILA) is holding a conference on September 18, and one of the two conference co-chairs is Yulia Tolstikov-Mast, PhD, who serves as Teaching Faculty in Antioch University’s PhD in Leadership and Change. The conference, titled “Global Leadership and Followership for Our Polarized World: Theory, Methodology, and Practice,” brings together scholars, practitioners, students, and program leaders from around the world to explore leadership and followership not as separate domains, but as one dynamic, interconnected global process.
A unique US–Canada partnership, the conference will feature voices from the Global North and South, Indigenous scholars, and leading thinkers in leadership and followership studies. More than an academic event, it aims to be a collaborative space to shape global perspectives for a just and sustainable future.
Tolstikov-Mast is an internationally recognized scholar, consultant, and advocate for decolonizing and internationalizing leadership and followership education, as well as advancing culturally responsible research models. Her work focuses on global followership and citizenship behavior, Russian followership, leader-follower role-switching, and global professional communication. She is the co-editor of the Handbook of International and Cross-Cultural Leadership Research Processes, a vital resource for understanding leadership practices beyond the traditional Western paradigm.
The program also features Harriet L. Schwartz, PhD, Professor of Relational Practice and Higher Education in the PhD in Leadership and Change program. A national leader in applying Relational Cultural Theory (RCT) to education, Schwartz’s scholarship examines teaching as relational practice, the role of emotion in teaching, and qualitative methodologies such as critical incident technique and grounded theory. She is the author of Connected Teaching: Relationship, Power, and Mattering in Higher Education.
Ken Williams, PhD, Professor of Leadership, Organizational Change, and Learning in the PhD in Leadership and Change program, will contribute to the plenary session, “Re-envisioning Global Leadership and Followership Education.” His expertise in transformative leadership and organizational change brings a critical lens to rethinking how we prepare leaders and followers for a rapidly changing, interconnected world.
The conference looks to be a one-of-a-kind opportunity to advance theory, methodology, and practice in global leadership and followership—at a moment when our polarized world needs connection, vision, and action.
To find further information and to register, visit the ILA Global Leadership and Followership Conference website.
