Global Followership Conference at Claremont McKenna College
Claremont, California, USA
May 28-30, 2025
AGENDA: GROWING FOLLOWERSHIP
20 years ago, Claremont McKenna was the site of the “Rethinking Followership” Kravis-de Roulet Leadership Conference, held on February 24-25, 2005. The proceedings of that conference, which included noted scholars and authors, Robert Kelley, Joseph Rost, Ira Chaleff, Jean Lipman-Blumen, Michaael Maccoby, Bruce Avolio, Robert Lord, Michael Hogg, Michelle Bligh, David Collinson, and Barbara Kellerman, were the foundation for the book, The Art of Followership.
In 2025, we returned to Claremont with a full 3-day program of 60+ research presentations, workshops, discussions, and panels. We included extended Deep Dives on The Courageous Follower with Ira Chaleff and Basil Read, on Polarity Theory with Liz Monroe-Cook and Tim Hurson, and on LEGO Serious Play(TM) with Althea Simpson.
SPECIAL GUEST: DR. ROBERT KELLEY
Dr. Kelley pioneered the concept of "Followership" in his best-selling book The Power of Followership and his Harvard Business Review article "In Praise of Followers.” At this year’s conference, he links his past work with his thinking on the current era: the trends, the issues, and the responsibilities of those acting as followers every day and of those working in the followership field itself.
SCHOLAR GUEST PANEL
Melissa Carsten – Dr. Carsten studies leadership and followership in organizations and the role that implicit followership theories play in leader-follower interactions.
Kevin Lowe – Dr. Lowe received an Emerald Citation of Excellence, recognizing articles of high impact over the most recent 3 years, for his review and extension of the field of followership.
Mary Uhl-Bien – Dr. Uhl-Bien produced several cutting-edge theoretical contributions to the field, including Leader-Member Exchange Theory, Followership Theory, and Relational Leadership Theory.
PRACTITIONER GUEST PANEL
Wendy M. Edmonds – Dr. Edmonds is an educator and organizational development consultant. Her trainings improve followership skills and reduce toxic followership within universities, community groups, and nonprofits.
Samantha Hurwitz – Samantha is co-founder of FliP U and the Global Followership Conference. With Dr. Marc Hurwitz, she developed the first integrated Leadership/Followership model and has delivered followership training for 20 years.
Ruth Sims – Dr. Sims is an organizational development and communications professional and followership expert based in Australia.
CONFERENCE CO-CHAIRS: Sharna Fabiano, author of Lead & Follow and host of the Lead & Follow podcast, and Ron Riggio, Henry R. Kravis Professor of Leadership and Organizational Psychology and former Director of the Kravis Leadership Institute
2025 FOLLOWERSHIP AWARD OF DISTINCTION WINNERS:
Mary Uhl-Bien, Melissa Carsten, Robert Kelley, and Ron Riggio
ABOUT OUR HOST
Claremont, the “town of trees, and Ph.D.s” is located 30 miles east of downtown Los Angeles, right up against the San Gabriel mountains, which rise to an elevation of over 10,000 feet. Its nickname comes from city-sponsored care of its many trees, and the seven Claremont Colleges.
The Kravis Leadership Institute at Claremont McKenna College (CMC) is the host institution. The college was founded in 1946 as Claremont Men’s College, with a name change shortly after admitting women students. The campus resides on the native lands of the Kizh nation, which includes the Seranno and Gabrielio indigenous tribes.
The Kravis Leadership Institute, which recently celebrated its 30th anniversary, is one of the top undergraduate programs for leadership in the nation, and CMC was recently named as one of the inaugural class of colleges and universities recognized by the Carnegie Foundation as a school of “Leadership for Public Purpose” -- recognizing institutions that have committed to campus-wide efforts to advance leadership in pursuit of public goods like justice, equity, diversity, and liberty.