Jay Conger

Jay Conger holds the Henry R. Kravis Chaired Professor of Leadership Studies at Claremont McKenna College. As an executive educator, coach, and program designer, he has worked with over five hundred organizations in his twenty-five year career. An outstanding teacher, the Financial Times and other business periodicals ranked him as one of the world’s top management educators. He works with individuals and organizations to create unique learning environments that accelerate and celebrate the potential of leaders.

Jay grew up in Washington DC where dinner time conversations were all about leadership. His father’s work at the US State Department involved extensive contact with world leaders. He shared stories about these individuals as well as observations about what made certain ones more effective than others. These revelations inspired Jay to want to lead. From his own leadership experiences, he learned first hand the requirements and challenges of leading. At a certain point, Jay decided that teaching leadership was his passion. While pursuing his doctorate at the Harvard Business School, Jay explored the extensive research on leadership and learned how to translate it’s insights into practical lessons and action steps.

Over the years of leading and studying leadership, he discovered a set of remarkable patterns that characterize how truly effective leaders learn, act, and communicate. He explored the pathways to developing these capabilities and came to realize that a wider variety of approaches - or learning interventions - were necessary. Through his work with thousands of leaders and hundreds of organizations, he learned the importance of customization and honed his skills at it. Today, he designs learning experiences that not only build deep self-awareness and inspire action but also incorporate the cultural and strategic demands of organizations. What sets Jay apart from his peers is this sophisticated level of customization that he brings to client projects.

Education

• B.A., Dartmouth College;
• M.B.A., University of Virginia;
• D.B.A., Harvard Business School

Awards and Affiliations

• 2005 European Research Award on Leadership and Corporate Governance, the Association of Executive Search Consultants, for the Sloan Management Journal article "When CEOs Step Up to Fail"
• Business Week, selected as fifth among the ‘Top Ten Worldwide Management Gurus.’
• Business Week, selected as “Best in Class” Management Professor for executive education worldwide in the specialty of leadership.
• Financial Times, World’s Top Educators
• Sloan Programme Lecturer of the Year, London Business School
• General Excellence in Teaching, London Business School
• Center for Creative Leadership’s H. Smith Richardson Fellowship Award
• Commerce (Canada), selected as one of the Ten Most Influential Individuals to the Business Community award