Nikola Ilic

Growing up in war-torn society in Yugoslavia in the 90s drove me to become an activist. At 15, I joined Otpor (a Resistance movement) to end dictatorship in my country. The societal collapse that I witnessed as a teen was driven by individuals with absolute power, abusing it and failing to see diversity as an asset. This experience kicked off my quest to understand the relationship between power, authority, leadership, and change? How does power affect people? And how do communities and organizations empower or disenfranchise people? The leadership failure that led to the demise of my community is why my career is fueled by a desire to unravel how we develop new leaders and help people grow, collaborate, work together by leveraging diversity as an asset. The main question I am trying to answer: How do we scale up high-quality (Harvard-level) Leadership Development & Coaching to make it available to millions worldwide? Bringing empowering leadership and collaborative models to millions is the way to create empowered citizens and employees, thereby increasing individual and collective capacities and deepening our collective democratic potential. I invite you to work together with me on answering these questions: 1. How do we scale up high-quality leadership development to help millions reach their full potential and collaborate, regardless of their socio-economic status? 2. How can we use innovative approaches and technology in leadership development to engage people in tacit and procedural knowledge learning, at scale? 3. How can we combine Community Organizing, Systems Thinking, Adaptive Leadership, and Adult Development frameworks into a new powerful Leadership Development framework? 4. How can I help myself and others develop empowering habits? 5. How can we help people find purpose, meaning and reach their full potential FAST? 6. How do we change the way politics is done, responsibly use & share power to empower citizens for the common good? 7. How do we optimize our life for health, high energy, good mood, productivity and connection to purpose? 8. What is the best way to promote your ideas, while staying in line with your values? 9. How to acquire more knowledge faster? 10. How to speak and write with more clarity?