The Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) is a global nonprofit organization focused on leadership development and research. Founded in 1970 and headquartered in Greensboro, North Carolina, CCL is known today for its open-enrollment programs and customized offerings, working with 35,000 leaders each year. It also focuses on leadership assessments, digital learning, executive coaching, and publications.
CCL’s mission is to advance the understanding, practice and development of leadership for the benefit of society worldwide.
In 1935, H. Smith Richardson and Grace Jones Richardson started the Smith Richardson Foundation. One of the topics the foundation focused on was creativity and leadership, as Richardson observed that new leaders often failed after taking over from the previous generation. In the 1970s, the Smith Richardson Foundation founded The Creativity Research Institute in Greensboro. The Institute later became known by its current name: The Center for Creative Leadership. Since 1970, nearly 500,000 leaders have graduated from a CCL program.
CCL Campuses and Offices
The global headquarters of CCL is located in Greensboro, North Carolina. In addition, CCL has campuses and offices in Colorado Springs, Colorado; San Diego, California; Brussels, Belgium; Singapore; Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; Johannesburg, South Africa; Moscow, Russia; Gurgaon, India; and Shanghai, China.
CCL has ranked in the Financial Times Top 10 providers of Executive Education for 14 consecutive years since 2002. In addition, CCL has ranked No. 4 overall in the Financial Times worldwide survey of executive education since 2014, and placed No.1 in the category of having most International Participants in Customized program offerings.
CCL annually serves more than 20,000 individuals and 2,000 organizations including more than 80 of the Fortune 100 companies across the public, private, and education sectors.
Leadership Development Program (LDP)
Leadership at the Peak
Leading for Organizational Impact
Maximizing Your Leadership Potential
Leadership Fundamentals
Women’s Leadership Experience
Leadership Development for Human Resources Professionals
Coaching for Human Resource Professionals
Driving Results through Innovation Leadership
Navigating Change
Leading Strategically
Leading Teams for Impact
Coaching for Greater Effectiveness
Assessment Certification Workshop
CCL's custom services enable organizations to develop the leadership competencies and culture needed to meet their specific challenges and business realities. CCL's Societal Advancement group works within the social sector, including K-12 education, higher education, healthcare, nonprofit, women and youth serving organizations, to create greater access to leadership development opportunities.
Lessons of Experience: How Successful Executives Develop on the Job (1988) CCL's research led to the 70:20:10 model of leadership development
Eighty-Eight Assignments for Development In Place (1989)
Breaking the Glass Ceiling: Can Women Reach the Top of America's Largest Corporations (1992)
Standing at the Crossroads: Next Steps for High Achieving Women (2002)
Building Conflict Competent Teams (2008)
Transforming Your Leadership Culture (2009)
Boundary Spanning Leadership: Six Practices for Solving Problems, Driving Innovation, and Transforming Organizations (2010)
The CCL Handbook of Leadership Development (2010)
Becoming a Strategic Leader (2013)
Experience-Driven Leadership Development (2013)
Change Now! Five Steps to Better Leadership (2014)
The CCL Handbook of Coaching in Organizations (2015)
What Millennials Want from Work: How to Maximize Engagement in Today's Workforce (2016)
Be the Boss Everyone Wants to Work For (2016)
Work Without Stress: Building a Resilient Mindset for Lasting Success (2016)
The Bossy Project - how men and women are perceived in the workplace.
Measuring Direction-Alignment-Commitment - research to measure these outcomes of effective group leadership.
Interdependent Leadership - researching leadership as the collective achievement within interdependent work.
What Millennials Want from Work - who are millennials and what do they really want from their work?
Senior Executive Teams - research on the factors driving enterprise- vs. personal/functional- focus in senior executive teams.
Virtual Team Polarities Study - research focusing on helping virtual teams better succeed through management of virtual team polarities.
Virtual Leadership Learning Research & Evaluation - focuses on how virtual/digital learning impacts leader development.
World Leadership Survey - research that delves into the trends in leadership, trust, ethics, engagement, and more.
Network Approaches to Leadership - examines networks at the individual, group, organizational, and societal level.
Neuroscience and Leadership - latest findings from neuroscience for the enhancement and acceleration of leadership development.
Future of Leader Assessment - examines potential of enhanced leader assessment tools through trends in wearables, virtual simulations, technology and media, big data and more.
John R. Ryan
Ingar Skaug
David P. Campbell
Andrew Kakabadse
Lee Fisher
Bernadette Gray-Little
Frank Klotz
Inez Tenenbaum
Betsy Boze
Thomas M. Montgomery
Mark Welsh
Russel L. Honoré
Amy Serrano
Stephen R. Lorenz
Dana H. Born
James A. Cody
Ramón Colón-López
Pat Foote
Nina M. Armagno
Daniel P. Leaf
Dr. Prasad Kaipa
