This past week the Board of Trustees of Brookstone School announced the launch of the Blanchard Leadership Institute. Brookstone has long held a foundational commitment to provide students endless opportunities to grow and thrive, to offer innovative processes that powerfully impact learning, to have a personal approach in all it does, and to always make sure people, families, our community, matter most. The Blanchard Leadership Institute will not only deepen these commitments but will provide students, faculty, and staff a unique opportunity for personal and professional growth, enabling them to lead with greater confidence and conviction. 

The Blanchard Leadership Institute honors James H. Blanchard’s dedication and devotion to growing leaders at all levels. “With good leaders, good things happen,” says Mr. Blanchard. “We know this program is going to have lasting impacts at Brookstone School.” Blanchard, JBA Capital Board of Advisors Chairman, retired Chairman and C.E.O. of Synovus, and founder of the Blanchard Leadership Forum, has a long history of bringing the best and brightest minds here to Columbus, Georgia, and this new endeavor with Brookstone builds on that legacy.  

This inaugural and cornerstone program of The Blanchard Leadership Institute will be led by the world renowned team at The Developmental Edge (TDE), Andy Fleming and Claire Lee, along with their colleagues at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education, Dr. Robert Kegan and Dr. Lisa Lahey. In this program, all students, faculty, and staff will participate in the Developmental Sprint® where individuals experience transformative growth, allowing them to meet the ever-increasing demands and challenges facing us today. According to Andy Fleming, “The Sprint is a practice that makes individual development a team sport. It applies ground-breaking research from our Harvard colleagues in a way that leaders and organizations around the world are finding meaningful and scalable in today’s rapidly changing environment.“

Billy Blanchard, Brookstone Board of Trustees Chairman, says, “We are in a position to go where no independent school has gone before. We are accessing and putting into practice the very best thinking and research in human development. This journey will benefit Brookstone students, faculty, staff, and families today and for generations to come.”

The Blanchard Leadership Institute was announced to our faculty via Zoom on Wednesday, October 7, where they were the first to hear this news and were shown this video to further expand upon this exciting endeavor.

The launch was also featured on this segment from WRBL.

As Leigh Anne Floyd said in the video above, “Being a great place to work isn’t enough. You also have to be a place of growth where everyone grows and they grow together.”

That’s exactly what the Blanchard Leadership Institute is all about. It’s taking the concept of personal and professional growth and making it a team sport – creating a community where everyone strives to become better every day.

There is no doubt that this partnership will be transformative for the entire Brookstone community both now and for years to come. We cannot wait to get started!