Rounds With Leadership: AACN LEADS Wednesday, October 24, 2018 Welcome to Rounds with Leadership, a forum for AACN's Board Chair and President/CEO to offer commentary on issues and trends impacting academic nursing. October 24, 2018 - AACN LEADS: Your Leadership Journey Accelerated! "If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader." Those words from John Quincy Adams, the sixth president of the United States, underscore the important role leaders play in inspiring others to take action and realize higher levels of achievement. They also beg the question: Are you prepared to lead? Senior executives, across industries and settings, must lead in an environment of volatility, uncertainty, and ambiguity. Leaders in academic institutions face even greater challenges that involve engaging internal stakeholders (i.e., students, alumni, faculty, and administration) as well as a wider array of influential external stakeholders, including legislators, practice partners, and funders. Academic leaders across healthcare disciplines must accomplish all of this while honoring the triad of mission objectives: education, practice, and research. Preparing nurse educators with contemporary leadership skills is fundamental to advancing the profession and infusing nursing's voice into the national conversation on healthcare reform and innovation. AACN has always been an important source for leadership development for all members of the nursing school enterprise. According to a recent assessment commissioned by the Board of Directors, 97% of member deans and other top administrators recognize AACN as a primary source for leadership development in academic nursing. These individuals are looking to AACN to provide high-level training in areas important to today's leader, including developing and empowering others, communication, strategic thinking, emotional intelligence, negotiation, and business operations. Given the expressed need for leadership development and the fact that 43% of member deans have been serving in their roles for 2 years or less, AACN's Board made the strategic decision to reconceptualize the association's programs related to leadership education. By leveraging our strengths in the area of professional development and taking a more holistic approach to leadership programming, AACN is unveiling a new portfolio of structured programs to help ensure that academic nursing leaders are highly effective and prepared to navigate in healthcare and higher education arenas. We call this bold new direction in our leadership offerings - AACN LEADS. Designed to provide a variety of learning opportunities to all individuals along the leadership continuum, from novice faculty to seasoned administrator, AACN LEADS will encompass programs for new, early career, and experienced deans, associate deans, program directors, and faculty. AACN is pleased to offer these enrichment experiences, using a variety of educational platforms, to enhance the skills of nurse educators in the areas of influence, impact, and effectiveness. At the Academic Nursing Leadership Conference commencing this weekend in Washington, DC, we look forward to sharing more details about AACN LEADS, which we hope will inspire you, your faculty, and your colleagues to take the next step in their leadership journey. For more details on AACN's fresh approach to leadership development, including a menu of new programs rolling out over the next two years, click here. Categories: Rounds with Leadership