MBA Students Rethink Leadership with Gerard Beenen

‘’What’s inspiring is seeing MBA students shift from seeing leaders on a pedestal to realizing leadership is about collaboration and bringing people along.” - Gerard Beenen

Do the next generation of business leaders think about leadership in a totally different way? What if it wasn’t about authority, charisma, or titles - but about building trust, creating clarity, and inspiring people to move together toward something bigger? In this special bonus episode, I sit down with Gerard Beenen, professor of management and leadership consultant, to explore how MBA students are rethinking leadership in real time. Together, we connect their reflections to two powerful frameworks - transformational leadership and self-determination theory - and talk about what those ideas mean for anyone leading today.

This isn’t just theory from the classroom. You’ll hear directly from Gerard’s MBA students at Carnegie Mellon as they share how their definitions of effective leadership have shifted during their studies. Their voices are honest, insightful, and sometimes surprising - and they might challenge some of the assumptions you’ve been carrying about what leadership really is.

In this episode, you’ll hear:

• The surprising moment in history when leadership research almost disappeared and how it came back stronger than ever
• Why the old “great person” theory of leadership still lingers in how we think about leaders today
• The full range of leadership styles, from laissez-faire to transactional to transformational, and why transformational leadership continues to inspire change
• The four “I’s” of transformational leadership and how they show up in everyday leadership moments
• Real stories from MBA students as they move from task-orientation and authority toward collaboration, trust, and long-term purpose
• How transformational leadership connects directly to self-determination theory - one of the most influential ideas in motivation research
• The three core psychological needs we all share (autonomy, competence, and relatedness) and how they shape motivation at work
• Why it’s not just about motivating your direct reports - you can apply these theories in 360 degrees with your peers, your leaders, and across your whole organization
• Practical ways to create conditions where people feel empowered, inspired, and aligned without putting yourself on the hook to “motivate everyone” all the time

Resources

Gerard Beenen on Cal State Fullerton | LinkedIn | Academia.edu

Winnie da Silva on LinkedIn | On the Web | Substack | YouTube | Email - winnie@winnifred.org