Gus Gustafson, Ph.D.

On January 1, 2002, Gus Gustafson resigned his position as President & COO of a very successful technology company to follow his passion to complete his Executive Doctorate in Organization Development on socially-responsible leadership. In so doing, Gus interviewed 22 founders of non-profit organizations - like Millard Fuller (Habitat for Humanity), Eleanor Josaitis (Focus: HOPE) and Eunice Kennedy Shriver (Special Olympics) - that are making a positive and sustainable impact on the world. Gus developed the theory and model of Socially-Responsible Leadership, published in the landmark study that launched a global movement, “Socially Responsible Leadership: Lifting Humanity to Positively Transform the World.”

Twenty years later, the need for this kind of courageous leadership has never been greater. For the last two decades, the research-based and practice-proven principles, processes, and practices of Servant-Leadership and Socially-Responsible Leadership™ have been positively transforming individual leaders, high-performing teams, flourishing organizations, and thriving communities across the globe. The award-winning Socially-Responsible Leadership Capability Framework© and Socially-Responsible Leadership Effectiveness System© have been responsible for culture transformation in organizations of all sizes across multiple sectors around the world.

In 1998, Dr. Gustafson founded Socially-Responsible Leadership Advisors (SRLA), dedicated to building socially-responsible leadership capability and capacity across all sectors worldwide through consulting, teaching, coaching, speaking and interim executive engagements. Since that time, Gus has served in various Executive roles, including: Chief Learning Officer & Corporate University Dean of a global manufacturing organization; EVP & Chief Culture Officer of a corporate relocation management company; Head of Leadership & Organization Development, Talent Management and Culture Transformation for a telecommunications company; Head of Organizational Learning, Development, and Customer Education for a Global 500 company; and Chief Transformation Officer at the largest Lutheran Church in the world.

In 2008, Gus Co-Founded the Center for Values-Driven Leadership at Benedictine University, where he Co-Architected the world’s first fully accredited Executive Masters and Doctoral Programs in Values-Driven Leadership, based on Gus’s seminal work, and rated the Top Leadership Doctoral Program by HR.com. Gus currently serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Leadership Studies and the International Journal of Servant-Leadership, is a past Chair of the Business Leadership Division of the International Leadership Association, former Editor-in-Chief of the Organization Development Journal and was recently honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award for Outstanding Leadership & Organization Development at the HRD World Congress in Mumbai, India. Additionally, he was named the Best Global Executive Leadership Coach, and his consulting firm (SRLA) was named Best Strategic Partner for Talent Management, Leadership Development & Culture Transformation.

Dr. Gustafson has over thirty years of successful organization development, sales, marketing, operations, leadership development, channel management, and executive coaching experience in public, private and non-profit organizations. He consults and speaks globally on a variety of topics and has been an invited distinguished visiting scholar, keynote speaker and leadership discussant on six continents, at many prestigious universities, the Ghanaian Parliament, and the United Nations.

 

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