Pracademics: How the Most Effective Leaders Make Theory a Reality

You may be an undiagnosed pracademic.

We certainly hope so; it’s vital for your survival. A pracademic is someone who integrates academic research and practical experience into their job. The case for your leadership survival is simple: the world is changing too fast for your knowledge to stay static. You must keep learning and integrating what you learn into your real-world practice, or you’ll become outdated—if not irrelevant—in short order.

For leaders, this is compounded by the fact that your team members, work environment, and society change rapidly, too—so what is expected of you as a leader will constantly shift, too.

So how can you keep up with it all?

Our podcast guests—professor emerita Gill Robinson Hickman, Deloitte dean Jorrit Volkers, and International Leadership Association (ILA) CEO Cynthia Cherrey—have some pracademic advice. All three agree that collaboration is key. There’s the obvious collaboration between academics and practitioners, which enables new leadership theories to be tested. Less obvious: you’ll learn from other leaders’ experiences each time you collaborate with a team from a different department, a consulting partner, a trusted vendor, or even a rival firm joining forces with you for an industry initiative. They bring invaluable wisdom forged by their own histories and training.

Match needs with theory. The uniqueness of teams means no one-size-fits-all approach works for their leaders. Study your team, determine their needs, and then scan the dozens of leadership theories available for the framework that will work best for your particular staff. Even the most appealing theory is pointless if it doesn’t match your real-world needs.

Go beyond credentials to proof. Many theories look great on paper, but reality grinds them down to fantasy. Look for theoretical frameworks that include fieldwork in their development process. The best leadership academics test their ideas, tweaking them to accommodate real-world findings. In practice, this means the same researcher’s leadership theory will most likely change through the years. That’s a great sign.

Ultimately, it all boils down to staying informed. To quote author Roald Dahl, “Read and read and then proceed to read some more.” Leadership research constantly grows, evolves, changes, or encounters a brilliant new disruption; a single day’s panel offerings at the ILA’s annual global conference reveal sheer legions of leadership ideas, theories, and frameworks. Feed your brain with as many as you can; you’ll soon distill those that are best for you and your organization.

Leaders can no longer simply cruise into the future. It’s up to you to shape it. By integrating cutting-edge theories into your practical experience, you’ll be a natural pracademic guiding your team into its best tomorrow.

This article was adapted by Dan Mushalko from our remastered podcast episode Deloitte’s Dean Explains Why Your Old Leadership Style Doesn’t Work Anymore.

Thank you for reading our newsletter, where we bring you thought leaders and innovative ideas on leadership topics each week.

We strive to elevate the quality of leadership worldwide. Are you ready? If you are looking for help developing your leaders, explore our services.