Center for Leadership
Studies

In his experience as an executive coach and educator, Al Bhatt sees that business practitioners and leaders have begun to detect that solutions demanding better, faster, smarter, and more are no longer relevant. There is a visceral sense that there is a different approach, Bhatt says, and while organizations may not yet know what that different approach is, they understand that the game is not simply more complex and faster, but is qualitatively something else.

“We can no longer assume that top- or bottom-line financial objectives are a sufficient source of sustainability for our organizations. The reality is that organizations live within a complex ecosystem of interdependent constituencies, each serving as a source of significant opportunity or devastating risk,” Bhatt explains. “Until we understand the network of relationships that make up our organization’s unique ecosystem it is not possible to design systems and infrastructure that can deliver dynamic, sustainable value versus short-term, one-dimensional results.”

A different set of organizational challenges calls for a different crucible in which to create leaders. Bhatt believes that MAOL is that program.

“MAOL approaches problems from a totally different level of thinking, because it makes it tough to talk about challenges at the level of thinking that currently exists. MAOL offers development from a frame that completely transforms the challenges. I think it’s how we will educate leaders 20-30 years from now as a given, versus an interesting anomaly.”

Bhatt began his career in finance, later making a transition into organizational development. Selected as one of the individuals responsible for implementing a significant business transformation within his organization, Bhatt learned through real-world experience how to introduce and effectively deploy systemic change. Through his graduate studies in organizational psychology, Bhatt gained a theoretical perspective that he says informs his methodology and pedagogical ethos as much as have his studies in eastern philosophy. Because within the MAOL there is nothing that doesn’t fit in terms of being a catalyst for learning, Bhatt factors both of these disciplines into his teaching. The content on offer is rich and varied, Bhatt explains, but it is all relevant in that it springs from the experience of the participant.

“The faculty are present not to implant ideas, but to present candidates with frameworks and tools and invite them to explore how their personal effectiveness may be focused through them in the context of bringing about effective change.”

Bhatt has noticed in cohort after cohort of MAOL candidates that candidates create significant results for their organizations—often outcomes that seem if not impossible, then improbable at the program’s outset. He also says that throughout the program, people’s relationships with self, with others, and with the world transform.

“MAOL candidates come in to the program serious about what they’re up to in the world, but they leave with the intent of making a difference to and in their world. There is a deepening sense of interpersonal competence, and a deepening sense of personal commitment of themselves and their work—not just to their job, but to their work in the world.”

Bhatt is an educator in the Graduate Psychology Department at the University of New Haven where he teaches Leadership, Motivation, Organizational Development, and Communication & Opinion Change. He earned his Master of Arts in Organizational Psychology and Bachelor of Science in Engineering. He serves as Co-Dean of the Executive Coaching Institute and the Executive Development Institute. He co-founded the Chief HR Officer Council in Connecticut and the Executive Effectiveness Leadership Forum (EELF). Al is an active member of National Speakers Association, Toastmasters, ASTD, Plexus Institute and Mensa International. And, Al is a Big Brother.