AAU Hosted a Leadership Seminar in Partnership with the ILA

AAU partnered with the International Leadership Association (ILA) during the 27th Global Leadership Conference, hosting a seminar on campus about Vaclav Havel’s theatrical and leadership legacy with our very own professors Ondřej Pilný and Josh Hayden. AAU demonstrated its commitment to supporting, motivating, and cultivating the next generation of leaders.

Professor Pilný lectured on the importance of absurdist theatre for Czech people, dissidents, and audiences across the world, illustrating how former President Havel’s theatrical work gives leaders insights into responsible leadership today. His plays often gave insight into communist society and the humor of those who lived under it. 

Havel said (1990): “Absurd theatre does not offer us consolation or hope. It merely reminds us of how we are living: without hope. And that is the essence of its warning.”

The Memorandum, which premiered in 1965 and was an immediate hit, was used as an example of how the past mirrors our own social challenges today. Volunteers from the audience reenacted a scene which raised issues of morality and responsibility. Absent in hopeful leadership, they raised questions of what the essence of hopeful leadership is.

AAU also welcomed the ILA program and conference teams to campus last spring and is a key connection between programs that discuss present challenges in the context of Prague’s leadership heritage, bringing history lessons and expert testimony. This year’s Leadership Conference covered topics ranging from authentic leadership to civic responsibility and AI.

“The conference theme, “Leadership that unites,” recalls the circumstances of the Velvet Revolution, when students led diverse groups of people towards nonviolent change. Prague is the ideal place for discussions about overcoming divisions and finding common paths,” said Hayden, co-chair of the ILA conference program, department chair of Social Sciences, and lecturer in Leadership Studies at AAU.

AAU prepares students for leadership opportunities through individual courses, such as Public Speaking or Leadership, as well as through the Business Administration: Global Management and Leadership concentration. Visit the Undergraduate Programs page for more information on AAU’s programs.