Forum on Project Leadership: Speakers

Terry Little
Consultant, Spectrum Group, and Associate Director for Leadership Development, Center for Project Leadership at Columbia University

Topic: “Leaders Creating Leaders: Wins and Losses”
Abstract: “Leader’s are not born; they are made.” Oh yeah! Who or what makes them? Do they make themselves? Does the situation make them? Does the organization for which they work make them? This presentation advances the proposition that the best project leaders arise from what other leaders have done to shape, motivate, teach, challenge and mentor them. Furthermore, the author contends, growing future leaders is a responsibility fully as important for each leader as producing successful projects. The author uses anecdotes from his personal experiences to show what works, what doesn’t work and why. The presentation’s goal is to give each person some tools to use to help develop future leaders within his or her own organization.

Bio: Terry Little retired from the Department of Defense in 2006 as Executive Director of the Missile Defense Agency. He managed seven major programs during his career, including the Kinetic Energy Interceptor Program, the Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM), the Small Diameter Bomb (SDB), and the Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM). As a leading expert in defense acquisition, he served as the first Director of the Air Force Acquisition Center of Excellence. He is currently Associate Director for Leadership Development of the Columbia Center for Project Leadership and a consultant with the Spectrum Group in Alexandria, Virginia.