How We Teach Leadership

HMI's focus on leadership is intentional and unique. We have carefully developed and refined a leadership curriculum that is specifically geared to address the needs of teenagers. Summer Term students learn about leadership from an academic perspective and then are given lots of opportunities to put their newly acquired leadership skills into practice during wilderness expeditions. 

"The Myers-Briggs Indicator was oddly accurate in reflecting my perception of myself, and made me more self-aware." HMI Alumnus

Leader of the Day
After growing comfortable in the backcountry, you'll assume leadership of the group. Under the supervision of instructors, everyone takes a turn as Leader of the Day. We will ask you to practice different styles of leadership: one day leading actively from the front and the next day quietly setting examples for others to follow. At the end of each day, in group and individual sessions, we will look back upon what went well-and at examples of leadership that might have been better used in different situations.

Mentorship
The foundation of our success in teaching leadership is the individual mentorship offered to participants. During both expeditions, we will pair you with an instructor who serves as your mentor and guide. Your mentor will help you apply your strengths as a leader to different situations and help you become comfortable with new techniques. Your instructors will also meet with you before and after each of your Leader of the Day opportunities; we believe that it is impossible for people to push themselves and to try new things without lots of support in understanding their strengths and in setting clear goals.

Self-Awareness, Influence, and an Ethical Compass
Throughout our time on campus and in the backcountry, we will continue to have classes and discussions about leadership. In addition to established classes on topics such as decision-making styles and conflict resolution, we highlight teachable moments to help you recognize different contexts for leadership-it is important to differentiate between situations that require you to vocally inspire and instances when you can remain quietly in the background. We spend a lot of time exploring these different styles of leadership and looking at how to effectively lead within these situations.

"I loved the backpacking incorporated into the leadership. I feel the two go hand in hand and it was a blast!" HMI Alumnus

Our goal is not to create expert outdoor leaders, but strong leaders in general. At the end of the Summer Term, we work as a group to plan for how we can use what we learned in our different roles in high school and at home. Each Summer Term creates a "Grand Unified Theory of Leadership" as a concluding exercise that collects what we learned and helps us apply it to our lives back home.