Prof. Nikola Ilic
"Growing up in a war-torn society in Yugoslavia in the 90s drove me to become an activist at 15, when I joined Otpor, an anti-dictatorship movement. The societal collapse that I witnessed was driven by individuals with absolute power, abusing it and failing to see diversity as an asset. This experience kicked off my quest to understand the relationship between power, authority, leadership, politics, and change. Since then, I have co-founded 3 social movements and 2 social enterprises, and worked with high-level activists, politicians, business and government leaders. What I found out is that we need to be more intentional in enabling more people to Become Democratic Leaders, not only in government but also in the private & social sectors."
BIOGRAPHY
Nikola is an activist, leadership development expert, social entrepreneur, and leadership coach. He has been an activist since the age of 15 when he joined the Serbian anti-dictatorship movement Otpor. He believes that insight is transformed into action through practice; therefore, a deep understanding of leadership comes from action and practice. That is why he is always volunteering part of his time to community building work, to deepen his knowledge and stay true to his values.
In 2009 he co-founded the grassroots movement Serbia on the Move to work on deep democracy, and has participated in many activist campaigns: anti-corruption, health justice, women's rights, civil rights, and democratization. Today he is involved in the work of the largest Serbian grass-roots NGO Kreni-Promeni (Board member), and he is co-leading the Leadership Development program of the pan-European movement Volt Europa. He is a founder of ChangeLab Global (named top 10 emerging change management organizations in the US), aiming to make leadership development accessible to millions, regardless of their socio-economic status. Besides various private sector, government, NGO, and multinational partners (Obama Foundation, UNICEF, US Gov – Presidential Management Fellows, CitiesRise movement), Nikola is part of the World Liberty Congress (largest global pro-democracy movement) and many other organizations worldwide to support their fight for liberty and democracy.
He has taught leadership and community organizing in various capacities with Harvard Prof. Marshall Ganz since 2010. Currently, Nikola is teaching two classes at MSFS: Ethics in International Affairs (Spring); and Becoming a Democratic Leader (Fall). His pedagogy is focused on learning by doing and action-learning, and he is using his Democratic Leadership framework anchored in research and practice.
He holds a master's degree from Harvard University and a leadership coaching certificate from Georgetown University. He lives today in Washington, DC, with his wife and two daughters.