Learning as Leadership -- About Us, Claire Nuer

Faculty:

Facilitation Team
Trained by pioneers in the fields of human development and organizational learning, the members of Learning as Leadership's versatile facilitation team are committed to helping individuals and organizations leverage this methodology and bring their deepest aspirations to fruition. All have been implementing and practicing the tools of LaL in their personal and professional lives for at least fifteen years. A diverse background in business, the arts and academia allows them a multitude of perspectives for addressing personal and professional obstacles. Through skits, videos and other visual vehicles, the team offers a rich array of learning opportunities.

In alphabetical order:

Lara Nuer
Lara has co-designed and co-facilitated LaL’s public and in-house programs for the past 20 years. She coaches individuals and management teams to address critical personal and business challenges through personal mastery, team building and mental models. She is committed – through her work at LaL, her involvement in international conflict resolution and post-Holocaust dialogue – to continuing her mother’s legacy of co-creating a context for humanity. Lara is a graduate from the Rouen School of Business in France and a recognized Member Consultant of the Society for Organizational Learning. She is an author of "Improving Performance Through Personal Mastery; A Case Study with Fairchild Semiconductor," and "Learning as Leadership: A Methodology for Organizational Change Through Personal Mastery," both published in "Performance Improvement, a journal of the International Society of Performance Improvement's (ISPI) journal."

Marc-André Olivier
Marc-André has co-developed and co-facilitated the Learning as Leadership curriculum for 20 years. He has studied organizational learning techniques with some of the most respected pioneers in the field, and combines this with a background in economic development, healthcare and intercultural dialogue. Marc-André’s unique insights into human behavior enable him to assist participants in moving beyond deep-rooted patterns that prevent them from achieving their goals. As a primary designer of LaL’s public and in-house training programs, Marc-André coaches management teams and executives to practically apply the tools of LaL to their current business challenges. He is a Member Consultant of the Society for Organizational Learning (SoL) and studied mathematics and physics at Reims University in France. He has lectured at University of California at Berkeley’s Haas School of Business on the topic of “Mental Models and Leadership.”

Noah Nuer
The son of LaL’s founders, Noah co-designs and co-facilitates LaL’s public and in-house programs. He has been instrumental in helping management teams at NASA, Shell Oil, Fairchild Semiconductor, Sandia National Laboratories and numerous other organizations to clarify their goals and overcome barriers to change. Noah’s acute level of sensitivity and intuition furnish him with a rare ability to support participants in gaining awareness of their key issues and obstacles and clarifying and achieving their most challenging goals. CEO of BSC Productions, a French film production company he founded in 1996, Noah has over ten years of visual arts production experience and has directed and co-produced over 12 films and documentaries, including the award winning feature film "Get a Way". A graduate of the Institut Superieur de Gestion (ISG), an international business school where he studied and interned in France, New York and Tokyo, he has been practicing and integrating the tools of LaL into organizational change for 10 years. He has lectured at University of California at Berkeley’s Haas School of Business on the topic of “Leading Beyond Your Limits.” As an invited guest lecturer at the University of Michigan's graduate and MBA programs, he has presented to the School of Business, the Institute for Social Research, and the Department of Psychology. He has served as a consultant to The Program on Intergroup Relations at the University of Michigan's College of Literature, Science and the Arts, and Division of Student Affairs. He is an author of "The Insatiable Quest for Self-Worth" published in the journal, Psychological Inquiry, and "Do People Need Self-Esteem?", published in Psychological Bulletin, a journal of the American Psychological Association (APA).

Sam Cohen
Sam co-founded Learning as Leadership (LaL) and originated the LaL methodology with his wife, Claire Nuer, over 25 years ago. Sam designs and facilitates LaL’s public programs, and has taught thousands of people around the world how to shift mental models, behaviors and stereotypes to build healthy and productive personal lives and professional organizations. As an industrial engineer and retired CEO of a French distribution company, Sam draws upon his extensive operational experience in supporting participants to concretely implement the LaL tools in the workplace. He is a recognized Member Consultant of the Society for Organizational Learning and a Board Member of the World Business Academy.

Shayne Hughes
Shayne co-designs and co-facilitates LaL's public and in-house programs. Working with such organizations as Shell Oil Products, CSC, Fairchild Semiconductor and Oak Ridge National Laboratories, he coaches leaders and their teams to address complex business challenges and build more collaborative teams to achieve their goals. Shayne has been involved with LaL for the past 18 years, having trained directly with the founder in Paris for 4 1/2 years. He received his BA from the University of California at Berkeley, and continued graduate studies in group facilitation and conflict resolution at the University of Tours in France. He has presented at the Pegasus Systems Thinking in Action conference and lectured at UCB's Haas School of Business on the topic of "Constructive Dialogue: Communicating Effectively About Tough Issues." Shayne's dedication to translating participant learnings into measurable performance improvement makes the program directly applicable to clients' needs.

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Founder:

Claire Nuer
Learning as Leadership owes the creation of its unique methodology to an incredible teacher of our times and pioneer in the field of Personal Mastery, Claire Nuer (March 20, 1933 - March 26, 1999). Claire’s training in this field was not drawn from an academic background, but rather her own personal life experience. Surviving the Holocaust left her with an unshakeable commitment to be a constructive force in the world; overcoming terminal cancer led her to study the field of human potential and inspired her to teach others that we do not have to wait until we are faced with a crisis – such as disease, divorce, or bankruptcy – to reclarify our deepest goals and aspirations and to change our behavior, communication and relationships with others.

Claire profoundly touched the lives of those who knew her. She was an extraordinary facilitator, and her effectiveness came not only from her knowledge, intellect or extensive reading, but from her unwavering honesty with herself and others. She designed this methodology based only on what she experienced and practiced herself. She left this same spirit and commitment with the faculty at LaL: to only teach what we practice.

Claire worked with CEOs and management teams from around the world, including top leaders from business, academia and medicine, representatives from such companies as Shell Oil, AT&T, Fairchild Semiconductor and Visa International. She insisted on including spouses, families, and teenagers in her programs, creating a microcosm of society and lessening the fragmentation of home and work life so predominant in our culture. As part of her commitment to co-creating a context for humanity, she created and participated in numerous programs on conflict resolution, post-Holocaust dialogue and international peace panels, culminating in the Turning Point Project, a series of gatherings which brought together over 300 people in Auschwitz, Poland to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi concentration camps.

Claire was a Member Consultant of the Society for Organizational Learning, which developed from Peter Senge’s organizational learning work, and a Fellow and Trustee of the World Business Academy. In 1996 she was admitted to the select Goldner Holocaust Biennial Symposia “The Road to Responsibility in the Age of the Shoah” at Wroxton College in England.

The Nuer Foundation was founded in her memory.

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