Leadership, values and cultural change;
collaboration & creativity.


Highlights

D. Michael Lindsay offers business leaders a unique perspective on how to bring their ethical values to their job and to their workplace, and uncommon insights into the nature of collaboration, creativity, and cultural change.

For his book, Faith in the Halls of Power, he interviewed hundreds of leaders in very senior positions in business, entertainment, sports, public service and the arts to learn how they integrate their deepest convictions with their leadership roles.

To the rich repertoire of personal accounts he has gathered, Michael has applied the skills of the trained social analyst, providing valuable insights into how leaders shape organizational culture and performance through their values and convictions.

Following on this work, Michael now leads an ongoing multi-year study at Rice University known as The PLATINUM Study—Public Leaders in America Today and the Inquiry into their Networks, Upbringing, and Motivations.

Michael has worked for the Gallup Institute as a researcher, author, public speaker and consultant. He has co-written two books with George Gallup, based on research he helped organize: Surveying the Religious Landscape: Trends in U.S. Beliefs and The Gallup Guide: Reality Check for 21st Century Churches.

A member of the sociology faculty at Rice University, Michael is the Faculty Associate of Leadership Rice and Assistant Director of the Center on Race, Religion, and Urban Life. He has received several awards for his writing, teaching, and speaking and writes a regular column for Rev! magazine.

Michael speaks on important substantive topics with grace and authority. He blends funny and inspiring stories with solid information. Audiences are captivated with his presentation style. He's engaging, warm, and confident. And he's as good as they come at connecting with groups, from intimate briefings to very large events. (George Gallup, Jr.)

Faith in the Halls of Power

Michael’s new book Faith in the Halls of Power is based on interviews of more than 350 people of prominence, including two former Presidents of the United States and over two dozen Cabinet secretaries and senior White House staffers; more than 100 presidents, CEOs, or senior executives at large firms (both public and private); two dozen accomplished Hollywood professionals; more than 10 leaders from the world of professional athletics; and more than 100 leaders from the artistic, philanthropic, educational, and nonprofit arenas.

Faith in the Halls of Power was named one of the best books of 2007 by Publishers Weekly.

Leadership and Values

Michael’s distinctive background as a researcher, writer and public speaker make him uncommonly valuable to audiences comprised of leaders who strive to integrate their ethical and professional lives and to make a positive difference through their leadership roles.

These are precisely the ideals of the hundreds of people he interviewed for his book—leaders at the very top of their game who have fulfilled their goals of outward success and inner fulfillment, organizational success and a legacy of a better world. From their experience he has gleaned the keys to balancing the demands of conscience and personal integrity with the reality of organizational life and he understands how organizations benefit from leaders with a clear moral compass.

Cosmopolitan Intelligence—The New Collaboration

From the unique personal stories of very influential people that shaped his book Faith in the Halls of Power, Michael reveals the patterns that define a new kind of leader. These new leaders want a more integrated, holistic life, one that combines values and meaning with success and positive change in the world. And they’ve discovered collaboration as the key, both to personal and organizational success and as the path to greater fulfillment and balance in their work and family life. Michael calls this cosmopolitan intelligence—a new approach to bringing personal strengths to public responsibility.

Topics

Moral Leadership

Cosmopolitan Intelligence: The Medici Model

Sparking a Creative Renaissance: Creativity in Organizational Culture

Convening Power: The Personal Side of Leadership

Divided Selves No More: Bringing Your Personal Strengths into the Workplace

Faith at Work: When Leaders Bring Values to Work

Credentials

• Assistant Professor of Sociology, Rice University
• Faculty Associate, Leadership Rice
• Consultant, The Gallup Institute
• Assistant Director, Center on Race, Religion, and Urban Life
• Principal Investigator, The PLATINUM Study
• Former Research Affiliate, Center for Arts and Cultural Policy Studies, Princeton University
• Jablin Dissertation Award, University of Richmond’s Jepson School of Leadership Studies
• Harold W. Dodds Honorific Fellowship, Princeton University
• Outstanding Teaching Award in social science, Princeton University
• BA, English & Speech, Baylor University, Summa Cum Laude and Phi Betta Kappa
• Master of Divinity, Princeton Theological Seminary, Presidential Scholar
• Postgraduate Diploma, Oxford University, Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar; Graduated with Distinction (Highest Honors)
• Ph.D., Sociology, Princeton University

Books

Faith in the Halls of Power: How Evangelicals Joined the American Elite

Surveying the Religious Landscape: Trends in U.S. Beliefs (George Gallup, coauthor)

The Gallup Guide: Reality Check for 21^st Century Churches (George Gallup, coauthor)