The PLATINUM Study

The PLATINUM Study is a comprehensive study of leadership at the highest levels of American society. It examines the personal, moral, and social factors that sustain individuals and groups who exercise significant influence through major institutions and organizations in our society. Drawing on social-scientific analyses, the multi-year research project endeavors to understand how leaders influence their organizations, communities, and society as a whole. Through in-depth interviews and quantitative analyses, the project seeks to explain how leaders have risen to prominence, what challenges and opportunities they face, and how they establish legacies of influence beyond their tenure.

Thus far, 550 leaders have participated in the study, including two former Presidents of the United States, Cabinet secretaries, senior White House officials, Fortune 500 chief executive officers, celebrated artists and performers, writers, and leaders from the nonprofit sector. The PLATINUM Study has amassed the largest and most exhaustive set of interview data conducted with leaders in every sector of American society. These include leaders from politics and government, the arts, business, nonprofit organizations, higher education, media, and entertainment.

Platinum Study Participants
As the first-of-its-kind, the PLATINUM Study seeks to spur further empirical studies of leadership and to contribute to ongoing debates about the exercise of public influence in our increasingly complex society. Questions that animate the study include ones such as

• How do senior leaders make important decisions within their organizations, and how do they shape organizational culture?
• What role do values and character play in the exercise of their leadership?
• How do early life influences and mentors shape the lives of senior leaders?
• What kinds of professional and personal networks are of strategic benefit for senior leaders, and how do they maintain ties among diverse groups of people?
• How does the life of the individual leader shape the contours of the organization he or she leads?
• What roles do higher education, competitive fellowships, and the nonprofit sector play in the development of emerging leaders?
• What motivates the current activities and future ambitions of senior leaders?

The PLATINUM Study is directed by Gordon College President D. Michael Lindsay, a sociologist who also works in the related fields of management, education, religion, and leadership studies.