ALTO: An Adaptive Leadership Training System

Humanity has been concerned with the issue of effective leadership since time immemorial. However, as the world changes so must the qualities of an effective leader. Today's world is more uncertain, fast paced, and global than ever before. New ways ofthinking about effective leadership are emerging as a result. One such significant shift is the concept of emotional intelligence. Leaders not only need to be skilled at cognitive tasks such as decision-making, they also need to be skilled at knowing theiremotions, the influence emotions have on their behavior, the emotions of others, and ways of handling them.This proposal seeks to develop a computer-based tutor for leadership training that will capture some of the most recent advances in the field. Based on research of recent literature on leadership, we propose to develop an effective instructional model forcomputer-based instruction. We propose to build a Simulation-based Intelligent Tutoring System that will deliver customized training. Phase I has the objective of developing an instructional model addressing both cognitive and non-cognitive skills, and ofdeveloping a limited, proof-of-concept prototype to illustrate the concepts. Klein Associates Inc., a leader in studying leadership behavior, will assist us with these objectives. Leadership training is a massive market. Every organization, government or military is interested in producing effective leaders. Thus, we have a whole range of markets, from small businesses to multi-national corporations. However, there is also anequally large amount of competition. By designing an innovative training computer-based training system that incorporates the latest findings about Emotional Intelligence, we will be ahead of most of the competition. Training departments acrossorganizations are moving more and more towards online training. This proposal gives us an opportunity to capitalize on this trend. It gives an opportunity for early entry into the market for online leadership training.