Participants of the Social Leadership Program examine their professional-leadership identity via a personal prism and in the context of the locality. 

The Social Leadership Program in Beer Sheba has started focusing on the issue of identity and leadership and the relationship between the two as a major topic of study. The program's participants have recently completed a process of mapping out the city of Beer Sheba and figuring out which fields of activity they would personally like to engage in.

The focus on identity and leadership is an integral part of the overall emphasis of the Mandel Institute on leadership. This is carried out as part of the leader's process of self-inquiry, designed to help explore the professional and local aspects of identity.  In other words, the leaders look into the way in which they perceive themselves in the professional context, as well as through the local-communal prism, in the context of place.

In the framework of the discussion on leadership, the participants heard a talk about the relationship between identity and leadership by Prof. Mordechai Nisan, founder and director of the Mandel Scholars in Education Program. Prof. Nisan's studies deal mainly with the subject of educational identity and serve as major cornerstones of the Mandel Institute's vision of leadership. Some of Prof. Nisan's essays can be read on the Mandel Institute website.  http://www.mandelfoundation.org/MandelCMS/English/Staff/NisanMordecai.htm