Rob Elkington, Ph.D. (Northwestern University, South Africa), serves as Assistant Professor at Trent University Faculty of Business. Rob also serves as Adjunct Faculty at Ontario Tech University Faculty of Education and Faculty of Social Sciences, Senior Lecturer at Stellenbosch University School of Public Leadership, and the CEO of Global Leadership Initiatives, Inc., which exists to “develop excellence in leadership globally.” Rob’s research focuses on the intersection of leadership and society. Rob explores this theme through various topics in his current ongoing research projects, such as: “Seeking Best Methods for Leadership Development,” “Women’s Entrepreneurial Leadership in Disadvantaged Contexts,” “Seeking Best Methods for Police Leadership Development,” and “Emerging Issues in Higher Educational Leadership,” “The Use of META in Military Leadership Development,” and “Developing Paramedic Leadership.” Rob also explores African leadership expressed in themes such as Ubuntu, Ukhama, and Pandimire. Rob published extensively as the lead editor of several leadership books (Emerald publications), book chapters, peer-reviewed journal articles and conference presentations. Recently, he was selected as lead editor for the Journal of Leadership Studies Symposium series: “African Leadership: Powerful Paradigms for the 21st Century.” Rob is also the lead editor for a book by the same title to be published in January 2023 (Emerald Publications.) Rob is working on his fifth book, this time with McGraw Hill publications: “Police Leadership for the 21st Century: New Paradigms for a Changing World.”
Internationally, Rob has extensive experience working on food security projects, HIV Aids reduction through education, poverty reduction, and securing partnerships and research around education for disadvantaged and marginalized communities. Rob gained this experience as a Canadian representative of the University of Kwa-Zulu Natal’s development foundation, creating partnerships with Canadian universities, CIDA, and various philanthropic foundations. Locally, Rob also works with organizations such as the Cornerstone Women’s and Children’s Shelter, Paramedics in Durham, York and Peel Region, Turning Point Youth Services, Durham Youth Services, and the Durham Youth in Policing Initiative.
Teaching Interests:
Foundations of Leadership, Sustainability Leadership, Leadership Development and Training, Conflict and Negotiation in Business, Organizational Effectiveness, Leadership and Technology, Change Leadership, Collaborative Leadership, Leadership and Administration, Ethical Leadership.