exploring the shape of leadership through citizen science.
published February 2025 | Sarah Emery Clark
Welcome! The Leaderboard Project uses data art to examine how we define and practice leadership. The first step is examining ourselves. What qualities make you someone others look up to? Do you inspire trust? What makes you shine?
There’s a leader in each of us. What shape will YOUR leadership take?
I’d like to PARTICIPATE!
Great! To participate in the project, click the button below to fill out the Shape of Leadership Survey. Here, you’ll learn about leadership styles and qualities, and get a chance to reflect on which ones best define you.
When you’re done, a unique digital artwork based on your survey responses will be generated just for you. Share it with friends and compare your responses!
This will take you about 4 minutes.
I’d also like to LEARN!
Even better! The United Nations believes that gender balanced leadership is a key to global prosperity and protecting the planet. But is gender balance enough when all leaders are expected to take on traditionally masculine roles?
Learn about the root causes of leadership inequality and explore solutions in Redefining Leadership.
This will take you about 10-15 minutes.
The Shape of Leadership Survey Results
What shape does your leadership take and how does it compare to others? Use the survey results to explore and discuss what qualities you value most in leaders and what kind of leadership you’d like to see more of in the world. Screenshot your favourites, tag with #theleaderboardproject and be an active participant in changing the shape of leadership!
Results are updated several times a day and are not mobile compatible.
This self-directed project began as an exploration of the SDGs with the team at infogr8 as part of their Future Fridays programming. In this project, I leverage Tableau in a nontraditional way by transforming it from a standard BI tool into an interactive, participatory platform for data exploration. Rather than just visualizing data, I use Tableau as a dynamic interface where users contribute real-time responses, shaping the dataset and visual outputs on the fly. This approach turns Tableau into a collaborative, evolving data experience rather than a static dashboard, pushing its capabilities beyond traditional analytics into the realm of qualitative storytelling and engagement.
thanks for participating!
This work necessitates a deeper acknowledgement to the Pentlatch, E’iksan, Sahtloot and Sasitla First Peoples, who for millennia have passed on their culture, history, and traditions from one generation to the next on this ancestral, unceded territory I call home. I encourage all participants to challenge the notion of leadership not only through the lens of gender but though that of colonialism. I’ll ask that we keep reconciliation in mind as we reimagine leadership.