Bader Leadership Institute

Taking on the community’s challenges.

In 2023, Bader Philanthropies formed the Bader Leadership Institute (BLI) to build the infrastructure necessary to address Milwaukee’s wicked problems. Through an intensive cohort-based experience, small groups of the region’s most exemplary leaders meet regularly to bridge gaps across sectors and silos and to innovate new ways of engaging in philanthropy. Together, this growing network of Bader Fellows will work to cultivate the conditions for transformational change in Milwaukee.

Bader Fellows, a diverse network of Milwaukee-based leaders, aim to achieve three specific outcomes:

Leadership

Connect to one’s peers through a shared exploration of leadership principles

Philanthropy

Apply skills in innovation and philanthropy by turning theory into action

Problem-Solving

Build the infrastructure necessary to address wicked problems

Levels of Leadership Curriculum

Leadership

A good leader is Proactive. The simplest definition of a leader is someone who moves first or goes forth on their own.

Reciprocity

A good leader is Philanthropic. Good leaders cultivate networks and spaces that transcend market transactions.

Value

A good leader is Principled. We all have the same worth, and good leadership uses this ideal as the foundation of a shared morality.

Vision

A good leader is Intentional. Good leadership requires the ability to interact with unrealized possibilities and manifest them into reality.

Power

A good leader is Influential. Despite their dangers, authority, dominance, and hierarchies are essential to good leadership.

Balance

A good leader is Adaptable. Parenthood is the original form of leadership, and good leaders realize the unity in dualities like ‘maternal and paternal.’