CURRENT RESEARCH INTERESTS

Professor Leonard’s research interests fall into three broad, interacting categories:

1. Group/team creativity and innovation;

2. The identification, capture and recreation of experience-based expertise;

3. The culture of a learning organization.

She is continuing to expand on the topic of Deep Smarts (the topic of the latest book co-authored with husband Walter Swap).  Since writing the book, the co-authors have created a diagnostic of deep smarts and have been testing it in various situations.  They have also been expanding upon their characterization of deep smarts as their research has revealed a couple of important additional elements.   Professor Leonard is also refining the process of identifying and capturing (in so far as it is possible and desirable) the elusive but often valuable tacit knowledge held in the heads (and sometimes the hands) of organizational experts.  This process is especially important to organizations that are in danger of losing critical knowledge as key employees retire or move on to other positions.  However, by their very nature, deep smarts cannot be wholly captured or transferred in any text or oral form.  Therefore, they must be re-created through an actively managed learning program.