The Acumen Academy is inviting applications for its India Fellowship to develop a community of leaders who challenge the status quo, work across lines of difference, and inspire their communities to believe in a brighter future.
The Fellowship is the start of a journey towards mastering the skills, attributes, and values of moral leadership: a combination of empathy, immersion, understanding, and action. What binds the Fellows is shared values, a common commitment to a world beyond poverty and injustice, a pledge to accompany one another, to help and celebrate one another, and to hold each other to account.
The Acumen Academy India Fellows Program is designed for individuals who are deeply connected – and dedicated – to fighting poverty and injustice over the long run. Being part of the Acumen Fellowship community requires you to be committed to the following:
Full attendance for all seminars – workshops and immersive.
Full completion of the online work assignments and peer coaching sessions assigned between seminars.
Proactive engagement and exchange with the global and India Acumen Fellows during, and upon completing the first year of the Fellowship Program. An inspiring community in service of your and others’ work in eradicating poverty and injustice.
Benefits
Dynamic and bold leaders from nearly every walk of life who are committed to creating meaningful change in India are encouraged to apply for the fellowship program.
In The Fellowship Program You Will:
Learn to catalyse and embrace the gradual and meaningful process of creating change at the personal, organisational, and societal levels.
Cultivate the ability to lead effectively when opposing but interdependent values are in tension.
Understand how to lead diverse stakeholders through recurring and complex challenges.
Develop the capacity to tell meaningful stories that speak across lines of difference and move others to action.
Examine your identities, values, and choices that have shaped your journey till now and cultivate a deeper understanding of yourself and your work in a broader context.
Explore the meaning of a just society and the moral and historical foundation of social change through text-based dialogue.
Navigate systemic problems and design more effective interventions using moral imagination.
Question your assumptions and beliefs about leading effective change.
Be supported and accompanied by a cohort of like-minded peers persevering in the process of driving social change.
The curriculum draws on powerful leadership frameworks, tools, and approaches, including Adaptive Leadership, Authentic Voice, Good Society Readings, Immunity to Change, and Polarities Management.
What to expect?
The fellows are extraordinary leaders who dare to embrace the difficult journey of social change. Here’s what Acumen Academy wants from you—and what you can expect from your cohort:
Entrepreneurs: Leaders of both for-profit and non-profit organizations providing critical goods or services to the underserved.
Intrapreneurs: Leaders who are bringing to life new initiatives or approaches within the organization. The focus is on designing, testing, incubating, and implementing ideas that enable the organization to pursue its purpose.
Organizational Builders: Leaders who play an integral role in building the organization. The focus is on building the internal blocks, systems, and processes that enable the organization to pursue its purpose.
Eligibility Criteria
All seminars and training are conducted in English. Conversational proficiency in English is a requirement to ensure Fellows are able to give and get the most from this experience.
Acumen Academy considers applications from citizens of India. Acumen Academy will, on an exceptional basis, consider applicants who demonstrate a concrete connection to the region (i.e. long-term employment, residency, the focus of the social change project).
Each cohort of Acumen Fellows must be comprised of individuals who have not previously taken part in an Acumen Fellowship. Candidates who have participated in other fellowships or leadership programs, or who have taken Acumen Academy courses, are welcome to apply.
