Building Moral Imagination, Emotionally Engaged Thinking, and Adaptive Leadership Capacity in Leadership Learners Through the Power of the Holocaust

In 2015, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) and the University of Florida collaborated to develop a holistic model for moral decision-making within leadership learners. The collaboration yielded innovative learning experiences leveraging the power of the USHMM’s Ethical Leadership Modules linked to their special exhibition, _Some Were Neighbors: Collaboration and Complicity in the Holocaust_. The learning experiences were piloted at the University of Florida in 2016, 2017, and 2018 with multidisciplinary undergraduate leadership learners. Learners engaged in intentional learning experiences grounded in reflective and agency-oriented behaviors through the intentional use of authentic memorabilia, audio recordings, and videos collected during the Holocaust. Qualitative findings collected over three years indicate that the content and methodological processes led to the development of moral imagination, emotionally engaged thinking, and adaptive leadership capacity in the learners. The resulting discussion provides implications for addressing and mitigating the challenges associated with systemic oppression, groupthink, social deterioration of moral judgment, and creates opportunities for change and social justice in our world.