A closer look into the life and career of Dr. Lisa Gick, Program Director of MSOL and Assistant Professor of Management and Leadership in the School of Business at Mount St. Joseph University.
Dr. Lisa Gick, Ph. D., PCC, is a faculty member at Mount St. Joseph University in the School of Business. She is the Director of the Master of Science in Organizational Leadership (MSOL) Program and an Assistant Professor of Management and Leadership. Dr. Gick teaches courses within the Management and Leadership Major at the undergraduate level and graduate courses in both the MBA and MSOL Programs. Before Dr. Lisa Gick was a faculty member at the Mount, she had a flourishing 25-year-long career at Macy’s Inc. Since transitioning to teaching in higher education, Dr. Gick continues to research and publish works centered around Leadership, works as a practicing Leadership Coach, helped the Mount launch the LeaderTrek Program, and supports several different service groups locally and regionally.
Early Life & Career:
Lisa is a Cincinnati, Ohio native! She was born and raised In Cincinnati along with her 4 siblings. She attended Mount St. Joseph University for her undergraduate degree. She is a Mount Alum of ’87 earning her BA in Liberal Arts. Lisa then went on to Miami University to obtain her MS in Higher Education Administration then to Antioch University for her Ph. D. in Leadership and Change. She has also earned credentials from Georgetown University and the International Coaching Federation as a Leadership Coach.
Before Dr. Gick transitioned to teaching in higher education she worked at Macy’s Inc. “I worked for 25 years with Macy’s Inc. in a variety of Human Resources roles that included recruiting, hiring, employee relations, labor relations, and group benefits. My final role was Vice President of Employee Engagement which included all facets of the employee experience. These experiences included creating and overseeing internal communication and branding strategy for over 200,000 employees from Macy’s, Bloomingdale’s, and our support companies. Throughout my career, I worked in the corporate offices which were based in Cincinnati and New York. I spent a great deal of time in stores and operations facilities across the country working with leaders to optimize their impact in creating and sustaining the employee and customer experience.” Lisa decided after serving Macy’s Inc. for 25 years she wanted to go back to school and change careers. “I left Macy’s to return to school to complete my Ph. D., and while doing so I opened a consulting and coaching company called [curious] leadership + change agency.”
Cincinnati & the Mount:
Lisa received her Ph. D. from Antioch University and then landed a faculty position within the School of Business at Mount St. Joseph University. “In finishing my Ph. D., I was thrilled to be able to return to the Mount to support students in honoring the leaders they are and the leaders they will become through their experiences in accomplishing their degrees and launching their professional selves.”
Dr. Gick teaches a range of courses centered around leadership and management. At the undergraduate level, she teaches Human Resources Management, Operations Management, and Retail Management, along with coordinating the LeaderTrek Program for the first-year students in the School of Business. Dr. Lisa Gick also teaches Ethical Leadership, Strategic Leadership, Talent Development, Project and Operations Management, and Marketing Management at the graduate level in both the MBA 4+1 and the MSOL Programs.
Lisa explains that her favorite courses to teach are “Any courses that address leadership and change shine for me as they’re directly connected to my research and writing. I’m fascinated with the emergence of leadership in our world, and it continually brings intriguing questions and considerations in so many contexts, like the political landscape, C-Suites, and the social justice climate, to name a few. In my leadership coaching, whether a very practiced leader or our own Mount students, everyone is a leader in how they choose to bring themselves to their experience and the impact they have on others.”
Dr. Lisa Gick also has an extensive list of research projects and publications she has worked on over the course of her schooling and career that center around leadership. The research projects she has worked on include “Liminal Leadership” and the “Curious Capacity of Leaders”. She has also co-authored chapters in two different books that address Leader Identity Development in Girlhood and Leading in the Liminal Space, the latter which extends the current work on adaptive leadership. Lisa has presented at events and conferences about leadership throughout the United States and internationally in Brussels, Barcelona, and Geneva.
Serving the Student Experience:
“The student experience is so multi-dimensional! When making the transition to college from high school or returning to school at a later time in life, the experience of change is intriguing and complex. By this, I mean it is layered, and rich, and exciting, and unclear, and jostling, and thrilling, and planned, and unexpected – full of discovery in so many ways, as life is. While I serve in the role of professor, my focus is always on how to care for students as whole humans, knowing they bring their minds, hearts, spirits, and physical selves when they join us. As a professor, I have the opportunity to help them grow in their chosen disciplines in business and leadership, and also inspire building capacities like curiosity, reflection, partnering with others, self-assurance, resilience, creative thinking, and the critical importance of self-care all along the way. These are capacities that serve to navigate change and its uncertainties with agility, and the openness to learn from our experience as it unfolds.
Having been a student at the Mount many years ago, I’m honored to be in service to our students today who are brilliantly busy creating their compelling experiences! I’m very privileged to serve students during this transformational time in their lives, and endeavor to always be uplifting in their experience to climb higher.”
Personal Life:
Lisa was born in Cincinnati and she is one of five children in her family. She is fortunate enough to still have all of her siblings live locally in Cincinnati along with her eleven nieces and nephews and a recent great-niece! Lisa lives in Cleves and is a huge dog lover, especially with her pup, Mary. Her hobbies include golfing, knitting, and trying to make time for leisure reads other than just textbooks. “Currently, on my end table is Trust by Hernan Diaz.” She also loves to stream a good TV series to unwind. Her favorites are Ozark, Succession, and Bad Sisters. Lisa also makes sure to keep up with the news and current events. “I’m an advocate for getting involved in the news cycle as there’s so much happening in a very fluid way that has a direct impact on our lives. This helps me understand how to effectively engage and be of service.”
In Lisa's free time, she is also very involved in service work. “I have served on boards and supported regional organizations with their core services, such as grant funding with Artswaves. I am working on a service strategy for coaching women who are running for public office. It takes a lot of courage to step into that space, and if you’re newly engaging in this way, there are a lot of things to make sense of in the journey.”
The School of Business at Mount St. Joseph University is moving FORWARD due to leaders like Dr. Lisa Gick. Her extensive 25-year-long career at Macy’s Inc. in a variety of Human Resource roles, her business degrees paired with specialized credentials at all education levels, her lengthy list of research projects and publications, her leadership coaching, and her service work make her such a uniquely qualified faculty member within the School of Business. Thank you, Dr. Lisa Gick, for all of the people you serve as the Program Director of MSOL and Assistant Professor of Management and Leadership!
