Nikola Ilic

Nikola is an activist, leadership development professional, social entrepreneur, and professor of leadership. He has been an activist since the age of 15 when he joined the Serbian anti-dictatorship movement. He led many grassroots campaigns and has participated in building multiple social movements, such as Volt Europa, Kreni-Promeni (Serbia), and World Liberty Congress. As an Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University School of Foreign Service, he is teaching two courses: Ethical Leadership and Democratic Leadership. His pedagogy is focused on learning by doing and action-learning, and he is combining several foundational frameworks: Community Organizing, Adaptive Leadership, Systems Thinking, Adult Development, and his own framework “Democratic Leadership”. In 2019 he founded ChangeLab Global, aiming to make leadership development accessible to millions, regardless of their socio-economic status. He is also actively working with many pro-democracy activists worldwide, enabling them to build movements and scale impact. He holds a master's degree from Harvard University and a leadership coaching certificate from Georgetown University. He lives today in Washington, DC, with his wife and two daughters.