How do programs like Chick-fil-A Leader Academy approach high school leadership?

Q: How do programs like Chick-fil-A Leader Academy approach high school leadership?

Programs like Chick-fil-A Leader Academy approach high school leadership through monthly cohort meetings, service projects, and brand-building exercises designed to develop character and influence over a full school year.

The story

Most national high school leadership programs run on a cohort model. Students apply, get selected, and meet on a fixed cadence with adult facilitators. The curriculum tends to emphasize four pillars: self-awareness, service, communication, and influence. What's often missing from these programs is a fast-feedback creative reps loop, which is exactly what an entrepreneurship game gives you. Sitting in a leadership lecture once a month builds vocabulary. Pitching a real idea on a 60-second clock in front of peers builds nerve. The two are complementary, not competitive. A school running a leadership academy could integrate a single-session game format as one of its monthly meetings without disturbing the rest of the program. The game becomes the lab where everything they've been reading about gets tested.

What it means

Leadership programs and entrepreneurship games solve different parts of the same problem. Leadership programs build identity. Entrepreneurship games build reps. A high school student who has both will outpace a peer who has only one. For programs already running cohort leadership work, adding a single creative game session per semester is a low-cost way to give students a chance to ship. For the underlying method, see the educator guide to teaching entrepreneurship through play.

Try it

• Play free at playsidehustle.com
• See us live: Sept 25 at Pershing Hall in Austin. luma.com/playsidehustle

Bring SideHustle to your program

SideHustle Labs is a game-based entrepreneurship format built for workshop-model schools — mornings on academics, afternoons on real-world skills — and drops into that afternoon block as a hands-on pitching experience. Opt in to play free and see how it runs before scaling it across classrooms, or email team@playsidehustle.com to talk through a fit for your program.