Born this way: Lady Gaga’s five practices of exemplary leadership

Purpose This article explores the use of Lady Gaga’s life as a tool in leadership courses to teach the five practices of exemplary leadership. It exemplifies how popular culture artifacts can enhance student understanding of leadership concepts. Design/methodology/approach A discussion post assignment was conducted in an online organizational leadership program course at a Midwest university in the USA. The students analyzed Lady Gaga’s life and leadership through the lens of the five practices model. Findings Assessment results and student feedback indicate that using Lady Gaga’s life as an example helped students grasp the five practices model. Originality/value While Lady Gaga has been the subject of numerous scholarly works, her leadership style has received little academic attention. To the best of my knowledge, this article is the first to explicitly connect Lady Gaga’s life and leadership with the five practices model.