In the pursuit of leadership, technical expertise is often not enough. Assertiveness is often just as important. According to recent research, debate training may be the key to cultivating that skill.
A study published in the Journal of Applied Psychology offers rare empirical evidence that learning to debate can significantly boost the odds of advancing into leadership roles. Conducted by researchers from MIT Sloan School of Management, the University of Maryland, and Washington University in St. Louis, the study examined how structured debate practice affects leadership emergence—and why it works.
“Debate training can promote leadership emergence and advancement by fostering individuals’ assertiveness, which is a key, valued leadership characteristic in US organizations,” said Jackson Lu, associate professor at MIT Sloan and one of the paper’s co-authors, in a press release.
While most leadership development programs are built on intuition, the researchers note that few are grounded in causal evidence. “Leadership development is a multi-billion-dollar industry,” Lu added. “But the public doesn’t actually know what would be effective, because there hasn’t been a lot of causal evidence. That’s exactly what we provide.”
Debate training for leadership: two experiments, one clear outcome
In one field experiment, 471 employees at a Fortune 100 company were randomly assigned to either a nine-week debate training program or no training. Eighteen months later, those who completed the debate program were about 12 percentage points more likely to have stepped into leadership roles—a result the researchers link directly to increased assertiveness.
A second, lab-based experiment with 975 university participants confirmed the finding in a more controlled setting. Those who received debate training emerged as group leaders more often than peers who received no training or unrelated alternative training. Again, assertiveness served as the key link.
“The inclusion of a non-debate training condition allowed us to causally claim that debate training, rather than just any training, improved assertiveness and increased leadership emergence,” said co-author Lu Doris Zhang, a doctoral student at MIT Sloan.
Debate training for leadership builds a specific kind of assertiveness
The authors are quick to clarify that assertiveness should not be confused with aggression. “To speak up in meetings or classrooms, people don’t need to be aggressive jerks,” said Lu. “You can ask questions politely, yet still effectively express opinions. Of course, that’s different from not saying anything at all.”
Their definition of assertiveness aligns with the American Psychological Association’s: “an adaptive style of communication in which individuals express their feelings and needs directly, while maintaining respect for others.”
In competitive or visibility-driven environments—like many laboratory or research settings—the ability to express a clear, confident point of view can shape perceptions of leadership potential. As Zhang put it: “Whether it is cutting filler or mastering pacing, knowing how to assert our opinions helps us sound more leader-like.”
What debate training for leadership doesn’t do—and why that matters
One of the most encouraging findings is that the benefits of debate training for leadership are not limited by gender, ethnicity, or nationality. That could make it a useful—and equitable—tool for labs and organizations looking to strengthen their leadership pipelines.
But the researchers caution against placing the entire burden of leadership development on the individual. “We emphasize that the onus of breaking leadership barriers should not fall on individuals themselves,” said Lu. “Organizations should also recognize and appreciate different communication and leadership styles in the workplace.”
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He also drew a key distinction between being selected as a leader and being effective in the role. “It’s possible that people who are better listeners, who are more cooperative and humbler, should also be selected for leadership positions because they are more effective leaders,” Lu said. “Our paper looks at leadership emergence.”
As lab managers consider how to foster strong teams and identify future leaders within them, this research offers a reminder that soft skills, particularly those developed through structured communication training, may be just as powerful as scientific credentials.
