Surabhi Lal is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Public Service at NYU's Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. She is in the business of creating a better future of work—whether it be remote, hybrid, or in-person. A boundary spanning leader, she is a facilitator, professor, and storyteller who creates spaces where people feel seen and builds workplace communities where people want to go to work. Using empathy and strategy she guides leaders in creating cultures grounded in inclusion, belonging, and learning. She gets great joy from making the unwritten rules of job searching and work to be more explicit to create greater transparency and equity. Throughout her career, she has coached thousands of job seekers (including many Wagner students and alumni), entrepreneurs, and organizations to help them create a better future of work.
She is pursuing a PhD in Leadership and Change where she is researching models of leadership that center work communities in belonging, learning, and performance. Surabhi brings her passion for a better future of work to her portfolio as a Senior Advisor at Jobs for the Future (JFF), social impact consulting through SL Collaborative Ventures LLC, the creator of SIPS & Leadership, and CliftonStrengths Coach. She is a board member at Manhattan Country School, Luminary, Share and Care (India), and Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work. She holds a Master of Education from The University of Vermont, and bachelor degrees from Virginia Tech in Agricultural Economics and Liberal Studies.
Open only to students in the MSPP program. This course provides MS in Public Policy students with an overview of contemporary public management. We review important management and leadership concepts that are required to approach public management. The course will focus on specific problems that leaders may face and tools that you can use. A major objective of the course is to develop skills in critical analysis necessary for practice.
Management and Leadership is designed to empower you with the skills you will need to make meaningful change in the world—whether you care about bike lanes, criminal justice, prenatal care, community development, urban planning, social investment, or something else. Whatever your passion, you can have an impact by leading and managing. In this course, you will enhance the technical, interpersonal, conceptual, and political skills needed to run effective and efficient organizations embedded in diverse communities, policy arenas, sectors, and industries. In class, we will engage in a collective analysis of specific problems that leaders and managers face—first, diagnosing them and then, identifying solutions—to explore how organizations can meet and exceed their performance objectives. As part of that process, you will encounter a variety of practical and essential topics and tools, including mission, strategy, goals, structure, teams, diversity and inclusion, motivation, and negotiation.
Open only to students in the MSPP program. The title of this course is meant to evoke a double meaning. First, the “practice” of work refers to the idea that it is important to practice something, to rehearse, to try things out. Being an intern* in an organization is a required element of this course. And while interns can accomplish a great deal and deliver a lot of value to their organization, they are also understood to be learning, to be practicing. But a “practice” can also mean a craft or a skill, something one works hard at in order to become expert and polished. We are using the word practice in that way as well, in becoming skillful at individual, interpersonal and organizational effectiveness.
In this course, you will be doing a lot of practicing or experimenting. You will be conducting a “personal experiment” that allows you to explore and sharpen your skills interacting with others. You will also be gaining experience with managing a project appropriate for your current level of work experience. And you will conduct an analysis of the organization in which you are interning. So you will be practicing at three different levels. The class will also ask you to think about how those levels interact and influence each other.
*Minimum of 15 hours per week
Open only to students in the MSPP program. The title of this course is meant to evoke a double meaning. First, the “practice” of work refers to the idea that it is important to practice something, to rehearse, to try things out. Being an intern* in an organization is a required element of this course. And while interns can accomplish a great deal and deliver a lot of value to their organization, they are also understood to be learning, to be practicing. But a “practice” can also mean a craft or a skill, something one works hard at in order to become expert and polished. We are using the word practice in that way as well, in becoming skillful at individual, interpersonal and organizational effectiveness.
In this course, you will be doing a lot of practicing or experimenting. You will be conducting a “personal experiment” that allows you to explore and sharpen your skills interacting with others. You will also be gaining experience with managing a project appropriate for your current level of work experience. And you will conduct an analysis of the organization in which you are interning. So you will be practicing at three different levels. The class will also ask you to think about how those levels interact and influence each other.
*Minimum of 15 hours per week
Management and Leadership is designed to empower you with the skills you will need to make meaningful change in the world—whether you care about bike lanes, criminal justice, prenatal care, community development, urban planning, social investment, or something else. Whatever your passion, you can have an impact by leading and managing. In this course, you will enhance the technical, interpersonal, conceptual, and political skills needed to run effective and efficient organizations embedded in diverse communities, policy arenas, sectors, and industries. In class, we will engage in a collective analysis of specific problems that leaders and managers face—first, diagnosing them and then, identifying solutions—to explore how organizations can meet and exceed their performance objectives. As part of that process, you will encounter a variety of practical and essential topics and tools, including mission, strategy, goals, structure, teams, diversity and inclusion, motivation, and negotiation.
Open only to students in the MSPP program. This course provides MS in Public Policy students with an overview of contemporary public management. We review important management and leadership concepts that are required to approach public management. The course will focus on specific problems that leaders may face and tools that you can use. A major objective of the course is to develop skills in critical analysis necessary for practice.