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Publication
Leadership and the Psychology of PowerThis chapter begins to fill in a gap in the leadership literature by looking at the psychological experience of leaders. We assume most leaders possess power over those whom they lead, and we explicate a theory of how power affects cognition and behavior. …
Publication
Advancing Relational Leadership Research: A Dialogue Among PerspectivesLeaders and followers live in a relational world-a world in which leadership occurs in complex webs of relationships and dynamically changing contexts. Despite this, our theories of leadership are grounded in assumptions of individuality and linear …
Publication
Collective dimensions of leadership: The challenges of connecting theory and methodIn this introductory article we explain the impetus for creating the Special Issue, along with its goals and the process by which we created it. We present a map of the terrain of collective leadership (CL) that builds on earlier frameworks, recognizing …
Publication
A Constructionist Lens on Leadership: Charting New TerritoryThe April, 2003 meeting of the general theory scholars included invitations to scholars utilizing action-research methodologies as well as to practitioners on the frontline of leadership development in communities. Ospina discussed the …
Publication
Social Change Leadership as Relational Leadership.Ospina, S., Foldy, E. G., El Hadidy, W., Dodge, J., Hofmann-Pinilla, A., & Su, C. …
Publication
Sensegiving and the Role of Cognitive Shifts In the Work of LeadershipSensegiving -- shaping how people understand themselves, their work, and others engaged in that work -- is critical to the work of organizational leadership. We propose the cognitive shift, a change in how an organizational audience understands an …
Faculty Profile
Unique BrathwaiteUnique Brathwaite is a nonprofit leader and educator with 25 years of experience in leadership development, change management, and fundraising strategy. She brings her extensive professional expertise into the classroom, integrating systems thinking and …
News
Scholars Gather to Explore Methodological Challenges of Collective Leadership ResearchThe Third Annual Collective Leadership Network Research Workshop took place at NYU Wagner from September 29 through October 1. It was hosted by NYU Wagner, home of the Collective Leadership Network (Co-Lead Net), which is an international network of …
News
Scholars Gather to Explore the Methodological Challenges of Collective Leadership ResearchThe Third Annual Collective Leadership Network Research Workshop took place at NYU Wagner from September 29 through October 1. It was hosted by NYU Wagner, home of the Collective Leadership Network (Co-Lead Net), which is an international network of …
News
Professor Ospina Presents Innovative Leadership Approach at International WorkshopOn June 21, Professor Sonia Ospina presented a co-authored paper at an international leadership workshop held in Barcelona. The workshop brought together international thought leaders from the public, nonprofit, and business sectors to discuss unique, …
Publication
Appreciative Narratives as Leadership Research: Matching Method to LensThis chapter explores the potential of appreciative inquiry for doing empirical work on leadership. We use a framework that matches a constructionist theoretical lens, an appreciative and participative stance, a focus on the work of leadership (as opposed …
Publication
Crisis Leadership in Barbados During the Initial Response to the COVID-19 PandemicThis study brings a small-island perspective to the broader discussion of disaster leadership by examining the crisis leadership attributes of the Prime Minister of Barbados, Mia Amor Mottley, and her Acting Prime Minister, Santia Bradshaw, during the …
Capstone Projects
The Opportunity of Transition: Executive Leadership Services as a Framework for ChangeThe Support Center for Nonprofit Management provides services designed to increase the effectiveness of nonprofit leaders, enabling nonprofit organizations to better serve their clients and communities. Among their offerings, they provide Executive …
Publication
High Performance Government: Structure, Leadership, IncentivesFixing problems in the federal government. In 2003, the National Commission on the Public Service, chaired by Paul Volcker, issued a report detailing problems within the federal government today and recommending changes in its organization, leadership, …
News
Learning Leadership in Action: NYU Wagner Students Visit City Hall for Experiential InsightUndergraduate students in NYU Wagner’s Management and Leadership (UPADM-GP 103) course recently stepped beyond the classroom walls to engage with public service in real-time through a site visit to New York City Hall. Now an annual tradition, this …
Publication
Leadership in Healthcare: Essential Values and Skills (Chapter 20: Inclusive Leadership)Carla Sampson …
Publication
Co-Producing Knowledge: Practitioners and Scholars Working Together to Understand Leadership.The Ford Foundation, the Washington D.C. based Advocacy Institute and the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service at New York University are partners in a new leadership awards program called Leadership for a Changing World (LCW). The goal of …
Stories
A Research Agenda on Collective Leadership and Social ChangeProfessor Sonia Ospina discusses her research on collective leadership, exploring the ways communities try to make social change. Watch Professor Ospina's …
News
Wagner Student Bryan Matthew Recognized for Leadership by NFBPANYU Wagner’s Bryan Matthew (MPA 2025), a current student in the MPA in Public & Nonprofit Management and Policy program has been honored as one of this year's distinguished scholarship recipients by the National Forum for Black Public Administrators …
Publication
Understanding leadership in a world of shared problems: Advancing network governance in large landscape conservationConservation of large landscapes requires three interconnected types of leadership: collaborative leadership, in which network members share leadership functions at different points in time; distributive leadership, in which network processes provide …
News
Sonia Ospina honored for scholarship on collective leadership and collaborative governanceThe International Leadership Association (ILA), a worldwide community committed to leadership scholarship, development and practice has named NYU Wagner faculty member Sonia Ospina as the recipient of its 2023 ILA Lifetime Achievement Award. The award …
Publication
Social Innovation and Democratic Leadership: Communities Making Social Change from BelowWhile liberal-representative democracies tend to conform to a consensus-based post-political paradigm where there is no space for alternatives and dissensus, new forms of democracy in practice are emerging from below. This book explores new socially …
Capstone Projects
EVALUATION OF A LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM FOR PUBLIC SERVICE PROFESSIONALSThe Milbank Memorial Fund (MMF) is an endowed foundation that works to improve population health by connecting leaders and decision makers with the best available evidence and experience. MMF’s Emerging Leaders Program (ELP), launched five years ago, …