What We Do

We view public leadership as the opportunity to motivate and mobilize collaborative action across differences for a common good, particularly to address important and unresolved social and environmental challenges for current and future generations.  

By principled, we refer to public leadership that reflects and is guided by core humanistic values: integrity, empathy, compassion, and respect for universal human dignity. We believe principled public leadership demands humility and curiosity about differing perspectives, and a willingness to sacrifice to advance the common good, promote equal opportunity, and protect the interests of current and future generations.  

By effective, we mean principled public leaders who stimulate progress toward meaningful and lasting change in existing economic, social, political, or environmental conditions in ways that benefit the common good whether through thought leadership, innovative experimentation, or the reform of societal and governmental institutions. 

We support research and writing that illuminates core competencies of public leadership, removes the barriers, and opens paths to leadership, and advances the pedagogy and praxis of leadership development.  

We support programming and teaching tools for public leadership development, particularly through reflective, interactive, and experiential methods on campus and in the field. 

We provide opportunities for continuous learning among those aspiring to teach and practice public leadership, including through the promotion of peer and cross-generational learning, mentorship and role modeling, capacity building, communities of practice, and the explicit structuring of conversations that bridge and integrate differing perspectives.