New Public Leadership: Making a Difference from Where We Sit

Most leadership literature stems from and focuses on the private sector, emphasizing personal qualities that bind leaders and followers to a shared purpose. As the authors of New Public Leadership argue, if these shared purposes do not build trust and legitimacy in public institutions, such traditional leadership tropes fall short of the standard demanded by contemporary public servants. For twenty years the authors have been developing a leadership education and training framework specifically designed to encourage public service professionals to ‘lead from where they sit.’ This book presents that comprehensive, integrated, and practical leadership framework, grounded in the uniqueness of public legal missions, culture, history and values.

The authors explore three key elements of leadership success: 1) an understanding of our public service context, including the history, the values and the institutions that comprise our leadership setting, 2) a set of tools designed to help leaders initiate collective action in wicked challenge settings, and 3) tools to support sound judgment, enabling leaders to do the right thing in the right circumstances for the right reasons. The authors further provide readers with a basic understanding of democratic institutions, encouraging them to work within and across multiple vertical and horizontal systems of authority. The book is organized into four sections, each of which is accompanied by a Master Case that provides the reader with an opportunity to apply the principles and leadership tools discussed in the text to practice. To further reinforce the practice-centered approach to leadership knowledge and skills, the authors have developed an accompanying EMERGE Leadership Handbook, complete with exercises, available online. Written specifically with the practicing public manager in mind, this book arms public servants with a large repertoire of leadership skills, designed to accommodate changing public values and conflicting priorities at all levels of our public organizations.

Douglas F. Morgan is professor emeritus of public administration in the Hatfield School of Government at Portland State University. He has held a variety of administrative leadership positions at the University of Illinois, Springfield, Lewis and Clark College and at Portland State University where he served as Director of the Executive Leadership Institute, the Executive Master of Public Administration Program and Chair of the Public Administration Division. He has held a variety of public positions, both elected and appointed. His research interests focus on the role career public administrators play in ensuring effective and responsive systems of local democratic governance. He is coauthor New Public Governance with Brian Cook (M.E. Sharpe, 2014), of Foundations of Public Service, 2d ed. (M.E. Sharpe, 2013) and Budgeting for Local Governments and Communities (M.E. Sharpe, 2014). His work has appeared in the Handbook of Administrative Ethics, Oregon Politics and Government, The International Encyclopedia of Public Policy and Administration, Public Administration Review, Administration & Society, and Administrative Theory & Practice.

Marcus D. Ingle is professor of public administration and director of International Public Service in the Mark O. Hatfield School of Government at Portland State University. He has served as lead for the Global Leadership and Management Specialization and acting director of the Center for Public Service. He has worked in more than 80 countries in administrative leadership positions for the U.S. Agency for International Development, the World Bank Group, the University of Maryland and Booz-Allen Hamilton. His research, training, and technical assistance activities focus on complex and dynamic public challenges that can be addressed through leadership and management approaches. His co-authored articles have appeared in Public Administration and Development and The International Journal of Public Administration. He earned his B.A. in Political Science from the University of California, Riverside, his MPA from the University of Washington, and his Ph.D. in Social Science from the Maxwell School, Syracuse University.

Craig W. Shinn is emeritus professor of Public Administration. He has served as Director of the Executive Masters Degree Program, the Public Administration and Policy Doctoral Program and the Masters in Public Policy in the Hatfield School of Government at Portland State University and the program lead for natural resource and management leadership and technical assistance programs in the Hatfield School’s Center for Public Service. He served as Chair of the Public Administration Division. He earned his B.A. from the University of Maine in Forestry and Forest Management, his MPA from Lewis and Clark College and his Ph.D. in Forest Management (Sociology and Policy) from the University of Washington. He has served on numerous natural resource advisory boards and task forces for Oregon State natural resource agencies and has consulted widely at local, state, regional, national and international levels of society. His research, training, and technical assistance activities focus on "conciliatory practices" that can improve natural resource policy and administration. He is a coauthor of Foundations of Public Service, 2nd ed. (M.E. Sharpe, 2013). His articles have appeared in Administrative Theory & Praxis and The Journal of Public Affairs Education.