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Policy leadership infiltrates the lives of citizens everywhere. Though this type of leadership is implicit and ubiquitous, a theoretically-based model specifically intended for policy leaders is not readily available in academic literature. This article serves to address this gap by proposing a conceptual model of the policy leadership framework. The model expounds upon previous literature and identifies 16 areas vital to the policy process. Implications of the model relate to equipping leadership educators in the classroom and in the community with enhanced policy leadership research and curriculum.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate final projects in a freshman leadership course (combining grounding in leadership theories with a service-learning component) to determine what students learned about leadership, themselves as developing leaders, and leading in the civic community, and how deeply they learned these concepts. Students found situational leadership theories, team leadership theories, and leadership principles (Drath, 2001) most relevant to their experiences. Personally, students learned about themselves as individuals, leaders, team members, and community members. Civically, students learned how to apply leadership theories, work in teams, and about the community as a system. In terms of depth of learning, based on Bloom’s (1956) taxonomy, students were able to identify, describe, and apply concepts and to some extent analyze and synthesize them. These findings suggest that using service learning to help students learn about both the theory and practice of leadership is a viable alternative.

Participation in a leadership-focused study-abroad program is a highly effective way to learn about leadership, based on student responses that cite powerful leadership learning experiences. To operate effectively in the expanding global arena, current and future leaders will need the ability to deal with different cultures and languages almost on a daily basis. Leaders will need to be prepared to lead in fast-changing environments that include a multiplicity of cultures and traditions and a complex labor force. While traditional approaches to leadership education will continue to provide a firm foundation for tomorrow’s leaders, new leadership approaches will be as important, if not more so, in the global world. A leadership-focused study-abroad program offers an excellent teaching technique for preparing participants in the leadership process.

This article examines the use of a book discussion as an instructional tool for developing leadership exploration competency skills in university students, as it pertains to the study of women and leadership. A book discussion centered on Sheryl Sandberg’s book Lean In washeld as a means to conceptualize discourse regarding leadership issues in the arena of women and leadership in a multidisciplinary campus wide symposium. In an effort to assess the effectiveness of such a program to learn about leadership issues, student commentary was collected during the discussion via an audio recordingdevice.

A qualitative exploration of the resulting commentary focused on this initiative as an effort to provide insight into the efficacy of book discussions as a best practice for facilitating the engagement of students in the exploration of leadership issues. As leadership educators seek to develop pedagogical tools that catalyze transformative learning, research regarding tools and methods by which faculty equip students to explore leadership becomes increasingly critical.

One of the major foci of universities in relation to the educational missions is to promote the growth and development of students as leaders. This article discusses the role of academic advising as a strategic partner with classroom and extracurricular leadership development programs. To that end, this article reviews the roles of academic advising in higher education and discusses the viability of expanding these roles to include the role of advisor as leadership educator. In so doing, I provide a review of the literature related to student leadership development, discuss the similarity in advising outcomes and leadership development outcomes, and examine how the roles of academic advisors in higher education relate to leadership development as well as how advisors can become intentional leadership educators.

Over a period of three years (2006-2008) students entering [university] were asked to complete the Student Leadership Practices Inventory (S-LPI), and 2,855 initial responses were received. Responding students were asked to complete the S-LPI again at the end of their first and third years of study. No significant differences were found in student use of the leadership practices based on age, geographic origin, or whether the student lived on or off campus during his or her first year. Significant differences were found based on students’ gender and program of study. Implications for leadership development programming are considered.

The study explored the experiences of undergraduate students during a semester-long, leadership development internship course offered at a large research university in the southern United States. The researchers employed qualitative content analysis to examine sixty-five student internship portfolios and identify the leadership capabilities that students applied and/or developed as part of the internship. Students identified self-awareness, growth, project planning, team management, and adversity management as the main leadership capabilities used during their internship experience. Results also indicated that students expanded their concept of leadership and built leadership self-efficacy. The study provides preliminary support for including a leadership internship within the curriculum to support student leadership development.

If your community is looking for more committed and competent leaders, what type of educational intervention will get the best results? U-Lead, the University of Minnesota Extension’s community leadership program, engages with organizations and communities to strengthen leadership. As the educational provider of U-Lead, Extension has a responsibility to provide quality programs as well as honor time and resource constraints. The primary question of this study is: what impact, if any, does the program duration have on participant outcomes? Key Observations include (a) the longest duration programs consistently had the most improvements in skills and knowledge, (b) after completing programs, more people are committing to leadership positions. This does not appear to correlate to program duration, (c) using evaluation data for modifying programs and starting additional programs leads to more significant participant change, and (d) community leadership theory and measurement can lead to better programs with greater results.

Effective leaders are decision makers, strategic planners, calculated risk-takers, and highly skilled negotiators. Interestingly, the critical skill of negotiating is not one that most women naturally demonstrate. Because the majority of women in the workplace do not negotiate, they often do not advance as quickly as they should, nor do their salaries increase as rapidly as those of their male counterparts. In this article, the authors will talk about some of the “secrets of negotiating success” that have been used for decades by those who have reached the top of their career ladders. These “secrets” include three critical attitudes and 15 strategies that may help to position women for success in the bargaining arena. In addition, the authors challenge leadership educators to develop experiences, courses, and modules for women to enhance their negotiating skills.

The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to examine how college students define the concept of leadership and to identify gender, racial, and age differences within these definitions. Participants were 1100 undergraduate students drawn from a national sample. Participants were asked to detail their definitions of leadership, which were analyzed using thematic content analysis. The definitional themes served as dependent variables in determining differences by gender, race, and age. Ten leadership themes describing the relationship between the leader and followers, leader characteristics, and leadership outcomes were identified, and the frequency of themes reflected fairly hierarchical perceptions of leadership. Findings by gender, race, and age emerged for nine of the ten themes. More contemporary understandings of leadership were demonstrated by women than by men, and the interaction of gender and age for three themes suggested more contemporary understandings of leadership for traditionally-aged students than non-traditionally aged students.