Leadership to Address Global Grand Challenges

Graduate School Seminar Series: Collaborative Leadership & Grand Challenges Research

Global Grand Challenges have significant consequences for the well- being of those involved. They are often novel, emergent, highly complex, and beyond the resources or knowledge of any single discipline, organization, or sector to address. Grand challenges do not lend themselves to simple technical solutions. In fact, single-sector actions to address these challenges can precipitate unanticipated and unintended consequences.

Not surprisingly, grand challenges typically manifest themselves at the convergence of systems, sectors, or global institutions. Often this intersection is also where world views, cultural traditions, and professional ideologies collide. So….how do we build leadership models that will help us navigate differences and leverage professional diversity to address grand challenges like feeding the world sustainably, or ensuring human rights, or managing global climate change?

This workshop will introduce participants to select integrative leadership strategies useful in navigating global grand challenges. Specifically, we will focus on leadership practices that foster collective action across professionally and culturally diverse groups of people, including:

1. Hosting dialogue, debate and deliberation (and knowing when each is necessary);
2. Mapping polarities and balancing paradox;
3. Designing inclusive and responsive decision-making processes.

Presenter:
Laura Bloomberg, Associate Dean, Humphrey School of Public Affairs