Leadership Studies is a multi-disciplinary academic exploration of the various aspects of how people get along, and how together they get things done. The fields that contribute to leadership studies include history, political science, psychology, anthropology, sociology, philosophy, literature, and behavioral economics. Leadership Studies is also about the ethical dimensions of human behavior. The discipline considers what leadership has been in the past (the historical view), what leadership actually looks like in the present (principally from the perspectives of the behavioral sciences and political science), and what leadership should be (the ethical perspective). The SAGE Encyclopedia of Leadership Studies will present both key concepts and research illuminating leadership and many of the most important events in human history that reveal the nuances of leadership, good and bad. Entries will include topics such as power, charisma, identity, persuasion, personality, social intelligence, gender, justice, unconscious conceptions of leadership, leader-follower relationships, and moral transformation.
George R. (Al) Goethals, Ph.D., is E. Claiborne Robins Distinguished Professor in Leadership Studies at the University Richmond’s Jepson School of Leadership Studies. Trained as a social psychologist, Goethals has been a key figure in the development of leadership studies. In addition to publishing SAGE’s Encyclopedia of Leadership with Georgia Sorenson and James MacGregor Burns in the early 2000s, he has written, co-written, or co-edited a number of books and scholarly articles on the topic, including: The Romance of Heroes and Heroic Leadership (Emerald, 2019); Realignment, Region, and Race: Presidential Leadership and Social Identity (Emerald, 2018); Frontiers in Spiritual Leadership: Discovering the Better Angels of Our Nature (Macmillan, 2016); Presidential Leadership and African Americans: An American Dilemma from Slavery to the White House (Routledge, 2015); Conceptions of Leadership: Enduring Ideas and Emerging Insights (Macmillan, 2014); Heroes: What They Do and Why We Need Them (Oxford, 2011). Goethals was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Leadership Association in 2022.
Scott T. Allison is Professor Emeritus of Psychology at the University of Richmond where he has published many books and articles on prosocial behavior, heroism, and heroic leadership. He has co-authored articles and chapters with over 30 of his current and former students. His books include The Romance of Heroism and Heroic Leadership (Emerald, 2019), Heroic Transformation (Palsgrove, 2019), Heroism and Wellbeing in the 21st Century (Routledge, 2018), and The Handbook of Heroism and Heroic Leadership (Routledge, 2017). His work has appeared in USA Today, National Public Radio, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Slate Magazine, MSNBC, CBS, Psychology Today, The Verge, and the Christian Science Monitor. He has received Richmond′s Distinguished Educator Award and the Virginia Council of Higher Education′s Outstanding Faculty Award.
Dr. Georgia Sorenson envisioned and launched the James MacGregor Burns Academy of Leadership at the University of Maryland―the first academic program devoted to public leadership―more than twenty years ago. Currently she is Visiting Professor of Leadership Studies at the Carey School of Law at the University of Maryland..She has served as a board member of the Leadership Learning Community, the Kellogg Fellows Leadership Alliance, the Academy for Educational Development’s New Voices, the Asian Pacific American Women’s Leadership Institute, Learning to Lead, and many other leadership organizations in the United States and abroad. Sorenson is the author of several books, including Dead Center: Clinton-Gore Leadership and the Perils of Moderation with James MacGregor Burns, published in 1999 by Scribner. Sorenson is co-editor, with George R. Goethals and James MacGregor Burns, of the four-volume Encyclopedia of Leadership, published by SAGE in 2004. She has published in professional journals, such as the Harvard Educational Review, Signs, and Psychology of Women Quarterly, and is a frequent contributor and commentator on leadership and social issues in the popular media. Sorenson’s experience has led to numerous international consultancies and teaching appointments. She was adjunct professor at Ewha Womans University in Seoul, Korea, serves as professor and advisor to China’s National School of Administration, and was on the international board of the Tokyo Jogakkan College in Japan. Previously she served on the advisory board of the Thierry Graduate School of Leadership. Before launching her career in academia, Sorenson was a senior policy analyst for employment issues in the Carter White House and later worked as a consultant to the Executive Office of the President. During her White House tenure, she served on the White House Productivity Council and on Vice-President Mondale’s Youth Employment Council. She continues to be politically active and has served as a speechwriter or consultant to three presidential campaigns.
