Jera E Niewoehner-Green, DaNel Hogan, Alexandria Sedar
{"title":"Building Leadership Capacity Through Systems Thinking: Principles and Habits for Educators.","authors":"Jera E Niewoehner-Green, DaNel Hogan, Alexandria Sedar","doi":"10.1002/yd.70020","DOIUrl":"10.1002/yd.70020","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This article explores the concept of systems thinking as a crucial skill for leadership students navigating a complex, interconnected world. We assert that incorporating systems thinking into leadership education can help individuals better understand the structure, interrelationships, and dynamics of various systems. The article outlines key systems thinking language, principles, and skills that support systems literacy, then illustrates their application through the presentation of three case studies: Jacinda Ardern's leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Darryll Pines's approach to engineering education, and Patagonia's sustainable business model. The article concludes by discussing how systems language and tools can be integrated into diverse learning environments and noting considerations for educators as they introduce systems thinking into their work.</p>","PeriodicalId":37658,"journal":{"name":"New directions for student leadership","volume":" ","pages":"29-37"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12826125/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145745003","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Visualizing Complex Problems in Leadership Education: A System Dynamics Perspective.","authors":"Catlin M Goodwin, Tiffany A Marzolino","doi":"10.1002/yd.70019","DOIUrl":"10.1002/yd.70019","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>As the challenges addressed in leadership education become increasingly complex, it is essential to develop and employ new skills and tools which help individuals and groups make sense of the complexity. In this paper, we introduce system dynamics as a lens for leadership education stakeholders to understand and navigate complex problems and systems. Then, we demonstrate two practical entry points into system dynamics practice. Through thick description and an example case study, we conclude by describing how to use and facilitate rich pictures and causal loop diagrams to make sense of complex problems.</p>","PeriodicalId":37658,"journal":{"name":"New directions for student leadership","volume":" ","pages":"39-47"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12826128/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145701833","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Harnessing the Potential of Systems Approach: Deploying Classroom as Organization in Leadership Education.","authors":"Jeff Bourgeois, Sara Zare","doi":"10.1002/yd.70024","DOIUrl":"10.1002/yd.70024","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Classroom as Organization (CAO) is an experiential methodology that recognizes the class as a system, enabling students to engage with content while practicing leadership behaviors and strategies. CAO builds leadership capabilities through which students engage in a complex systems approach as they address leadership issues in a real-world context. This article provides an overview of CAO in leadership education as it aligns with a systems approach in its delivery and content. The authors will provide examples of different CAO structures and purposes in their own leadership classrooms to illustrate the pedagogical method in real life contexts. Finally, the authors will present a list of considerations for leadership educators who are new to using CAO in the leadership education classroom.</p>","PeriodicalId":37658,"journal":{"name":"New directions for student leadership","volume":" ","pages":"57-64"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145701831","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Leadership Learning for Systems Thinking and Practice.","authors":"Kerry L Priest, Haley Traini, Jason Headrick","doi":"10.1002/yd.70017","DOIUrl":"10.1002/yd.70017","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":37658,"journal":{"name":"New directions for student leadership","volume":" ","pages":"5-7"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145670175","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Leading Academic Innovation With Integrity: A Case Study in Using Systems Thinking.","authors":"Michael C Gleason, Abbylynn Helgevold","doi":"10.1002/yd.70029","DOIUrl":"10.1002/yd.70029","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Leaders in higher education must meaningfully interpret and respond to information from a complex external environment as they plan for the future of their institutions. Importantly, this information must be explored alongside internal considerations of institutional integrity if institutions are to avoid compromising important values and social goods. This paper describes how systems leadership informed a framework for institutional innovation that guides navigation of tensions inherent in balancing external market opportunities and institutional integrity. Framing the work in this way has allowed organizational leaders to better identify impediments to innovation, develop strategies to empower innovative thinking across institutional silos for greater agility and responsiveness to emergent opportunities, and critically evaluate innovative opportunities.</p>","PeriodicalId":37658,"journal":{"name":"New directions for student leadership","volume":" ","pages":"89-96"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145655962","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Linking Systems Thinking and Adaptive Leadership Behaviors: Insights Into Developing Systems Leadership Capacity in College Students.","authors":"Keyhan Shams, Mac Benavides, Kerry L Priest","doi":"10.1002/yd.70026","DOIUrl":"10.1002/yd.70026","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This article aims to offer educational insights that could help cultivate systems thinking and adaptive leadership behavior (ALB) among college students. We conceptually connect three frames of systems thinking and levels of cognitive complexity with ALBs measured by the ALB scale. We share insights from a preliminary study of college students' self-ratings of ALB and offer learning activities designed to develop capacity for systems leadership in college-level leadership learners.</p>","PeriodicalId":37658,"journal":{"name":"New directions for student leadership","volume":" ","pages":"75-80"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145655902","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Collective Leadership for Systems Change: Developing a Climate Change Network in Ghana.","authors":"Shaibu Fuseini, Olalekan Sipasi, Kerry L Priest","doi":"10.1002/yd.70027","DOIUrl":"10.1002/yd.70027","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This case study describes a leadership development intervention for climate change leaders in Ghana. We conceptualize the development of systems leadership capacity through collective and adaptive leadership frameworks and discuss how principles of permaculture provide valuable insights and practices that foster both technical and adaptive approaches to sustainable climate change. Our case illustrates the intentional use of training as a scaffold toward developing a climate change leadership network. We provide a practical model for educators and practitioners working to empower local leaders to take meaningful action on climate or other sustainable development issues.</p>","PeriodicalId":37658,"journal":{"name":"New directions for student leadership","volume":" ","pages":"107-113"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145655938","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Leadership System Mapping: A Process Approach to Teaching Leadership in Small Groups.","authors":"Brandon W Kliewer","doi":"10.1002/yd.70018","DOIUrl":"10.1002/yd.70018","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Leadership in Complex Adaptive Systems (CAS) calls upon leadership developers to reconsider assumptions about leadership learning. Leadership in CAS requires leadership developers to reconsider the relationship between leadership learning and practice. This article outlines a teaching method of leadership system mapping, relevant concepts, and specific techniques to use leadership system mapping to increase capacity for leadership in CAS. Practitioners will also get a better understanding of how Leadership Studies at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville is combining Leadership System Mapping teaching methods with a dynamic leadership assessment platform designed to give students and instructors closer to real-time data on leadership identity, efficacy, and capacity. Readers will consider actionable steps to teach leadership in small groups in civic or work-based leadership learning contexts characterized by CAS.</p>","PeriodicalId":37658,"journal":{"name":"New directions for student leadership","volume":" ","pages":"49-56"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145662212","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Rian Satterwhite, Kate Sheridan, Whitney McIntyre Miller
{"title":"Systems Thinking and the Inner Development Goals.","authors":"Rian Satterwhite, Kate Sheridan, Whitney McIntyre Miller","doi":"10.1002/yd.70021","DOIUrl":"10.1002/yd.70021","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>In an increasingly complex and interconnected world, it is critical to understand the tangled and interdependent nature of our current challenges, work collectively to envision just and equitable shared futures, and evolve leadership education to embrace and effectively address these challenges. In this article, we discuss the concepts of sustainability, systems thinking, and the Inner Development Goals within the context of leadership education and present ways of aligning the practices of each to lead change. Using cases from business and leadership development, this article offers suggestions for how we can focus on the individual and collective work needed to bring about lasting, sustainable change.</p>","PeriodicalId":37658,"journal":{"name":"New directions for student leadership","volume":" ","pages":"19-28"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145991020","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Inquiry and Action: Developing Patterns of Resilience in Leadership Education Through Human Systems Dynamics.","authors":"Royce Holladay, Kerry L Priest","doi":"10.1002/yd.70022","DOIUrl":"10.1002/yd.70022","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>In today's complex and interconnected world, leadership demands new ways of seeing and acting that go beyond traditional models of control and prediction. This paper introduces Human Systems Dynamics (HSD) as both a framework and a toolkit for understanding and leading in complex systems by noticing patterns, fostering inquiry, and taking meaningful action. We explore how HSD builds adaptive capacity and resilience in individuals and systems, offering practical tools that can immediately help leadership educators and practitioners to act with greater clarity and confidence when facing complexity.</p>","PeriodicalId":37658,"journal":{"name":"New directions for student leadership","volume":" ","pages":"9-17"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145655967","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}