As Peter Drucker taught, leadership is not a matter of rank, title, or position: “Its essence is performance.” With this in mind, ELGL, Claremont Graduate University’s Drucker School of Management, and Drucker Institute are offering a new Public Sector Leadership certificate program, designed for government employees from any level of the organization chart who want to improve their performance, as well as the performance of the teams on which they serve.

Rising leaders who participate will find themselves more effective in their current positions and better prepared for future and expanded leadership roles.

The Program

The Public Sector Leadership certificate program consists of seven, 3-week modules hosted on Claremont Graduate University’s Learning Management System. Each module features a live lesson, readings and videos, and a brief, implementation-focused assignment for which direct feedback will be provided.

Each module reflects core leadership themes for public sector leaders today:

Effective Leadership
Effective leadership is not a matter of cultivating certain qualities or traits; rather, effective leaders focus on their own and their team’s strengths to improve performance.

A Functioning Society
Effective public sector leaders should be working toward what Drucker called “a functioning society” that offers everyone a meaningful and useful life, a rational chance of equal opportunity, and trustworthy institutions. This module explores issues related to justice, opportunity, diversity, inclusion, and equity.

Mission and Values
Clarity on the organization’s mission, as well as the values that inform how that mission is pursued, serves as the foundation of effective leadership.

Customer Focus
Effective public sector leaders think in terms of the customer—someone who must be satisfied and who can say, “No,” to a program or service—and focus on what the customer values.

Measuring Outcomes
The only way to determine the degree to which a public sector entity is meeting its mission and providing the customers what they value is to measure the right things the right way and to use those data to improve outcomes.

Teams and Communication
Mission- and customer-centered outcomes are achieved when teams set priorities and individual team members focus on their contribution rather than their work or authority. Teams depend on embedded and trusted lines of communication and relationship.

Change Management
Change is inevitable and can only be managed, as Drucker wrote, by getting “ahead of it” using systematic practices of planned abandonment and innovation.

Meet the Instructor

Lawrence Greenspun

Director of Public Sector Engagement, Drucker Institute

Lawrence created the Drucker Playbook for the Public Sector and spearheads its marketing and delivery. He also serves as a senior advisor to the City of Lifelong Learning program. Lawrence arrived at the Institute with a background in education and community service as well as freelance writing and editing. As a teacher, Lawrence spent more than two decades in public, private, and religious school systems, serving in roles ranging from first grade teacher to principal of a Hebrew high school and junior college. More than 20 years ago, Lawrence integrated community service within the educational programs at his school, and he worked extensively with City Year and the Penn-Edison Partnership in Philadelphia. As the director of Main Line Writing & Educational Services (later La Jolla Literary Services), Lawrence assisted academics, entrepreneurs, professionals, and students with their writing and editing needs. After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania with a B.A. in religious studies, he served a stint on the Philadelphia Eagles media relations staff before embarking on his career in education. Lawrence teaches a graduate course on leadership in the University of Notre Dame’s ESTEEM Master’s program in entrepreneurship. He also serves as a Prairie Ambassador for the American Prairie Reserve, which is creating a three-million acre wildlife reserve in Montana.