One of the dominant themes in the management literature today involves the role of leadership in assuring organizational effectiveness. While less significant in the sociological literature on organizations, the literature on organizational psychology,

One of the dominant themes in the management literature today involves the role of leadership in assuring organizational effectiveness. While less significant in the sociological literature on organizations, the literature on organizational psychology, management, and particularly the popular literature, has elevated the leader/manager into one of the prime determinants of organizational success. This is no less true in the world of public science than in the world of commercial business. Given the pace of change in science these days, creating and maintaining effective organizational and management systems, motivated and creative staff, and strategically focused research is particularly important. Leadership in scientific organizations requires a challenging combination of technical, organizational, and political knowledge, managerial competence, political savvy, organizational vision, and communication and human relations skills. The organizational literature can help public science managers structure their thinking about the attributes of effective leadership in public science organizations, learn from the experiences of others who have held positions of leadership, and understand the strategies organizations have used to develop and capitalize on effective leaders.