Jeffrey D. Zacko-Smith
Jeffrey David Zacko-Smith, M.P.A., Ed.D. is Faculty in Organizational Leadership and in Public Management at Colorado State University's Global Campus, and adjunct faculty in Strategic Leadership at Black Hills State University (South Dakota). He is a former Assistant Professor of Leadership and Creative Studies at the State University of New York (SUNY) College at Buffalo, and Coordinator of the Undergraduate Leadership Minor Program. He holds a BA in Industrial Psychology from Penn State University (1990), a Master of Public Administration (M.P.A.) Degree and a Doctorate (Ed.D.) from Seattle University (2004 & 2008, respectively). He is also a grant writer and project manager. Jeffrey’s research and interests are focused primarily on leadership and leadership development; he is particularly interested in authentic leadership, transcendent leadership, creative leadership, and leadership for diversity.
Jeffrey is currently working as a trainer and speaker with the National Coalition Building Institute (NCBI), an international organization that promotes diversity leadership and assists in building community using an effective and inclusive model.
Additionally, Jeffrey has expertise in Social Constructionism (as an epistemology and basis for research), the power of language/semantics, issues of social justice, diversity and multiculturalism, particularly as related to the social construction of identity (including gender and sexuality), and how we use common discourse to create various social realities.
Jeffrey has presented his work on leadership, diversity, the social construction of leadership and on Creative Leadership at numerous national and international conferences, has published in various peer-reviewed journals (2007, 2009, 2010, and 2013), published book chapters (2012 and 2013) and 2 books (2009 and 2015), along with an encyclopedia entry (2012), and is a member of the International Leadership Association (ILA) and other organizations
He is also the founder of Flat Tire Editing, a web-based service that is equipped to edit various kinds of projects from academic papers, dissertations and journal articles to resumes/CV's, student papers and grant proposals.
Jeffrey welcomes correspondence, questions and invitations for collaboration at: jzackosmith@gmail.com.
Supervisors: Dr. John Jacob Zucker-Gardiner
Address: Raleigh-Durham, NC
Jeffrey is currently working as a trainer and speaker with the National Coalition Building Institute (NCBI), an international organization that promotes diversity leadership and assists in building community using an effective and inclusive model.
Additionally, Jeffrey has expertise in Social Constructionism (as an epistemology and basis for research), the power of language/semantics, issues of social justice, diversity and multiculturalism, particularly as related to the social construction of identity (including gender and sexuality), and how we use common discourse to create various social realities.
Jeffrey has presented his work on leadership, diversity, the social construction of leadership and on Creative Leadership at numerous national and international conferences, has published in various peer-reviewed journals (2007, 2009, 2010, and 2013), published book chapters (2012 and 2013) and 2 books (2009 and 2015), along with an encyclopedia entry (2012), and is a member of the International Leadership Association (ILA) and other organizations
He is also the founder of Flat Tire Editing, a web-based service that is equipped to edit various kinds of projects from academic papers, dissertations and journal articles to resumes/CV's, student papers and grant proposals.
Jeffrey welcomes correspondence, questions and invitations for collaboration at: jzackosmith@gmail.com.
Supervisors: Dr. John Jacob Zucker-Gardiner
Address: Raleigh-Durham, NC
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appropriate for certain circumstances, but may be less relevant today because it implies hierarchy, connotes exclusivity, and ignores the necessity of flexibility. This research challenges conventional leadership metaphors, reframes the construct of “leader” as available to everyone, and allows us to re-shape our individual and collective leadership stories.
Rationale for Knowledge Base Evolution
In the year 2009, we are still “trying to force facts into separated pigeonholes,” as described by the famous American biologist Alfred Kinsey in the quote above. Though more than sixty years have passed since Kinsey published this work, when sex and sexuality were even more taboo subjects than they are today, there is still a great deal to be done when it comes to redefining sexuality, sexual orientation and gender in our postmodern world. In many ways, not only racially, but also economically, religiously, politically and sexually, our society is more segregated than at any other time in human history (Kozol, 2007). Over and above the moral implications that arise from this understanding, people are increasingly interacting with one another, and, quite often, then witnessing the friction that occurs when form (the interaction) does not match function (the desired outcome or outcomes).
As educators and, in fact, simply as human beings, all of us are being called to operate in what can only be described as “hyper-diverse” environments (Zacko-Smith, 2007); we are connected to other cultures, ideas, beliefs, values and practices in unprecedented ways and with never before seen speed, and the relational complexity created by these connections multiplies rapidly, blurring boundaries, contravening established frameworks, and creating confusion and misunderstanding. Are educators prepared to embrace the new ways that people are relating to each other, and are they prepared to deal effectively with the issues that arise from a necessary and life-enriching “full embrace” of diversity?
In order to teach effectively in hyper-diverse contexts, if effective teaching is considered to be the creation of knowledge, the transmission of ideas and the “growing” of human beings intellectually, morally and socially, educators at all levels, but particularly those who are new to the field, must be well-versed in multiculturalism and diversity. They must also be unafraid to immerse themselves in the world as it concurrently unfolds and evolves around them. Educators must also accept their role as mentors who help to define reality for those they are educating, and they must commit to redefining that reality as dictated by demands for social justice and equity. To ignore these continually emerging requirements means that educators and mentors will quickly become outdated and ineffective at best, and damaging and socially unjust at worst, neither of which are acceptable outcomes for those who are truly committed to the profession . . .
A two-part research question guided this study: (1) to what extent and (2) in what way(s) were individual graduate business and public administration students’ perceptions of leaders and leadership altered (along a “flexible/inflexible” continuum) by the intentional use of the metaphor “leader as social construction” in focused group discussions?
Investigative methodologies were primarily qualitative and based upon the interaction between Q-Methodology and focus groups; since meaning is generated socially and subjectivity is valued, the aim was to explain individual perception change using interactional techniques. Written interviews added depth to the findings.
The results of the study show that although perceptions were mixed (i.e., they were flexible and inflexible both before and after the focus group intervention), exposure to the “leader as social construction” metaphor increased flexible leadership understandings among a majority of the participants. These findings serve as a catalyst for future research.
appropriate for certain circumstances, but may be less relevant today because it implies hierarchy, connotes exclusivity, and ignores the necessity of flexibility. This research challenges conventional leadership metaphors, reframes the construct of “leader” as available to everyone, and allows us to re-shape our individual and collective leadership stories.
Rationale for Knowledge Base Evolution
In the year 2009, we are still “trying to force facts into separated pigeonholes,” as described by the famous American biologist Alfred Kinsey in the quote above. Though more than sixty years have passed since Kinsey published this work, when sex and sexuality were even more taboo subjects than they are today, there is still a great deal to be done when it comes to redefining sexuality, sexual orientation and gender in our postmodern world. In many ways, not only racially, but also economically, religiously, politically and sexually, our society is more segregated than at any other time in human history (Kozol, 2007). Over and above the moral implications that arise from this understanding, people are increasingly interacting with one another, and, quite often, then witnessing the friction that occurs when form (the interaction) does not match function (the desired outcome or outcomes).
As educators and, in fact, simply as human beings, all of us are being called to operate in what can only be described as “hyper-diverse” environments (Zacko-Smith, 2007); we are connected to other cultures, ideas, beliefs, values and practices in unprecedented ways and with never before seen speed, and the relational complexity created by these connections multiplies rapidly, blurring boundaries, contravening established frameworks, and creating confusion and misunderstanding. Are educators prepared to embrace the new ways that people are relating to each other, and are they prepared to deal effectively with the issues that arise from a necessary and life-enriching “full embrace” of diversity?
In order to teach effectively in hyper-diverse contexts, if effective teaching is considered to be the creation of knowledge, the transmission of ideas and the “growing” of human beings intellectually, morally and socially, educators at all levels, but particularly those who are new to the field, must be well-versed in multiculturalism and diversity. They must also be unafraid to immerse themselves in the world as it concurrently unfolds and evolves around them. Educators must also accept their role as mentors who help to define reality for those they are educating, and they must commit to redefining that reality as dictated by demands for social justice and equity. To ignore these continually emerging requirements means that educators and mentors will quickly become outdated and ineffective at best, and damaging and socially unjust at worst, neither of which are acceptable outcomes for those who are truly committed to the profession . . .
A two-part research question guided this study: (1) to what extent and (2) in what way(s) were individual graduate business and public administration students’ perceptions of leaders and leadership altered (along a “flexible/inflexible” continuum) by the intentional use of the metaphor “leader as social construction” in focused group discussions?
Investigative methodologies were primarily qualitative and based upon the interaction between Q-Methodology and focus groups; since meaning is generated socially and subjectivity is valued, the aim was to explain individual perception change using interactional techniques. Written interviews added depth to the findings.
The results of the study show that although perceptions were mixed (i.e., they were flexible and inflexible both before and after the focus group intervention), exposure to the “leader as social construction” metaphor increased flexible leadership understandings among a majority of the participants. These findings serve as a catalyst for future research.