Reimagining Leadership for Society's Greatest Challenges

Many of the leaders responsible for addressing society's most urgent problems share a common credential: a degree from a business school.

They are trained to manage organizations, allocate resources, evaluate markets and drive performance. Yet few receive formal education in the social dynamics, behavioral systems and complex human realities that define challenges such as homelessness, climate change, mental health, educational inequity, incarceration or social isolation.

As a result, many social-sector leaders find themselves confronting problems for which traditional management education offers limited preparation.

Recognizing this gap, the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work set out to create something entirely new:: a doctoral program designed specifically for leaders working at the intersection of management, leadership and social change.

To help bring that vision to life, USC partnered with GREEN::HOUSE.

Together, we helped design, develop and launch what became the nation's first Doctorate in Management, Leadership and Social Innovation—a groundbreaking professional degree intended to prepare leaders not merely to manage organizations, but to address the complex systems and social challenges shaping the future of society.

The program was built on a simple but transformative premise::

Social challenges require a distinct form of leadership.

One that blends strategic thinking with systems awareness. Organizational management with social understanding. Innovation with human insight.

Working alongside USC faculty and administrators, GREEN::HOUSE helped shape the intellectual architecture of the program, drawing upon decades of research and practice in social innovation, social norms and systems change.

The resulting curriculum integrates disciplines that rarely exist within a single educational framework, including social innovation, public discourse, social-sector finance, leadership, program design and evaluation, systems thinking and organizational transformation.

At the center of the program is a commitment to action.

Rather than studying social challenges as abstract concepts, doctoral candidates are required to engage directly with one of society's Grand Challenges—from the human consequences of climate change and poverty to stigma, health disparities and social exclusion—developing practical approaches capable of generating measurable impact.

The engagement extended beyond program design.

Serving as USC's first Innovator-in-Residence, GREEN::HOUSE founder Howell J. Malham Jr. worked alongside faculty and colleagues to develop curriculum, educational content, case studies and learning tools that continue to support students throughout the program.

Among the most significant contributions was the development of what became the first casebook created specifically for social innovation practitioners.

Borrowing from the educational traditions that have shaped generations of lawyers, physicians and business leaders, the casebook applies the case method to social change. Yet it introduces a critical distinction.

Unlike traditional business or legal cases, these are not closed problems with known outcomes.

They are open questions.

Living challenges confronting communities, institutions and leaders in real time.

Grounded in GREEN::HOUSE's social norms framework, the casebook explores a diverse range of issues, including mental health, childhood obesity, homelessness, foster care, disaster preparedness, sexual assault, decarceration, refugees, animal welfare, social isolation and access to justice.

The goal is not simply to teach students how others solved problems.

It is to help them develop the capacity to ask better questions, understand underlying social dynamics and design solutions for challenges that remain unresolved.

For GREEN::HOUSE, the project represented an opportunity to advance a larger belief::

If we want different outcomes from our institutions, communities and systems, we must prepare leaders differently.

The Doctorate in Management, Leadership and Social Innovation stands as an example of what becomes possible when education moves beyond teaching people how to manage organizations and begins teaching them how to transform society. ::