Grassroots Leadership

Grassroots leadership is a leadership philosophy that emphasizes individual empowerment, shared decision-making, and shared responsibility. While the concept has been utilized in several organizational environments, grassroots leadership rose to general popularity after the 2012 release of Naval Commander Michael Abrashoff’s book It’s Your Ship: Management Techniques from the Best Damn Ship in the Navy. In it, he asserted that replacing command and control with commitment and cohesion can ultimately raise morale and effectiveness. Abrashoff stressed effective listening, modeling positive behavior, and trust as characteristics of a grassroots leader. As a leadership philosophy in higher education, grassroots leadership has been used by faculty to enact change outside structures of formal power or authority. This entry explores the role of grassroots leadership in organizations and higher education ...