Leonard Marcus

Director, Lecturer on Public Health Practice at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

Schools

  • Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
  • The National Preparedness Leadership Initiative

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Biography

Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

Dr. Marcus is founding Director of the Program for Health Care Negotiation and Conflict Resolution at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Dr. Marcus’ research, scholarship and applied practice examine the advancement of health care and public health negotiation, conflict resolution and leader development.

Dr. Marcus is lead author of Renegotiating Health Care: Resolving Conflict to Build Collaboration (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1995 and in its Second Edition, 2011). The book was selected as co-recipient of the Center for Public Resources Institute for Dispute Resolution 1995 “Book Prize Award for Excellence in Alternative Dispute Resolution.” It also won the Book of the Year award from the Journal of the American Nursing Association. Lenny is co-author of Mediating Bioethical Disputes: A Practical Guide (New York: United Hospital Fund, 1994).

Dr. Marcus is also lead author of the forthcoming book, You’re It: Crisis, Change, and How to Lead When It Matters Most (New York: PublicAffairs Press, June 2019). Shortly after 9/11, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention asked Lenny and the Kennedy School’s David Gergen to establish the National Preparedness Leadership Initiative (NPLI) at Harvard University. The purpose: to study critical homeland security and emergency management leadership challenges facing the country and then to develop leadership strategies, analysis and methodologies to meet new contingencies. Dr. Marcus and his co-authors are given rare access to senior national leaders during crucible times of emergency: Hurricane Katrina, Deep Water Horizon, Boston Marathon bombings, H1N1, Ebola, Hurricane Sandy and others. The book presents findings of that research along with original and innovative problem solving strategies – including Meta-Leadership, Swarm Leadership and the Walk in the Woods – adopted by government, corporate and non-profit leaders around the world.

Over his nearly twenty five years at Harvard, Dr. Marcus’s work has also focused on the implications of conflict in health settings, the uses of mediation for resolving health related disputes, as well as on the role health care leadership, negotiation and conflict resolution can play in resolving larger social conflict. He has mediated, consulted, and trained nationally and internationally, including a number of projects to facilitate the consolidation and merger of health system networks. An enthusiastic teacher, speaker and story teller, he is recipient of the 2017 Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health "Excellence in Teaching Award for Executive and Continuing Professional Education."

Lenny’s work has been extensively applied to complex organizational transformation, stakeholder negotiation and conflict resolution. His breadth of analysis and capacity to translate complex problems into workable solutions has allowed him to engage a wide range of leaders and constituencies. Among his many post-9/11 activities, he has lectured on crisis leadership for senior leaders at the White House during the Bush, Obama, and Trump administrations.

Dr. Marcus received his Ph.D. in 1983 from the Heller School at Brandeis University, studying policy and organizations.

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