This webinar was held on October 23, 2025.
Whether you are a leadership judge, court executive or part of the court’s leadership team, you’re in for a whole new set of challenges when working with other leaders inside the court, justice system or public and private sectors. Think of the qualities that have brought you to a leadership role: your vision, confidence, experience, expertise, and support of influential allies. Now remind yourself that others, some of whom look up to you, are themselves leaders and possess these same qualities.
Unless you are a total megalomaniac, it is likely you readily or grudgingly recognize that many others in your high-talent, professionally-dominated world have strong reputations as smart, accomplished, capable people. Their contributions as top performers are vital to the success of the judicial system, but the likelihood of friction is also high if relationships are not handled carefully. So, the ultimate question posed in this online seminar is: How does one skillfully and diplomatically lead other leaders?
Jeswald W. Salacuse, former Dean of Tufts University’s Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, in his seminal book, Leading Leaders: How to Manage Smart, Talented, Rich, and Powerful People, offers insightful, common sense advice based on his wide-ranging consulting and teaching experiences. The principles he outlines and seven leadership tasks he unveils, we submit, are instructive for leaders in the loosely coupled, highly autonomous world of courts.
This is a 75-minute discussion about what high-powered, talented, influential people, both inside and outside the justice system, expect of court leaders when those leaders have limited authority over the persons they are supposed to lead. This online seminar is the fourth installment in NAPCO’s series on research-based leadership advice for trial court leaders.
Facilitator
- Mary C. McQueen, President Emerita
National Center for State Courts, Williamsburg, Virginia
Panel
- Hon. Erica R. Yew, Leadership Judge
Superior Court of California in Santa Clara County (San Jose, CA) - Elizabeth Rambo, Trial Court Administrator
Circuit Court of Oregon in Lane County (Eugene, OR) - Hon. John J. Russo, NAPCO Board Chair; Former AJ/PJ, Common Pleas Court
Court of Common Pleas, Cuyahoga County, Ohio (Cleveland) - Gordon Griller, NAPCO Board Member
Former Minnesota / Arizona Trial Court Executive and NCSC Consultant
Documents
- STUDY: Courts that Succeed: Six Profiles of Successful Courts (PDF)
- Leading Leaders – Overview (PDF)
- Speaker Resumes (PDF)
- Slides (PDF)
- Flyer (PDF)