RACE ETHNICITY AND EDUCATION, 2017 VOL. 20, NO. 3, 315–331 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13613324.2016.1260233 What style of leadership is best suited to direct organizational change to fuel institutional diversity in higher education? Ryan P. Adserias, LaVar J. Charleston and Jerlando F. L. Jackson Wisconsin’s Equity and Inclusion Laboratory, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA ABSTRACT Implementing diversity agendas within decentralized, loosely coupled, and change-resistant institutions such as colleges and universities is a global challenge. A shift in the organizational climate and culture is imperative to produce the change needed in order for a diversity agenda to thrive. Higher education scholars have consistently identifed leadership styles as being among the chief contributing factors to successful institutional change, especially as it relates to diversity agenda eforts. This chapter frst reviews the literature on forms of diversity agenda, paradigms of change and leadership style and then synthesizes results from 10 cases on proven strategies and ofers implications on how diferent leadership styles can be applied to fuel institutional diversity eforts. Introduction As institutions embedded within broader society, colleges and universities are neither immune to the persistent challenges, nor to the rewards of promoting the values of social diversity, equity, and inclusion. In American higher education, the promotion of these values has not come without resistance, and institutions will continue to face signifcant internal and external challenges to the project of incorporating diversity into their organi- zational structures and cultures (Aguirre and Martinez 2006; Williams 2013). In response, scholars and practitioners alike have coalesced around the idea that higher education must undergo transformational change in order to refect shifing demographic trends, to prepare students for an increasingly globalized economy and diverse workforce, and to embody the values of social and cultural pluralism and equity (Aguirre and Martinez 2006; Chun and Evans 2009; Williams 2013). Tese values have been broadly conceived of as ‘the diversity agenda’. Tree areas of inquiry informed this study and are reviewed below. First, the relevant literature concerning the strategies guiding institutional diversity eforts, or the diversity agenda, is reviewed. Next, an overview of two paradigms of change implicated in the schol- arship concerning the diversity agenda – namely co-optative and transformative change – is presented. Finally, the topic of leadership is explored with particular attention paid to three KEYWORDS Diversity; organizational; leadership; style; higher education ARTICLE HISTORY Received 31 January 2016 Accepted 5 September 2016 © 2016 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group CONTACT LaVar J. Charleston lavar.charleston@wisc.edu