Leaders provides six in-depth studies of leaders who demonstrate a new style of leadership for the 21st century. W. Henry Lambright describes how Dr. Francis Collins is leading the Human Genome Project at the National Institutes of Health. Norma Riccucci presents a case study of how Dr. Helene Gayle led the nation's fight against HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases. Beryl Radin analyzes the leadership style of Donna Shalala at the Department of Health and Human Services. Robert B. Denhardt and Janet Vinzant Denhardt present case studies of three local government leaders who are redefining the job of the local government executives. Paul A. Teske and Mark Schneider describe how principals are changing the New York City school system. Mark Huddleston presents his conversations with the federal government's leading senior civil servants. From these case studies, Mark A. Abramson and Kevin M. Bacon describe how 21st century leaders differ from their predecessors and what organizations can do today to develop future 21st century leaders.

Innovation provides five in-depth studies on the 'state' of innovation in government today. Jonathan Walters analyzes what he has learned from studying winners of the Ford Foundation/Kennedy School Innovations in Government awards program. Sandford Borins examines the five building blocks of innovation. Janet Vinzant Denhardt and Robert Denhardt tell us how Phoenix created a culture of innovation within city government. William Eimicke studied San Diego County, California to find out how innovative programs can be implemented in a large county government. Scott Tarry presents five case studies of metropolitan airport authorities and how they attempted to foster innovation. From these case studies, Mark A. Abramson and Ian D. Littman discuss what we know about innovation and what we have learned about fostering, implementing, and replicating it. They also discuss the relationship between the innovator and innovation.