Lindsey N. Godwin, PhD, is Professor of Organizational Behavior at the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University. A Weatherhead alumna, she returned to Case Western Reserve in 2026 after more than 15 years at Champlain College, where she served as the Robert P. Stiller Endowed Chair of Management in the Stiller School of Business and founding Academic Director of the David L. Cooperrider Center for Appreciative Inquiry.
Godwin’s work focuses on leadership, Appreciative Inquiry, and strengths-based approaches to organization development and change. She is especially interested in what becomes possible when people and organizations stop focusing only on what is broken and begin building on what is already working.
An award-winning educator and scholar-practitioner, Godwin has spent more than two decades helping leaders and organizations around the world navigate change and build on their strengths. Her work has included collaborations with organizations such as the United Nations, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, Ben & Jerry’s, The Hershey Company, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, and Dealer Tire. Her scholarship spans Appreciative Inquiry, positive organization development, leadership, ethical decision-making, and organizational flourishing, and has appeared across academic and practitioner outlets. She is co-author with David Cooperrider of the award-winning Our Earthshot Moment: Net-Positive OD for the Creation of a World of Full-Spectrum Flourishing, which has been recognized as one of the most impactful articles in the organization development field.
In addition to her traditional academic scholarship, Godwin is committed to translating research and ideas into accessible, practical forms for audiences of all kinds. She writes the Possibilitizing column for Psychology Today and is co-author of Ditch the Ditty: Doing What Matters Instead of Doing It All, which was a #1 New Release in Women’s Studies on Amazon. She is also the author of two children’s books designed to cultivate curiosity and question-asking from an early age.
Across all of her work, Godwin is driven by a simple question: What becomes possible when we lead with curiosity, strengths, and a belief in what people and organizations can become?
Education
Teaching Information
Teaching Interests
- Appreciative Inquiry and strengths-based change
- Leadership and leadership development
- Responsible Leadership & Social Impact
- Organization development and change
- Positive organizational scholarship
- Creativity and innovation
Research Information
Research Interests
- Appreciative Inquiry & strengths-based change
- Organization development and transformation
- Net-positive leadership
- Human and organizational flourishing
- Ethical leadership and social impact
Publications
- Cooperrider, D., & Godwin, L. (2026). Appreciative Inquiry and the new positive organization development: A call to full-spectrum flourishing. In K. Cameron & G. Spreitzer (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of positive organizational scholarship (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press.
- Godwin, L., Stavros, J., & Cooperrider, D. (2026). Appreciative Inquiry: The design of net-positive organizations. In W. J. Rothwell, J. M. Stavros, & S. H. Cady (Eds.), Practicing organization development: A guide for leading change (5th ed.). Wiley.
- Godwin, L. What Can You Spark with a Question Mark? EdLinks Press, 2025.
- Godwin, L. How Do You Love a Question? EdLinks Press, 2023.
- Godwin, L. (2023). How will you choose to lead? Three leadership principles and practices for net-positive OD leadership. Organization Development Review, 55(3), 25–31.
- Cooperrider, D., & Godwin, L. (2023). Our Earthshot moment: Net-positive OD for the creation of a world of full-spectrum flourishing. Organization Development Review, 54(1), 29–42.
- Pavez, I., Godwin, L., & Spreitzer, G. (2021). Generative scholarship through prospective theorizing: Appreciating the roots and legacy of organization development and change to build a bright future. Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 57(4).
- Whitaker, B., Thatchenkery, T., & Godwin, L. (2020). The development and validation of the Appreciative Intelligence Scale. Human Performance, 33(2–3), 191–213.
- Sekerka, L., Godwin, L., & Comer, D. (2014). Positive organizational ethics: Cultivating and sustaining moral performance. Journal of Business Ethics, 119(4), 435–444.
- Godwin, L., McGuigan, M., & Novotny, M. Ditch the Ditty: Doing What Matters Instead of Doing It All. #1 New Release in Women’s Studies on Amazon.