Preston, Joanne C.: Integrating Disciplines, Expanding Paradigms

Motivated by her father at an early age to be her best, Joanne C. Preston has emerged on the forefront as a scholar-practitioner in her quest to “make the workplace healthier.” Building on her Russian, French, and German language skills and her solid foundation in developmental psychology, she has pushed the boundaries of traditional organization development and change (ODC). Preston has taken the best of family therapy practice and applied its interventions to small business and workplace problems, producing results sufficiently substantial to catch the attention of international business owners. Her interventions in large systems change and her astute ability to create superordinate goals were instrumental in South Africa’s transformation from apartheid and in Poland’s change from communism to a free market society. Her work with governmental leaders has improved Kenya’s educational system. On the home front, Preston has introduced an international dimension to ODC education. She has cut across the typical discipline boundaries of psychology, business, and education and, by using technology, she has created new models of education for graduate students, linking global teams in workplace settings. Similarly, she has been influential in the creation of new types of business and professional network organizations. Preston has the rare gift of blending theory into practice on six continents, affecting academic audiences, businesses, nonprofit organizations, and governments.