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Timothy G. Staub, Ph.D. is a 2025 graduate of the PhD Program in Leadership and Change at Antioch University.
Tim Staub at his Dissertation Defense.
From L-R: Dr. Aaron McKim, Committee Member, Dr. S. Aqeel Tirmizi, Committee Chair, Dr. Elizabeth Holloway, Committee Member
Dissertation Committee
- S. Aqeel Tirmizi, PhD, Committee Chair
- Elizabeth Holloway, PhD, Committee Member
- Aaron McKim, PhD, Committee Member
Keywords
complexity, complex adaptive systems (CAS), meta-networks (MN), adaptive polycentric meta-networks (APMN), networks, polycentric governance, climate change, collective leadership, case study
Document Type
Dissertation
Publication Date
2025
Abstract
The earth is in crisis, and without urgent, systemic, and collective global action to address the emerging threat of climate change, we will continue to see catastrophic events impacting humanity, threatening our very survival in many regions of the world. Temperatures will rise, ice shelves will melt, seas will rise, crops will fail, water scarcity from drought and new weather patterns will increase and spread, wildfires will accelerate, and food and water insecurity, violence, and the largest human migration in history will ensue. These climate crises will displace over 1.2 billion people by 2050 at a rate currently exceeding 21.5 million people per year. This mass migration will create incredible burdens on political, legal, economic, agricultural, educational, and health infrastructures in future host countries, and we are globally unprepared. Enacting solutions that will reduce harmful behaviors that cause climate change requires novel approaches that are bold and expansive. This dissertation explores the concept of meta-networks and adaptive, polycentric meta-networks as partial leadership and governance solutions to address the human impact of climate crises. The embedded, multi-level, single-case study of a large, well-established, Washington, D.C.-based climate action network in this dissertation offers important insights that may help us navigate the complex dynamics of climate change. Specifically, the findings of this dissertation research demonstrate an approach to addressing climate crises that integrates networked models of leadership-at-scale, complex adaptive systems, and polycentric governance. This dissertation is available in open access at AURA, http://aura.antioch.edu/ and Ohio Link ETD Center, https://etd.ohiolink.edu/.
Recommended Citation
Staub, T. (2025). Complexity, Polycentricity, and Climate Change: An Embedded, Multi-Level Case Study of a Climate Meta-Network. https://aura.antioch.edu/etds/1179
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Tim Staub
ORCID: #0009-0002-9726-3159
Dr. Timothy Staub is a scholar-practitioner and an experienced entrepreneurial leader in the industrial biotechnology industry, where he held senior-level executive roles with multiple startups over his 38-year career. He is skilled in strategy and commercial development and is passionate about developing and coaching high-performance teams in scaling innovative business models and technologies. He has developed and led collaborative partnerships with large, global organizations that have resulted in significant societal and stakeholder value creation.
His scholarly research explores the intersection of complex adaptive systems (CAS), polycentric governance systems, meta-governance (i.e., the governance of governance), and collective leadership in large, networked social systems. Through his empirical research and theoretical analyses, his work advances understanding of leadership in large-scale social movements and proposes a normative model of collective leadership that integrates the structure of complexity leadership with the leaderful competencies of responsible leadership and its antecedents.
While his dissertation focus was on climate change, the collective leadership-at-scale (CLAS) framework is relevant to myriad social issues that benefit from large-scale social change aligned around a shared common purpose. Dr. Staub’s scholarship addresses a critical gap in the literature of governance by proposing and empirically demonstrating the theoretical concept of meta-networks (i.e., networks of networks) and adaptive polycentric meta-networks acting as CAS to encourage emergence of social change within polycentric governance systems.
Dr. Staub’s consulting practice spans three areas: (1) leadership team assessments in for-profit and non-profit enterprises on behalf of large investors and donors; (2) development of aligned, high-performance teams in for-profit and non-profit enterprises; and (3) implementation of collective leadership-at-scale in networks and social change movements.
Dr. Staub earned a PhD in Leadership and Change from Antioch University, an MBA from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University, and a BSc in business administration (industrial management) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He completed executive development programs at Harvard Law School and Columbia University and is a graduate of the Center for Creative Leadership. Dr. Staub is a decorated U.S. Navy veteran, a Quaker, and an avowed pacifist.