Inter-sectoral public-private community health partnerships (herein “partnerships”) are increasingly popular in public health, linking private and public partners in communities to tackle some of the “wicked problems” in public health requiring collective efforts to solve. These partnerships however are very different from traditional hierarchical organizations. Since membership in partnerships is voluntary, and the individual members maintain their autonomy, partnership leaders lack the same formal authority they wield in traditional organizations. This paper answers the question, “What are the leadership approaches needed in public health partnerships?” Through a scholarly investigation five main themes emerged in the literature: Create an open decision-making process, balancing perceived costs and benefits, good interpersonal skills, power sharing, and keeping focus on the vision. These five themes are investigated with implications for leaders discussed.Master of Public Healt
