Joseph Gladstone

Joseph Scott Gladstone, Ph.D., MPH is an Associate Professor of Management at Washington State University’s Carson College of Business in Everett, and an International Academic with the Dilin Duwa Centre for Indigenous Business Leadership at Melbourne Business School. An enrolled member of the Blackfeet Tribe of Montana and a Nez Perce descendant, his research focuses on Native American and Indigenous Peoples’ ways of knowing, organizational sensemaking, economic development, and public health program management.

Dr. Gladstone is currently developing Transplanar Wisdom Theory (TPW), a framework that integrates Indigenous constructs of Animacy, Temporality, Place, and Community into organizational studies. TPW contributes to sensemaking theory by highlighting how Indigenous perspectives can illuminate the metaphysical and relational dimensions of uncertainty, while also advancing decision theory by reframing legitimacy through relational coherence rather than classical rationality. His work demonstrates how Native worldviews offer both theoretical and practical insights into decision-making, governance, and resilience in complex systems.

With extensive experience working alongside tribal communities in public health and workforce development, Dr. Gladstone remains committed to advancing tribal sovereignty, Native-centered management theory, and inclusive business education that brings Indigenous wisdom into the classroom.