Independent policy research organizations—often called think tanks—across the Global South operate in crowded, high-stakes policy arenas where credibility is earned through usefulness, integrity, and institutional reliability. This entry reframes leadership not as personal charisma but as an organizational function: the routines, decision rights, and capabilities that convert analysis into influence while safeguarding independence over time. Drawing on scholarship on distributed leadership and evidence use and on empirical patterns from India’s social science research ecosystem, this entry clarifies key contrasts between Southern and Northern contexts and then details the architecture of credible leadership—governance and board practice, research-quality systems, knowledge management, and succession. It traces how impact is engineered through demand-aware research design, venue strategy, disciplined policy communication, and coalitions. A dedicated section examines digital transformation and responsible AI, focusing on data provenance, uncertainty disclosure, and verification practices needed in the deepfake era. The entry also treats inclusion as both ethos and capability and shows how funding leadership aligns money with mission through diversification, reserves, and transparency. It closes with a practical “leadership operating system” comprising tools for evidence logistics, integrity-and-inclusion charters, and mission-finance compacts suitable for Global South organizations.