By
Beverly Keel
Emerging
Concepts of Leadership
The
Self-Effacing Leader
"Our research indicates the best-performing entrepreneurial
CEOs are relatively self-effacing and humble. 'It's
the team, not me,' these talented leaders consistently
stress when talking about their success, even in
this most unlikely of worlds.
This
modest style of leadership has two major advantages-it
results in an environment that attracts and retains
the very best, and it allows employees to develop
to their ultimate potential."
-From "The Self-Effacing Leader: the Value of a
Low-key Style," on MSN Office Coach, by James M.
Citrin and Richard A. Smith, special to MSN.
Quiet
Leadership
"[Quiet leaders] think of themselves modestly; they
often don't even think of themselves as leaders.
But they are acting quietly, effectively, with political
astuteness, to basically make things somewhat better,
sometimes much better than they would otherwise
be."
-From "The Quiet Leader and How to Be One," an interview
with Joseph L. Badaracco, Jr, by Martha Lagace,
HBS Working Knowledge
, February 11, 2002
For
more information about Leadership for a Changing
World, visit
www.leadershipforchange.org
.
|
When Susan
Berresford became president of the Ford Foundation, she embarked
on a national tour to hear firsthand about our society's problems.
"One of the things she heard over and over was that we, as
a nation, lack leaders," says Laura Chambers of The Advocacy
Institute, a Washington- D.C. based nonprofit organization.
"Yet in every community she visited, she saw leadership. That
raised the question of why this leadership was not being recognized
in the community. She wondered: Was there a way to shift the
public dialogue in such a way as to break some of the common
stereotypes about what a leader is, so that we begin to recognize
that, indeed, leadership does come in many forms and abounds
in our communities?"
That
was the philosophy behind the creation of Leadership for
a Changing World (LCW), a program funded by the Ford Foundation
and implemented by The Advocacy Institute, with additional
support from New York University. LCW, now in its fourth
year, awards leaders of non-profit organizations $115,000
to further their work. It also includes them in research
projects that study leadership and how it can be encouraged
in organizations.
Honorees
meet each year to share lessons they have learned. The program
contains a communications component that works with the
media to boost the profiles of the leaders in their own
communities.
"The
program is exploring this type of community leadership because
there hasn't been a lot written about it," Chambers says.
"We're trying to figure out what sustains this type of community
leadership. What is it about the community that allows leadership
to thrive? Are there lessons to be learned that can be passed
on to others?"
The
program is unique in that it often honors teams of leaders,
as opposed to individuals, as our society is prone to do.
Over the past three years, it has recognized shared leadership
teams ranging from two to seven people, who all share one
award.
"LCW
encourages a public conversation about leadership," Chambers
says. "It's a tall order that we're looking for: to change
the public dialogue about leadership. So often, when people
are in front of reporters, the reporters will want to single
out one person to be responsible for leadership. When one
person comes forth and says, 'I have accomplished this,'
I think that, usually, credit is not being given where it
should be."
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