www.e4gr.org + May 29, 2007 + e4gr.blogspot.com

10 Key Aspects of
Leadership to End Poverty

Adapted from The Hunger Project

This fantastic piece is from our friend John Conrood at The Hunger Project. It was written specifically to describe the philosophy in training Hunger Project leaders, but is an excellent general guide for all anti-poverty leadership. This version for space and to make it more generally applicable. Please read the entire piece here (and read more about and support The Hunger Project -- it's pretty cool).

Ending hunger requires leadership - but not our grandfathers' leadership. Not hierarchy. Not giving orders. Ending hunger requires transformative leadership - leadership that is inclusive, collaborative, opens people's hearts and minds to a new possibility, and builds their confidence by producing results. Leadership must be grounded in principles of human dignity, interconnectedness, and an unyielding commitment to unleashing the creativity and responsibility of every person.

Here are 10 key aspects of leadership to end poverty:

1. Changing our own mind-set - The initial motivation for most volunteer leaders is to want to "help the poor" - a natural impulse that is unwittingly condescending. A key step in training leaders is to transform that impulse into a profound respect for the self-reliance of impoverished people. Similarly, both women and men need to examine their inherited gender attitudes. Women have needed to learn to speak out; men have needed to learn to listen to women.

2. Inclusion - Leaders must transcend barriers of caste, religion and family rivalries to ensure that the most marginalized members of the community have access to lives of dignity and self-reliance.

3. Appreciation- The best leaders deeply appreciate those with whom they work, and cultivate the skill of powerfully listening and acknowledging people - holding up the mirror so that people experience their greatness.

4. Mutual learning - Effective leaders have a profound humility. They don't have the answers or even necessarily the questions. They are on a shared journey of discovery, and are as open to being taught and transformed by those they lead as they are to contributing.

5. Courage - Even after we change our mind-set once, we wake up each morning in a culture that pulls us back. Effective leaders must have the courage to go against the cultural grain - to call on families to send girls to school, and for men to support the leadership of women.

6. Powerful distinctions - The best leaders make things clear. They develop the skill to awaken people to new possibilities by drawing powerful distinctions - between self-reliance and dependency, between equality and injustice, between how society has conditioned us and who we truly are.

7. Integrity - Effective leaders must cultivate a degree of personal integrity that includes not only honesty, but also a willingness to have one's whole life be an expression of deep human principles, and the courage to stand up against corruption and injustice.

8. Vision - Leaders bust be able to clearly see, powerfully articulate and tirelessly inspire people with a widely shared, achievable vision. Leaders take responsibility for generating inspiration from the depths of their being.

9. Commitment and discipline - Making things happen against tremendous odds requires leaders with extraordinary focus and persistence.

10. Catalytic action - Success is achieved through catalyzing the leadership and success of others. Once people are inspired to take action, it's vitally important that they succeed. With each success, confidence grows.