ABSTRACT
De Tocqueville's popular view that Americans have a self-interest in community well-being is supported by community surveys where citizens continually express a desire to live in communities with a real sense of identity and commitment to a larger common good. Leading at the community level requires an understanding of networks, both the different kinds of networks and the leadership practices needed to be successful in varying settings. But the principles of conciliatory practice are also applicable in more tame leadership settings. The metaphor of community as power elite assumes that power is intentionally held and controlled by key dominant interests, usually the economic elite, to permanently control its vested interests. The regime metaphor calls attention to the complex networks of civil society, business, nonprofit and more formal governmental organizations that occupy the community landscape. The relationship between formal and informal authority is more complicated with the regime metaphor of community.
