ABSTRACT
Where organizations, causes, and communities exist, information must be networked, a common purpose developed, strategic activities designed, sustainability addressed, continuous improvement embedded, and milestones celebrated. Along the way, community members must gauge the distance between where they are and where they want to be in order to select the most robust strategies for whatever success is deemed to be. The funds of knowledge and the talents that exist within the community need to be engaged so that the community or organization takes on a life of its own beyond individual careers and aspirations. Leadership is needed to support and facilitate engagement in moving forward, identifying outcomes, and examining the processes used to achieve outcomes (Heifi tz, 1994). In this chapter, we make a case for leadership as a cultural activity fraught with the complexities of informal and formal authority, challenged by social networks for change, and intersected by fractals of race, class, gender, and power.
