ABSTRACT
Community Action leaders play a critical role in setting the direction for their agencies. This chapter presents a broad view at leadership in Community Action agencies. Community Action leaders, like the agencies they direct, do not all look alike. It discusses the major roles and responsibilities of local Community Action leaders. The chapter integrates salient points from the leadership literature with information obtained from the interviews with the local Community Action leaders. It also discusses the leaders' perceptions on how they spend the majority of their time and what areas they wish they could spend more time on. The chapter explores the leadership strengths. It provides an overview of the traits and behaviors that have been identified in the literature as being important for effective leaders. The chapter addresses the perceptions of the leaders regarding the current and desired organizational culture for their agencies, as well as possible ways for obtaining the desired culture.
