Leadership Stories

Stories show an idea in action. The following stories of real social justice advocates show what becomes possible in working with the Leadership Taxonomy, in living from an awareness of its complement of roles, or in learning about a movement's dynamics by analyzing leadership through the lens of its categories.

Read more about the ways leadership comes to life.

Billie Kaufman, formerly of C.H.A.N.C.E.S. for Indiana Youth, used the Leadership Taxonomy to strengthen her team's appreciation of themselves and one another, to heal an old conflict, and to spur reallocation of roles within her coalition.

“After being introduced to the Taxonomy, I shared it with my coalition at our very next coalition meeting. We didn't discuss out loud together what roles various members of the coalition might be playing on our team, but I did say, 'think what kinds of leadership we have here, and think what kind of leadership you bring.' I also pointed out, we have lots of leadership here - and even though there may be people who don't think the same way that you do, we need the different kinds of leaders, and the different strengths that they bring to the table.

This was an important discussion for us to have - because immediately prior to this, we had had a little bit of conflict in our coalition, personality-wise, that really stemmed from people not understanding just where others were coming from. The Taxonomy allowed for a neutral way, without even referring to the previous conflict, to reframe it - to suggest indirectly that perhaps it had stemmed from different styles, but that the differences weren't bad, and were in fact useful, even essential to us.

In fact, the introduction of the Taxonomy was a kind of “first wave” in what turned out to be a restructuring process for the coalition. We started thinking, this has been working, but now we can see some different ways that we want it to work. We shifted some of my previous responsibilities and distributed them among other members of the coalition, and the coalition president began to conduct the meetings. So we had some other people step into different kinds of leadership roles, after this discussion about leadership and the different ways it looks in a team.”

The Leadership Taxonomy came from observing real groups of leaders in action. Awardees from our Leadership for a Changing World program show the different faces of leadership rising up to meet a community's need. The lessons learned from their stories are practical and real. The face of leadership you recognize here may be your own.

Leadership Insights from Leadership for a Changing World Awardees

In the words of Susan Berresford, President of the Ford Foundation, “leadership abounds.” As a partner in the Leadership for a Changing World program, the Advocacy and Leadership Center helps to recognize some of the resourceful social justice leaders who are bringing about positive change in virtually every community. Leadership for a Changing World awardees demonstrate that leaders are not mystical figures, but citizens like many others who rise up in answer to a community's need. They could be your neighbor. They could be you.

These leaders embody different categories in the Leadership Taxonomy. From their own distinctive leadership perspectives they speak the lessons of social justice leadership that they've learned and are living by, in their own words. For more of their insights on a wide variety of subjects, you can access our archive of Leadership Talks. To learn more about these leaders and the contexts from which their leadership arose, you can read our collection of Leadership Profiles.

We know that there are hundreds of leadership stories out there. We'd love to hear yours. We invite you to share your own leadership insights and experiences with us .

Richard Townsell, Lawndale Christian Devlopment Corp., Chicago, IL - 2003 awardee

Eddie Bautista, New York Lawyers for the Public Interest, New York, NY - 2003 awardee

Lily Yeh, Village of Arts & Humanities, Philadelphia, PA - 2003 awardee

Terrol Dew Johnson and Tristan Reader, Tohono O'odham Community Action, Sells, AZ - 2002 awardees

Dianne Bady and Janet Fout, Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, Huntington, WV - 2001 awardees

Richard Townsell

Executive Director, Lawnsdale Christian Development Corp., Chicago, IL Richard Townsell came home to live out his faith; he stayed to rebuild his neighborhood's homes and offer hope to the young. Read the full Leadership Profile .

Generalist and Movement Builder - in his own words: “In addition, you have to find talent that's different than you are and with different skills. Some people surround themselves with others just like them and good leaders surround themselves with people that disagree with them and they're comfortable with that. I mean, they disagree with them from time to time, but they're comfortable enough with who they are that they can surround themselves with people who don't have hero worship for them. They've got to spend time, a lot of time, doing what we call relational meetings, one-on-ones, face-to-face, building relationships on the inside and outside of their community. There's not a lot of that kind of work going on. People tend to stick with building their institution, but they don't build the relationships they need outside of their institution.

Leadership development is about creating space and tension so that people, particularly young leaders, can champion their own ideas and dreams. That tension can lead to trust. One of my heroes in Brooklyn, New York, is a pastor by the name of Reverend Johnny Ray Youngblood, and one of his sayings is that “straight talk leads to straight understanding.” And so I take that to say that everyone has an agenda. We need to figure out whether it's a selfish agenda or an enlightened agenda. And so I believe the job of leaders is to push to figure that question out. And once that stuff's on the table and we know what our agendas are, we have some trust that we can build on. And as we successfully win some victories together it builds more trust. And so I push a lot of my staff to get clear on why they do what they do and other local residents as well.”

Read the full Leadership Talk.

Eddie Bautista

Director of Community Planning, New York Lawyers for the Public Interest, New York, NY As a boy, Eddie Bautista witnessed the near-destruction of his boyhood neighborhood of Red Hook; as an adult, he organized residents to rebuild it and other New York communities.

Read the full Leadership Profile

Movement Builder - in his own words: “The philosophy behind our “community lawyering” model is that lawyers don't empower communities - communities empower themselves. We believe that every community has power, whether latent or overt - a community's quest for empowerment is a quest on how to “mine” and apply that power.

I have deep ambivalence about my identification as a “leader.” By virtue of who and what I am, where I've come from, what I've survived, what I've done and continue to do daily, I reluctantly have to accept that I'm a leader after a fashion. Leadership comes in many forms and can be exercised in a variety of ways. To the degree that I help create space and systems for leaders to come together and synergistically wield their power, it's a form of leadership that embraces collectivity and the notion that a rising tide lifts all boats, and that kind of turns me on. The key to leadership in all its varieties is allowing for space for other leaders to emerge, develop, and exercise leadership while understanding in some ways that true leadership implies not really followers, but allies working together for a common goal and cause.”

Read the full Leadership Talk.

Lily Yeh

Founder and Executive Director, The Village of Arts and Humanities, Philadelphia, PA Lily Yeh uses the arts and the art of leadership to help people transform their communities.

Read the full Leadership Profile.

Visionary - in her own words: “I followed my creative impulse in doing this project. Through this project I created a new sense of space where all people who are interested can join me and can create something new for the future. I think that is the beginning of creating a community, a new kind of community where people can give what they can, share their dreams, and come back when they want to again. And so this leaves a lot of openness.

And the other thing is that I think if we keep thinking of problems, wanting to solve problems, then when we come together we already put community in the deficit realm and we already put ourselves in a more superior situation as problem solvers. That would be very hard for a community to open up for people coming in with that kind of attitude. So when I came into the situation I had very little skill. I did not know how to do social justice. I was not a leader. I didn't know how to build the park, but I had inspiration and I wanted to realize that. So I went in and I needed people to help me, and so people come together, bring in their creativity, their sense of joy, and their strength and we became a really wonderful team. So in a way we need to connect directly with another person's humanity, cutting through race, gender, class, and ethnicity. We all are human and beloved by God and there is that sacred flame of creativity and imagination in each one of us. I went in to connect to that sacred flame in another person and we become a bigger flame.

My leadership style is inclusive, participatory, and collaborative. My method centers on creative exploration and team building, which nurtures people's creative energy and brings a great deal of joy to the work environment. I provide vision and a sense of purpose to projects that benefit all participants. The process of doing the project is also about discovering new way of thinking, problem solving, resource finding, and building deeper and more meaningful human connections.”

Read the full Leadership Talk.

Terrol Dew Johnson and Tristan Reader

Co-Directors, Tohono O'odham Community Action, Sells, AZ Terrol Dew Johnson and Tristan Reader develop new ways to enhance traditional Tohono O'odham tribal values and health.

Read the full Leadership Profile.

Cultural Activist and Strategist - in their own words:

Terrol Dew Johnson “We try to practice a “leadership” style that is consistent with the O'odham Himdag - the Desert People's Way. We seek to walk with the community as it seeks out its own gifts and strengths. Rather than “leading” in a conventional way, we have spent countless hours listening to our community - everyone from children to elders - in an attempt to draw upon community assets to develop effective, culturally-based responses to communal problems.”

Tristan Reader “This does not mean that we are passive in the process; rather, we work to synthesize what we hear from the community into clear strategies, which stimulate cultural revitalization and sustainable community development. We strive to use our unique skills and perspectives as tools and resources for the hundreds of community members who participate in our various efforts. Our goal - both as individuals and as a leadership team - is to create more than a vital and sustainable organization; our goal is the creation of a vital and sustainable Tohono O'odham community.”

Read the full Leadership Talk.

Dianne Bady and Janet Fout

Director and Project Coordinator, Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, Huntington, WV Women fight mountaintop removal in Appalachia.

Read the full Leadership Profile.

Movement Builders and Strategists - in their own words: “Our basic style of leadership is to provide the spaces for concerned people to get together, share their anger, and work through the darkness to come up with plans. Often this means dealing with chaos. Everybody may have a different idea. Six people may talk at once. Some may disagree with others. But if we keep talking through the chaos, treating each other with care and respect, sooner or later a plan emerges.

And when a plan emerges, people rise to take responsibility for carrying out specific parts of the plan. Those who rise up to take leadership roles are not necessarily the people we'd normally think of as leaders.

We bring people together to make plans. For example, over the past few years, we've organized three weekend-long strategy meetings. The plans that emerged from these meetings were not necessarily things that we would have predicted. And at times our planned agenda broke down completely. Although this style of operating can seem confusing and chaotic, our experience is that by the end of a long meeting things somehow pull together. Sometimes magical things happen. We see shy, unlikely people speaking with an eloquence that makes our skin tingle, or successfully taking on a leadership role that seems beyond their past experiences. And often, we somehow attract just the right people and resources, just when we need them.”

Read the full Leadership Talk .

The Advocacy Institute's Mike Pertschuk, one of the developers of the Leadership Taxonomy, illustrates the roles and the ways they work together using examples from the leadership of the U.S. tobacco control movement.

See the leadership roles come alive