|
|
|||||
|
|||||
| Path: Main Street : Resources & Library : Book Reviews : Book Review |
Collaborative Leadership:
How Citizens and Civic Leaders Can Make a Difference
by David D. Chrislip and Carl E. Larson.
182 pages. From Jossey-Bass Publishers/Prentice Hall CanadaThis book offers new perspectives that address key challenges facing communities: how to deal with complex issues, engage frustrated and angry citizens, and generate the civic will to break legislative and bureaucratic gridlock. The book proposes alternatives to traditional leadership --- ways that can help us achieve together our deepest desires for justice and community.
According to Chrislip and Larson, "Positive change can occur when people with different perspectives are organized into groups in which everyone is regarded as a peer. There must be a high level of involvement, a clear purpose, adequate resources, and the power to decide and implement."
They continue, "Leaders must be willing to promote and facilitate these new processes. The first in-depth study of what it takes to have community success, the book is written to help leaders bring together diverse community members in efforts that lead to real, measurable change. It provides advice, guidance and insight, examines the conditions that make leadership difficult, looks at the lessons of experience with collaboration in action, and provides a framework for initiating, designing, and implementing collaborative efforts".
This book illustrates how citizens from anywhere in the community can be catalysts for bringing together stakeholders from all sectors to address public concerns. To bring the point home, the authors cite a wealth of examples. They review research, present tools and concepts, and define the role of elected leadership. Collaborative Leadership successfully addresses today's complex public issues while advancing the creation of a new infrastructure to support and sustain community building.
Buy the book:
Canada: buy through Amazon.ca: CDN$42.00
International: buy through Amazon.com: US$32.00
|
|||
