Rural Leaders, Be Door Openers, Not Gatekeepers

"A community is like a ship; everyone ought to be ready to take the helm."

-Henrik Ibsen, Norwegian playwright

Most people think about community leadership in the traditional sense. They see leaders as elected officials—mayors, city council, and county commissioners—or people who have had professional success—bank presidents, CEOs, and hospital administrators. These leaders are seen as being in an exclusive club that is invitation-only. Too often, this group acts as gatekeepers and decision-makers for the community.

Does this sound like your community? If so, is it working for you?

Consider a mindset shift and a different approach to community leadership.

David Mathews, former Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare and CEO of the Kettering Foundation, released a report (Leaders or Leaderfulness: Lessons From High-Achieving Communities - 2016) about leadership in thriving communities. Mathews studied leaders in two communities who looked similar on the surface but were quite different in what they achieved.

Community A had the best leaders, according to the traditional view of leadership. Its leaders were successful in business, civic-minded, and well-connected. Community B's leaders did not stand out in their professional success. However, they had many leaders (10x that of a typical community their size) in locations throughout the community, and they interacted positively with the community. Community A's leaders acted like gatekeepers, which resulted in dysfunction and relatively little development success. Community B was a high-achieving community with leaders acting as door openers (not gatekeepers) who encouraged broader participation.

Key Findings:

1.?? In high-achieving communities, the leaders' characteristics were less important than their number, location, and, most of all, how they interacted with other citizens. Don't worry about not having enough traditional leaders. Have current leaders open the leadership door for others. Look to engage a larger, more diverse group of residents to support your economic agenda.

2. Leadership is meant to be shared. A community leader is anyone who carries out any of the tasks of change in your community. Many leaders can and should be acting across the community at any given time.

3.?? For fundamental change to occur, more residents in a community must act. Large groups of people cannot sit on the sidelines. Change has to come from within. Make choices and design solutions together so people can solve problems.?

Thanks for reading!