Civil Society Leadership as Learning

The “leader” word often brings to mind strong, decisive, visionary individuals. Yet this assumption stops many from ever thinking of themselves as leaders. This PhD thesis explores an understanding of active citizen leadership where we can all see our part in leadership as learners within a living, learning system. Leaders can be strong and vulnerable, decisive and inquiring, visionary and facilitating of shared vision. Polarities of potentially contradictory responses are identified, which are always in movement within personal, relational, structural and cultural layers of leadership. Complexity thinking supports understanding of this dynamic as a complex adaptive system. Our ability to facilitate inquiry within ourselves and with others is one of various leadership capabilities identified for working with the complexity of civil society leadership and in other complex contexts.