Building Civic Leaders – Building Leadership and Creating Stronger Communities

Guests: David Chrislip & Ed O’Malley

The Kansas Leadership Center was established in 2007 to develop civic leadership across the state. Through its work, KLC aspires to transform the civic culture of Kansas. This requires developing civic leadership on a large scale. KLC now directly trains 2,000 people a year while thousands more have access to its leadership framework and curriculum. The organization’s programs operate from the premise that civic leadership must become more purposeful, provocative, and engaging to make progress on the state’s adaptive challenges. During this informative discussion, David and Ed talk about the center, its framework and the principles. Leadership is not exclusive to those with authority or expertise; anyone can exercise leadership at any time. It is an intentional activity that can be learned. Progress starts with the individual and must engage others. In this way, civic leadership becomes a means for sharing responsibility for acting together in pursuit of the common good.