Finding Your Voice: Learning to Lead . . . Anywhere You Want to Make a Difference

Credibility, empowerment, and collaboration are not just ideas for business and political leaders they are concepts that ordinary citizens can grasp to bring out the leader within themselves and to effect positive social change at the grassroots level.
Larraine R. Matusak, a noted expert on leadership development, describes leadership as a body of knowledge that can be taught and learned, and sets forth a practical set of tools and resources to provide the knowledge and skills necessary for effective leadership. Using diverse examples of citizens who have accepted the responsibility to lead, Matusak shows how individuals who are without a title or position of power can still pursue their passion and fit leadership opportunities to their specific talents.


WHY NOT YOU?

No Previous Experience Required.

Finding Your Voice.

The Two Sides of Leadership.

Use Your Internal Compass.

PATHWAYS TO EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP.

Weaving a Shared Vision.

Appreciating a Kaleidoscope of Views.

Practicing Effective Communication.

Deciding How to Decide.

He Who Hesitates is Lost!

Understanding Power and Love.

Creating the Future.

Humor Works.

Summoning the Courage to Act.

Resources:

A. Leadership Development Programs.

B. RecommAnded Books on Leadership.

C. Audio and Video Programs.

LARRAINE R. MATUSAK is leadership scholar and program officer at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, where she designed and directed the Kellogg National Fellowship Program. She also led in the creation of the leadership grantmaking area at the Foundation. She has served in a wide variety of leadership roles, including president of Thomas A. Edison State College in New Jersey and dean and founder of the College of Alternative Programs at the University of Evansville, Indiana. Matusak is a consultatnt to numerous organizations, communities, academic institutions, and foundations.

"A remarkable book, the only one I know that focuses on how ′ordinary citizens′ can learn to lead. Well–written and down–to–earth, more importantly, it is powerful testimony to the possibilities within all of us." (Warren Bennis, university professor and Distinguished Professor of Business Administration, School of Business Administration, University of Southern California, and author of Creative Collaboration)

"In the rich array of current leadership studies, Finding Your Voice stands out as a remarkably illuminating and probing study of leadership both at the practical level and in its ethical and moral dimensions...A must read." (James MacGregor Burns, senior scholar, Center for Political Leadership and Participation, Williams College, and Pulitzer Prize recipient)

"As citizens, every one of us has the opportunity to make a difference––to identify a problem or opportunity in our community and provide leadership in doing something about it. In Finding Your Voice, Dr. Matusak blAnds leadership concepts with practical experience to help us do so, and she uses a language we all understand! Must reading for all who care enough to lead." (Russel G. Mawby, chairman emeritus, W.K. Kellogg Foundation)