Reading List: Transformative Leadership

(Photo by iStock/Orbon Alija)

To make progress on complex societal challenges, we need good leadership. But to develop innovative solutions—and to implement these solutions at the scale of the problems—we also need to reimagine what good leadership means. Over the last two decades, Stanford Social Innovation Review has approached the topic of leadership from both angles: leadership is essential to transforming the systems that give rise to and reproduce social problems, but we also need to transform “leadership” as a practice in order to do so.
—Johanna Mair, SSIR’s academic editor, from the introduction to Essentials of Social Innovation: Transforming Leadership

When compiling our new eBook, Essentials of Social Innovation: Transforming Leadership, we had to make some hard choices about what we could include, and we had to leave out some of the most compelling, innovative, and productive articles we’ve published over the years. (If you haven’t seen our new eBook, we hope you’ll take a look!)

To fill in that gap, we’ve put together a reading list of some of our favorite SSIR
articles from over the years, on where leadership has been and where it’s going, all across the social sector: from a practice centered on heroic, charismatic individual leaders to something more communal, collaborative, and cross-sectoral.

We invite you to lead with us.

Going beyond the top-down hero narrative of leadership that centers individualism over solidarity and maintains an oppressive status quo about who has voice and who has power, this article series brings together voices from philanthropy, Indigenous, rural, community-based, and network-led leadership efforts, to explore both why it is important and how it is possible to broaden notions and practices of leadership beyond the dominant narrative and support leadership in all its forms.

Three types of leadership are needed to build a successful organization.

3. Ethics and Nonprofits by Deborah L. Rhode and Amanda K. Packel

Unethical behavior remains a persistent problem in nonprofits and for-profits alike. To help organizations solve that problem, the authors examine the factors that influence moral conduct, the ethical issues that arise specifically in charitable organizations, and the best ways to promote ethical behavior within organizations.

Leaders of color who succeed white founders face a unique set of challenges and bring new benefits, particularly in a time of widespread cultural and social crises.

What looks like racial progress at many nonprofits can set up leaders of color to fail.

Micromanaging, rubber stamp, and Balkanized nonprofit boards of directors are more common than not, and turning them into high-functioning governing bodies requires being on the alert for six warning signs.

Nonprofits have a duty to apply risk management principles—a look at when organizations should adopt a risk management program and how they can begin.

How to successfully hand off your organization to the next generation.

Why strategic networking matters, and three ways to encourage new managers and other emerging leaders to do it.

Management wisdom says that nonprofits must be large and in charge to do the most good. But some of the world’s most successful organizations instead stay small, sharing their load with like-minded, long-term partners. The success of these networked nonprofits suggests that organizations should focus less on growing themselves and more on cultivating their networks.

Why leadership development takes courage but is the best investment a nonprofit can make.

One of the biggest challenges facing nonprofits today is their dearth of strong leaders—a problem that is only going to get worse as the sector expands and baby boom executives retire.

Succession planning is the No. 1 organizational concern of US nonprofits, but they are failing to develop their most promising pool of talent: homegrown leaders.

Network entrepreneurs are ensuring that systems-level, collaborative efforts not only succeed but thrive.

Read more stories by SSIR Editors.