Social Justice Leader Case Studies Assessed Through the Lens of Connective Leadership™

Abstract

This chapter draws upon the leadership and work of two social entrepreneurs who believe that inclusion of community members in project/venture planning and design is key to accelerate equitable system change. The social justice leaders featured, through their actions in diverse, marginalized communities, will provide a model of leadership behaviors that utilize a repertoire of styles framed in the Connective Leadership Model™. They are system-changing champions driven by their social justice passion which requires that they provide leadership through planning and design processes to achieve equity in communities and influence policy. Short case studies will define the venture’s mission, processes, and social change outcomes with examples of the type of leadership necessary for building inclusive and equitable community-based initiatives. Their words and actions will illustrate how leaders can innovate to create system impacts not by a single intervention but through multilayered processes with a broad range of benefits – for infrastructure, education, social, economic, and environmental justice programs. The results described will emphasize the critical elements of process, the insight and power of community input and involvement, and the influential cross-sector shaping of programs and policy to achieve sustainable change. This chapter concludes with a more detailed description of the Connective Leadership Model™ and how the model enables a leader to “consciously and systematically utilize a variety of behaviors,” effectively reacting to the leadership needs of a particular situation as well as using the achieving style behaviors most valued for a community-based system change venture (Lipman-Blumen, 2000, pp. 113–114).

Citation

Orr, S.S. (2023), "Social Justice Leader Case Studies Assessed Through the Lens of Connective Leadership™", Barnes, J., Stevens, M.J., Ekelund, B.Z. and Perham-Lippman, K. (Ed.) Inclusive Leadership: Equity and Belonging in Our Communities (Building Leadership Bridges, Vol. 9), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 243-254. https://doi.org/10.1108/S2058-880120230000009022