Vision for Change: Reflecting On Your Leadership

From designing strategic campaigns and building lasting coalitions, to fundraising and managing staff and volunteers, executive directors are expected to have command of a wide-range of skills and demonstrate many facets of leadership.  This tool helps you assess your leadership using the findings from Vision for Change (PDF), a report based on in-depth conversations with 17 diverse younger leaders focusing on what it takes to do their jobs and what is needed to make concrete change that will support their visions and help to build a stronger progressive infrastructure for all stakeholders.

Each section of this tool highlights a set of skills or attributes that current executive directors and CEO’s have identified as important keys to success and building blocks for greater social change and impact.  These questions will help you identify areas where you are already strong and others where you have room to grow as you think about your leadership.  They should be used as a starting point and as a basis for discussion, so think of this as an opportunity for reflection rather than a formal assessment.

As is typical with many of our resources, this tool is best used as part of a discussion with friends and colleagues.  It can also be taken repeatedly over time to allow you to track your progress and change.