How do seemingly ordinary people become the kind of leaders who have a meaningful and often lasting impact on the lives of those in need? Frank LaFasto, Ph.D., and Carl Larson, Ph.D., studied 31 humanitarian leaders from a range of nations, cultures, and generations and discovered that they followed a very similar path. The authors share their insights and the stories of these remarkable people in a new book, "The Humanitarian Leader in Each of Us: 7 Choices That Shape a Socially Responsible Life" (SAGE Publications).
Based on their five years of research, LaFasto and Larson trace a path of seven pivotal choices. The path begins internally and reaches outward. It starts with leveraging one's own life experiences to connect deeply and personally with a need in society and culminates in leading the way for others by creating energy and passion for a worthwhile cause. The authors also identified such choices as experiencing a sense of fairness, believing we can matter, having a predisposition to respond, and persevering as key to becoming the kind of leader who takes charge of making a positive difference in the lives of others.
"The leaders we interviewed all began with self-awareness," said LaFasto. "They made self-awareness the starting point for being attuned to the needs of others. Then their openness to an opportunity to help was the pivotal choice that turned this awareness into action."
The authors also discovered that one key choice is counterintuitive. Although people are often told to think big, the leaders in this study began their efforts by taking small steps, often without a clear sense of where those steps would lead. "Leadership tends to have a 'larger than life,' high-profile image," said LaFasto. "But that isn't the only form of leadership. We found in our research that humanitarian leadership often begins in relatively lonely moments, with small acts of great courage."
In this important book, LaFasto and Larson expand the domain of leadership beyond positions of authority or the boundaries of organizations. They make a persuasive case that anyone with the motivation, energy, and perseverance can take charge of making a difference in society. "Leadership isn't just the province of CEO's, politicians, and athletes," LaFasto said. "Humanitarian leadership is within the reach of any compassionate citizen." What's more, he noted, "We found, as have other researchers, that those who help others in a meaningful way enrich their own lives as well."
LaFasto added that being a corporate leader doesn't preclude also being a humanitarian leader; in fact, he said, the two are highly compatible in today's interdependent world. "If you can smoothly combine leading a good organization with a concern for society, you are probably a better leader and more likely running a better organization. Corporate leaders who use their business skills for the good of society can have an exponential impact."
Among the 31 people LaFasto and Larson studied were: Susie Scott Krabacher, a former Playboy centerfold who has devoted her life to helping women and children in the desperate slums of Haiti; Ryan Hreljac, who at age 6 launched an organization to build wells in countries where water is scarce; Larry Bradley, a U.S. Army major in Iraq who mobilized an international effort to save the life of one local boy; Bill Sergeant, who led Rotary International's campaign to eradicate polio from the face of the earth; and Inderjit Khurana, a teacher in India who founded a string of train platform schools to educate impoverished street children.
Frank LaFasto and Carl Larson co-authored two other best-selling books: "TeamWork: What Must Go Right/What Can Go Wrong" (SAGE, 1989) and "When Teams Work Best: 6,000 Team Members and Leaders Tell What It Takes to Succeed" (SAGE, 2001). LaFasto has had a long career in corporate America and Larson in academia. Both authors now consult extensively with public and private sector organizations and with nonprofit groups.
More information about "The Humanitarian Leader in Each of Us: 7 Choices That Shape a Socially Responsible Life," including how to request a review copy, can be found here: http://www.sagepub.com/books/Book236889?siteId=sage-us&prodTypes=any&q=Lafasto .
SAGE is a leading international publisher of journals, books, and electronic media for academic, educational, and professional markets. Since 1965, SAGE has helped inform and educate a global community of scholars, practitioners, researchers, and students spanning a wide range of subject areas including business, humanities, social sciences, and science, technology, and medicine. An independent company, SAGE has principal offices in Los Angeles, London, New Delhi, Singapore and Washington DC. http://www.sagepublications.com