Leadership is in the midst of a profound transition, in part due to technology; the Internet and social networking have attracted a young audience, the millennials (people born after 1982) that embraces an interconnected world and wants to make a difference in their communities. With this increased interest in volunteering and community service, colleges and universities are redefining leadership education and developing curricula around the millennials’ approach to civic engagement. Moving away from the top-down notion of leadership, From Command to Community: A New Approach to Leadership Education in Colleges in Universities considers young people as leaders in the communities where they volunteer, work, and are educated.

In this collection of innovative and diverse essays, editors Nicholas V. Longo and Cynthia M. Gibson present a new definition of leadership education. “There’s a new wave of leadership that emphasizes collaboration and horizontal arrangements in which everyone is a leader, rather than part of a hierarchy,” says Gibson. “Leadership education has traditionally focused on the individual and “moving up the ladder” to power and influence. Today, leadership is less about the position and more about the ability to be collaborative, community/globally-focused, transparent, competent,
and results-oriented.”

Higher education needs to address the idea of leadership education through civic engagement. The essays collected here advance a view of leadership that is less about command and more about community. Some schools are already integrating civic engagement into their curriculum: The Hart Leadership Program at Duke University stresses an “adaptive leadership” framework that views leadership as a collective and emphasizes public problem-solving work and “leadership for public life.” The Center for Leadership and Civic Engagement at Spelman College offers young women an intergenerational mentoring program based on the experiences of African American women leaders. U-Mass-Amherst’s Citizens Scholar program’s service-learning courses focus on community service, civic leadership, and social change. Interactivity, collaboration, and experiential learning are the forces behind youth leadership education. Higher education institutions must extend the ethos of youth leadership across disciplines and departments. “The days of the “superhero” saving us are gone,” says Longo. “We all have a stake in the game, with leadership becoming a collective endeavor.”

“These teachers and authors are helping students capture profoundly personal and practical lessons for diagnosing and mobilizing collective action to meet the complex challenges facing nearly every community around the world.” —Ronald Heifetz,Founding Director, Center for Public Leadership, Harvard Kennedy School

NICHOLAS V. LONGO is director of global studies and associate professor of public and community service studies at Providence
College.

CYNTHIA M. GIBSON is senior vice president at The Philanthropic Initiative, a Boston-based philanthropic advisory firm.

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From Command to Community
A New Approach to Leadership Education in Colleges and Universities

“From Command to Community develops a powerful challenge to dominant top down models of leadership as superhero and service provider, and the passive citizen roles of customer and client which
accompany them.”
—Harry C. Boyte, Co-director, Center for Democracy and Citizenship

“This volume makes a valuable contribution in re-conceptualizing leadership education as a democratic endeavor, more civic than professional.”
—David Mathews, President, Kettering Foundation

“All faculty and administrators who care about our democracy and its functioning should pay close attention to the wise answers that can be learned from every page in this wonderful volume.”
—Thomas Ehrlich, President Emeritus, Indiana University


Contributors to From Command to Community

Paul Light, NYU, professor at New York University’s Wagner School of Public Service, calls for a new appreciation of public service as integral to leadership in the 21st century by higher education institutions.

Carol Bellamy, Adam Weinberg & Rebecca Hovey, from World Learning, an international study-abroad program, argue that leadership education in the 21st century cannot ignore the global risks, opportunities, and realities of an interconnected world and must provide the knowledge and vision necessary to resolve critical issues the global community will face.

Decker Ngongang, formerly deputy director of Mobilize.org, a national organization supporting Millennials’ civic and political leadership, argues that community colleges are fertile ground for developing young people’s community leadership but are often overlooked in efforts to advance new models of leadership education.

Alma Blount, director, Hart Leadership Program, Duke University describes how Duke has been at the forefront of melding leadership and civic engagement in programs that emphasize public problem-solving work and “leadership for public life.”

Edward Zlotkowski, national service-learning expert, makes the case for the essential role of student leadership in the future of service-learning by challenging the “still prevalent stereotype of youth civic indifference.”

Ira Harkavy, associate vice president and founding director of the Netter Center for Community Partnerships, and Matt Hartley, associate professor of education, both from the University of Pennsylvania argue that democratic, problem-solving service-learning focused on concrete problems occurring in communities, especially those where universities are located, are promising ways to develop civic leadership and realizing the democratic purpose of higher education—a purpose they trace back to the institutions’ beginnings.

Kathy Kretman, director, Georgetown University’s Center for Public and Nonprofit Leadership, provides “real-life” lessons for developing robust curricula and programs that make leadership learning for public purpose a central part of the mainstream, secondary educational experience.

Stephen Smith, former student leader of Harvard University’s living wage campaign, reflects on his experiences as a community organizer and offers tough, but honest, advice to colleges and universities for educating a new generation for effective leadership.