This book is not about leadership, at least in the way we normally think about it. Leadership is not about position, or authority.It’s not about big speeches or grand visions. Leadership is engaging others to solve daunting challenges. Those challenges appear in our professional lives, in our communities, our families—and they seem unsolvable, beyond our ability to see what needs to be done or outside our capacity to make the changes needed. They are not. Because, leadership is an activity—small actions taken in moments of opportunity. And as you start to look around, you can begin to see more of those moments, seize the opportunity in those moments. Most importantly, you can help others see those opportunities too. That’s why everyone can lead and the real power to solve our most important challenges is when everyone leads.

Este libro no trata sobre liderazgo (al menos en la forma en que normalmente lo pensamos). El liderazgo no tiene que ver con un puesto o con la autoridad. No se trata de grandes discursos o grandes visiones. El liderazgo es involucrar a otros para resolver desafíos difíciles. Esos desafíos aparecen en nuestras vidas profesionales, en nuestras comunidades, en nuestras familias y parecen no tener solución, más allá de nuestra capacidad de ver lo que hay que hacer o fuera de nuestra capacidad para hacer los cambios necesarios. No lo son. Porque, el liderazgo es una actividad, pequeñas intervenciones en momentos de oportunidad. A medida que usted comienza a observar a su alrededor, comenzará a ver más de esos momentos y a aprovechar la oportunidad durante esos momentos. Lo más importante es que también podrá ayudar a otros a ver esas oportunidades. Por eso decimos que todos pueden liderar y el verdadero poder para resolver nuestros desafíos más importantes es cuando todos lideran.

In For the Common Good authors David D. Chrislip and Ed O’Malley share their belief that civic leadership needs to become more purposeful, provocative and engaging in order to cope with today’s civic challenges. They use the real-life dilemmas of five leaders to bring these ideas to life. For the Common Good has been honored with a 2014 Next Generation Indie Book Award and has been named a finalist for the Foreword Reviews book of the year award in social science.