A Constructionist Lens on Leadership: Charting New Territory

The April, 2003 meeting of the general theory scholars included invitations to scholars utilizing action-research methodologies as well as to practitioners on the frontline of leadership development in communities. Ospina discussed the participant-centered research she and her colleagues are undertaking for the Ford Foundation's Leadership for a Changing World program and shared with the other scholars some findings emerging from this approach. Using a constructionist lens, Ospina and her colleagues are working with social change leaders to understand how leadership emerges and develops in community-based organizations engaged in social change agendas.