A quick word about leadership: Wise Leadership is essentially about three things. First, selecting the direction a group or community should travel. Leadership is about directionality. The leader needs to assess the terrain and avoid obstacles and be prepared to take advantage of opportunities so that those traveling have the greatest chance of reaching the selected destination. The second thing is equipping the community with the capacities to make the journey – preparing the community and building the motivation to move in that direction. The third component of wise leadership is knowing that there are certain paths a leader simply cannot travel, certain tactics (even if they might be effective) that are off limits, e.g. bullying, intimidation, fear-mongering, dishonesty, etc. The interesting thing about “leadership” is that we have been lead, in many real and metaphorical ways, to the edge of a very steep cliff and it is going to take a lot of skill, ingenuity, and cooperation to move on from here.

No surprise to see you stepping up to celebrate the young, vibrant element of the community we’re all proud to call home.

It’s an honour to be included in your first draft – I’m sure we all know dozens of other difference makers who do just as much (or more!) to fearlessly lead our city forward.

Jeff (and team @bingofuel), thanks for mentioning my bestie. Both Kari and I consider ourselves lucky to be even a tiny part of what is no doubt a formative time in Edmonton’s future.

rpj.

I know that there is a big gap between Marty’s network and the parallel network of younger leaders in Edmonton. The older generation is almost oblivious to the new generation and the way the think work and deliver. And that is a problem.

I have great faith and confidence in the leadership skills and commitment of the young people who mentor me on social media and other things. My peers are pathetically out of touch – unfortunately.

It’s definitely exciting to see where Edmonton can go with a list of known (and yet to be known) leaders. The breadth and diversity of different interests gives a sense that it’s more about the application of technology than the tools themselves!

heavens. what a source of connections you are. what a gift to the community. you are Edmonton’s spotlight – shining on all things good. thank you.

The third or possibly a concurrent option, besides waiting for them to catch up or reaching them where they are, is to help the revolution along. Collaboration, education, etc. I think you, me, and a few others have had some success with that already (MediaCamp) and I look forward to exploring that option further!

That said, some of the great work done by these young leaders is invisible to the mainstream because “traditional” media is unaware. Now you might say traditional media should get with it, and you would be right. But as Sylvia Riep says, this new technology has come at a lot of people real fast, those in mainstream newsrooms included.

Just as it may be important for these new leaders to get themselves into some boardrooms, as Chris LaBossiere suggests here — http://bit.ly/90sQ22 — it may also be important for them to get their stories in front of assigning editors who aren’t glued to Twitter. I’m not suggesting that you all get yourselves fax machines, but an email or a phone call is sometimes more effective than a Facebook group.

We’re in the middle of a revolution in communication. Some people are getting their news in new ways (ways I love and believe are better than the old ways); some people are getting their news from newspapers, TV and radio. You can wait for those people to “catch up,” or you can reach them where they are.