Book Buzz from The International Leadership Association 2023 Global Conference. Authors Marie Sonnet and Theresa Southam discuss their book Driving Social Innovation: How Unexpected Leadership Is Transforming Society.

How can we bring leadership and greater social justice to our communities and organizations when we live amid powerful forces beyond our control? We found a surprising and provocative answer: Look for unexpected leaders who demonstrate impactful leadership through actions they take in their own spheres, often without a formal role. This is the focus of our book, Driving Social Innovation: How Unexpected Leadership is Transforming Society. In our session, editors will discuss ideas from a collection of chapters authored by Fielding Graduate University Institute for Social Innovation Fellows. We will reward the attendee with surprise and delight about why unexpected leadership matters and where it can be found.

We will weave through the subject of leadership in varying contexts with stories about unexpected leaders, close to the experience of precarity, uncertainty, and social change, who make a way for greater social justice. We define social justice using Martha Nussbaum’s (1989) capabilities framework. Every story in the book reveals creative solutions for real people in real situations, ranging from the C-suite to the offices of doctors and women’s collectives and from foreign nations to towns, schools, and families at home. In the process, authors show that leading with self-awareness and moral action is as practical as it is urgent. According to Roxane de la Sablonnière (University of Montreal), our book is “a must-read in uncertain times.”

Join us to find and encourage unexpected leaders in our communities and to recognize that we ourselves have this critical capacity.