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Special features

Not leaders, but leadership

Andrew Milner 5 March 2024

It turned out that looking up leadership theories – and there are a number of them, one website identifies eight – was not much use in devising the introduction to this special feature. Leadership theories …


Leadership: Beyond theories of change to practices of change

Sufina Ahmad and Tendisai Chigwedere 5 March 2024

Theories of leadership are often framed by the business world in terms of individuals. We need to revise them. In fact, do we need a theory at all? 2024 is a crucial year for democracy, …


The power disruptor

Sufina Ahmad and Tendisai Chigwedere 5 March 2024 For Subscribers

Leaders and leadership styles not only set the tone for individual organisations and for the sector, they can revolutionise the very idea of what leadership should be. Saranel Benjamin and Happy Mwende Kinyili, the co-executive …

The times require new leadership

Ellen Dorsey 5 March 2024 For Subscribers

At this moment of crisis and possibility, philanthropy must change – and it will need leadership to do so We are on the cusp of one of those profound tectonic shifts in our global society and …

Guided by the feminine approach to leadership

Renata Minerbo 5 March 2024 For Subscribers

Systemic change requires feminine leadership The systemic crises facing humanity and all living beings mean that we have to radically change how we operate. Although many of us agree with the well-known saying, ‘We cannot …

Relationships first for effective leadership

Nwamaka Agbo 5 March 2024 For Subscribers

Kataly Foundation’s experience suggests that leadership is less about being visible than in bringing visibility to others Civil rights movement leader Ella Baker once said: ‘Strong people don’t need a strong leader.’ It’s a quote …

Lived-experience leadership: a big ‘yes’, a few ‘no’s’

Zara Todd 5 March 2024 For Subscribers

Lived-experience leaders can bring great benefits to both funders and communities – but it shouldn’t be at their cost At the heart of lived experience in philanthropy is power. Platforming, engaging with and prioritising lived …

Out with reductionism – embrace complexity

Sameer Shisodia 5 March 2024 For Subscribers

The systems that sustain us have always been complex. So why are our responses to them not? Philanthropy needs to lead on this realisation We are in a crisis: the climate is changing rapidly and …

The role of leadership in navigating the polycrisis

Georg von Schnurbein 5 March 2024 For Subscribers

Rethinking leadership principles and strategies can help foundations find a way forward in a changing environment. But leadership is not always about leaders As the Covid-19 pandemic reached Switzerland, prompting a nationwide lockdown, certain foundations …

Time to reassess the tradition of keeping philanthropy and politics separate

Andrew Milner 5 December 2023 For Subscribers

In the early years of the Christian era, Pliny the Younger, then administrator of the Roman province of Bithynia-Pontus, wrote to the Emperor Trajan asking for permission to establish a ‘society of 150 firemen’ in …