Leadership within the social sector today is as challenging as ever. As a generation of long-tenured executives steadily matriculate out of institutional leadership roles, staff, boards and representatives from all facets of social sector organizations – as well as the communities we care most about – struggle to identify pathways forward for effectively eliminating the most persistent social issues and build affirming networks of support that reinforce the social fabric of this nation.

Perhaps more than any other time in recent history, civil society, including governments, nonprofits and the philanthropic sector, is revisiting the fundamental premises that structure its institutions, determine its value and, literally, justify its existence.

Conversations about power, equity and democracy, as well as the impact of dominant cultural norms, policies and practices that promote advantage for some groups and the subjugation of others, remain central to our collective experiences. In many ways, leaders are reckoning with a history of social deprivation and wondering how to do so with fairness, integrity, and positive impact across a multi-faceted web of constituency groups.

When considering the bigger societal question of how to achieve a thriving equitable future as a pluralistic society, the GEO community arrives at the same conclusion: nonprofit boards, as they currently exist, are not well-positioned to lead with the necessary skill, will or attention to complexity required for all communities to thrive.

The Purpose-Driven Leadership framework invites a field response that challenges conventional ideas of board leadership to shift away from a primary focus on the preservation of organizational status, position and power toward a more expansive consideration of how the organization’s status, position and power can be leveraged both to advance the core purpose of the organization and to generate optimal positive impact for the group of similarly-focused organizations operating throughout the philanthropic landscape.

Read the full article about purpose-driven leadership by Marcus Walton at BoardSource.