Philanthropy's Leadership Challenge (O Desafio da Lideranca Filantropica)

Abstract

This paper is written in Portuguese. Many philanthropists seek to exercise leadership on issues they are passionate about. But their resources are limited when compared to the public sector and the magnitude of social needs. To create impact, philanthropists must respond effectively to the complexity of the problems they seek to address, the distributed nature of action, and the increasing mobilization of citizens in an age that is skeptic of epic leaders. This paper argues that to make a difference, philanthropists need to clarify their focus and identify leadership opportunities. Recognizing that epic leaders, individuals at all levels of an organizational hierarchy as well as incentive and control structures all have a role to play, the paper introduces the concepts of epic, enlightenment and engineering leadership in the philanthropic space, and concludes by deriving a philanthropic leadership agenda.

Note: Downloadable document in Portuguese.

Keywords: Leadership, philanthropy

JEL Classification: L31