On the "NGen Challenge - Leading Across Sectors" webinar, Trish and Roopal asked participants for suggestions to address the "visibility vacuum" of younger leaders. Here are the responses to the question "What can we do to better highlight different forms of leaders?"

- Profiles in newsletters, on websites, in blogs, etc
- Recognition of work done or real implentation of ideas put forward by younger leaders
- first, the organization has to value the various leadership styles, at any and all levels of the organization.
- Offer other definitions for leadership and awards/recognition for those.
- Distributed Leadership in a visible way - make sure funders know that leadership is shared
- Highlight leadership in sector through social media; conversations like this one
- more positive news stories about nonprofits in general
- better articulate all that leadership can be, look like
- younger leader using social media to highlight thier work.
- cnn heros
- Utilize national networks of leaders, such as YNPN, use these networks to share who these leaders are with the rest of the sector
- in written materials, be explicit about who contributed and in which ways
- More ways to highlight leaders are speakers at conferences, guest blogging, promote stories through networks
- create a story compendium featuring acts of leadership
- on the simple side of things: public recognition, recognition to employer, lapel pins, media placement
- the Birmingham Urban League of Young Professionals is actually presenting inagural YP community leadership/service awards next week (http://www.bulyp.org)
- Rosetta Thurman is a good example of someone who is helping other young nonprofit professional leaders gain visibility
- An organization or portal that recognizes unique contributions of leaders in various sectors. I'm quickly reminded of the Ebony issue that recognizes "young leaders".
- Leadership would have to be re-defined as a concept. Is a successful leader a good politician, or someone who paves the way for change?
- CEOs need to be awarding these leaders
- In terms of different forms of leadership - that's a different story, thats about changing definitions and common understandings of what leadership is
- Ultimately, EVERYONE cannot be a leader otherwise there are no followers. Perhaps everyone can "lead" from time to time, but everyone cannot be a leader all the time.
- Speakers blog or clearinghouse for speakers so they can be accessible.
- the recognition provided can/should be driven by community-endorsed entity such as a chamber or large foundation
- There is a considerable amount of research on effective leadership. There should now be recognition of young leaders that are actually yielding results that better society.

What ideas resonate with you? How can we build on these ideas to better recognize new forms of leadership?