The Value(s) of Civil Leaders

The importance of civil leaders can hardly be overestimated. They contribute to a better society, mobilize people and resources for good causes or focus attention on urgent problems. Civil leaders work outside government and are personally motivated, thereby exercising public leadership. They come from the ranks of philanthropists, celebrities and volunteers, but may also be directors of non-profit and public organizations or business entrepreneurs. The Value(s) of Civil Leaders examines how civil leaders are influenced by their value patterns – both personally and in their societal work. It also investigates to what extent their values and leadership style are determined by for-profit, non-profit and informal institutional contexts. The concepts of ‘values’, ‘leadership’, ‘governance’ and ‘public value’ are studied both theoretically and in a comparative case study of thirty Dutch civil leaders and a comparative survey. The inspirational portraits and stories of these leaders presented in the book are also available online. The author shows how the common value patterns of these different civil leaders in their different contexts are characterized by a unique combination of societal and entrepreneurial values, making them indeed a breed of their own.