Otis White

The skills and strategies of civic leadership

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The Plan

The Plan

February 5, 2010 By Otis White

Everything in life is made better with a plan. So here’s my plan for this blog. In the months and years ahead, I’m going to offer up advice and analysis about what it takes to be an effective leader in your community, someone who can change your community in positive ways.

And what are the things that make good leaders? A set of skills. (We’ll talk about these skills going forward.) A sense of how communities work and how they come to important decisions. (We’ll talk about these things, as well.) Finally, the very best leaders have a temperament for public engagement. They don’t take criticism personally, for example, and they are astonishingly persistent. I’ll explain why these qualities are important.

Along the way, I’ll tell you about some things I’ve seen in my work as a consultant to local governments and civic organizations. And I’ll tell you what I’ve learned from reading about cities and leadership. I hope you’ll share some stories with me, as well.

Welcome aboard!


Photo by Norman B. Leventhal Map Center licensed under Creative Commons.

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About Otis White

Otis White is president of Civic Strategies, Inc., a collaborative and strategic planning firm for local governments and civic organizations. He has written about cities and their leaders for more than 30 years. For more information about Otis and his work, please visit www.civic-strategies.com.

The Great Project

Otis White's multimedia book, "The Great Project," is available on Apple iTunes for reading on an iPad. The book is about how a single civic project changed a city and offers important lessons for civic leaders considering their own "great projects" . . . and for students in college planning and political science programs.

For more information about the book, please visit the iTunes Great Project page.

Follow Us on Twitter and Facebook

You can find Otis White's urban issues updates by searching for @OtisWhite. And you can "like" us on Facebook.