Public opinion: Your blogs

Do you need leadership? Look inside

Leadership is using the smallest possible crisis to create the biggest possible effect, former 10 Downing Street head of strategy Geoff Mulgan told the Chain Reaction conference today.

And the crisis we currently face is one of the biggest possible. Geoff Mulgan – now director of the Young Foundation - spoke of the world financial crisis, where, he argued, most of the help went into 'rewarding the people who got us into it'; and the crisis of trust in politics, which, he said, had created a space where people were willing to accept change. And that's without getting onto climate change.

Crises come in all shapes and sizes. This afternoon we heard about the global crisis, and how the We20 organisation was established to give ordinary people a voice at the G20 summit. We heard about the economic crisis, which has created a rash of empty shops across the UK - and how the Empty Shops Network is bringing many of them back to life as a platform for local artists, performers, and community initiatives.

But there are also personal crises, and they too can be a catalyst for action. Helen Milner, who runs UK Online Centres, told the story of Lucas, aged 19, who spent his nights drinking and his days sleeping at the YMCA in Birkenhead. The encouragement of a UK Online tutor helped him turn his life round, to the extent that he ended up running the YMCA's cyber-café.

Now Lucas is studying IT at college, but he hasn't forgotten his experience: he still visits his old friends who drink in the local park to try to persuade them to change their own lives.

Such changes don't come easily. Some people don't listen; others don't want to change what they do; others can only see the problems.

A key theme running through the stories of change we heard this afternoon is that the difference starts with personal contact. Lucas had the help of a tutor. We20 started as an online initiative, but coordinator Paul Massey explained that you can't just rely on technology: 'The internet doesn't really make up for the real bonds of human connection you need to get people to work together - you really need to connect with people on a human level.'

The Empty Shops Network, similarly, isn't just about an idea. You have to be ready to work with people in ways that make sense to them - so Dan Thompson of Worthing's Revolutionary Arts Group has learned how to wear a suit and go to business networking meetings. Sometimes, he says, you have to 'talk to people you really can't stand' in order to find the person who'll help.

You can't get away from the legwork. But there are now 150 projects involving empty shops around the country, including a 4-seat cinema in Coventry Market, showing a musical history of the market; and emptyshopsradio.com, broadcasting three shows a day.

Leadership? It's all around you, if you know where to look. Perhaps most of all, though, social change is about recognising the leadership potential in yourself.