WHAT WILL SUSTAIN THE DEMOCRACY?

Abstract The author, Leader to Leader’s editor‐in‐chief, writes about the necessity for ordinary citizens to take responsibility for the health and wellbeing of their communities, and how this relates to sustaining our democracy. She builds on an anecdote about saving a tree that was damaged twice by a storm in her county. She recounts passages from Frances Hesselbein’s 2010 Harvard Business Review article “How Did Peter Drucker See Corporate Responsibility?”. She notes that Frances’ question was: “What must our organizations do today to help our country maintain its greatness and sustain the democracy?” In light of that article, the author writes that “democracy’s very survival is dependent on how we interact and support each other, how we work together towards a common purpose, and on our commitment to serving the greater good for all.” She also notes that “…we must ask ourselves, am I taking responsibility in my community, my organization, and I’n our world, or am I waiting for ‘them’ to fix it and blaming ‘them’ when it remains broken?”