Over the past day or so, I've been having an interesting e-mail exchange with my colleagues, Mark Chupp at CSU and David Cooperrider at Case. We are exploring what the next steps will be for our Universities Collaborative.

As part of this discussion, David has suggested that I read a new book by Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Confidence: How Winning Streaks and Losing Streaks Begin and End.

It just so happens that I read a recent excerpt of the book in an issues of Working Knwledge, from the Harvard Business School. You can read the article on this page.

Kanter argues that effective leaders have a deep belief in the effectiveness of other people. They generate reinforcing success cycles within their organizations. She goes on to point out that "Losing streaks are associated with autocrats who cling to control even as events spin out of control."

These insights apply, as well, to civic leadership.