What makes a good community leader?

And what better place than a convention centre crammed with leaders to find out the secrets of good community leadership, especially given this year’s conference theme: “Activating community leadership to combat inequality”.

What makes a good community leader? We asked the question of former Australian Human Rights Commission president GillianTriggs, US education pioneer Mary Gentile, political commentator Jamila Rizvi, animal rights advocate Philip Wollen, social researcher Hugh Mackay, and economist Nicholas Gruen, as well as several articulate delegates.

The answers varied as much as the people we spoke to, but some powerful recurring themes emerged.

Several talked about the significance of listening (Did we say listening? We heard that one a lot), resilience, “understanding your leverage” or “playing to your strengths”, creativity and imagination, “telling the truth fearlessly and forcefully”, good communication, seeking equality, harnessing passion – and of course listening. But don’t take our word for it, listen to the video yourself.