Between billion dollar budget demands and gubernatorial recall elections, a disillusioned people are demanding change. But will looking to "superhero" leaders guarantee the changes that will make communities work better?

Some aren't willing to wait to find out. A transformation in leadership style is happening. Every day people are coming up with solutions to problems in their communities that demonstrate democratic ideals: inclusion, consensus and the voices of the people being affected. What drives a person to start a community level effort for change? For these people, being a leader is less about being the "boss" or power broker and more about galvanizing populations into action. Who can we look to for change? Try right next door.

• Tired of watching industries close shop and head overseas, one Ohio man put theory into practice showing owners and workers how to save their companies and jobs with employee ownership - 12,825 jobs saved
  
  
• Five single mothers on welfare, seeing education as a way out of poverty, formed LIFETIME as a peer-to-peer support organization supporting parents getting a higher education and successfully getting off welfare
  
  
• Upset by seeing fellow Chicano farmworkers' terrible conditions while performing work vital to agricultural communities, one man co-founded a union, leading others to collectively bargained contracts with growers
  
  
• Four parents from the "four corners" of Chicago found a way through advocacy and training other parents to keep their public schools system accountable for providing quality education for all children

What do these people have in common? Most come from the communities they work with; they know the frustrations of the people they serve. They see the value in the diversity of their own neighborhoods and build on the strength of their differences. By uniting fragmented groups with common problems, encouraging the use of education to empower the individual and creating community enforcement of government accountability, these individuals are redefining leadership one day at a time.

What are the important qualities of a leader? What makes a person become active in a community solution? What can these people teach us about new qualities of leadership? Can the revival of a more community based solution style influence our national democratic process?