Restorative Justice, Social Capital, and Authentic Leadership Essay

There is a prodigious need for leaders – authentic leaders to facilitate the process of building relationships and resolving conflicts in a more effective manner as affirmative models in the capacities served. Leadership of all kinds has been coming under unprecedented attack. The inability to effectively resolve conflict is an issue impacting the relationships of past and current leaders of all realms. Opposed to using conflicts and/or crises as an opportunity to rise above the issues – becoming solution-oriented beacons for others, leaders either inappropriately fight back; hope that time will heal all wounds (conflicts); ignore the issue(s) at hand; or make unnecessary changes that further damages relationships and credibility. In an ever changing global society, authentic leaders have a great influence to empower and provide individuals with the necessary tools to resolve conflict; building social capital. Social capital is defined by making connections with one another, and keeping them going over time, people are able to work together to achieve things that they either could not achieve by themselves, or could only achieve with great difficulty (Falk & Kilpatrick, 2000). The definition of social capital intertwines with the meaning of empowerment. The state of our society is an image of the quality of our leadership. To build social capital, meaningful relationships must be established that foster accountability, competencies (resources and skills), and safety. A paradigm shift occurs when community infringements are no longer viewed only as having a punitive outcome but rather a continual restorative relationship to repair the detriment. In taking a restorative approach, authentic leadership flourishes from the w... ...Bass. Falk, I. & Kilpatrick, S. (2000). What is social capital? A study of a rural community. Socialogia Ruralis, 1(40), pp. 87-110. Gardner, J. (1990). The Nature and Tasks of Leadership. In J. T. McMahon (Ed.), Leadership Classics (pp. 171-175). Long Grove, IL: Waveland Press. George, B. (2007). True North: Discover your Authentic Leadership. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. George, B. (2010). Authentic Leadership. In J.T. McMahon (Ed.), Leadership Classics (pp. 574-583). Long Grove, IL: Waveland Press. Grootaert, C., Narayan, D., Jones, V. N., & Woolcock, M. (2004). Measuring Social Capital: An Integrated Questionnaire. Washington: The World Bank. Hutchinson, M. S. (2000). Restorative justice, voluntary action and social capital: a perspective from Northern Ireland. In the Fourth International Conference of The International Society for Third Sector Research.