Leadership for the Third Reconstruction

The author is an American entrepreneur and civic leader, and the Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Operation HOPE, the nation's largest on‐the‐ground provider of financial literacy and economic empowerment services. He puts the considerable changes the world has undergone in the 30 years since Leader to Leader began publishing in the context of leadership needed in realms such as economic improvement and financial literacy as basic rights available to wider areas of society. He identifies “the central leadership question of our time: Can we build a society in which more people believe they have a real stake in tomorrow?” He identifies the “Third Reconstruction” as an economic moment: “the work of moving from civil rights to silver rights, from protest to ownership, and building a capitalism that finally includes everyone.” He notes the importance of the concept of hope and identifies key areas in which leadership must take hold and continually improve; in his words, Financial Literacy, Economic Mobility, and the Architecture of Opportunity.