Imagine the irony of "<em>following"</em> a leadership development community. Think about it. If we want to develop leaders, must we make them “<em>follow</em>” us? Have you ever considered how pervasive the idea seems to be that we must <em>be taught</em> or that we must <em>be led</em>?

In true Lead Change style, we are setting out to create a new kind of opportunity. We’re not sure this will work, but we’re going to try it for a few months and see how it works. We’re going to have a Google+ Hangout.

“Not another one!” you might protest. But we’d like to suggest this is different.  This will be a dialogue, participatory sharing session. You're expected to participate via chat. All ideas will be welcome!

You see, we believe leadership development involves leaders taking action. We believe the people we listen to and interact with and work with influence us whether we like it or not. So we choose to bring our best “us” and connect with others who will influence us for good. We want to be people who elevate others and we want the others around us to make us better too.  Lead Change Instigators work to apply character-based leadership to make a positive difference in the world. We want to connect and share and discuss ideas with others who want to do the same thing: apply character-based leadership to make a positive difference in the world.

So, on Saturday morning, April 12 at 10 AM Eastern Time, four great Lead Change Instigators will join me for our first <a title="Lead Change Instigator Hangout April 2014" href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/events/cp3c6qh7nhiitoa9gu4fijkss48?authkey=CNG62_DLx47sDQ" target="_blank">Lead Change Instigator Hangout</a>: an open dialogue about issues for today's leaders.  This first one is going to be about how to use social media to expand our influence and share our message.

The panel includes:
<ul>
	<li>Karin Hurt <a title="Karin's Twitter Profile" href="http://twitter.com/letsgrowleaders" target="_blank">@letsgrowleaders</a>, <a title="Lets Grow Leaders" href="http://letsgrowleaders.com/" target="_blank">Lets Grow Leaders</a>, <a title="Karin's Google+ profile" href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/+KarinHurtLetsGrowLeaders/posts" target="_blank">Google+</a></li>
	<li>Jon Mertz <a title="Jon's Twittter Profile" href="http://twitter.com/ThinDifference" target="_blank">@ThinDifference</a>, <a title="Thin Difference Website" href="http://thindifference.com" target="_blank">Thin Difference</a>, <a title="Jon's Google+ profile" href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/+JonMertz/posts" target="_blank">Google+</a></li>
	<li>Becky Robinson <a title="Becky's Twitter profile" href="http://twitter.com/beckyrbnsn" target="_blank">@beckyrbnsn</a>, <a title="Weaving Influence website" href="http://weavinginfluence.com/" target="_blank">Weaving Influence</a>, <a title="Becky's Google+ profile" href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/115236676525149618850/posts" target="_blank">Google+</a></li>
	<li>Mary Schaefer <a title="Mary's Twitter Profile" href="http://twitter.com/maryschaefer" target="_blank">@MarySchaefer</a>, <a title="ReImagine Work Website" href="http://www.reimaginework.com/" target="_blank">ReImagine Work</a>, <a title="Mary's Google+ profile" href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/103470617453201516622/posts" target="_blank">Google+</a></li>
</ul>
We’ll talk about the things we do, practices we follow, and the tools we use to connect and share. Maybe you’d like to participate. There will be the ability to chat live with the group and we’ll have a discussion running on the event page. Please come prepared to share any ideas you have for leadership development folks and anyone else to expand their influence and broadcast their message.

Join us.  Click <a title="Lead Change Instigator Hangout April 2014" href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/events/cp3c6qh7nhiitoa9gu4fijkss48?authkey=CNG62_DLx47sDQ" target="_blank">here to find out more</a>.  And if you miss, that's OK.  We'll post a recording afterward.  There will be no selling. This is an opportunity to share ideas as peers. You don’t have to become a follower to develop as a leader. We promise! Be a part of the dialogue and help us all improve. We look forward to the chance to connect.