About Us

Leading From Within is a non-profit that invests in leaders to make meaningful changes on complex community challenges in Santa Barbara County and beyond. We bring social sector leaders together to grow as individuals and improve their effectiveness as leaders, sustain each other as peers to keep leading and learning, and increase their capacity to be collaborators for the common good.

At Leading From Within, we foster a dynamic network of public-minded leaders who know each other, trust each other, and are better able to work together to improve our communities. This investment better ensures that leaders can address some of society’s more persistent challenges.

The deep, personal nature of our programs helps leaders better understand and invest in themselves and build trusted relationships with their peers. With more than 550 Santa Barbara County community leaders actively participating in our alumni networks, Leading From Within seeks to cultivate a fertile, nurturing environment that results in:
• Stronger and more diverse leaders with increased confidence, skills, and support, and an ability to sustain their commitment for the long haul
• More public-minded leaders who can engage across the boundaries of nonprofit organizations, government, and business
• Community leaders who can more effectively build cooperation and trust, and
• A network of leaders with an increased capacity to disrupt status quo thinking and engage others in the work of our communities