Reticence. Modesty. Loyalty. Generosity. These qualities often mark the Canadian character and our propensity to downplay the adventure, excitement, daring, risk and courage that influence how we tell our stories of accomplishment and achievement. But those are not the words that sprung to mind when Russ Volckmann invited me to be Guest Editor of this Canada issue of Integral Leadership Review (ILR-C).

©2014 Aboriginal Nations Education, Greater Victoria School Board, BC, Canada Artist Jamin Zurowski Bear/UL. Wolf /LL. Raven/UR. Salmon/LR.   This Totem is a Gift used with permission on this Canada Issue. Please do reproduce without © Permission.

©2014 Aboriginal Nations Education, Greater Victoria School Board, BC, Canada
Artist Jamin Zurowski
Bear/UL. Wolf /LL. Raven/UR. Salmon/LR.
This Totem is a Gift used with permission on this Canada Issue. Please do not reproduce without © Permission.

Pattern making. Pattern recognition. Pattern amplification. Excessive Network Connecting. These are the qualities of leaders that emerged when I studied learning and leadership in self-organizing online communities in 1999 (Hamilton, 1999). Using the lenses of integral, systems and evolutionary thinking, I was able to notice how leaders emerged naturally from the population they occupied to lead a community to take stock of its assets, reflect on its intentions, change its worldview and expand its influence,.

These were the impulses I wished to bring to the challenge of not just editing ILR-C – but rather of curating a story of leadership in Canada for this issue.

Read the rest of this Curator’s Leading Comments here and access the Table of Contents for this Issue here