How to build leadership: Volunteer experience and personal responsibility

Many a book has been written about how to become an effective leader. But ask any experienced leader and they'll likely agree that leadership cannot be learned through a book – it must be harnessed through personal experience and responsibility.

Most companies recognize this truth when it comes to developing their own managers and executives. However, it is not always feasible to grant trainees sudden leadership responsibilities and trust that they'll learn without the expected mistakes and errors of judgment. That's why some organizations turn to volunteer services and organizations.

At volunteer-based nonprofit organizations, members can choose from a number of roles and positions and engage followers through meaningful and productive paths to personal and professional advancement, reports Alice Korngold for Fast Company.

Business people who bring valuable experience and diverse backgrounds are particularly equipped to help organizations achieve operational and mission success.

“Through nonprofit board experience, business people participate with the CEO in envisioning an organization's greater potential, creating the revenue model and achieving success,” Korngold writes. “In fact, nonprofit board service is the ultimate experience in ethics, accountability, leadership, group dynamics, and crisis management and communications.”