During the past quarter century, the work of Linda Lambert has altered our perceptions about leadership and sustainable school improvement. This pioneering work has gained significant attention throughout the United States, Canada, Australia, the Middle East, Asia and England.

We are ending an epoch in which leadership has been defined narrowly as role and position. This ancient construct is no longer adequate to describe the complex patterns of relationships and actions that constitute leadership in an organization. These patterns can establish the basis for sustainability of educational reform in schools and districts. Leadership capacity, the dynamic of participation and skillfulness, offers both the promise and practice of sustainability.

Lambert's publications and consultation with schools and organizations have focused on leadership development among all members of the educational community by building inquiry, reflection, structures for participation and collective responsibility throughout the organization in order to improve student performance and achieve system sustainability. Through such work, participants have:

• Reframed the concept of leadership for sustainable organizations
• Understood "Leadership Capacity";
• Assessed the leadership capacity of their schools, districts and systems, including the quality of instruction and assessment;
• Learned strategies for developing broad-based participation and skillfulness in the work of leadership;
• Applied these concepts in improving student performance and building sustainable systems;
• Developed long-term leadership development plans.

Formats for system development include: Workshops, Coaching, Consultation, Assessment, Professional Development planning, Program integration by embedding system initiatives in leadership capacity. These consultative processes have occurred in school districts and systems, schools; Regional Academies, Institutes, Centers; States and Provinces.