title: The meta-leadership summit for preparedness initiative: an innovative model to advance public health preparedness and response.
abstract: This article reports on the design, evaluation framework, and results from the Meta-Leadership Summit for Preparedness Initiative. The Meta-Leadership Summit for Preparedness was a 5-year initiative based on the premise that national preparedness and emergency response is not solely the responsibility of government. From 2006 to 2011, 36 Meta-Leadership Summits were delivered in communities across the country. Summits were customized, 10-hour leadership development, networking, and community action planning events. They included participation from targeted federal, state, local, nonprofit/philanthropic, and private sector leaders who are directly involved in decision making during a major community or state-wide emergency. A total of 4,971 government, nonprofit, and business leaders attended Meta-Leadership Summits; distribution of attendees by sector was balanced. Ninety-three percent of respondents reported the summit was a valuable use of time, 91% reported the overall quality as "good" or "outstanding," and 91% would recommend the summit to their colleagues. In addition, approximately 6 months after attending a summit, 80% of respondents reported that they had used meta-leadership concepts or principles. Of these, 93% reported that using meta-leadership concepts or principles had made a positive difference for them and their organizations. The Meta-Leadership Summit for Preparedness Initiative was a value-added opportunity for communities, providing the venue for learning the concepts and practice of meta-leadership, multisector collaboration, and resource sharing with the intent of substantively improving preparedness, response, and recovery efforts.
authors.forename: Robyn K
authors.initials: RK
authors.lastname: Sobelson
authors.forename: Andrea C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Young
authors.forename: Leonard J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Marcus
authors.forename: Barry C
authors.initials: BC
authors.lastname: Dorn
authors.forename: Verla S
authors.initials: VS
authors.lastname: Neslund
authors.forename: Eric J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: McNulty
mesh_terms: D002959:Civil Defense / Q000458:organization & administration*; D003226:Congresses as Topic; D003258:Consumer Behavior; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D003657:Decision Making; D004189:Disaster Planning / Q000379:methods*; D004630:Emergencies; D006077:Government Agencies / Q000458:organization & administration; D006801:Humans; D007221:Industry / Q000458:organization & administration; D007857:Leadership; D017146:Models, Organizational; D009939:Organizations, Nonprofit / Q000458:organization & administration; D060756:Social Networking