In the recent feedback I have been gathering from our community, one source of contention was a feeling that leaders in the community are lacking motivation and a feeling of influence on the project. While [the survey](https://archivedblog.jonobacon.com/2011/10/07/feedback-welcome/) is still gathering responses (so treat the percentages below as subject to change), the results currently indicate three interesting pieces of information that relate to leadership:
* Most people see themselves as leaders in the community, either all the time (**25%**), or sometimes (**45%**).
* Most people that responded would be interested in being a leader (**59%**).
* Many people feel empowered to be a leader (**46%**), with some not really (**33%**), and some not at all (**20%**).
These survey results (so far) suggest to me that many people feel a sense of leadership, would be interested in pursuing leadership, but we could make some improvements in empowering them to join us as leaders. These results are positive, and give us a good sense of where to focus some of our efforts: making leadership more accessible and attractive to our community.
In addition to this I have been reaching out to many of our current leaders to get their input on leadership in Ubuntu and there were some common themes:
* Ubuntu can sometimes feel a little *over-governed*.
* It would be useful to support leaders more.
* Some new blood would be good in our existing boards.
* Leaders want to feel a renewed sense of motivation in how they can bring leadership to the community.
* Some boards have more motivational challenges than others.
With the [recent re-election of the Community Council](https://ftbeowulf.wordpress.com/2011/10/15/new-ubuntu-community-council-elected/) as well [as the Technical Board](https://fridge.ubuntu.com/2011/10/05/technical-board-2011/), we have some of this new blood joining these councils (as well as some familiar faces), and now seems a great time to focus on these challenges.
## The UDS Leadership Mini-Summit
A suggestion I presented to some of our leaders was the idea of a mini-summit on leadership at UDS. This would be two afternoons in which we will discuss a range of leadership topics (suggested by the community) and use it as an opportunity to identify areas of focus, improvements, solutions, and best practice. The idea was well received, so we started gathering some topics for discussion.
These topics are available [on this wiki page](https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UDS-P/LeadershipSummit) and I would like to encourage you folks to suggest your own ideas too.
At the beginning of the first leadership mini-summit afternoon we will review the list of topics and get an idea of the popularity of each suggestion and then discuss as many topics as possible in order of popularity.
## When?
The leadership mini-summit will take place at the [next UDS](https://uds.ubuntu.com) from **3pm** – **6pm Eastern USA time** on **Tues 1st Nov 2011** and **Thu 3rd Nov 2011** in the **Bonaire 2** room and is completely open to everyone (including [remote participants](https://uds.ubuntu.com/participate/remote/). I am going to try and ensure all the sessions are videoed so we can share them with our wider community after the event, and we will encourage participants to work together to take notes.
I look forward to seeing your ideas and your input at the leadership mini-summit at UDS!
