The John LaWare Leadership Forum

Founded in 2005, the John LaWare Leadership Forum is a flexible civic mechanism that informs and convenes Greater Boston’s business and civic leaders to respond to the region’s competitiveness challenges and opportunities.

The Forum promotes a dynamic model of coordinated and distributed leadership focused on: supporting promising initiatives ripe for implementation; identifying gaps in existing efforts; clearing roadblocks to progress; and celebrating civic achievements.

Co-sponsored by a growing list of business and civic groups, the Forum encourages and tracks progress in the key areas of education, housing, jobs and new leadership. The Forum is informed by the Boston Indicators Project, which provides data, measures of change and a broad civic agenda.

Call to Action & Statement of Commitment

Massachusetts is at an important crossroads. Recent employment declines, high housing costs, out-migration, and a widening gap between rich and poor highlight our vulnerabilities and challenges in an increasingly competitive global economy.

At the same time, Massachusetts is uniquely situated to take advantage of opportunities created by technological advances and new markets, with its world renowned research and teaching institutions, clusters of innovative industries, and a highly educated workforce.

Leveraging—and marketing—these assets, seizing our opportunities and overcoming our challenges will require the combined commitment and effort of business, civic, community and government leaders.

The John LaWare Leadership Forum offers a flexible mechanism to inform and convene Greater Boston’s civic and business leaders. It seeks to highlight initiatives ripe for implementation, identify gaps, clear roadblocks, and report on progress. Critical to this effort will be a sense of urgency, sharp focus, discipline, and the commitment of time and resources.

Therefore, as leaders and stakeholders in the future of Massachusetts, we commit to work together to: reach a common understanding of our challenges and opportunities based on the best available research; identify a clear set of shared civic goals and strive for the alignment of current efforts; and advance a focused, collaborative and dynamic agenda for action.