Ahmad Mansur is a director, speaker, and collaborator who focuses on leadership, innovation, and the economy in cities, regions, and communities. His work examines how emergent leadership through citizen-led innovation ecosystems can serve as adaptive, distributed platforms to address complex "wicked problems" that old hierarchical structures are no longer capable of solving. He discusses how civic innovation platforms can be built by envisioning a transformative future, launching experimental prototypes, connecting innovators, and facilitating learning through workshops and journeys. A case study examines what innovations the city of Oakland may pursue.

2. Name: Ahmad Mansur,
Strategist, Speaker, Collaborator
Doings: Director, Urban Economy Institute
Aspen Fellow
Documentary, “Innovating Cities”
Focus: Leadership, innovation and economy in
cities,regions and communities.

3. My Tocqueville Experience

4. The Shift
OldEmergent
ECONOMY Industrial Knowledge
BUSINESS: Corporate Entrepreneurs
SOCIAL Justice Innovation
LEADERSHIP Hierarchy Distributed

5. jh
The challenge for cities is to address “wicked problems.”
Old leadership structures appear no longer capable of solving
these complex problems with their bifurcated, industrial age
thinking and tactics.
Emergent leadership is
adaptive, connected, distributed, relational activity, serving as
a platform for innovation.

6. The Rise of
Citizen-led Innovation
Ecosystems serve as an
innovation platform to
address complex challenges
• Open systems
• Social technologies
• Crowd sourcing
• Collaborative networks
• Multi-directional

7. Civic Innovation Platforms

8. Building A Innovation Platform
• Envision a transformative
future
• Launch experiments by
prototyping
• Connect with fellow
innovators for learning
and serendipity
• Learn –
workshops, learning
journeys

10. Case Study

11. What will Oakland do?