The notion of the individual leader is thoroughly discredited among today's young visionaries. I recently talked to young people from two organizations in the Bay Area (Books Not Bars and Youth Force Coalition) who had just succeeded in stopping the expansion of a juvenile jail. When I asked who the mastermind behind this astounding feat was, I got a curious reply: 'all of us' and 'the young people of Alameda County,' followed by a laundry list of people and organizations. Who are the visionaries behind the Seattle WTO protests? Behind the anti-sweatshop movement? Who dreamed up the Taco Bell boycott in support of farm workers? Who started the Independent Media Centers, which now have a global network rivaling CNN?

I'm sure the people profiled in this section will feel uncomfortable as well as proud about being recognized. That's how I felt when Utne Reader honored me as the youngest of its 'visionaries' in the March/April 1996 issue. It changed my life, gave me new confidence-and new pressure. I felt I had a responsibility to live up to this designation although I wasn't sure exactly what it meant, or what I was supposed to do.

Then I met Lisa Sullivan. She was a visionary social entrepreneur and founder of LISTEN, an organization that trains marginalized urban youth (ages 14 to 29) to be community leaders. Lisa listened to my ideas, hired me, and mentored me. She taught me how to recruit talented people and raise funds to build innovative social change organizations, and that's what I've been doing ever since.

Calling all older visionaries: We need your support. If it wasn't for Lisa Sullivan and a lot of other people in my life who helped me, I don't know where I would be right now. Tragically, Lisa passed away last year at age 40; she's not around to mentor us anymore. So please look around you for the younger visionaries in your life. Listen to us. Hang out with us. Maybe you'll learn a thing or two. Be patient with our rough edges. You had rough edges once, too, and if you don't mind our mentioning-you still do! Please don't be defensive and condescending when we challenge you and call you hypocrites! You are hypocrites. You were right when you told your elders they were hypocrites. And the whippersnappers will be right when they tell us we are too. So take our critiques in stride. Do what you can to support us. And, finally, let us learn from you.