David Hoffman is in the business of cultivating leaders. More specifically, the 34-year-old helps public agencies and other nonprofit groups become leadership catalysts who in turn help their members realize the guidance potential he feels everyone possesses.

His agency, Create the Commonwealth (founded in March 2002), is about re-igniting dormant sparks and bringing people to the point where they see a problem and know they can influence its solution.

“Anyone can be a leader, and in a democracy everyone should be,” he says, adding that too often inborn leadership ability falls into disuse much the same way creativity does. It is squelched in school and by a society that encourages conformity. This is important, he says, because democracy is a participatory process that requires involvement at the grassroots level. Democracy cannot work without citizen leadership.

Hoffman’s experience stems from his work as vice president and chief of staff at Consensus Organizing Institute, where he worked on several projects. For example, he helped the San Diego Unified School District devise a parent involvement strategy designed to help parents change their children’s lives by helping them continue learning (primarily reading) at home. Each school can apply for a grant from COI, and each applicant school must devise its own plan to increase parent involvement. Three years into the project, Hoffman says, “more schools are reaching out to unengaged parents and involving them in the learning process.”

It’s a lot of work. But Hoffman, who has joint master’s degrees in law and public policy from Harvard, understands the concept of hard work.

What does he do for fun? “Hang out with my wife, Sharon.”

— Jean Lowerison