What are the leadership capacities needed to lead collaborative action effectively? How do these capacities show up in different local contexts - urban, suburban, and rural regions of the country? How do adaptive leadership strategies support work in complex local ecosystems and address political considerations? EdRedesign, located at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, has been working on these essential questions in collaboration with cradle-to-career cross-sector place-based leaders in local communities across the country. During this session, we draw on findings from our report, Building Strong, Sustainable Backbone Structures: A Field Study of Cross-Sector Collaborative Organizations. Link to report: https://edredesign.org/resources/building-strong-sustainable-backbone-leadership-field-study-cross-sector-collaborative