We at Kingdom Causes call ourselves "catalysts" and even have that name printed on our business cards. I've had to muddle around what we mean by that when people ask or give blank looks, often substituting "director" to help people understand.
But this book I'm currently reading called The Starfish and the Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations has given me a great answer as to why we call ourselves catalysts--it even has a whole section on what a catalyst does to help effect change in communities.
For those who don't know the contrast between a starfish and spider is really a contrast about organizational life: do you have a centralized hierarchy (a spider) or a decentralized organism (starfish)? It's the difference between the music industry (spider) and Napster and all its permutations (starfish). You can chop a spider's head off and the whole body dies; a starfish can be chopped several times and each one grows into another starfish!
Anyway, one of the keys to a starfish organization is a catalyst. A helpful chart at the end of the chapter on catalyst contrasts a CEO's characteristics with a catalyst's:
CEO: boss, command-and-control, rational, powerful, directive, in the spotlight, order, organizing
Catalyst: peer, trust, emotionally intelligent, inspirational, collaborative, behind the scenes, ambiguity, connecting
The above really captures my values and approach as the "catalyst" for Kingdom Causes. But I still can't explain this any more succinctly the next time someone asks what a "catalyst" is!
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