Working to Be a Leader

Which leader is more powerful:  Apple Co-Founder and CEO Steve Jobs or U. S. President Barack Obama?

I asked that question while subbing for an ill instructor during her two classes in, “A Management Approach to Organizational Beahvior” at Zicklin School of Business.  The chapter we were discussing was “Power and Politics” and on the first slide of the instructor’s PowerPoint was a picture of Steve Jobs and one of President Obama.  After I posed the question, I got very mixed results and push back from the students.

Vocal people in the classes said that there is no real comparison.  Jobs is a business man and Obama a politician.  The range of power and influence these leaders had was different and wasn’t equal in the students’ minds.  And I agreed with that.  I also confirmed that asking such a provocative question was a good way to break the ice with a new class.

 The students agreed to disagree on which leader was the most powerful.  Many felt Jobs was the most powerful because of his innovative ideas and the influence of the array of products he had introduced to a global market.  (Although I request that all cell phones are put on vibrate and put out of sight during class, I did see a few iPhones on desks.)

 Almost equal was the number of votes for the President because he was the first African-American to be elected to the highest office in the U.S., got health care legislation passed, was focused on reigning in Wall Street, etc.

 Then I posed another question:  who was the President of the United States 60 years ago?  Although Nixon, Carter, and Roosevelt were suggested, it was Harry S. Truman who led the country in 1950.  Not one student had heard of Truman.

 The point I was making was that legislation or being the first at something will be remembered.  For instance, John F. Kennedy is the first and only Catholic and the first Irish American president.  However, in my mind and those of about half the classes I taught, it was the products of the genius developer of technology who is the most powerful person in 2010.

 Jobs?  Obama?  Which one do you think is the most powerful leader today?  Please post your response below.

“Who was your model?” one of my students asked me after I had posed the same question to the class last week during “A Management Approach to Organizational Development” at the Zicklin School of Business.  We were discussing the topic of  “Motivation Concepts” and specifically “self-efficacy,” an individual’s belief that she is capable of performing a task.  One of the ways to develop self-efficacy is “vicarious modeling.”

 Vicarious modeling is a process during which you can gain self-confidence while watching others perform a task similar to the one you are doing.  Through observation, you can picture yourself performing that same way.

 “Prof. Ogletree,” was the answer I gave to my students.  Although I’ve had many good professional role models in my career, Charles J. Ogletree topped my list that evening.  Today, Ogletree is the Jesse Climenko Professor of Law and the Director of the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice at Harvard Law School.  Former instructor of President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle when they attended Harvard, Prof. Ogletree is an esteemed and prolific writer and public speaker involved in sometimes controversial and embarrassing situations.  Yet, his style of conducting a college class has remained my model for almost twenty years.

 In 1990, I transitioned my master’s degree in early childhood education into a career as an Adjunct Faculty member in the City University System.  Sometime in the 1990’s, I watched a weekly program on PBS that featured Prof. Ogletree conducting a class of what were probably his law students.  I forget the name of the program but I can’t forget his “in the face” type of approach when educating his audience.  He sat down on a desk near his students, he called on everyone, and he relentlessly challenged the answers and the assumptions they offered.

 Watching Prof. Ogletree over a long time, I vicariously became him in not just college classrooms but corporate classrooms where I would teach employees how to use technology, manage workplace relationships, or engage in innovative exercises.

 During my “performance” each evening when I’m teaching students at Zicklin, I am “in their faces,” moving around the classroom to be physically close to individuals while challenging them to provide “stretch” answers that expand their horizons.  I call on every one of my almost 30 students in each session, requiring them to state their opinion on a topic, explain a concept, or come up with another idea on how to deal with a difficult employee.  I push them out of their comfort zones and they answer back with a willingness to be in-the-moment and to perform on the classroom stage.

 While watching Prof. Ogletree on TV, I incorporated his style into my training as an educator.  I felt capable of performing the role because I earned positive feedback from my students and on faculty evaluations.

 I love teaching and I thank Prof. Ogletree’s style of teaching during his shows on PBS for the vicarious modeling he provided.

“It sounds like this trip is a soul refresher,” my niece Nancy wrote me after she learned of my vacation plans to visit her cousin Tomi Sue.  My week away from New York City was a refreshing and invigorating experience.  It was a time to put working to be a leader aside and focus on being surrounded by nature and enjoying my life.

 Tomi Sue lives in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, about 2½ hours due east of Oakland, California.  The population of the towns there are small by any—but especially NYC—standards:  150 to 1,000 to 6,000 (one of the largest) all nestled among oak, pine, and other trees.  It was just the locale I needed to get refreshment after a long, snowy, and busy winter in the big city.

 Spring had arrived and I basked in the sun while looking at the fields of wild flowers carpeting the five acres of Tomi Sue’s land—and beyond—such as goldfield, buttercup, etc.  What especially caught my attention were the poppies, the California state flower and a favorite since I was taught a poem in childhood, “Poppy golden poppy, shining in the sun….”

Golden Poppy

 The petals of poppies are closed in the morning and open as the sun rises.  While watching for the poppies to open, I could look out “across the street” and watch the cows and a bull or two begin their day feeding on the grass of a pasture.  A big ear jack rabbit caught my—and Tomi Sue’s dog’s—attention.  Birds were serenading the earth and calling me to get up and go for a walk on the grounds—which meant I had to say good-bye to the cat and could say hello to the resident horse.

 Later, sitting on the porch and basking in the sun, I felt the stress from the life of a New Yorker begin to gradually fade away.  It was helped to evaporate by a trip to Yosemite National Park, my favorite place to visit and explore.  My older sisters took their younger sisters on trips there when I was about eight or nine.  Through the years, I’ve returned to Yosemite with college friends, my husband, and even alone.  A car trip to the valley at 4,000 feet or Glacier Point at 7,200 feet or a strenuous backpacking trip close but not to the top of Half Dome at 8,800 feet brought a sense of peace and tranquility.

 “Everyone needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and cheer and give strength to body and soul alike,” John Muir is quoted in National Parks:  America’s Best Idea by Dayton Duncan, a book based on the Ken Burns’ six-part series for PBS.  Yosemite is my place of beauty. 

Me next to Merced River in Yosemite Valley

On a Sunday, Tomi Sue and I spent time in Yosemite to hike up part of a trail to see a waterfall she had heard about but not seen.  Although not in the shape I was when I could hike to the top of that trail and back down in one day, I nevertheless made it to the spot where we could see Illoyette Falls—and on our way look back to see Yosemite Falls.

 During the rest of my stay in the foothills, I was able to soak up the scenery and refresh my soul with the green of the land, the friendliness of the people, and the vistas of snow covered mountains.  My phone service only worked in a few areas and my data didn’t download—which was okay by me.  Only checking e-mail at Tomi Sue’s office a few times, I felt released and relaxed.

 Today, I’m sitting at my desk, looking at my computer screen, and writing this entry to share with you some details of my vacation while also preserving my memories.  Now, getting back to working to be a leader, I am putting on my coach’s hat to ask you:  Is it time for you to take a vacation?  If not poppies, what will you take time to watch?  And, most importantly, how will you refresh your soul?

If the city of New Orleans was to recover successfully after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, it needed to depend on the heart and soul of the city:  its churches.

It wasn’t until April 2006, that I found the right opportunity to donate my services to the city.  That month, I read in an e-mail that Community Church Unitarian Universalist-New Orleans was seeking help with internal organization before taking the steps of rebuilding.  A smart strategy, I thought, one that could aid in the overall process of restoring their heavily damaged church, physically scattered and emotionally battered congregation, and the place it had earned in the community’s life.

My work in 2006 took place over two long weekends—one in June and one in December—during which I presented customized workshops for leaders and the entire congregation.  To reinforce and support their processes, I returned to NOLA a few times since then to lead groups.  Additionally, I provide coaching and consulting services for leaders via telephone and e-mail.

“It is really a time of hope here,” wrote Suzy Mague, former Chair of the Board of Directors of CCUU-NOLA and now friend, in the April 2010 update she sent out.  “The congregation has decided to rebuild on the site of the former structure and we have begun the process to clear the ground, hire an architect, and negotiate with a contractor to take on the work.”

Draft of Plans for New Church

What was exciting is that the city itself is alive in a way that it has not been since 2006.  Suzy writes, “…we are actually still savoring our football championship.  I was amused the other day to pick up some cleaning and find a fleur-de-lis and “Saints – World Champions” printed on the cleaner’s bag.  Of more long-term significance, the Super Bowl victory was followed by a real landmark election.  Mitch Landrieu won a landslide victory for Mayor, carrying all but one precinct in the City.  Although incumbent Mayor Nagin tried to play the race card, voters crossed color lines in droves–in both directions.  Citywide offices of Mayor and Councilmember were won by white candidates with strong black support, and important citywide offices were likewise won by black candidates with strong white support.  Mayor-elect Landrieu has appointed task forces during his transition to advise him on myriad issues, from hiring a new police chief to better customer service in city hall.  The display of energy and the citizen involvement across all neighborhoods has all of us feeling very hopeful that a new day is coming.”

Continuing her report, Suzy lets us know that, “In an odd sort of way, the activities of the federal prosecutor have also inspired hope.  Following confessions and/or convictions from several ‘political operatives’, including Congressman Bill Jefferson, he has broken a police cove-up of misconduct following Katrina, obtaining two confessions from police officers involved.  There is tremendous determination here that corruption will not be tolerated in our public life, and having an active, effective pursuit of wrongdoers is very heartening.  The new police chief will have a good basis to begin re-making the department.  The new city inspector general is also very well focused and presenting reports that are relevant and influential.  Feels like a new day–and it couldn’t come at a better time.”

I hope that the spring spirit of renewal and rebirth continues and flourishes for not just the congregation but for the entire city of New Orleans.