What does it mean when you say "They are looking for leadership"?

I am once again the President of my neighborhood. I feel compelled to say that my neighborhood is not the typical gated community type of private neighborhood but rather an old fashioned quasi Borough of the small town I live in. I don;t want you to think I am rich. Feel free to help make me rich though.

We are going through a cyclical agony of dealing with the issue of Town Water being put in - or not - in our neighborhood and some surrounding neighborhoods. The last administration botched their part in this by doing their work without transparency and daylight. This left the Community fractionated and irritated. There are a small group of folks (particularly those that were on the committee) that think the work they did was great. It actually was a good piece of negotiation in general. What they don't seem to realize is that all the work they did that was never made a matter of public record doesn't really exist. The final proposal that they got from the town was never distributed or voted on. I tell you all this to give context for the statement that I want to reflect on in today's post.

My position has been through my previous two Presidencies and indeed this third that the function of the Executive Committee in a Community context is not to make the decision but rather to facilitate the Community's process of negotiation and decision making.

One of the members of the Executive Committee (one at least!) doesn't agree and thinks that "They are looking for our Leadership".

What he and I mean by Leadership are very different in this context. I am meaning the Leadership of facilitation and he is meaning the leadership of fulfilling executive function (read thinking) for.

Years back, in 1990 and 1991 I was experimenting with the Sacred Clown and Political Theater by creating a public persona of Phul Evriman, a Presidential candidate. His motto was "Remember to Think for Yourself"

It is very important to remember to think about two things in this situation; who actually is they? and,  that when you are President you are leading everyone who agrees with you as well as everyone who doesn't agree with you. Leading only those that agree with you is a very different animal (farm) from leading the whole Community. Leading from the follow me if you agree with me position inevitably divides the Community further. You may well manage a to persuade a majority but the minority will resent you. If you lead the whole Community and do it from a follow me and have your say position the Community will be stronger regardless of the margin.

Losing the capacity for reasoned inquiry

Here are links for two articles that appeared in the New York Times in the last week. Together they represent a perfect illustration of the blind alley we find ourselves in politically and culturally in this country today. On the left and on the right the arguments are ideological at the expense of enlightened skepticism and even open eyed curiosity. We all  pay the price for our lack of reasonable and reasoned discourse.
Banished for Questioning the Gospel of Guns

A Lonely Quest for Facts on Genetically Modified Crops

This I Believe; The fast way is the slow way.

I first heard that truth sitting on a metal folding chair in a small office on Fifth Avenue and 21^st Street playing my trumpet. I was studying jazz improvisation with Joe Solomon, a protégé of the late Lenny Tristano.

Joe taught me much more than how to improvise on my trumpet. He taught me how to approach each moment, each task in my life as it happens. Joe taught me that the fast way really is the slow way.

This means focusing on the process, not the outcome. It means making the process work for you, working with the process. Too often we, in our impatience, work against the process.

To play Jazz I needed to go through the process of becoming fluent in the alphabet of music – the scales. The major scales, the minor scales, the diminished and harmonic minors. And then the chords and then the classic tunes and then… How do you do that? The slow way, practice every day. Focus, breath – make the time; keep the time. There is no other way. So the slow way is the fast way because it is the only way.

I knew all this from Joe, but it took me time to learn it. And it turns out to be true in everything that I do. I’m still learning all those things about playing and now I practice; every day.

And this has become the way I approach all my actions; parenting, partnering with my spouse, making love, counseling my clients, leading and especially, simply paying attention.

In all things the slow way requires that I sustain my vulnerability, listen as deeply as I can to my intonation and sing for all I’m worth.

I like to cook from scratch; making all the stocks and sauces, hand making the pasta and even growing the produce when I can. I don’t use recipes but rather follow forms and improvise; making up new words with the alphabet of flavor and texture, association and history.

Always taking the time to focus on the process, to make it beautiful every time.

Just like playing the cycle of fifths – boring and hackneyed and likely filled with forced errors if you rush through it – as beautiful as song if you strive to give the simplest detail grace.

Reflections on Leadership and Membership

I was speaking with my daughter yesterday about issues of leadership. She is involved in many organizations at her school and tends to step in to get things done and like her father ends up being invited to leadership roles. She is the kind of person who sets a goal for herself and then achieves it. She was speaking of her frustration with group process and the fact that achieving goals is so much more difficult in a group setting and all the more so the larger the group is. Can you say Debt Ceiling? The following reflection that resulted from that discussion.

A young leader must first learn that as a member who is a leader of a group, as distinct from an outsider (as I often am in my consultant role), there are personal resources that can not be available. I am a consultant who often does "Leadership Coaching". In my professional role my clients are generally very receptive to what I have to say, to my feedback and observations, and my direction. I am also currently the President of a large group of leaders (all of whom are the leaders of state wide organizations in the US, province wide organizations in Canada, and nation wide organizations elsewhere (40 or so nations all over the world). If this makes you curious check out Destination Imagination. As the President of DIAD (Destination Imagination Affiliate Directors) I cannot act as consultant. I still have my knowledge but I will not be heard as consultant. I will not be authorized by the group to consult in that way. As President I am authorized to carry out the duties of President and these do not include consulting. It would be a very bad idea to authorize a member to be President and consultant because it gives one person way too much power. I can teach about my knowledge base but I can not make interventions in the same way. To make interventions as consultant would confuse the boundaries that I must respect as member and President (who must be a member).

Too be continued....

Get ready world - something is beginning to germinate!

The Duty of Membership is Leadership

• Leadership is always done by example
• When you are leading people watch everything you do
• Leadership requires self awareness
• Leadership is a responsibility
• Everyone can lead and leading is a choice
• Leadership requires taking risks
• When you are a Leader people put their well being in your hands;
always respect that.

My Goal

What I intend to do here is write about the unexpected ideas and lessons of and about leadership as they present themselves and inspire me to words.