Part 3 of 4, “America’s Best Leaders”
In defining the reasons for “America’s Best Leaders Project 2006” David Gergen, a member of the selection committee said, “there may be a dearth of leadership in our national life…but there are still great leaders abroad in this land (1).”
In this third of four parts, we look at another four leadership vignettes of the Best Leaders Project from the view of this month’s theme, innovation.
WYNTON MARSALIS
Artistic Director of Jazz at Lincoln Center
“…A fortress of integrity..”
When asked about the seeming-stretch between jazz music and business leadership, Marsalis eloquently ties the two together. He says that as with music when a talented player sells out “for notoriety, publicity or money,” leadership loses integrity when it refuses to “confront our challenges and reconcile contradictions (2).” He says our nation’s shortage of ethical leadership is partly due to “reducing human labor to a line item on a budget, and so on.” So, the answer Marsalis has to what will ruin jazz music…or business? “Lack of integrity. Jazz music always stood as a fortress of integrity (1).”
ROBERT MOSES,
Founder, The Algebra Project
“…Leadership is present in any community and only awaits discovery and development.”
Moses is a “Harlem-born, Harvard-educated(1)” man who is as complex as the algebraic formulas he believes will be part of solutions for the challenges facing African Americans. “The algebra project seeks to impact the struggle for citizenship and equality by assisting students in inner city and rural areas to achieve mathematical literacy,” states the vision on the website for The Algebra Project (3). “Higher order thinking and problem solving skills are necessary for entering into the economic mainstream. Without these skills, children will be locked into an economic underclass (3).”
Moses created an algebra curriculum that is fun yet challenging…and is proven to cause students who take it to significantly outperform control peer subjects. He calls algebra a “gatekeeper” subject (2) that is needed for youth to succeed “technologically- dependent society.”
The creation of The Algebra Project is a mini-summary of leadership: see a need, find a solution. When Moses’ daughter was set to go to public middle school, no algebra classes were offered. Moses declared he’d see algebra classes in public schools if he had to teach them himself….and he did. The project grew from there.
ALAN KHAZEI AND MICHAEL BROWN, CITY YEAR
“…Anybody can be a leader. It’s a skill that people can learn and develop.”–Alan Khazei
Khazei and Brown are part of a growing number of “social entrepreneurs” whose definitions of success are more likely to be found at the edge of humanity than on the bottom of a balance sheet. Says Khazei, “I don’t think leaders are born. Our belief is that anybody can be a leader. It’s a skill set that people can learn and develop (5).”
Their organization, City Year, has enrolled 1200 young people a year to perform community service in 17 cities in the United States and South Africa. Both of them have great advice for would-be social entrepreneurs: “find a partner and build a team (5).”
MICHAEL BLOOMBERG AND JOEL KLEIN
Mayor, New York & Chancellor, NYC Public Schools, and partners in school reform
“If you’re going to hold your finger in the wind…you’re not going to be an effective leader.”–Joel Klein
Bloomberg, a media titan, and Klein, a reform-minded educator, partnered to create controversial initiatives that have caused parental outrage…and significantly better indicators of student success. “As Bloomberg and Klein have learned, radical change requires leaders who can build public support and also withstand criticism (4).”
Klein is himself a product of New York City public schools where “the teachers in Queens really gave me a world view and a sense of opportunity and purpose.”
Together, the two aggressive men have led the way in school reform by focusing on school leaders, establishing uniform reading programs, cutting administrative costs and creating clearer accountability. Not all changes have been publicly popular, but Klein flatly says, “If you’re going to hold your finger in the wind…you’re not going to be an effective leader(5).”
The foundation of their reforms is a principal leadership academy modeled on a corporate academy by Jack Welch, former CEO of GE. “Schools are the basic units that need changing, and if we can empower the principals to lead their schools, we can reform the system from the top down and bottom up,” says Klein (5).”
REFERENCES
(1) Cole, Diane, U.S. News & World Report, The Civil Right to Radical Math, 10/30.2006, Vol. 141, Iss. 16
(2) U.S. News & World Report, America’s Best Leaders, 10/22/06, http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/leaders/
(3) The Algebra Project, www.thealgebraproject.org
(4) Kingsbury, Alex, U.S. News & World Report, Curing what ails the classroom, 10/30/2006, Vol. 141, Iss. 16
(5) Preston, Caroline, Chronicles of Philanthropy, A New Chapter for a Leader of the National Service Movement, 11/11/07, Vol. 19, Iss. 6, p. 44
