Chapter X: How Do I Know if I Have What It Takes?

“Don’t make promises, make commitments” (Dr. Mark Whitman, Alfred State College)

The place that one finds themself today does not necessarily represent who they are. However, from where they have come is a fair representation of whom they may become. Let’s begin with the following snippet and let’s see if collectively we can figure out what is the author’s meaning.

I was born and raised for the majority of my youthful existence in Hornell, NY. A small city nestled in the foot hills of the Allegany Mountain region in the southern tier of New York State. Located approximately sixty miles south of Rochester, NY, and equidistant between Binghamton, NY, to the east and Jamestown, NY, to the west. A city of families that pretty much knew each other, one high school and junior high school, and several neighborhood elementary schools. The city less than five square miles had ten wards and a city council member to represent each one. I had to leave my city and move to Florida at the age of ten because mothers and fathers do not always stay together.

The city, in my youth had a handful of small light industries. The major employer was the Erie–Lackawanna Railroad. The locomotive shops were located in Hornell as the city was considered the mid-point between New York City and Chicago on the line. A strong substantial line not encumbered with tunnels that would inhibit high loads and major metropolitan areas to slow the trains down. During Hornell’s heyday the Eire had most of its operation located within the City. City pride was enthusiastically displayed in most walks of life and school sporting events to be sure.

Hornell, NY, served as the shopping and recreation hub for a three hundred mile radius, a strong medical support and at the time, two hospitals. Hornell had its share of churches and saloons per capita as noted in a publication of an Almanac (As rumor has it, but will take it as face value for purposes of this discussion). The residents practiced many traditions commonly associated with small town America. Needless to say, the City was active and for a small kid growing up, pretty exciting. However, not overly accessible to the outside world during the 50s outside of radio, television, and news print.

I grew up in Hornell, NY, and learned the meaning of family, friends, and relationships. I loved family and learned how differences can even divide a strong unit like a family. I grew up in my city during a time when you earned what you received. This was true in school, family, part-time work outside of expected chores, and the neighborhood took care of every child within its boundaries. When someone new moved in, they were accepted, not belittled or considered an outsider. But if they had an accent or different twang to their speech, maybe they received some ridicule.

I grew up in Hornell, NY learning a devotion to God and to Country. You learned how to be loyal, but not blind. A tradition practiced fairly evenly throughout the community was going to church. Not merely attending, but getting dressed in your suit and practicing your chosen religion. I grew up taking on a religion out of faith and devotion, not as a fad.

I grew up believing in my Country and its leaders. I became afraid when I witnessed on television the Secretary of the Russian Communist Party Nikita Khrushchev bang his shoe on the podium at the United Nations, stating he would bury this country without firing a shot. I guess that has renewed meaning as our current occupant of the Oval Office plays footsie with the current thug leader from that land. I guess I am feeling that fear once again. I grew up believing in my youth leaders will be there for you.

I grew up in Hornell, NY, learning honesty is the best policy. I learned that if people cannot trust you, then you have nothing else to give. I learned that caring and sharing was an integral part of life. Strangers were not the boogie man in every instance. I learned to be cognizant of my surroundings, but don’t fear something new, simply because it was different. I learned that the color of a person’s skin does not make them good or bad, but it is what is inside that person that makes them real. I learned that some time the truth can hurt, but is still the truth.

I grew up in Hornell, NY, where kids left home each day to play. Play without fear of the evils of the world preying upon you. We played all day in pick-up games. We played in the evening chasing lightening bugs, playing tag that encompassed your neighbor’s yard, we shoveled snow or raked leaves for a quarter and upon occasion found a bonanza at fifty cents.

Then on Sunday nights we watched the Ed Sullivan show. This is where you got a look at Elvis, The Beatles, or comedians taking on society before it was fashionable. We didn’t have I-pods, laptops, or video games, we had a neighborhood.

Did I happen to mention I was born in Hornell, NY? My hometown probably was not unlike yours, or a neighborhood in a major city. Stability was a way of life especially when one considers we didn’t have plastics, we had families, we had tradition, we had employment opportunities that allowed us to continue in our way of life, but we were not satisfied. We wanted to explore outside the comfort of our neighborhoods. This is likened to the old tall wooden ships safe and beautiful in the harbor. But that’s not what ships were built for they were built to sail the riley seas, face tumultuous weather, go into uncharted seas, and not stay moored in the safety of the harbor. They were built to travel the unknown and return safe to the harbors with precious cargo (Personal conversation President Gerald Phelan, NYSACP, 1991). What in the world would we look like if we remained entrenched in thinking the world is flat? We challenged outer space and dreamed of flying amongst the stars, we didn’t scoff at those who made it reality. We challenged ourselves to go beyond the last standard, find what is new. We didn’t have a throwaway society. Things seemed much simpler then. The only stable we find in society hence forth is that of change! We embraced change, we didn’t fear change, but we questioned reasoning for some of it. We understood that not all decisions are correct, so don’t shoot the messenger.

Risk Takers Are Innovators

Subordinates will forever be able to perform the tasks of leadership better than the person in charge, of course until they are situated in the “Chair,” in the front office now in charge. I subscribe to the theory that, “Without a past, you can have no future.” The problem with our traditional bureaucratic public safety organizations is the manner today’s leaders have a death grip on tradition and fail to see past the industrial era of management styles. The traditional leadership and management strategies of the 1940s and 50s are crushing creativity under their own weight (Stage & Dean, 2000). It has been my experience that innovation and creativity do not emerge from the ivory tower of headquarters, but rather from the rank and file members performing the daily tasks. Kouzes & Posner (2007), maintain, “Innovation requires more listening and communications than does routine work” (p. 177). 

The industrial era of leadership was designed for the purpose of getting the information flow in one direction; downward and required little if any response; and within my profession, very much like the Psychotherapy and Counseling arena the police have responded to a body of “expert knowledge” and qualification that were well guarded by the profession for the profession and not to be shared (Totten, 1999). Once a paradigm has been established, scientist enhances their reputations by writing journal articles that are addressed only to colleagues within the profession (Kuhn, 1996). Furthermore, the powers to be had little time for any input outside the organization; fatal to contemporary demands for innovation and creativity. It is critical to stay in touch with internal and external fabricators of organizational cultures in order to be a change agent (Kouzes & Posner, 2007). 

Change agents or change centered leadership subscribes to intuitive and creative juices of the membership and leadership in conjunction with power motivated for the right reasons, foreseeing the urgency for change and meeting those demands through swift and thoughtful decisions (Andersen, 2000). Critical to this style is the development of the organization’s members and a strong relationship between leader and follower (Andersen, 2000). Succession planning is a process in trouble, and selecting the right members for executive education requires deeper attention to existing rosters of organizations, and selection of future leaders in cooperation with new vision rather than those in contradiction is a necessity as well as required transformational traits (Haskins & Shaffer, 2010). 

There survives a tongue in cheek anecdote that describes the phrase much better, and that is: Leadership is often by the seat of your pants and no one can really prepare today’s executive for what lies ahead. I concur with the statement that a leader can never prepare for every contingency, but does not preclude the need to plan or prepare for the role. The leader must be flexible, able to deal with change and at a more rapid pace each day, and to deal with adversity on the fly. This is especially true when you’re in the mouth of the cat. The one area of caution is emphasized by Mattson (2007), urban ethnography’s “saloon problem” and its challenge to public sociology, is to examine all that is seen and unseen prior to making judgments. 

In summary, the successful innovative leader must be caring, sharing, and open to all ideas as described in the preceding as well as possessing the ability to work in teams, be creative and have a keen ability to forecast and move without hesitation. If you can relate to any of the former, you have what it takes. You probably have already functioned as a coach in your life time. 

You may not have unleased your full potential as of yet, but you most likely have what it takes to be a leader. Maybe not the leader of years gone by, but none-the-less a leader. Maybe you are raising or plan to raise your children with some of these same ideals, you probably have what it takes. Maybe you have not realized the same stability as your grandparents, but you yearn for a better life, you have what it takes. Maybe your dreams and aspirations are quite similar to those of your ancestors, but simply in different times. Maybe you need to turn intrinsic beliefs into reality. Maybe you have imprisoned those beliefs out of fear of failure or disenfranchisement. Maybe those are not a good enough reason to take an active role in the game you’re already in. I am sure you love your family, your faith, and your country. 

Leaders don’t take a seat on the sidelines and neither should you. We cannot afford complicity of apathy, remain idle, or wait for the other guy to do something. You’re already in the game, you cannot remain lethargic, become active in your own destiny, and for those you hold near and dear. Martin Luther King said “A person’s life ends when they choose to remain silent on things that matter” (March 8, 1965). There are many avenues for leadership. Pick one.