Crosby B.C., Bryson J.M. - Leadership for the Common Good (2005)(en)

VISIONARY, POLITICAL, AND ETHICAL LEADERSHIP 139

of the implementation process. When necessary, political leaders find a way to appeal over the bureaucrats’ heads to the broader public or other powerful stakeholders who support the change. For example, the advocacy coalition fighting for increased attention to AIDS on the part of U.S. public health officials in the early 1980s faced considerable barriers within the federal public health bureaucracy; they were, however, able to obtain a much more sympathetic hearing from members of Congress, and congressional pressure did force federal agencies to channel considerable resources toward AIDS research, treatment, and prevention.

Adeptly Design and Use Formal and Informal Arenas

The political practices described so far are connected to arenas in which leaders and constituents seek decisions from policy makers that will lead to effective implementation of their proposed solutions. The design and use of arenas determine both which proposals are placed on the policy-making agenda and which are incorporated into new laws, rules, regulations, projects, and programs. As noted in Resource D, the key considerations that leaders should include in their strategies for designing and using an arena are decision-making capabilities; domains; agendas; planning, budgeting, decision making, and implementation methods; and rules governing access to participation.

Decision-Making Capabilities

Political leaders identify and build relationships with the people who have clout (that is, key capabilities) in the executive, legislative, and administrative arenas that can supply the decisions they desire. These capabilities might include holding elected office, occupying a top position, showing proven ability to sway votes, or possessing the authority to approve budgets or personnel. For example, as Hively worked to secure funding for the Vital Aging Initiative, she had to ensure she sold the project to the dean of the college where she was working and to the university’s provost, who could approve funds for the project. She conducted research to find out which individuals and foundations might approve grants for the initiative and presented her proposal to the appropriate decision makers. Depending on the decision maker, she

140 LEADERSHIP FOR THE COMMON GOOD

recruited particular community leaders or role models to support the proposal.

Schmidheiny wanted to affect decision making in businesses, so he recruited chief executives to serve on the World Business Council for Sustainable Development. Moreover, the council has issued specific models and guidance for business leaders who want to improve their practices; guidance also is tailored for certain industries and company sizes. The council is developing learning modules that can help member companies “embed sustainable development issues” in their core business practices (World Business Council for Sustainable Development, 2003, p. 15). Council representatives have presented their views to U.N. policy makers who are establishing global mechanisms and standards for fostering sustainable development. At the Johannesburg Summit, WBCSD President Stigson joined with Greenpeace Director Steve Sawyer to visibly urge heads of state to agree on an international framework for tackling global climate change that would be based on the Kyoto Protocol—an event clearly calculated to get worldwide mass media coverage and put public pressure on national governments. The council also is attempting to influence the next generation of business leaders by setting up Young Manager Teams that can participate in WBCSD events and help shape the council’s future.

Political leaders should also remember to establish connections with powerful people who are opposed to the changes they support. Communicating with these people—Greenpeace leaders, for example, in the case of WBCSD—can reveal areas of agreement at least on procedures for hammering out solutions. As political leaders try to adjust their strategy to ongoing competition in an arena, they should keep working to find a way to tap the interests of opponents or find a way to neutralize them.

Domains

Political leaders consider carefully the domain of any arena to which they submit their proposed policies and projects. In submitting the final report of the African American Men Project, Cunningham and Milligan noted that the recommendations were directed at policy makers in many institutions whose domain included Hennepin County’s young African American men. County government was first

VISIONARY, POLITICAL, AND ETHICAL LEADERSHIP 141

on the list, but they also named the “State of Minnesota, the City of Minneapolis, foundations, other nonprofits, businesses, and educational systems” (Hennepin County, 2002, p. 5).

Political leaders often realize the need for altering the domain of an existing arena or establishing a new arena that encompasses all or part of the public issue at hand. In a way, the African American Commission that was recommended by the final report as an advisory group to the Hennepin County Board of Commissioners would expand the board’s domain to aspects of African American men’s lives that were outside the scope of the county’s traditional social service and public safety responsibilities.

Agendas

Political leaders understand how the decision-making agendas are set in the arena that they hope will consider their proposal, and they work to ensure that their proposals are advantageously placed on the agenda. This might require building a relationship with the powerful committee chair, who decides what proposed policy or legislation is considered by the committee. It might require working with the chairperson’s aide or secretary. Political leaders recognize that their proposal must compete with other issues for a decision maker’s attention; thus they emphasize why their proposal should be on the agenda (the issue is urgent, the decision makers’ constituents support the proposals, the proposals fit the decision makers’ priorities, the mass media are clamoring for action, and so on). Placement on the agenda can be quite important; for example, advocates of a policy proposal may want to have their proposal considered early in a meeting, so that it receives plenty of attention, rather than at the end when everyone is tired and just wants to finish the meeting.

To achieve a spot on the provost’s agenda, Hively could point out that aging baby boomers represent a business opportunity for the university. She could offer research indicating that older Minnesotans are seeking opportunities for self-development, and she could present work plans that offer a promise of success and accountability. She could also show how the proposal builds on work the university has already supported and show that external funders will supplement university resources.

142 LEADERSHIP FOR THE COMMON GOOD

Planning, Budgeting, Decision Making, and Implementation Methods

Political leaders understand how to fit their proposal into the planning and budgeting process of the appropriate arena. They carefully consider what amount of money and other resources to request and when and what type of program or staffing arrangements are likely to be viewed favorably in light of those plans and budgets.

Political leaders consider whether decisions are to be made by consensus, majority vote, or executive order, and in closed or open meetings. They need to know whether preliminary decisions are made by committees before moving to a larger policy-making group. They must be aware of decision-making time frames. They must think through the merits of expanding or reframing the issue that concerns them to include other issues that are on the decision makers’ agenda. They have to know which kinds of influence technique (lobbying, strategic voting, and the like) are acceptable. They must anticipate the moves and countermoves of others who are competing for decision makers’ attention and votes.

The implementation plans included in a policy proposal must take account of decision makers’ expectations and their institutional arrangement for handling a new program or a change in an old one. For example, a university administrator will expect results to be measured and reported, and that a new program is assigned to a department that handles similar programs.

As proposals are altered in the decision-making process, political leaders need to pay constant, even obsessive, attention to ensure the new proposals are technically and administratively workable, politically acceptable, and legally and ethically defensible, and that they encourage collective and individual behavior anticipated by the vision that animates their coalition.

As needed, political leaders also work for reform in planning, budgeting, decision-making, and implementation methods. For example, corruption may have to be rooted out, decision making made more transparent, and a committee system reshaped.

Access Rules

Political leaders understand the rules that govern who becomes a decision maker in an executive, legislative, or administrative arena and who is permitted to play another role in the arena (observer,

VISIONARY, POLITICAL, AND ETHICAL LEADERSHIP 143

advocate, expert). They must often change the rules or the decision makers for their groups to gain access to policy-making positions or to the process. A constitution may have to be amended, or at least new structures put into place. For example, young African American men traditionally have had little access to the deliberations of the Hennepin County commissioners, because the formal and informal rules governing their meetings advantaged the welleducated, well-informed professional or middle-class taxpayer. Creation of the African American Men Commission, however, provides an official conduit to the commission for young men who would not normally set up appointments with county commissioners or attend their meetings.

The Vital Aging Network has launched an advocacy leadership program in cooperation with several sponsors. The program helps participants gain the capacity to advocate influentially for policies that promote vital aging.

Helpful Tools

David Chrislip and Carl Larson’s Collaborative Leadership and Chrislip’s Collaborative Leadership Handbook offer guidance for building and sustaining a coalition (Chrislip and Larson, 1994; Chrislip, 2002). The Wilder Foundation furnishes detailed advice for lobbying state and local government policy makers in the United States (Avner, 2002). Additional advice on building a coalition as well as lobbying can be found in Kevin Hula’s Lobbying Together (1999) and Rinus van Schendelen’s Machiavelli in Brussels (2002), and on the Website of the National Coalition Building Institute (www.ncbi.org). You can use Exercise 4.6 to assess the political leadership capacity of an individual, group, organization, or network.

Ethical Leadership

Once policy makers have enacted new policies, passed new laws and regulations, set up new programs and projects, or refused to do so, the policy makers’ decisions are likely to be debated in a formal or informal court. Here, ethical leaders help constituents apply general rules to specific cases; resolve conflicts among competing ethical principles, laws, rules, and norms; and reward or

144 LEADERSHIP FOR THE COMMON GOOD

Exercise 4.6. Assessing Political Leadership Capacity.

You may use this exercise to rate a group, an organization, or an interorganizational network. You may reword the questions to rate your own or another individual’s political leadership capacity.

If the exercise is done by a group, each member should do the ratings individually; the ratings can then be pooled to produce a group rating.

Respond to the questions by checking one of the three boxes after each.

VISIONARY, POLITICAL, AND ETHICAL LEADERSHIP 145

Exercise 4.6. Assessing Political Leadership Capacity, Cont’d.

When you are done with the ratings:

For Working Alone

1.Develop a list of the political strengths of the individual, group, organization, or network on the basis of the items ranked Good/Well. Note a few of the reasons these items were ranked highly.

2.Develop a list of the political weaknesses of the group, organization, or network on the basis of the items ranked Poor/Poorly. Note a few of the reasons these items were given a low ranking.

3.Also note which aspects of the items rated OK/Acceptably need improving.

4.Identify specific actions you can take to build on the identified strengths and overcome identified weaknesses.

For Working in a Group

1.Develop a list of the political strengths of the group, organization, or network on the basis of the items that most group members rated Good/Well. Note a few of the reasons these items were ranked highly.

146 LEADERSHIP FOR THE COMMON GOOD

Exercise 4.6. Assessing Political Leadership Capacity, Cont’d.

2.Develop a list of the political weaknesses of the group, organization, or network on the basis of the items that a majority of the group ranked Poor/Poorly. Note a few of the reasons these items were given a low ranking.

3.Identify and discuss aspects of other items that need improvement.

4.Agree on specific actions the group can take to build on the identified strengths and overcome identified weaknesses.

punish the conduct of individuals and groups. Of course, all types of leadership have ethical aspects, but we define ethical leadership as sanctioning conduct and adjudicating disputes in court, because in this process the fundamental concern is with what is ethical and legitimate. These are the main skills of ethical leadership:

•Educating about ethics, constitutions, other laws, and norms

•Promoting awareness of how ethical principles, constitutions, other laws, and norms apply to specific cases

•Adapting principles, laws, and norms to changing times

•Resolving conflict among principles, laws, and norms

•Understanding the design and use of formal and informal courts

Educate About Ethics, Constitutions, Other Laws, and Norms

In court decisions, legal treatises, editorials, sermons, memos, and other communications, ethical leaders emphasize the importance of abiding by and critiquing ethical principles, laws, and norms. They explain how ethical principles, constitutions, other laws, and norms do or do not contribute to communal well-being. They specifically emphasize the ethical principles, laws, and norms that legitimate their desired policies and that can evoke broad support among stakeholders.

WBCSD President Stigson and his colleagues exhibited ethical leadership when they joined Greenpeace at the 2002 Johannesburg Summit in emphasizing the importance of international treaties and protocols that can give businesspeople and other stakeholders

VISIONARY, POLITICAL, AND ETHICAL LEADERSHIP 147

consistent standards and timetables for reducing emissions of greenhouse gases. In appealing to the court of public opinion in Hennepin County, Minnesota, Milligan, Cunningham, and their colleagues are emphasizing the norms of community and inclusion, personal responsibility and security, and equal treatment. Hively, Hal Freshley, Darlene Schroeder, and their supporters are appealing to the court of public opinion throughout Minnesota by emphasizing norms of self-determination, self-sufficiency, community involvement, productivity, intergenerational mutuality, and nondiscrimination.

Obviously, it’s important that ethical leaders uphold the principles, laws, and norms they espouse in their own behavior. When protestors appeared at Shell’s annual shareholders meeting in 2003 to criticize the company’s environmental record, they indicated that company chairman and WBCSD leader Phil Watts and his colleagues at Shell need to do more to walk their talk. You may want to complete Exercise 4.7 to identify your role models for ethical leadership and develop ideas for overcoming barriers to it.

Promote Awareness of How Ethical Principles,

Constitutions, Other Laws, and Norms Apply

Ethical principles such as the importance of respecting human dignity offer only general guidance. A constitution is usually a broad framework establishing basic organizational purposes, structures, and procedures. Laws, though more narrowly drawn, still typically apply to broad classes of people or actions; moreover, they frequently emerge from the legislative process containing purposeful omissions and generalities that were necessary to obtain enough votes for passage (Posner, 1985). Therefore, ethical principles,

Exercise 4.7. Identifying Ethical Role Models, and Overcoming Barriers to Ethical Leadership.

1.Who are your role models for ethical leadership?

2.What ethical principles do they espouse or live out?

3.What draws you to these people?

4.What are the main barriers to practicing ethical leadership?

5.How can you overcome these barriers?

148 LEADERSHIP FOR THE COMMON GOOD

constitutional provisions, and other laws (including formal codes of ethics) require authoritative interpretation in order to decide whether and how they apply to a specific case. Judges, jurors, attorneys, and other interested parties all contribute to that interpretation. Outside the formal courts, leaders must typically apply norms rather than laws. Norms may be written (as in a published code of ethics) or unwritten.

Ethical leaders also consider how sanctions should be applied in a specific case. Laws often make available some guidance about (or a range of punishments for) violation of the law; they may even guarantee rewards (such as tax breaks) for those who comply with the law. Ethical leaders make the case for specific sanctions that are needed to give force to principles, laws, and norms.

Adapt Principles, Laws, and Norms to Changing Times

Although principles, laws, and norms have lasting force, they are the product of historical social issues and forces (when historical includes the recent past). As conditions change, new issues emerge and old ones change. Thus existing principles, laws, and norms must change, and ethical leaders help constituents understand the need for change and the type of change needed. Mounting evidence of global climate change caused by greenhouse emissions calls into question a regime of disparate national laws regulating polluters—a regime based on principles of national sovereignty. WBCSD officials are calling on national government officials to cede some of their sovereignty to an international body that would set global standards for reducing greenhouse emissions and increasing use of renewable energy.

Often, as in the WBCSD example, ethical leaders are urging policy makers in an executive, legislative, or administrative arena to alter the law. However, the leaders often must ask a formal court to mandate a change because vested interests that tend to oppose change hold sway over the executive, legislative, and administrative arena (Van Horn, Baumer, and Gormley, 2001). (This assumes that the court is reasonably independent of the arena.) In the area of constitutional law, in particular, the courts—as the “keepers” of constitutions—are usually the most legitimate venue for reinterpreting a constitution in light of societal changes.