XXV. Finding Lessons in Leadership Wherever You Turn

This is the 25th issue.

Getting to 25 was the first milestone for my newsletter adventure. It has certainly helped me discipline my writing regimen. It is very easy to slack off and find an excuse when it comes to writing, especially when you have a family, a collection of pets, why is this dash light on, a teenage daughter, boys who are grown men, AC not working, roach in my room, all kinds of competing interests for your attention.

But this newsletter has helped me get back on track. I’m working on a first draft of a new book I hope to have completed by the end of the year. I’ve hit 50,000 words and that is when I usually stop and start editing, filling in the holes, letting the story evolve.

The second milestone was to get to 100 subscribers. Thanks to you all and your help sharing this newsletter, I've accomplished that. I’ve made a few changes in the look and the feel. Things will continue to evolve as I get feedback, read, learn, and ponder. I see lessons in leadership at almost every turn and hope to keep sharing them.

As always, thank you for reading and taking the journey with me.

1. Florida has enacted a six-week abortion ban while Arizona rolled back its confederate-era law, highlighting the need for adult voices in November's election. I will be supporting my wife and daughter on this issue. Wherever you are, whatever your thoughts, be heard. Vote.

2. Marijuana's federal classification is being downgraded. That will make it easier in the way of taxes and human research. We still need banking and further legalization. Put in perspective, weed is cheaper and less addictive than most legal pain medicines.

3. Campus protests were quelled with force, but not Kent State level (thank goodness). The public explanation has included the presence of outside influences on the students. Not sure how much of that is true, but so far I think the response is measured. Remember. Seeing youth being active is good. Democracy doesn’t survive without protest or education.

Do you realize how visual we are? As a degreed land use planner and former planning commissioner, I have long observed the struggles between development and greenspace. This great article uses data to determine outcomes of where access to greenspace is missing. This is not a new issue. It has been discussed for decades in the fight over development rights, “not in my backyard”, and concepts of urban sprawl and urban infill.

In my experience, cities must pre-determine to set aside what greenspace it has, or it will end up lost for reasons of development or misguided security concerns. I’ve watched painfully as a lot of school grounds have become less green and more like prisons to ensure there are no spaces in which to hide or be hidden. A saying I heard 20 years ago from a researcher, "Cutting trees does not equate to cutting crime.” Think about it the next time you travel. Cities that look like everywhere else have usually given up their urban greenspace.

Where I live is well known for its seasonal changes and its green landscape in comparison to other places. I have heard many visitors talk about how green it is here, however, I am sure if a comparison were to be made between green landscape decade by decade, we too have lost quite a bit. Another measure: next time you drive somewhere, see how many empty parking lots are noticeable.

Modern American zoning has been an abysmal failure that has led to the loss of real community. Some costs are well known, such as the time spent driving and the upkeep and insurance of numerous household vehicles. The focus of this article, the cost of being surrounded by more concrete than vegetation, is lesser known.

Progress is being made in several areas, usually led by citizen initiatives that measure distances to parks and protect canopy roads. Local leaders who take climate change seriously know how effective certain trees will be. True cost accounting practices would also reverse what we’ve taken as the norm. An easy measure? When you enjoy a walk somewhere, which I hope you do, make sure that future generations get to enjoy that same stroll.

We are in an age where the move against Diversity Equity & Inclusion (DEI) is a piece of red meat thrown to followers. It is a purposeful distraction with nothing based on reality.

Most of my career has been in an environmental-related field. Minorities make up a very small percentage of this professional class. Any assumption that this will get better without a concerted effort to attract or recruit more diversity, is simply wrong. The two questions really being asked are, “Does it matter?” and “Who cares?” You’ll need to decide where you stand to get clarity.

Items like this database, Freedom on the Move, compiles thousands of ads from old newspapers during the real history of slavery in the United States. These are unfortunate facts. DEI has been scapegoated to protect a new economic class system based in part upon willful ignorance. At what point is education and knowledge of history like this considered to be a weapon?

You have to ask who is wanting to revise history and why. Ruth Ben-Ghiat writes routinely on initiatives like this. When autocracy works to gain a foothold and rewrite the past, it is usually to legitimate a specific type of future. If you don’t recognize the various powers trying to do this today, get to the library. Now.

I’ve known and worked with numerous federal employees during my decades in public service. My first four years were specifically with federal-level projects. I traveled across the US and met many representatives of tribes interested in securing regulatory authority over their clean air space. I interacted with feds working honestly to level the playing field through mind-numbing regulations and meetings.

While there are always a few comfortable bureaucrats wherever you turn, most want and try to do a good job. The issues they deal with are the same that many of us who have served locally or at a state level deal with, maybe sometimes worse.

No one should be surprised at these survey results. Public service has been used as a scapegoat for so long that some of this can be attributed to purposeful obsoletion or purposeful neglect. We’ve been through at least three decades of pretending government can work without good governance.

Two thoughts from reading this.

• Most managers have a mix of control over getting things done. Be open and frank with staff on what things you do have some sway with and what else has to be accepted or worked around. Staff know things, hear things, can look up salaries, and so on. Some can see between the lines and don’t need a lot of “educating”. Others take the silence or void of information as a conspiracy. You’ll need to discern the best approach.

• Every manager should have someone around them they can depend on for an alternative viewpoint. In many cases, to simply tell the truth. A creeping disaster in any public service agency (and we’ve seen it in numerous private firms from Enron to Sears) is getting too many managers making too much money. The strategy then becomes more of conformity (status quo) vs. creativity (getting things done). Have someone around that tells you the shit you don’t want to hear.

This is one of those issues that puts public service in a conundrum.

Due to past public sector policies (or lack thereof) and private sector economic interests, a situation has been created where one species could face extinction without the control of another. The natural balance built over a millennium is out of whack and now our federal conservation agency is trying to determine what to do. On the surface, I am not sure of this approach. I wonder if there were any public workshops to gather possible solutions. What would you do? Even if you don’t come to an answer you’re happy with, mulling such an issue in your brain will increase your decision-making capacity and critical thinking skills.

I urge you to keep an eye on this.

The more I read about coral, the more I’m concluding this is the indicator to watch. No amount of ignorance, complacency, greenwashing, distraction, or token efforts will stop the loss of coral without real systems-level change. What is occurring across the globe is not a typical or seasonal event.

I’ve been fortunate to see some of the hands-on propagation efforts going on to “birth” coral under controlled situations. Time will tell whether we can reverse the external pressures or force an adaptation in the plants. If we get it right, that means lots of other things are going right in science and education. If we get it wrong and we lose the rest of our coral, it will indicate we didn’t do what we could have, when we could have. We will feel the repercussions economically. The most conservative of principles is to be a good steward.

Is this an issue where you are?

My grandfather worked into his eighties. He was a speech pathologist, a field that has had huge growth via the senior citizen market. He retired on his own accord, though I think he felt they changed his travel schedule purposely (longer driving trips) to usher him out the door. Before he finally hung up his work hat, the company he was with began employing workers from overseas due to the demand (and probably at a lower cost).

For this particular article, here’s the question the thought leader will ask.

Is this a normal outcome of our free market system?

If it is, than full stop. There’s nothing more to debate. Continue to let the current market and personal decisions work things out.

If this is not how the market is supposed to work, if there are policy or political acts that are influencing the workings of a free market, then it is worth getting into the weeds of how we got here.

SNIPPETS

Great piece that you can read or listen to on getting back to results in education and public service. Has the United States lost its 'can-do' attitude? | On Point (wbur.org)

A cool new book discover site based on author recommendations.

And Now….

Hope to see you next time. Thank you for being here at the 25th. Keep reading, practice your gratefulness, and remember: Be a good human. (Side note: the tune selected this week will forever remind me of Ms. Ash’s 4th grade class a decade ago. I was there one morning when she put it on for a testing day to get the kids ready. They danced around her to get rid of the stress and wake up, and now most have danced off to college and elsewhere).