Leadership Quotes

Occasionally I run across really relevant quotes on the issue of leadership.  So I try to pass them on.  Here are a couple from recently readings. From Tony Blair:  "The are of leadership is saying no, not yes.  It is very easy to say yes."

From Tim Le Beerecht, via Ted Talks:  "Your brand is what people say about you when you are not in the room."

From Venugapal Gupte:  "Rivalry cannot be wished away, but it can be made irrelevant by focusing on complimentary interests."

From Jean Paul Sarte:  "Freedom is what you do with what's been done to you."

Why Bother Getting a Post Secondary Degree?

There are obviously many, many good arguments to make about why one should get a post secondary education.  Even good arguments on why a liberal arts education makes us all better citizens.  There are excellent arguments about the fact that not everyone needs a four year university degree and that we need more training and education available at the community college level. Also applicable research on the effectiveness of middle college programs.  The good news is that we are all discussing and debating these issues.  The bad news is that reform and re-starts are very slow coming and very difficult to implement. The Economist magazine (January 24, 2015) had an interesting article that included some very relevant information to this discussion:

A young college graduate earns 63% more than a high school graduate, if both work full time.

Only 9% of college educated mothers who give birth each year are unmarried, compared with 61% of high school dropouts.   (This of course impacts availability of affordability and access for post secondary education and GED passage.  Also greatly impacts the numbers in poverty statistics.)

Also according to a report by OECD and The Children's Defense Fund, people who experience poverty at any time in their childhood are more than 3 times as likely to be poor at age 30, as those who were never poor as a child.

Today almost 15 million American children live below the poverty level.

We need to as a nation address these unconscionable levels of child poverty.

Jobs and Education

An article in the recent edition of the online magazine The Bridge had some very interesting data on relationship to future jobs and post secondary school training/education. 65% of the jobs in the US will require education beyond high school by the end of this decade.  However fewer than 40% of Americans have post secondary education.  In Michigan it is worse.  Only 38% of Michiganders have  at least an associate degree.

So, it is clearly important that the states continue to find ways to make post secondary education via community colleges, middle college programs and universities more accessible to everyone and more affordable.  In fact there is an increasing discussion going on around the country on the notion that post secondary education is a human right and needs to be made affordable, if not free, to all citizens.  Germany of course is a leader in this area.  Not only can Germans get a post secondary education free but non Germans who live in Germany can also attend for free.

President Obama's proposal for free tuition at all community colleges in America is going to be tough to get thru Congress.  I hope it gets a lot of debate and discussion in Congress.  It deserves to heard out and all the implications debated, discussed and presented:  fiscal costs, access issues, income equality issues, etc., etc..

Universities need to be involved in this debate and more discussion on the cost of obtaining a baccalaureate degree and access issues.  We should not forget the governance issues that are so important to getting a more affordable university experience for students.

More on Aging and Atlantic

Steven Pinker in his book Better Angels of Nature writes:"total casualties from combat , including indirect casualties from the economic harm associated with fighting, have been declining even as global population has risen. In 1950, one person in 5,000 worldwide died owing to combat; by 2010 this measure was down to one person in 300,000. In recent years far more people have been killed by car crashes than by combat." Research by political scientist "John Mueller, suggests that as people age, they become less enthusiastic about war. Perhaps this is because older people tend to be wiser than the young.

Perhaps we could use more wisdom in this world of ours.

Trick is how we make sure we have a balance between the young, the middle age and the old in our governing at the federal state and local levels. In all of our institutions we need to keenly aware of this mix. Not easy to accomplish.

Aging in America

Atlantic magazine had a recent issue that focused on the science of old age. Here are some random factoids from the featured article: Good news is that our country is not the most "grey"- Japan has that honor. Japan's median age is 45, while in the US it is 37. In 2040 Japan jumps to a median age of 55.

"The number of Americans 65 and older, 43 million today, could reach 108 million in 2050. That's like adding three more Floridas, inhabited entirely by seniors."

Congress is now the oldest it has ever been. "Average Senator is 62 years old; the average representative is 57."

"Now think of the Supreme Court as life expectancy increases. The nine justices on the first Court sat an average of nine years; the last nine to depart, an average of 27 years. John Paul Stevens , the most recent to retire was a justice for 35 years. If Clarence Thomas lives to,the actuarial life expectancy of a male his current age, he could be a justice for 40 years. "

"If democracy is to remain vibrant as society age, campaign laws must change to,help,challengers stand a chance versus incumbents, and the Constitution must be amended to, impose a term limit on the Supreme Court, so confirmation as a justice stops being a life time appointment to royalty."

AMEN!

I would add that the term limit should apply to ALL judges in the federal system who get life time appointments. It is an awful situation. We have created a royalty class in our judiciary and is un-American. Our founding fathers would be appalled.

We see this situation play out differently in the Presidency and in the Congress. The royalty is the few families who crate legacies for themselves by running and possibly becoming President. In Congress we need to amend our campaign laws to make it possible for challengers have an equal chance to be elected.

Congressional term limits might not be the perfect answer, but we need to find some possible solutions or term limits might become the sole solution.

America needs to debate these topics now.

First Amendment and Choice to Look, Hear and Use

Listened to an interesting debate on CNN today about religious values and the first amendment. It was centered around statement by Pope Francis on whether he meant to say we should limit free speech when it comes to religion. Religious leaders from three faiths participated: catholic, jewish and muslim. Interesting points made by each religious leader. Take a look at it on CNN online. I thought the rabbi made the most interesting points: it was a Jewish lawyer who defended the nazi sympathizers in the famous Skokie case. He was repulsed by his clients statements and actions, but he wanted to defend EVERYONE'S right to say what they believed or thought (with some exceptions like yelling fire in a theater). He also stated that we can defend the publication Charlie right to publish the cartoons but we do not have to look at the cartoons or buy the magazine. However, I also read an interesting article in today's NY Times about France's debate on Muslim confrontation with French culture and governmental doctrines. The argument being made there that Muslims need to "fit" into French culture, not the other way around (note that I avoided using the French phrase). Goes to argument that culture drives politics, art, etc., and that our culture defines who we are as a nation. Should we begin to limit our first amendment rights to fight terrorism? Should we allow more warrantless searches of suspected terrorists? Should we limit harsh and grossly offensive speech about religions, religious leaders or religious beliefs? Lots and lots of questions and more debate on this topic will occur in coming months.

More on all this later.

Poverty and College Education

Recent study shows that a child born into a poor family has only a 9% chance of going to college, while that number jumps to 54% for a child born into a high income child. However research shows with a series of behavioral "nudges" we can greatly improve that 9% number. Need some leadership in the K-12 and higher duration communities to make this happen. This could make a real differ nice in closing income gaps and in reducing government subsidy costs.

Paris and Nigeria

Last week's massacre by terrorists of 17 people was a human tragedy and so very sad and painful. The world reacted with horror and with heartfelt sympathy and support . We saw global leaders, except the United Sates, come arm in arm to Paris in a statement to terrorist around the world. However during the same week 2000 people were murdered in Nigeria. The terrorist group Boko Haram did this horrible act. In Yemen over 40 people were killed by terrorists with a car bomb. Where were the global leaders arm in arm? Where was the outrage? Where was the global statement of sympathy?

Does this have to do with lack of information, geography, race or other factors? Hmmmmm.

Governor Snyder Leads on Immigration: Solve it in States Not DC?

Michigan GOP Governor Rick Snyder breaks with his party on immigration. He believes our immigration system is broken and our country needs a long term plan & solution. That takes courage to say and to act on. He will be a leader amongst the state governors of both parties on this issue. Maybe this is issue will be lead and solved by the Governors and not by Washington. States have always been called the "laboratory of democracy!

Palin on Romney

Rough day for a talented American like Mitt Romney-blasted by the Wall Street Journal. A very strongly worded editorial that had to hurt a bit for those folks encouraging Mr. Romney to get in the 2016 race. However, all was made right when today Sarah Palin questioned Mr. Romney's credibility and said we needed a different Presidential candidate in 2016. Now that had to stop the WSJ hurt. Not sure that a whole of Americans place a lot of faith in what Ms. Palin thinks are the right credentials for a presidential candidate in 2016. A day made better for Mr. Romney. Congrats.

House Immigration Vote Today

218 Republicans voted to over turn the President's Immigration Executive Orders. 26 Republicans voted against their caucus position. Republicans have rightly been writing and saying that they need to get a much, much larger portion of the Latino vote in Presidential elections if they are to recapture the White House. Do they think that the Latino voters will over look they action today and the individual congressional votes? How will this convince American Latino voters that they should take a second look at Republican Presidential candidates or Republican candidates for the House and Senate? Very puzzling. I know it will help in early primary states like Iowa but it may be devastating in primary states like Arizona, California, New York, Florida. Might even hurt in Texas. Using any definition of leadership it looks like not a lot of it was around in the US House of Representatives today!

Boko Haram

It is truly interesting that all the West leaders come together to fight terrorism in France and world wide. However, all the West ignores and does nothing about Boko Haram. Even after thousands have been slaughtered! Is it because this is a black majority nation? Is our outrage reserved for white nations like France, Israel and the U.S.? Are we not all better than this? We need to hope that our belief in freedom, liberty and democracy worldwide applies to ALL nations, not just white majority nations!

What is our United States policy on Boko Haram? What do you and I know about that policy and what actually is going on in Boko Haram? What is our media doing on this topic? Do they report equally about what is going on in Boko Haram as they do on terrorism in France and all over the West?

Where is our outrage? Where is our compassion? Where is freedom and liberty?

Where is the breaking point?

If the Russian movement into the Ukraine I do not know what is. This smells like an undeclared war. Walks like a duck, quacks like a duck must be a duck. Europe needs to step up more and faster. 1000+ Russian troops now on Ukraine soil.

Leaders Eat Last

If you have not read Simon Sinek's new book by this name do so immediately. It is well worth your time and will add to your leadership knowledge base.

More From The Leadership Guru

Warren Bennis passed away last month. He is no doubt one of a handful of the great thought leaders on global leadership. Here is one of my favorites practitioners and scholars that always makes me think about leadership but also what I am doing day to day: "The leader must be a social architect who studies and shapes what is called the 'culture of work'-- those intangible values and norms that are so subtly transmitted to individuals and groups, and so terribly important to governing the way people act."

So think about this as you interact in the office and in the community. Think about this as you interact with constituents, customers and colleagues.

Great Opportunity for Coders and Public Good

Pass this info on to friends and family:

Code Michigan is coming to Marquette this fall, so software developers and coders in the U.P. will have a chance to compete close to home.

The civic coding event, organized by the Michigan Department of Technology, Management and Budget, invites developers and designers to build mobile or web applications in a three-day event. At the end, cash prizes and the chance to pitch their app to investors await the winners. 

Apps and software should be designed to fill civic purposes like government transparency, citizen engagement, government efficiency, public policy, or economic development.

"Code Michigan is an exciting opportunity for civic-minded developers and designers to help reinvent Michigan's government by creating mobile and web apps for the public good," says David Behen, Michigan DTMB director and chief information officer. "I'm really looking forward to seeing what our competitors develop this year."

This year, Code Michigan will be held Oct 3-5 at three locations; Detroit, Newaygo, and Marquette, the last on the campus of Northern Michigan University. It's free to enter, but only 65 slots are open to developers at each location, so online registration is needed and can be found here.

Writer: Kim Eggleston
Source: Michigan Department of Technology, Management and Budget