Leading and Empowering People

by Jim McDonnell

I firmly believe that being placed in a leadership position is an honor and a privilege, but it is also a tremendous responsibility. It is a privilege that carries with it the responsibility to inspire others, and to direct them to attain the vision and goals of the organization.

As First Assistant Chief of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), I share the responsibility of leading the more than 9,700 sworn members and 3,000 civilian support staff of this organization, so that they can better “protect and serve” the four million residents of the City of Los Angeles.

What I have found in my study of leadership skills and practices is that our society is screaming out for leadership, especially transformational leadership. Over the past 10 years, the public’s interest in leadership issues has grown considerably. I believe that success in the 21^st century workplace will require that managers know how to create high-performing teams, design empowering workplaces, and develop and manage effective partnerships, alliances and networks.

In order to create these high-performance teams, effective communication is one of the many key ingredients needed for success. Leaders need to share their vision, expectations, goals and ideas continuously, not only with their peers but, more importantly, with those they have the honor and privilege of leading on a daily basis.

Using the theme of communication as my backdrop, I equate today’s leadership with two communication terms: analog and digital. Analog communication is the way of the past, top to bottom, vertical, and rarely horizontal. When the boss says jump, the employee says “how high?” However, today’s generation demands more communication from their leaders, they want buy-in and affirmation that their ideas are being heard and taken seriously. I compare this way of thinking to that of digital communication: top to bottom, bottom to top, and side to side. Unlike the old analog system, this type of communication is more inclusive, collaborative and draws more effectively on the skills and knowledge of all team members.

Today’s leaders must think “digitally” when leading; constantly ensuring that the lines of communication work horizontally and vertically, and are always as clear as possible. More importantly, today’s leaders must “throw out the net” to capture input from all levels of the organization, as well as from external partners, rather than the more traditional top to bottom style of communication. None of us can predict where the organization’s next best idea is going to come from. It would be a tremendous missed opportunity to limit ourselves due to our unwillingness to alter our “style” of communication.

Policing is a “people business,” as is the case with any public service agency, or for that matter, any organization that deals with the public as part of their mission. Leadership is about leading for the benefit of others and not the enrichment of ourselves. It’s important for today’s leaders to understand that leadership is not about rank, position or title. Leadership is action focused toward the goals of the organization, while effectively harnessing the strengths, interests, skills and passion of those who actually will get us to our goals.

What is most important is the leader’s ability to lead and empower others for the greater good of the organization and those we serve. Today’s leaders are not larger than life personalities. They are the ordinary, everyday heroes like parents, co-workers, teachers, and spouses. We are all leaders, if we choose to take advantage of opportunities while others stand by and wait for someone to step up. Be that someone!

Guest blogger Jim McDonnell is First Assistant Chief and Chief of Staff with the Los Angeles Police Department; and a graduate of Leadership L.A.

Southern California: the Right Time, the Right People, and the Right Place

by Kevin Cottrell

"All citizens should have the opportunity to be active, but all will not respond. Those who do respond carry the burden of our free society. I call them the Responsibles. They exist in every segment of the community- ethnic groups, labor unions, neighborhood associations, businesses- but they rarely form an effective network of responsibility because they don't know one another across segments. They must find each other, learn to communicate, and find common ground. Then they can function as the keepers of the long-term agenda." -John W. Gardner, 1912-2002 (pictured right), "Civic Partners", 1997

This quote from John Gardner, one of America’s leading thinkers on community, society and leadership, becomes more poignant day to day since he wrote the words. I often rely on Gardner’s work and his concept about “the Responsibles” in our leadership sessions as both a call to action and inspiration. In their short and intensive time together, our Leadership L.A. (pictured below) and Leadership Southern California fellows certainly connect across their traditional segments, communicate and find common ground on the large issues facing our communities.

Over the past two decades, I have sought to immerse myself in the unique challenges and opportunities facing Southern California. This work has allowed me to engage in a much more productive dialogue with many of our 1,000+ leadership fellows, SCLN’s board members and corporate and philanthropic investors, as well as political and business leaders here and abroad.

Inevitably, I tend to more easily engage in the opportunities that we face as a region, especially given the magnitude of the economic and global leadership challenges that currently confront us. It is my personal philosophy that the only way to address challenges is through solutions created by the opportunities we seize. Through innovation, stronger social networks, and commitment, I believe that Southern California is well positioned to move forward.

Gardner’s “Responsibles” keeps coming back to me with a renewed energy as a result of my work with the Southern California Leadership Network and our vantage point in this region. The larger question is not just meeting and connecting, but moving forward on the question of how “the Responsibles” can become the “keeper of the long-term agenda.” In other words, what are the mechanics of moving Southern California forward?

Without question, the long-term agenda for Los Angeles and Southern California needs to address our concerns about congestion, expansion of our economy and opportunities for all, quality education, public safety, and healthy communities and environment. This sort of agenda will also make our region the global model of success. With a quick look around the globe, it is crystal clear that the race is on. With a quick look around Southern California, we seem as capable, if not more capable, than other regions in large part due to our history of innovation, cultural diversity, and infrastructure development.

Being a part of “the Responsibles” is not for the glory seekers, the faint of heart, or those looking for quick returns. The glory is likely to be limited, the successes will be incremental, and the investment of time and energy to connect in the region are significant due to the mobility issues we face. However, the returns are much larger in terms of a moral legacy in serving our fellow citizens and creating a path of prosperity and sustainability for the generations to come.

In an effort to move forward our dialogue here, I ask these questions:

1. What types of initiatives or activities do you think can strengthen our network of “the Responsibles” in this region?
2. What do you think are the top three opportunities on the long-term agenda?

Kevin Cottrell is Executive Director of the Southern California Leadership Network and Vice President of Leadership Programs at the L.A. Area Chamber of Commerce.

Global Leadership Blog

Posts below from June 2008 through August 2008 were written by Southern California Leadership Network Executive Director Kevin Cottrell while on his American Marshall Memorial Fellowship from the German Marshall Fund in Europe.

Relationships and Leadership

When I was leaving Berlin, I was chatting with one of our hosts about how grateful I was for the GMF Fellowship. I described it as a chance of a lifetime. She smiled, graciously accepted the compliments, but added that the true test would be when the experience would settle in more deeply and “move from your head and into your bones.” At first, I was not certain about what the analogy meant. Now I'm beginning to understand.

Since my return at the end of June, news about Europe has a new or refreshed meaning. A few items in particular have been more meaningful and insightful as they touch upon places we visited and the issues engaged and debated:

• Iran’s test of its medium- and long-range missile in early July sparked outcry in the midst of the G8 Summit. European concerns on the “rise of Iran” were addressed in our meeting with members of the E.U. Parliament, including Parliament Member Paolo Casaca of Portugal (pictured below, second from right). Casaca is a member of the E.U. Delegation for Relations with Iran.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• In Turkey, the latest internal security struggles and the Turkish Supreme Court decision on its ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), sparked initially by AKP efforts to lift the headscarf ban in secular Turkey.
  
  
• The capture of Radovan Karadzic in Serbia and his extradition to the Hague to face the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).
  
  
• The U.S. presidential race, when the foreign policy debate between candidates Obama and McCain was magnified by their tours abroad as well as Obama’s speech in Tiergarten Park which drew more than 200,000 Berliners.

The news feels different. Perhaps it was because as I hear or read the news, I also think of my time in Europe. I tend to think the Fellowship is more meaningful for me because of the personal relationships that were developed. My thoughts turn to how Europeans are both reporting and reacting to these issues. The experience has seeped into my bones. Feelings are now playing a role.

As leaders, we are bombarded with media and internet information about our communities, our economy and our world. Relationships help to provide a context to this information; we all know it is easier to verify information from a trusted relationship. It is reassuring. Perhaps the greatest lesson for me is a new appreciation of formal and informal access to information about the world.

The best news, however, is that through this experience, new opportunities to build relationships have already emerged. I am continuing to host visiting European fellows, Los Angeles will play host to the American Marshall Forum in late September 2008, and I will travel to Copenhagen in October for the European Marshall Forum in late October 2008.

In moving forward, the Southern California Leadership Network will continue this blog, with some exciting changes in store. In the coming month we will be moving to a new format that will provide reflections on cutting-edge leadership themes and commentary on community leadership issues with guest bloggers, incorporating podcasting and interactivity. We hope you will stay tuned for these enhancements.