Over the past 10 years, the issues facing our communities have remained persistent (education, health care and economic disparities) and have become increasingly complex (energy, environment, immigration and globalization). Yet, only about half of the people in Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota say they live in a community that solves its problems.1 The Bush Foundation set a goal to change this: By 2018, 75% of people in all demographic groups in Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota say their community is effective at solving problems and improving their quality of life.
As we looked at available research, we reaffirmed that courageous leaders are critical to community vitality and success. In the article “Investing in Leadership: A Grantmaker’s Framework for Understanding Nonprofit Leadership Development,” author Betsy Hubbard states, “It is hard to argue with the proposition that leadership matters. We know through direct experience that the actions and behaviors of individuals who exert influence within group settings make a difference.” While Hubbard acknowledges that outcomes rely on more than leadership and that more research is necessary to determine the degree to which leadership and leadership development impact organizational performance, the Bush Foundation continues to believe in the need to support leaders and invest in ways to help them be more effective in their roles.
According to Harlan Cleveland, author of The Knowledge Executive, approximately one of every 200 Americans (including men, women and children) is what he terms a ‘public executive’ – policymakers with positions in public, philanthropic, voluntary and large-scale private enterprise. In Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota, approximately 40,000 people hold official leadership positions in the government and nonprofit sectors (See Table 1). In addition to these positional leaders, there are thousands of emerging leaders in the three states – those who, while not in official positions of authority or power, are capable of influencing others and can serve as catalysts for change. The Bush Foundation plans to invest in support for these emerging leaders as well.
As Peter Senge, author of The Fifth Discipline and founding chair of Society for Organizational Learning, writes, “In every case I know where significant change processes have been sustained, it has been due to the workings of large numbers of people, not just isolated individuals.”2
When the Pew Partnership for Civic Change conducted a national survey in 2003 to discover what Americans believe they can contribute toward improving life in their communities, 40 percent said that working together with others in their community is the most important thing they can do, followed by volunteering and voting at 27 and 14 percent, respectively. In a follow-up report, the Pew Partnership states, “Our experience confirms that this 40 percent of the public, while not yet a majority, is right-on in its perception. The new eyes that America needs are actually its own: looking anew at one another, but also looking forward in the same direction.”3
The Bush Foundation agrees. While we don’t have the answers for the complex problems facing communities across Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota, we do believe that by supporting leaders and engaging entire communities in problem solving, innovative and enduring solutions are possible.
But developing courageous and effective leaders is not enough. Entire communities need to be engaged – “communities” defined broadly by geography, affiliation, profession, fields of endeavor, faith, culture or demographics. Research indicates that confidence in leaders is in decline (See Table 2), further affirming the need to bring people from all sectors and demographic groups to the table to discuss and engage in finding solutions to tough problems.
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Table 1: Percentage of Positional Leaders by Sector in MN, ND and SD
Compiled by the Bush Foundation using data from: 1) U.S. Census Bureau, Census 2000 Population and Housing Unit Counts, issued April 2004, 2) government websites for Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota, and 3) states associations, Guidestar, secretaries of state in the three states and the IRS.
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