Fostering leadership for the new millennium.

Leadership in the 21st century goes hand in hand with rebuilding community.

Two ideas are poised today on the cutting edge of thought and action nonprofit organizations: rebuilding community and the concomitant need to create, develop, and foster a new leadership for the new millennium. These two ideas, which may seem disparate at first, dovetail nicely and present a serious challenge for people who care about the future of the independent sector.

We all acknowledge our need to think with open, fresh, and eager minds, and to begin thinking about the new millennium and what it will mean to our communities, both local and global. We can begin this process by imagining the state of community in the United States and in the world. This article then considers three different countries and situations in which people and nonprofit organizations are rebuilding community. Finally, we can look at the characteristics that will be required of the 21st-century leader and see how those traits tie in with rebuilding community.

Why do we need to think about rebuilding and re-creating community? We need to because community has been crumbling, on local and international levels. This is the bad news. Just consider Bosnia, Rwanda, Los Angeles, Brooklyn, the Gaza Strip, Johannesburg, Rodney King, the World Trade Center, two young boys in an English mall, Northern Ireland, Reginald Denny, and drive-by shootings. The list could go on and on.

In his book On Leadership, John Gardner writes: "Families and communities are the ground-level generators and preservers of values and ethical systems. No society can remain vital - or even survive - without a reasonable base of shared values, and such values are not established by edict from lofty levels of society. They are created in families, schools, churches, organizations, and other intimate settings in which people deal with one another face to face. The ideals of justice, cultural diversity/inclusiveness, and compassion are nurtured in communities."

Where community exists, it confers upon its members an identity, a sense of belonging, a measure of security. With today's disintegration in the family and community, many of the anchors and support systems that create a sense of self are being eroded. In fact, community is eroding everywhere.

Preserving community

Without the continuity of shared values that "community" provides, freedom might die. Habeas corpus, trial by jury, a free press, and all the other practices that ensure our freedom in the United States are things we have designed. They are not natural. We need "community" to keep them in vogue. Humans need communities, and a sense of community.

So let's turn our attention to some communities where people are making efforts to rebuild and re-create. This is the good news.

First we'll visit Mexico City, right after the earthquake in 1987. In the hours following the quake, none of the Mexican audio and video media aired regular programming or commercials. They left the airways open to help people through call-in shows. Soon citizens began to participate in solving myriad problems created by this national disaster.

The stations dedicated themselves completely to the project, directing their efforts to community problem solving. The residents of Mexico City came up with wonderful ideas to solve problems. Today, more than 20 talk shows are on the air in Mexico - a virtual media blitz of individuals helping others to get things done and solve community problems.

Meeting needs

Next we'll go southeast to where the Caribbean Sea meets the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Venezuela, to the island of Trinidad. On this island there is an organization called SerVol, which means just what it sounds like in English - an organization that "serves all." This organization might well be unique. It is an organization that functions on every level and with every dimension of Trinidad's society. It interacts with government, nongovernmental organizations, and private business, and with citizens in every walk of life and at every economic level and especially with the poor, through training and education that leads to the creation of small businesses and jobs.

SerVol trains people to be day care workers, plumbers, electricians, and bricklayers, and to fill an enormous number of other roles. People learn their skills in buildings that were constructed by former SerVol students. They entrust their children to day care centers built and staffed by former SerVol students.

Through this organization, individuals can get loans to start businesses. While they don't have the kind of collateral that U.S. banks would want, they do have the collateral of "community." Loan decisions are based on recommendations from the community. If you can get five people to agree with your business idea, you can get a loan.

While most of SerVol's beneficiaries have little formal training, the system works for them. The organization helps rebuild and re-create community.

Finally, we'll look south to Brazil, a country with devastating poverty but with a lushness as well that overshadows most places on earth. We stay in a hotel that employs a woman who will never take a holiday away from her homeland. She is too poor and must support her son and mother as well as herself. Her skin is brown and smooth as silk - just like the skin of many of Brazil's poor.

She tells the hotel's guests she'll never be able to visit their countries. "But," she says, "I want to share my spirit with the world. And here is how I share." She has taught herself six different languages while working in the hotel gift shop. She converses in her native Portuguese as well as in German, Italian, Spanish, English, French, and Japanese.

Her conversation reveals that she has also absorbed the mannerisms of the people whose languages she knows so well. None of her language is stilted. She knows idioms and jargon. Her English is so dynamic, it is as if she had been brought up in Washington, D.C.

This gift shop employee contributes to creating community with a fascinating facility for language and a marvelous ability to become, in a sense, a citizen of other countries. She provides a sense of connectedness for travelers visiting the gift shop, and she accomplishes her objective on a daily basis, sharing her spirit as a global citizen.

The 21st-century leader

All this talk of re-awakening, rebuilding, re-creating, and "re-whatevering" demands diligence, hard work, and, most importantly, leadership. Talk shows, SerVol, and our gift shop linguist are not accidental. Rebuilding a sense of community doesn't happen by chance but by specific processes. Re-creating is not random but deliberate and strategic - it is accomplished by design, with thought.

Rebuilding and re-creating a sense of community requires special people, particular skills, and unique leadership traits. And the next millennium brings with it new and extraordinary requirements - characteristics that 21st-century leaders will need to exhibit. What follows is a list of those characteristics that will make 21st-century leaders effective in their quest to rebuild and re-create a sense of community where they work and live.

1. The 21st-century leader knows and understands that bureaucracy is dead. In business, we witness downsizing and disintegration of Fortune 500 companies. This dismantling of bureaucracies has caused companies to re-create and reinvent themselves, devising networks and strategic alliances. Who could have imagined Apple and IBM collaborating even five years ago, for instance?

The 21st-century leader advocates a community of responsibility, an environment in which others can run the business. This means empowerment at the lowest level. Consider these changes:

* Employees have access to more information.

* Employees are networking better through computers, with other organizations and people throughout the world.

* People can respond faster and better in smaller units. These smaller units provide for synergy, flexibility, and speed. Thus, decisions are made at the lowest possible levels. The result? Smaller and stronger units - more viable and rebuilt organizations.

The 21st-century leader no. longer believes that to give away power is to lose something. We've given up on hierarchy and developed a new set of rules for leadership.

2. The 21st-century leader possesses a global and holistic perspective. According to John Naisbitt, "the bigger the world economy, the more powerful its smallest players." Thus, the phrase "think globally and act locally" can be turned around, because in the 21st century, it will be wiser to "think locally and act globally." The 21st-century leader employs smaller decision-making units to effect change and sees the big picture as it relates to the newly rebuilt organization (or local community).

3. The 21st-century leader creates and communicates vision. Because the 21st-century leader sees the big picture while thinking locally, that person can create, in cooperation with key stakeholders, a compelling and inspiring vision - one that provides a strong sense of organizational purpose. An organization's staff has become one of the most vital stakeholders because of the power shifts brought on by telecommunication. The 21st-century leader articulates the vision in such a way that it communicates to the hearts and spirits of the organization's (or community's) constituencies.

4. The 21st-century leader employs strategic thinking. The 21st-century leader senses trends that will influence the organization's future environment and position the organization to benefit from new opportunities. The 21st-century leader sees the diverse possibilities inherent in the changing local and global environment.

5. The 21st-century leader promotes and initiates change. High-speed telecommunication, electronics, and computers are literally transforming our global society, our personal lives, and our communities. Countries worldwide are moving toward political independence on the one hand and forming economic alliances on the other.

Thus, the 21st-century leader must stay alert and view change as an opportunity. The leader must anticipate and spark change. While managing the organization's understanding of change, the new leader builds commitment for tough choices that influence the evolution of the rebuilt and recreated organization (or community). The leader helps the organization reinvent itself by constantly exploring and examining the mind-sets, perceptions, and practices of members, constituencies, staff, and other stakeholders.

6. The 21st-century leader deploys and disperses power. The telecommunication revolution drives the deployment and dispersal of power. Information is power, and because more and more information is becoming available to individuals, individuals are being empowered in a way never seen before.

Electronics can make us more tribal. E-mail, while making individuals and units stronger, is also globalizing them. Strong tribal networks in China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan have enabled their economies to grow by 13 percent in two years. North and South America and Southeast Asia are the fastest growing economies in the world, and they are growing through telecommunication.

Power does not operate as a checking account. In a checking account, if you have $5 million and then write a $2 million check, only $3 million will remain. People who think this way about power believe it exists only in limited amounts; if it is given to one, it must be taken away from another. This view of power generates intrigue, lack of trust, jealousy, deception, hostile competition, and so forth.

The 21st-century leader, instead, views power as infinite, and as valuable only when it is given away. Like love, power is better when shared. The leader contributes to a trusting, enthusiastic working environment and productivity thrives. Such leadership inspires love and service.

The 21st-century leader understands that power grows as power is spread. In time, the world will be run by the collective judgments and actions of individuals. The deployment of power is shifting from hierarchy to networking, from top-heavy organizations to efficiency of the individual and self-rule of smaller units.

7. The 21st-century leader embraces and values diversity and inclusiveness. Democracy and the telecommunication revolution have brought about a need to balance the tribal and the universal. Democracy greatly magnifies and multiplies the assertiveness of tribes. The 21st-century leader views embracing and valuing cultural diversity and inclusiveness as core everyday ethical behaviors, a never-ending process, a way of life. He or she insists on having a diverse and inclusive organization.

The leader creates an environment where all individuals are encouraged to participate fully in the organization, to make their maximum contribution, regardless of race, gender, functional specialty, physical challenge, geographic origin, age, lifestyle, social status, tenure in the organization, or position.

Embracing and valuing diversity is like heating the music when one sings in a chorus. Every voice can be heard, alone and in concert with others.

8. The 21st-century leader manages technology and distributes information. Telecommunication makes everything transparent. Everyone can see what is happening everywhere. Telecommunication will provide the infrastructure our organizations will need to stay relevant and competitive.

Technology won't solve the problems, but it will enable individuals, by enhancing their capacity to communicate with one another, to solve problems and complete other tasks more quickly. The 21st-century leader demystifies technology and keeps it relevant so that it meets individual needs to achieve desired outcomes.

9. The 21st-century leader inspires, motivates, and stimulates. The 21st-century leader

* leads by personal persuasion, which inspires a winning attitude, and

* inspires, motivates, and touches the spirits of others in ways that matter, valuing emotions as well as ideas.

10. The 21st-century leader models integrity and ethical behavior. Politicians and political activity around the globe are being scrutinized. Where respect for standards of decency and ethical conduct is found wanting, the public is demanding change and retribution. The public is insisting on honesty and virtue.

The 21st-century leader inspires the trust of others through direct and truthful interactions, keeping confidences, honoring commitments, trusting others, and behaving in a forthright and open manner. The leader obeys the unenforceable, self-imposed laws and establishes written codes of ethical behavior.

Modeling integrity and leading with essential ethical behavior, the 21st-century leader honors the organization's (or community's) ethical and moral obligations to all stakeholders.

11. The 21st-century leader respects and values people. The new leader puts people first, cares about them, and acts with the organization and its constituencies in mind.

Twenty-first century leadership allows people to bring their "total selves" to work, providing the means for all workers to develop their own ideas of what is important as well as of what gives value to the organization.

This sort of leadership makes everyone feel above average. It creates and provides innumerable ways for people to be successful.

In daily activity, the new leader knows his or her personal strengths and weaknesses and values self-understanding. He or she solicits feedback and coaching from others, actively works on personal growth and development, and acquires new skills and abilities to meet the demands of changing situations.

The leader conveys daily a value system that communicates the importance of people and emphasizes that it is "safe" to take risks and be creative. Such a value system allows people throughout the organization (or community) to exercise individual leadership that is critical to organizational success.

Let's take these leadership qualities back to the task of rebuilding and recreating community. Nonprofit organizations, in cooperation and conjunction with government and the private sector, are tools for rebuilding and recreating community. We in the non-profit sector need to work toward empowering all of those among us because it takes the involvement of, respect for, and sharing of power with every part of our society to re-create a community where everyone contributes to enhancing the quality of life.

Social theorists point out that the first thing dictators do to consolidate power is to undermine the private associative links of the citizen, since it is the communities within a society that give it its values, teamwork, cohesiveness, and meaning.

An ongoing commitment

If we care about our future, if we want a safe and healthy world for our children and grandchildren, if we want the optimum for ourselves and others, we must continue to work toward rebuilding community in two ways.

First, we must ensure continual collaboration among ourselves, government, and the private sector.

Second, we must encourage an infrastructure of neighborhood associations, churches, citizen groups, youth organizations, and professional groups that can keep growing - and keep non-profit organizations proliferating. It would be a grave mistake to think that we could rebuild and re-create community with one big burst of energy. Our other tasks and building community must happen simultaneously and continually.

Why? Because the communities that we rebuild today will eventually be eroded or tom apart by the crosscurrents of contemporary life. So we rebuild and rebuild and rebuild. And although we can't predict what forms "community" will take in the future, we do know that developing new leadership to continue the creative process is a responsibility that is in our hands.

We are a community-building species, and it's a good thing that we are. If we were otherwise, we would not be able to create the new forms of community we need in a swiftly changing world: in Mexico, Trinidad, Brazil, the United States, or wherever else we find ourselves, today and tomorrow.

RELATED ARTICLE: HIGHLIGHTS

* Community has been crumbling on local and international levels.

* The nonprofit sector has a key role to play in rebuilding community, in part by developing a new leadership for the 21st century.

* Rebuilding community will require ongoing collaboration among government, the private sector, and nonprofit organizations.

Sandra T. Gray, CAE, is vice president of the leadership/management program and international initiatives at Independent Sector, Washington, D.C.