February 2014 ENGAGE Recap

Guest post from 2013-14 ENGAGE Breakfast Series guest blogger Alicia Dietrich. Alicia is a public affairs representative at the Harry Ransom Center at The University of Texas at Austin. See the end of this post for the podcast from the breakfast.
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As Austin prepares for a new era of single-member city council districts, Leadership Austin hosted the February 5 ENGAGE breakfast panel to explore "Countdown to 10-1: The Changing Face of Austin City Governance."

Austin voters approved a plan in 2010 to restructure the city council from eight at-large positions to 10 single-district members and a mayor elected at-large. The new structure takes effect this fall.

Panelists included former state Rep. Wilhelmina Delco; Dr. Regina Lawrence, director of the Annette Strauss Institute for Civic Life at The University of Texas at Austin; and Bill Spelman, current Austin City Council member and a professor at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at The University of Texas at Austin. The discussion was moderated by KXAN News Anchor Robert Hadlock.

Here are eight takeaways from the discussion:

1. New city council members are going to have a learning curve their first year as they learn how difficult it is to balance campaign promises made to their district constituents with city governance.

"When you run for public office, you make outrageous promises," said Delco. "You tell people, 'If you make sure that I'm elected to that council, your street will be paved, your lights will be on, when you call, I’ll come within 15 minutes.' So, when you go on to a council representing a specific district, then you feel compelled to look at that district rather than the big picture."

Spelman agreed: "The first time somebody runs for office, if they're a newbie and they haven't had the opportunity to spend a lot of time in the building on a board or a commission or a task force, they don't know very much about city government. They think their job is to make promises, and they don't understand that you can't always keep those things."

2. Council members must learn to work together and cooperate.

Spelman grew up in Los Angeles and talked about his experience working with city council there in the 1970s. "The city council actually represented their districts, but most of them recognized that they had an obligation to the entire city, in part because some of the money that they needed in order to run for their rather large districts had to come from downtown and Westside. So they had to represent other parts of town or at least be aware of the problems in other parts of town."

Delco also talked about her experience working in the Legislature, and how she convinced conservative lawmakers to vote for early childhood education in exchange for her vote to allocate funds to help eradicate a cattle disease. "You get those tradeoffs where your issues aren't important enough for me to oppose, and then I'll trade that for something that's very important to me. I think that's a good thing. It gives you a bigger picture of an issue that's not important to you, but is important to someone else."

3. The new 10-1 structure is an opportunity to engage new voters who have felt left out of the process.

"It's a wonderful opportunity to get people talking about what does city government do, and why does it matter?" said Lawrence. "Now candidates have something to talk about that they didn't necessarily before. You have an opportunity now to talk about neighborhood and community and very specific concerns for specific areas of the city."

4. The new 10-1 structure isn't perfect, and some groups will still be under-represented on the council.

"Unless you have 25 districts, you're not going to represent the diversity of the population," said Delco. She also pointed out that many minorities are not concentrated in any single district, and that the new structure doesn't guarantee representation for those groups.

5. This is an opportunity to increase voter turnout.

"Levels of voter turnout have plummeted in Austin and in Travis County over the last several decades," said Lawrence. "This may not be an ideal opportunity, but it is an opportunity to try to begin to reverse that trend." Panelists also pointed out that moving the election date to November will very likely have a positive effect on turnout.

6. The new mayor will have to work to unite council members on citywide issues.

"I wouldn't want to be mayor if they paid me in gold coins tomorrow, because that's the person who's got to juggle all those commitments that people have made in order to get [elected]," said Delco.

7. Sign up to serve on a city board or commission.

"You guys—who need to be on boards and commissions—have not been telling us you want to be," said Spelman. "If you want to be on a board or commission, we can probably arrange that. But not enough people are interested, and as a result, we're going to have an increase in the number of people we have to appoint, and without increasing the number of people who are interested, we're going to have some trouble."

Said Delco, "One of the things I think the council has to do is—right off the bat—start educating these new council members who, again remember, ran for and were elected on their issues and not the issues of the city at large. One of your first jobs is going to be to explain to [your constituents] what all these boards and commissions do and how important it is for them to have representation on them."

8. Keep educating yourself about these issues.

Lawrence encouraged voters to attend the "Why bother? Austin City Government 101" informational session hosted by the Strauss Institute, KUT, and the League of Women Voters to answer questions and teach voters how to make their voice heard at City Hall. You can also continue the conversation and build skills for community collaboration at Leadership Austin's Skills Booster Shot on February 28.

Full Audio from the Event


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January 2014 ENGAGE Recap

Guest post from 2013-14 ENGAGE Breakfast Series guest blogger Alicia Dietrich. Alicia is a public affairs representative at the Harry Ransom Center at The University of Texas at Austin. See the end of this post for the podcast from the breakfast.
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The January installment of Leadership Austin’s ENGAGE breakfast series explored the best ways for leaders to move Austin forward during this period of tremendous growth and change. Panelists Travis County Judge Sam Biscoe and University of Texas at Austin Professor Jeremi Suri sat down with moderator Shannon Wolfson of KXAN to discuss the challenges Austin faces as it grows, and what it will take for leaders to address those issues.

Suri outlined what he believes to be the three greatest leadership challenges facing Austin: the challenge of success and how to lead beyond that, diverse groups in Austin not living in integrated ways, and the uneven growth of the economy and lack of opportunities for upward mobility.

January 2014 ENGAGE breakfast at the Long Center

To address Austin’s greatest challenges, Biscoe advocated for better collaboration between the city, government agencies, nonprofits, and community leaders. He noted the improved state of mental health care in the city after local hospitals worked with the county jail to make sure that patients were getting appropriate treatment instead of jail time.

However, he said that while the city has high aspirations for cooperation, we often fall short on implementation.

"We've always done a good job of studying and putting together reports and plans," he said. It's the next step that’s key, though.

He explained that government tends to respond to issues and problems, and if you have a problem you want solved, you need to get it in front of the right person and work to build consensus.

"We respond, by and large, to specific issues that we try to fix," he said. "I don’t know if we as a county ever sit down and think, 'What kind of Travis County do we want?'"

He noted that building consensus and compromise are crucial: "If you have five persons responsible for a decision, you'll see that often what we approve wasn't what was brought to us. But you'll see what got consensus and what we had resources to back up."

KXAN's Kate Weidaw interviews
panelist Judge Sam Biscoe

Suri noted that it was important that people learn that compromise is necessary and that they shouldn’t feel shut out of the process if they don’t get everything they want. "When people come to believe it's a process where the decision of today isn't the last decision—if they only got 20 percent of what they wanted today, maybe tomorrow they'll get something more. When it's a process and you have credibility, that's what works."

Suri also discussed the importance of crossing lines in politics to get things done. "We need to talk to people who think differently and see things differently. We need to make a conscious effort to cross lines because you can't [create change] if you're only talking to people who already agree with you. You need to make a conscious effort to cross lines, and the beauty of Austin is that we have such an intellectual diversity here all around us."

As Austin moves toward a new City Council structure next year with single-member districts, both panelists stressed the importance of asking tough questions of potential leaders to make sure they can articulate a vision for the city’s future and how they will include everyone in that vision.

"As an elected official, your attitude should be 'I represent all county residents,'" said Biscoe. "From the neighborhood association level on up, inclusion should be part of everything we do. If we err, it should be that we included too many people."

Suri said, "We desperately need people in this city now who can continue to talk to groups who have been dominating dialog but are also able to bring other people in and connect them. Successful politicians are connectors. Second, I think it’s time we ask our politicians to say not just what they promise to do about a problem, but what they envision the city looking like. I think we do need a vision. I don’t mean a visionary in terms of pie in the sky, but an ability to articulate, to tell us a story about how you see our city with all these changes, institutionally and economically, growing in the next five to 10 years and how we can all be part of making that kind of city."

Both panelists also emphasized the importance of mentoring and incubating future leaders, through encouraging students to pursue public service and by implementing permanent succession strategies at the government level.

"We need to remind people at all age levels, but particularly young people, that public service is a noble calling," said Suri. "Leadership has to involve politics in your organization and in your city."

Full Audio from the Event


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EMERGE 2012 Takeaways

Guest post from new EMERGE 2012 graduate Rand Zumwalt.
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Everyone who participates in the Leadership Austin EMERGE Program does so for a different reason. For some, it is a way to network with like-minded professionals. For others, it is to seek guidance as to which philanthropic efforts best match their skills. For me, it was mainly to sharpen my leadership skills and, perhaps, expand the reach of my business along the way.

What I discovered through my time with the group, however, is that Leadership Austin is about so much more than one might assume at first glance. From day one, it becomes obvious that the EMERGE staff cares deeply about each individual in the program and carefully crafts every session with a cohesive intentionality focused on self-discovery and equipping people to make a societal impact.

Heather, our group’s fearless leader, announced during our first session that her goal was to get us out of our comfort zone. Well, she certainly did! From impromptu speeches to the group summarizing our lives in a handful of words to competitions that involved constructing “satellites” out of children’s toys, I think it is safe to say that every person in this year’s class found themselves challenged beyond their usual capacity on a regular basis.

Each session of the Emerge program builds on its predecessor, but is flush with fresh material and organized in a distinct manner uniquely selected to best present the topic at hand. The ever-changing format kept me on my toes and excited about what was coming next. This is not your typical lecture-based, sleep-inducing program. That said, the meetings are heavy on content and time spent outside of class unpacking lessons learned is encouraged.

One of the greatest pleasures for me, as a class participant, was getting the opportunity to meet talented and bright individuals that I would not necessarily have come across in my daily life. The Leadership Austin folks clearly prioritize diversity of experience and perspective in choosing program members. At the same time, however, the standards for entry are high. Distinct points of view were a welcome feature of our class, but the integrity and shared trusteeship we all felt for the Austin community was a key factor that bound our group from the start.

Though I entered the EMERGE program with a desire to build my leadership skills – which I accomplished – I left the program with a new understanding of myself and a strong desire to dig deeper. My journey as a Leadership Austin class participant may have come to a close, but my voyage into self-discovery and empowerment have only begun. For those considering applying to the EMERGE program, all I can say is make haste and prepare for life-changing insights that will serve you well for years to come in both your professional and personal life!

Rand Zumwalt is an attorney and Principal at Zumwalt Law Group, PLLC

I Am A Leader: Ana-Cristina González

Guest post from Emerge 2007 graduate Ana-Cristina González. Cross-posted from the SOS Leadership Blog and their "I Am A Leader" blog series. View the original post.
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I am told that anyone who speaks to me for more than 10 minutes will quickly learn that my faith and my family are the most important things in my life. When I was asked to reflect on the most important leadership roles at this time in my life, those are the themes that popped up again. I work for the Catholic Church. This was not a lifelong goal; it was never a career that had entered the long list of things I wanted to be when I grew up, but when you are called, you are called, and you must answer. My Catholic faith has shaped the servant leader in me, inside and outside of work. It's leading people through serving. It's getting your hands dirty and experiencing the situation along with your co-workers, those you supervise, your boss. To put it simply, you're walking the walk not just talking the talk. This helps build collaboration, creates a strong team, helps form a vision, and it shows those around you that you are willing to put in the hard work instead of ordering it out to others and sitting back for the results to come in. It's challenging, but it is rewarding in so many ways.

This leadership role heavily influences what I see as being one of the most important roles of my life, being a Tía (Spanish for aunt). I am blessed to be the Tía of my 7-year-old niece who is the love of my life. I have been a mentor to youth before through non-profit organizations, but this is so different and so much more! There is no doubt that we adore each other, but I want to be an example to my niece of what it means to be a strong, smart, successful, kind, generous woman in this world. I want her to see that anything is truly possible and that there are people in her life who will be there to support, guide, and love her all along her leadership journey. This holds me accountable in my role as a leader and as an important person in her life because I know she is watching me. I know she is listening. I know that she trusts me. Everyday I am working hard to be the person that my niece thinks I am.

Being the oldest in my family, I was always put in charge of things. That didn't translate into leadership roles in my life until I went to college. I went on a mission trip one year during Spring Break, and the friendships made on that trip literally changed my outlook on life but my also my role in the organization. I was sought out to be a speaker on retreats, sit on planning committees, and eventually lead 30+ college students on a mission trip. This mission trip is where I learned the best and hardest lessons of leadership. Being the official leader of your peers puts the spotlight on you in so many different ways.

• I learned how scrutiny increases, how your motives are questioned, how people tend to treat you differently (in good and bad ways), and how you lose your anonymity.
• I learned you have to have people you trust to go to so that you can just be yourself, away from the crowd. I learned that staying calm, cool, and collected (even when you aren't) will keep those around you calm.
• I learned that even though you can address every doubt that people have about your decision-making, it's sometimes best to take a deep breath and keep moving forward.
• I learned that communication is essential, that hard conversations have to happen, and how you treat people in those difficult times will address people's concerns and they will learn to trust you.
• I also learned that innovation is a must. New ideas bring about creativity that could catapult your organization to the next level or it could fail and you go back to the drawing board. Either way, you're learning and that in itself is successful.

The lessons learned from this leadership role have impacted every position I have held and every organization I have given my time to. I learned how to use my role as a leader to advocate for those who didn't have a voice when I mentored and tutored at-risk youth at an Eastside elementary school, managed a child abuse prevention program, and spoke to the community about the importance of children and education. I knew I had this passion, this desire to do more in the community but wasn't sure what to do with it. That's when I applied for Leadership Austin's inaugural Emerge class. There I met people just like me, wanting to accomplish the same things I did (in different ways), gathered together wanting to become better leaders so that we can create an even better community. This involvement led me to leadership roles within the Emerge program and friendships that introduced me to great causes that I have become involved in. It is so important to surround yourself with good people who will push you to be better and do more.

I hope the legacy that I leave behind is one of perseverance and hope. I would hope that people would say that I was someone who always stood up for what she believed in, that I was a woman of my word, and was always there for those who needed her. I want to leave behind a legacy of the importance of education, discussion, and debate but within all those the importance of listening to one another. I hope people would remember that I truly wanted to make the world, at least my little slice of it, a better place. And of course, the legacy of being the best Tía in the world!

Ana-Cristina González is Director of Stewardship and Development for Saint William’s Catholic Church in Round Rock.

I Am A Leader: Kate Stoker

Guest post from Emerge 2009 graduate and Essential Class of 2013 participant Kate Stoker. Cross-posted from the SOS Leadership Blog and their "I Am A Leader" blog series. View the original post.
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We are human; thus, we are going to do our best to make positive changes in the lives and community around us, but we are also of course going to make mistakes. I’m not perfect; no one is. It took me years to recognize that, as a leader, I could still be vulnerable and accept support. My key to being able to do this is the incredible people in my life because they are the ones that make it worthwhile. I’m leading them; it’s not about an issue, a project, or an organization. Rather it’s about the people that issue impacts, the people the project includes, or the members or supporters or the organization you’re a part of.

I am by nature a doer, and I like being in the trenches. Delegation is something I only did when I had to and that was more about self-preservation than developing those around me. My leadership journey started with an organization called the Young Women’s Alliance. I joined in 2008 and hit the ground running because that’s what I do. I jumped into fundraising events for the organization, managing and planning one almost entirely on my own. I didn't need a committee; I could do it all by myself. As a result, my perfectionist tendencies overshadowed the relationships and opportunities I had available to grow closer to others. My leadership success was based in results: funds raised, event success, checking off all my to do items first. Years later, my focus has shifted to the people part of leadership.

Most of my leadership training, if you can call “on the job, real-time, think on your feet learning opportunities” training, has started with YWA. It was the gateway to my community involvement with other Central Texas organizations. It has also provided me with a network of amazing people that serve as cheerleaders, coaches, and friends. These relationships are my safety net, and I’m able to freely be brave and move out of my comfort zone knowing they've seen me make mistakes and celebrate successes and supported me the same either way.

You probably didn't force people to follow you; they chose to follow you. With that comes responsibility to those individuals as well as the causes and values you represent. Human nature is to want to contribute, to be valued, to matter. What others gave to me I have learned to pass on: the opportunity to be part of something bigger than they are alone. After all, without them what would all this be for?

Kate Stoker is the Immediate Past President and VP of Programs & Events of the Young Women’s Alliance, a professional organization that supports young women leaders through personal and professional development.

Collaboration and the Creative Arts

Guest post from Essential 2010 graduate and Engage attendee Karen LaShelle.
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Tuesday morning I had the pleasure of attending Leadership Austin’s Engage breakfast discussing the capacity of the creative arts in Austin. As the director of a local nonprofit arts organization, Theatre Action Project, and someone who has been involved with a number of initiatives to research and plan for the sustainability and growth of the creative sector, it was a truly fascinating discussion. And, I was pleased to see such a packed house at 7:30 am!

The conversation began with a great question by moderator Leslie Rhode to kickoff the discussion: “Does the arts community have the support it needs to grow as Austin grows?” Panelists discussed the various and typical barriers to growth for local arts organizations, such as low attendance and weak philanthropy. It seems we artistic folks discuss these predicaments at every gathering when brainstorming how to save the arts... yet, it doesn’t seem like these problems are going away any time soon. But then a new idea emerged that seemed to offer tangible possibilities for sustaining the arts in Austin: focus on collaboration.

What are the untapped opportunities for creating partnerships between the arts and the business sector? The truth is that the arts community and the business sector NEED each other, and perhaps neither legion locally has quite realized this yet. Arts organizations need funding and patrons, and arts leaders could benefit from the help of savvy business professionals. Businesses need Austin to maintain its cultural life and to produce an innovative, critically-thinking workforce... plus, they need venues to market their brand! The arts are undeniably a critical part of what makes Austin alluring to young talent from across the country, and the arts and arts education are foundational to fueling innovation, creativity and the entrepreneurial spirit. If this potentially symbiotic - and mostly untapped - relationship between these two sectors can be fully articulated and carried out by arts and business leaders, the arts community can grow and thrive AND business will prosper, too. Long Center ED Jamie Grant offered, "we need to think of these as business to business relationships that are about marketing opportunities, not philanthropy," which seems like the heart of it. Arts orgs can’t ask for money just because we know the arts are important. We need to help businesses see how we can help them, too.

Refocusing some (we won’t give up on expanding the audience and donor base, too!) of our efforts towards collaborations seems like a critical step in sustainability. I know that this was certainly an “A-Ha” moment for me. I plan to spend time thinking about the mutually beneficial goals Theatre Action Project can discover with local businesses. As we reach youth and families in seven school districts every week with our dynamic arts programs, we might just have something to offer businesses who want to reach a new audience.

Karen LaShelle is Executive and Artistic Director at Theatre Action Project.

January 2011 Engage - Non-Profit/For-Profit Collaborations

Innovative, sustainable business models are more in demand than ever. How best can we create unique and collaborative relationships between not- and for-profit organizations? What can you do as a business and community leader to boost both bottom lines?

Justin Evans and Matt Kouri

Speakers:

• Justin Evans – Regional Brand Marketing, Capital One Bank
• Matt Kouri – Executive Director, Greenlights for Nonprofit Success
• Moderated by Jim Walker – Director of Sustainability, The University of Texas at Austin

References from the discussion:

• Capital One Bank
• Greenlights for Nonprofit Success
• Blogger Thom Singer's Engage Recap
• Sparked.com
• American Express / Glee Collaboration
• Sweet Leaf Tea's 1% Initiative

Audio:

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