IN SEARCH OF CIVIC LEADERSHIP
I am calling it civic leadership and it is the kind of leadership that, unassumingly and with no clamor, wedges the heart of all social injustices, impacting where the needs are the biggest, claiming the possibility that someone’s life trajectory can change for better.
We should be desperate at having more of this kind of leadership, often invisible and not promoted because it is grounded in humility and perhaps that’s why so scarce.
It is something that should be embraced by anyone, everywhere, universally.
In a time where human fragility is exposed at the maximum extent possible, we should rethink the way we want to live our lives, seriously and a different understanding of leadership should be part of the conversation.
As David Brooks, the columnist for the New York Times, says, we have “inherited inequalities” that we cannot afford any more.
While Brooks was speaking of the outrageous disparities existing in the American society where the rich get richer and the poor struggle more and more, the world is plenty of such kind of “inherited inequalities” where the most disadvantaged, most vulnerable remain stuck in the quicksand often in despair.
Wherever they are, in the most developed part of the world or in emerging or underdeveloped economies, there are a massive number of people who do not have enough opportunities to grow personally and professionally.
They remain deprived of their inalienable right to become net contributors to the development of their societies.
It is true that less people are living in sheer misery and poverty but this is not good enough. While you might not starve any more, your children, as brilliantly explained by Brooks, are being left behind, with fewer shots at life.
We need more role models, not idols who skyrocketed to fame and glory but more of unassuming people, driven by solid, positive values.
Many might think of famous athletes climbing their way out of poverty.
They are certainly a paragon of success, inspirational models but their fame overshadow other equally important ones.
What about thinking as role models of people like the parents of Michelle Obama, humble and modest persons who really worked very hard to ensure their children a better life, providing them with a platform where Michelle and her brother could thrive out of, not privilege but out of hard work and more sacrifices.
While I am focusing on the United States of America, the lack of opportunities, the lack of real role models and mentors is everywhere in the world.
Too often times, including in the so called developing countries, the emphasis on material, tangible elements of “making it” is misinterpreted.
These are important because if you are a disadvantaged youth in a country like Nepal who struggles to make the ends meet at the end of each single day, these things count a lot, of course.
I do not want either squelching the idea of deserved merit, that if you work hard and do well, you have earned to have a good life, you deserve to be recognized and awarded for your skills and abilities.
Yet while we can make good money, we can also do some good, living less selfishly, mindful and grateful of what we have and ready to help as much as possible, as much as doable.
Volunteerism, what I call the BIG V, is something that should be embedded in all our lives and those who are better off, those who have already made it, should be those championing this call for service the most.
These are the people who can really make the difference, helping those now at the rock bottom, those having tough times, to come forward.
There is a need to invest more and more in not for profits and social enterprises and genuine corporate citizenship, helping them bridging the increasing bigger gulf between alienation and a having a shot at life.
Some good stuff is happening for sure.
There are so many true leaders at grassroots levels doing their best to mentor and groom disadvantaged kids.
Then you also have big mammoth like McKinsey stepping forward, creating thousands of jobs for unemployed youths through its Generation initiative.
This is all good but we need more especially in developing countries where business people are yet to fully realize their civic responsibilities.
I imagine new opportunities for personal and professional growth for youths who are disadvantaged, everywhere in the world.
There are so many of them living at the margins, deprived but strong, vulnerable but also resilient and with tons of something so important but you cannot buy, dignity.
A much better job should be done to recognize and acknowledge the efforts of those among these vulnerable kids that have made it and now they are setting a real example and they are giving back.
One of them is Bobby Herrera.
When he was young and returning back from a basketball game with his team, he and his brother Eddie could not afford to have a dinner with their mates.
A gentleman traveling with the team offered to pay them a dinner and said “Nobody else has to know. All you have to do to thank me “is do the same thing for another great kid “just like you on this bus.”
It is not a surprise that Bobby, now a successful businessman, the co-founder of a fast growing company in the U.S.A., Populus Group, is giving back, mindful of the promise he made to that gentleman that day.
Bobby and many others like him are what Natalie Warner would call the “Anonymous Extraordinaries”.
Perhaps, we lionize too much those self made man who made it really BIG but whose life styles and behaviors risk perpetuating an economic model that is driven by unsustainable extremes.
Rather we should truly celebrate folks like that gentleman in the bus who inspired and helped Bobby or all those engaged citizens, from all stripes of life, corporate professionals, teachers, social activists, NGOs folks who are making a real effort to help less privileged kids becoming the best they can.
Driven by a pursuit for social justice, they are the civic leaders we should all celebrate.
