Inspire, Change, Lead: The Art of Possibility

August 22, 2011

by Lindsay Strand

The 19th Annual Leadership Summit will be facilitated by communications coach and consultant, Lindsay Strand. She asked host city mayor, Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak, to share his insights about leadership.

How many times have you heard this: “I am so sick and tired of elected officials who fail at leadership.”? With debt ceiling drama, extremist and single-issue politics and sex scandals, there are plenty of reasons for the public to lack faith in elected officials, but our democracy cannot succeed without their strong leadership.

We turn to them to instill confidence during a crisis and to help us collectively better ourselves and our communities.
We all have our own lists of valued leadership traits. As I have been preparing to facilitate the upcoming Leadership Summit being held in Minneapolis, I wanted to hear from local elected officials about what traits top their list. I had the opportunity to visit with Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak.

Strand: You have been the mayor of Minneapolis since 2002 and are now serving your third term. What have you learned is the single most important leadership trait to possess for a local elected official?
Mayor Rybak: I wanted to be mayor of Minneapolis since I was a little kid. Growing up, I thought the most important thing I would need to succeed was the ability to give an inspirational speech. But during my early career as a reporter, I learned there was a more important skill I needed to be a successful leader and that was the ability to ask questions. When I first ran for office, I was able to go door to door and ask people about their lives. It was only after what I learned from each of those visits that I felt I could speak clearly about the needs of the city.

Strand: You have led Minneapolis through multiple financial crises, a major increase in violent crime, the collapse of the I-35 Mississippi Bridge — which runs right through the heart of the city — and, most recently, the aftermath of the major tornado this summer, which caused devastating damage to north Minneapolis neighborhoods. How do you lead through periods of crisis?
Mayor Rybak: In the toughest moments, the easiest thing is to figure out what to say, but only after learning all you need to know to lead. My toughest challenges as mayor have all been solved when the door was opened to get the opinions of many others.

Strand: What role does attitude play in successful leadership?
Mayor Rybak: An optimistic attitude also always helps. I believe Minneapolis can pretty much solve anything — not easily, but we can pretty much do anything.

Strand: What is different about leading in today’s highly-charged and polarized political environment?
Mayor Rybak: Despite the incredible level of cynicism for state and national politicians, strangely, I feel that mayors are treated very differently from those who are more removed from the communities where their constituents live, especially statewide elected officials. I have also learned you need to be able to cross lines to get things done and bring people together.

Strand: You can’t predict the big moments and the challenges that will test your leadership skills, but how important are vision and planning?
Mayor Rybak: Both are very important. When I think of my leadership, I am most proud of two programs: Minneapolis Promise and our Youth Violence Prevention Program. We applied the same approach to both. First, we mapped out all of the good things in our city. Then, we identified the gaps. From there, we could set goals with clear outcomes for what we wanted to accomplish. Minneapolis Promise was created to increase the high school graduation rate, especially among students of color. By 2010, we raised graduation rates for students of color by 20 percentage points. And using the same approach, the number of youth suspects in violent crime declined by 66 percent. These are both the direct result of having a process and a focused plan.

Strand: What keeps you up at night?
Mayor Rybak: There are days when I feel overwhelmed by the scope of the challenges. But I feel better when I realize I am not alone and no one expects me to solve these problems on my own. If I went to bed at night thinking that I had to solve any big problem on my own, I wouldn’t sleep. But I remember I have 385,000 outstanding people living in the city who are with me to work it through.

Strand: Any last piece of advice on leadership?
Mayor Rybak: When I first thought about running for office, I was given the advice that, if elected, I should never deliver the bad news. I have consistently rejected that advice. As elected officials, it is our job to show up. I may not always get it right, but I will be there.



Annual Leadership Summit

NLC’s premiere leadership development program for local officials, the 19th Annual Leadership Summit, will be held in Minneapolis September 15-17. The program will focus on a theme of Inspire, Change, Lead: The Art of Possibility and will feature leadership scholars and local government experts.

In addition to Inspire, Change and Lead, courage could be part of the theme as well; a focus on the future, knowing the source of and nurturing our own inner strength and having an ability to bounce back certainly can all help. We hope to see you in Minneapolis; however, if you can’t join us for the summit, I hope you are inspired to rediscover what is on your list of leadership traits.

Lindsay Strand is president of Lindsay Strand Associates, Inc., a nationally recognized media training and speech coaching firm based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She is a former television political reporter who now consults nationally and can be reached at www.lindsaystrand.com.

Details: For more information, contact the Leadership Training Institute at (202) 626-3170 or visit www.nlc.org.