Leadership Has Become A Spectator Sport In Arizona

By Author: pangsiyan
Total Articles: 130
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Every flourishing region needs people who act as its stewards. Such leaders see the

big picture. They seek visionary solutions that transcend boundaries. They care

deeply about the long-term well-being of their places. Arizonans have only to

admire the advocacy of Mayor Rudolph Giuliani in the days after the New York

terrorist attacks to appreciate the powerful role of such leaders, whose passion

for their locales leads them to constantly innovate in service of the long-term

economic and social success of their regions.

Unfortunately, most Arizonans do not see the state having that kind of leadership

today. In fact, less than a quarter of the respondents to a recent statewide survey

believe the state's business and elected leaders care deeply about Arizona's

future. Instead, they deemed them preoccupied with narrow interests and single-

issue agendas.

What Arizonans describe is a traditional style of leadership, says Doug Henton,

author of the book Grassroots Leaders for a New Economy. Henton believes that

Arizona, like ...
... many places, has begun to see the limitations of traditional forms of

leadership. He argues that the CEOs of major corporations, ballot initiative

promoters, neighborhood activists and ethnic community leaders who work on single

issues—whether tax cuts, a football stadium or desert preservation—remain

essential to states and communities. However, he notices that frequently many of

those conventional leaders lack the big picture or have a hard time linking their

efforts with those of others.

This is where stewards come in. In contrast with single-issue leaders, stewards

have 360-degree vision, recognizing the interdependencies between the economy,

environment and social equity. They are in it for the long haul. They build

coalitions. But again; Stewards of place seem harder to find in Arizona than

elsewhere, and that is a problem. Fewer people in Arizona than in many other states

have deep roots here. Meanwhile, Arizona's shortage of major corporate

headquarters, combined with the quickening pace of corporate relocations, mergers

and acquisitions, reduces the number of long-term civic leaders with long-standing

networks in diverse communities.

And so Arizona would do well to seek out and nurture a new brand of regional

leader: the stewards. They are out there. Despite executive churn, Arizona boasts

plenty of potential leaders, no matter how you count them. Many of that next

generation of leaders, moreover, may simply be undiscovered. These potential

stewards may simply be unknown as yet to the establishment.

In the meantime, though, one thing is sure: Without a new job description for

leadership and energetic stewards to answer it, Arizona may not master the complex

economic, educational and environmental challenges it faces.