The Nature of Leadership Ideas for Building Inclusive, Sustainable Communities Innovative Strategies Series Volume 3 The Nature of Leadership: Ideas for building inclusive, sustainable communities Columbia Institute Centre for Civic Governance, 2012 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without prior written permission of the publisher. Edited by Pat Gordon and the Columbia Institute Graphic design: Pete Tuepah and Nadene Rehnby, www.handsonpublications.com ISBN 978-0-9876730-0-8 1200 – 1166 Alberni Street Vancouver, BC V6E 3Z3 604.408.2500 www.civicgovernance.ca Contents IntrODUctiON .....................................................................................................................5 PART 1 POlitical LeaDERSHip......................................................................................7 1.1 The Nature of Political Leadership – Ken Livingstone ......................8 PART 2 EngageMENT LeaDERSHip .............................................................................19 2.1 Leadership in the Public Realm – Adam Vaughan ...........................20 2.2 Beyond the Usual Suspects – Dave Meslin ......................................27 2.3 Portland Placemaking – Mark Lakeman ..........................................38 2.4 The Gabriola Island Commons – Sheila Malcolmson .......................50 2.5 Participatory Budgeting in Guelph – Leanne Piper .........................55 PART 3 POlicY LeaDERSHip .........................................................................................67 3.1 Vibrant Regional Food Systems – Harold Steves ............................68 3.2 Tools for a Biodiverse Community – Grant Pearsell ........................78 PART 4 ENERGY LeaDERSHip .......................................................................................89 4.1 This Green House – Robert Duffy and Charley Beresford ..............90 4.2 Generating Nelson’s Energy – Donald Macdonald ...........................96 4.3 Greenest City Aspiration and Action – Andrea Reimer ..................103 PART 5 EQUalitY LeaDERSHip...................................................................................111 5.1 First Nations Education: Identity as a Foundation for Success – Robert Matthew ..............................................................................112 5.2 Maamawe: All Together – Andrew Foulds and John Hannam ......119 5.3 Safer Schools – Charley Beresford ..................................................129 5.4 Sexual and Gender Minorities: Respected and Included – Sarah Hoffman and Christopher Spencer ...................................133 5.5 Leadership Isn’t Always Easy – Larry Hayes ................................141 PART 6 Big IDeas .........................................................................................................145 6.1 Building Democracy Before Age Six – Sharon Gregson ................146 6.2 Equity and Public Education: Lessons from Finland – Bruce Beairsto ...............................................................................157 6.3 Restoring Democracy – Joel Bakan ................................................168 IntrODUctiON There is little doubt that we are living in a time of immense economic and environmental upheaval. While much public and political attention is focused on technocratic issues, the details of these conversations can slow action or halt it altogether. It is becoming clear that there are plenty of solutions to the large challenges of our era. What we need is leadership. This volume of the Columbia Institute’s Innovative Strategies Series highlights leadership stories from across the country and beyond. It relates stories of individuals and communities who are boldly confronting the myriad challenges of the present age and making the places in which they live more sustainable, more democratic, and more just. Their leadership inspires the work of the Columbia Institute, and we hope that it will inspire your work as well. Since 2006, the Centre for Civic Governance at the Columbia Institute has worked to inform, inspire and connect community leaders who are using progressive policies to build inclusive, sustainable communities. The chapters in this book are excerpts from presentations at our Annual Governance Forums and public events. Some are calls to action and others are stories of leadership taken and vision in action. Together they offer insights into effective strategies for building the inclusive, sustainable communities that are the backbone of our collective future. — Charley Beresford, Executive Director, Columbia Institute 6 THE NatURE OF LeaDERSHip PART 1 Political Leadership Political leadership is where the rubber hits the road. Visionary politicians marshall courage and commitment to build stronger, more just and sustainable communities. Part 1: POlitical LeaDERSHip 7 PART 1.1 The Nature of Political Leadership KEN LIVINGSTONE was Mayor of London, England, from 2000 to 2008. As the first Mayor under London’s newly constituted Council, he established the world’s most celebrated example of urban road toll, and he did it in the face of dire warnings and brutal opposition. When national leaders failed to show foresight in addressing environmental issues, Ken formed an international network of municipal leaders tackling climate change where the rubber hits the road — literally. He fought the privatization of the transit system. Not only did he galvanize the environmental movement in London, but he also led efforts to maintain human rights across the city. Under his leadership the Greater London Council found ways to support marginalized and vulnerable people while the Thatcher administration was finding ways to cut them off. For 30 years, Ken Livingstone has made a career of moving forward when people said he couldn’t; of saying yes to tough challenges, even when the odds were insurmountable; and of finding solutions where most only saw problems. It’s hard to know where to start talking about political leadership, but perhaps I should begin with one of the things we got right and that was London’s traffic congestion. When we introduced the congestion charge in 2003, 40 per cent of people who had been driving cars into the centre of the city chose to stop doing so. That — after two and a half years of unremitting predictions of disaster from the press — was twice what we 8 THE NatURE OF LeaDERSHip Ken Livingstone, Mayor of London, England from 2000 to 2008, not only galvanized the environmental movement in London, but led efforts to maintain human rights across the city. expected. What it also enabled us to do was achieve a general shift in modes of transportation. London is the only large city in the world that has experienced a significant move away from private car usage to public transport. That shift allowed us to transform our failing, privatized bus system into a modern, efficient service. Buses had become the transport mode for people too young to drive, people too old to drive, and people too poor London is the only large to drive. The congestion charge unleashed a city in the world that has general shift to public transit, and now we’ve experienced a significant got a proper mix of Londoners, wealthy and move away from private car poor, riding the bus because it actually makes usage to public transport. sense to do so. That shift allowed us to My only worry in introducing the conges- transform our failing, tion charge was not whether it would work privatized bus system into technically, but whether it would be politically a modern, efficient service. acceptable. It appears that it was. In the 10 days that followed its introduction, my poll ratings went up by 10 per cent and allowed me to coast to a comfortable re-election. The lesson from this success is not related to the actual issue so much as it is about the nature of political leadership. What earthly reason is there for being a politician if all you do is listen to the spin doctors and Part 1: POlitical LeaDERSHip 9 the polling analysts telling you what people want, and then give it to them? If all you are doing is reflecting back the banal generality that dominates the media at any one time, well, you could have a well-trained dog do that. Leadership is about actually deciding where we need to be going. It seems to me that political leadership requires you to be studying and learning, and constantly looking at what’s happening in the world. It means communicating with people about where we need to go and then taking them in that direction. And it means that if you are overwhelm- ingly popular all the time, that you are most probably not doing your job. > CliMate CHange ActiON in LONDON The big issue, and I’m finding our lack of progress on it quite depress- ing, is climate change. The tragedy of the Blair government was that it allowed itself to be effectively vetoed by polls and the newspapers, and nowhere was this more evident than on the issue of climate change. Blair was always saying what was needed, but didn’t push through the changes needed in the way we What earthly reason is do business, in the way we live our lives. there for being a politician What struck me as strange as I set up my if all you do is listen to the administration was that the City had very spin doctors and the polling little actual legal power within the sphere of analysts telling you what environmental policy. So we set out to look at people want, and then give that,