Cogito ergo sum

This past week's election cycle has brought an inordinate amount of commentary, not to mention controversy, and indeed the worst appears yet to come, as one party attempts to functionally reverse the direction in which the other had been taking the country. This pattern is cyclical, and in another couple years, the presidential elections will happen, and there will be a hotly contested battle which I predict, at this early stage, will be a referendum on the current referendum, which was never really a referendum to begin with for the simple fact that noone was call to account for anything, and the - as they've been termed in publications farther out along the political spectrum - 'The Red Scare' was not so scary after all. Indeed, I asked this on my Facebook page the following day: given the fact that there were so many media outlets cheering, rooting, egging on those who would undo all of the good that our president has done over the course of his current mandate, that when the chips fell, and the Blue team still held the Senate, and the Executive branch, and the majority in the House was only by 60 seats (near enough so that a few good compromises could create enough influence to stem the tide) it is to wonder the following (and New Yorkers always get blamed for asking the hard questions,): when 2012 comes around, will there then be references to a vast 'conservative media' conspiracy?

Of course, my mother would say, 'out of the mouths of babes', for, as luck would have it, there was the entire Keith Olberman controversy which blew up Friday morning following election night, and continued through the weekend, with MSNBC eventually recanting their suspension of the anchor, though not before suffering umbrage and the hyper-intellectualized deprecation at the gilded tongue of Rachel Maddow. Her comparison at the very least begs for the practices of her competitors to be looked into, if not fully investigated.

But this continues to bring up the critical teaching point, at least for me, of Collins' Level 5 leadership, which is a persistent theme throughout the Public/Private leadership literature. All of the people who just managed to garner positions in Congress spend the majority of their soundbite time trumpeting their cause to unseat President Obama, to repeal health care, to extend the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy, to stand in the face of power and shout defiantly 'NO!' These are the same party constituents that orate fervently claiming to be the ones in favor of 'opportunity.' Harvard Business Review has a different perspective on the matter, in an article entitled 'Is what's good for Corporate America still good for America?' The answer, I will allow you to discern for yourself, but the evidence is compelling. Secondly, in a New York Times Op-Ed piece published today, Nicholas Kristof uses a term that brought to mind terrifying images of inhuman labor conditions, should wrenching poverty, greed, pestilence, and eventually revolution. The difficulty in his utilization, however, is the fact that he makes the claim about the US, which increases the potency of the comparison, but perhaps the time has come to make such a comparison, as borne out in Kristof's column 'Our Banana Republic.' For those of us in the Spanish teaching profession, who have made (or previously had made) a career of learning and researching these exact historical details, and carry around montages of photos, paintings, poetry, and period style films in our memories, we warned of the potential for similar consequences in our classes. We spent inordinate amounts of time preparing lessons, and explaining the hard concepts, and the literature, as demonstrated in La United Fruit Company by Pablo Neruda. I would suggest everyone read it and make a distinct comparison between the current (as of 2010) top 1% of Americans absorbing 24% of the GDP, and the situations in the poem.

There has been, of late, -and perhaps I've only noticed it in the New York Times because I only have time in a day to look through perhaps two publications with the flurry of activity that's going on throughout the program and my mentorship,- a renewed focus on the Civil War era. I imagine that is not without good reason. Today on a day when the Commander-in-Chief finds himself beset on all sides by hysterias both manufactured and real, one other such article surfaced in the Times, and its parity with the current duo-chromatic myopia, entitled 'Lincoln wins, now what?' What the historians seem to be telling us is the following: be conscious of your history, lest you be doomed to repeat it. Though, given my recent visit to the Brookings Institute, and seeing insights into the future of Education policy for the years to come, I must ponder the nation's capacity to successfully perform that task.

Finally, in order to bring this full circle, the following blitzed across my e-mail box Wednesday night, after a long day in the office, and an even longer and more involved online session with professors, from an individual in a similar position to mine, which in reality was the purpose for returning to the question of Level 5 leadership:

"Before we end the night and since I deal with this in this group all the time, I have to take the victories I get and rejoice when I can. So I say this with love and respect to all my Dem friends here, which is almost all of you here, NA NA NA NA EH EH EH GOOD BYE (Pelosi) !!!!!!

BIG LOVE"

If this is the character of the supporters of the team opposing Pelosi, and the President, does that truly represent the type of leadership we need in a climate that, above all else, requires maturity, a willingness to reach out, create coalitions, search for best solutions, and best practices, and continue the progress that's been made?

Milestoning in order to drill down into the information

Over the past few weeks I've been in a flurry of activity. At one particular team meeting, I implored the Contract Specialists with whom I sit to invite me into the process, so that I can begin to actually see what is going on.  For the majority of the time I'd been in the division up to then, I had focused almost singularly on the writing of regulations and a new template for Design-Build-Finance-Operate-Maintain contracts, but had not actually witnessed any of the goings on in action. Since then, I've been on multiple site visits, participated in award meetings bid openings, conference calls, and pre-proposal conferences, meetings with policy analysts, general counsels, and all the time maintaining a breakneck pace with developing the writing projects I've been given, and completing class assignments. I suppose I ought to be tired. But, I'm sticking to my self-made promise of exercising during the week, and going on no less than an hour's walk on the weekends. We'll have to see how I accomplish that once it gets cold. But the agency recently granted me access to the fitness facility in the building, so that should prove interesting.

This past week I attended a presentation at the Brookings Institute, the first time I'd ever been there, which provided me with more than enough material to write a solid article on the matter. In stark contrast, I feel that sitting in a room with so many education experts, including the Special Assistant to the President on Education from the Public Policy Council that I may not necessarily have gone down the wrong path. At one point in history, when, to quote one of my professors: "...and then Western Capitalism collapsed..." everyone - including teachers - were loosing their jobs, it seemed that the decade plus of my life that I had spent in the pursuit of higher understanding of education, its principles, and how to apply them, all of the practice, all of the development, had been entirely in vain. But then, enter my time as an interpreter, and following that, my entree into the National Urban Fellows program, and it seems that everything happens for a reason.

Having been through the entirety of the above, it's an interesting thought experiment to consider what is the significance of 'leadership.' That term can apply to the classroom, the agency, study groups, and of course, the frequently named municipal, state and federal levels. But I have yet to truly find myself a leadership role model after whom I would pattern myself, at least in the Public Administration/Business arena. I carry with me images of leadership styles that come from the dojo, and from Steinhardt, and ready comparisons for what Jim Collins would term Level 5 Leadership.

Interestingly, and speaking of leadership, tomorrow is Jon Stewart's Rally to Restore Sanity. Amusingly, at the same time, the good folks at GovLoop.com have convened an erstwhile collection of Federal level employees, intent on bringing attention to the fact that they, in direct opposition to the popular belief that they are lackadaisical, unskilled, and poorly trained, are anything but those three adjectives for a parallel rally. Additionally, they hope to present that working for the Federal Government carries with it a distinct collection of benefits unavailable to those in positions outside of its purview.

In any event, stay tuned to my Examiner page for the next amazing adventure, and here for insightful commentary on the commentary.

Facade of the Brookings Institute in Washington, D.C.

This, it seems, is a strong argument for story based learning. Every time I hear the word 'rally' this scene kicks on in my head. Never fails:

Scenes from Reston

Fair warning, this will be an image heavy post.

That said, I haven't been able to present any of my very interesting photographic evidence of my passing through this section of the country. Most of the vegetative representations are from the Snakeden (a fairly ominous sounding name for a public park, no?) Branch in Fairfax County, Virginia. The stream reconstruction is an interesting little public administration project in and of itself, especially given that Reston is the first of the preplanned communities to ever be built in the country (which I didn't know until I lived here.) In any case, whilst living in the Bronx, I was given to wandering the tree lined pathways in the vicinity of my place near the Botanical Gardens, and photographing the changing leaves. Autumn in Virginia, it seems, is an entirely different affair.



Mom's meatball recipe, my sauce...





 


PNut looking for a good book

 



A statue of Apollo on the fountain
in the Reston town Center

 



I'm used to seeing
'NYC Parks' on everything,
so I had to get this shot.





This purple is fantastic

 

An explanation of the Snakeden
Restoration effort. Click on
the title of this blog and it will
take you to a page with a more
 in depth history

I love the panorama function on my camera. This is about halfway along the walking path. A couple weeks ago, this field was alive with an infinite number of snapdragons, all of which have curled up and hidden from the cold front that moved through last week. I'll have to grab them in the Spring time.

I'm not going to start with the
 "Two paths diverged..." bit,
but it's interesting to see
how Fall is represented here,
in comparison to the Bronx...



These types of knots always
evoke images of otherworldly
faces yearning for escape...





More meatballs and sauce,
on the veranda



Sheeba in her favorite spot

Where's the closest tire shop?

So much has happened in the past two weeks, that it is nearly impossible to publish a faithful report, though I will endeavor to create something of a fillet.

As part of our assignments, we've been given the task of reading, and commenting on posts of our choice from the Harvard Business Review Blog, and that said, I've made a range of comments, here (as J. Valjean), and also here (as the title of this blog.) As time passes, and I acquire more information on the management aspects of public administration, it is indeed interesting to see the collection of thoughts on HBR blog. Written almost uniquely from the perspective of the private business industry, rather, as far as I've seen anyway, even as pertains to the field of Education, I'm repeatedly surprised by how - despite undeniably parallel organizational structuring, and practically mirror imaged management philosophies, - that the business world seems to inherently lag behind the public sector in terms of the more internal development type of evolution. Ed Sermier would ask: "What does that mean?"

What I mean is this: I read the "Leadership Lessons of Ants" and I'm still pondering the comments of several of the posters who seemed incredulous as to the validity of a parable to teach any sort of modern world utilizable theory. But then, coming from a teaching background, and having specifically set up learning experiences centered around parables to teach specific life lessons, perhaps I have a different perspective. Of course we use parables to teach life lessons, why do you suppose the Bible is still a best seller? Aesop lived and died centuries ago, but the inherent applicability of creative solutions (as in the crow who filled a jug with stones to be able to raise the level of water and in so doing, drink from what would have otherwise lay at the bottom of the jug, out of reach.) The Lion and the Mouse, another story not from Aesop, but a classic of Spanish literature, and an excellent lesson about how rumors quickly become something other than what we might like them to be: Los Tres Cuervos. And, let us not forget that amazingly talented inventor of moral infused children's literature: Horacio Quiroga, and his 'Las Medias de los Flamencos'. In each of these, lessons from the animal kingdom bear striking resemblance to how we might conduct ourselves amongst friends, family, and even professionals.

In terms of that, our agency is guaranteed to be in flux shortly, as there is an impending mayoral shift, and everyone at executive level has, as a matter of protocol, had to tender their resignation. This puts all of the Fellows at the agency in a difficult spot, because we've only just arrived, and the potential for significant organizational change in a very short amount of time is very real. The one Fellow placed at OCA reported a climate change so dramatic once it was announced that an administrative overhaul would be taking place, that the 6th degree would have been easier to deal with in the Six Degrees of Climate Change. I have personal feelings on the matter, perhaps I will share them as time goes on.

In the meantime, I've taken to inserting myself into as many leadership oriented activities as possible during my time at the site. I've found that it has become necessary for me to specifically seek opportunities for myself to be involved in the leadership process. At the same time, I'm participating in the rewriting of legislation, creating new contract templates, and it's a good thing that I have a background in language and linguistics, otherwise it would be a great deal more difficult for me to handle the tasks I've been handed. Also, in terms of that, I'm still not sure I'm entirely clear on the following that my mentor told me as I was trying to nail down the specifics of piece of the template with him: "Procurement is solely a commercial exercise, whereas Public-Private Partnerships are more development or investment." I'm foreseeing a conversation with Professor Savas in the future...

Last week, our Program Director came down for the Idealist career fair, and several of us in the DC area made it down to staff the table with him. During the couple of hours we were there, we were successful in attracting quite a bit of attention, and at the very least handing out quite a few information packets. I think we caused quite a stir. And speaking of a stir, having to finally articulate the Initial Capstone Proposal this week was even more difficult than the writing tasks I've been handed for the mentorship. I spent the better part of an afternoon scribbling notes and pacing back and forth by my desk muttering to myself (from the example of Booth, et al.) "Where's the closest tire shop?" But, in the end, it got done, and shipped out several hours before the deadline. Now that I have a focus, I can set about streamlining my data collection.

And now, what you've all been waiting for: El Gran Combo

Money, power, respect

En route to the nation’s capital, I’ve been lucky enough to find my way into a rather comfortable living arrangement, fairly close to the train line, and quite literally across the street from a Safeway that could easily take up six square blocks in the Bronx. Constructions of that size regularly unsettle me, as they are primarily so far from my normal experience that I feel an unarmed adventurer in a wild, untamed land. However, my excellent friends that live in the area are very accomodating, and have made the transition, if anything, exceedingly comfortable for me.

Last Friday, I tested the route in from my home station, and found that from there to my mentorship site takes approximately 45 minutes. Not at all bad, and around the same amount of time that it would take should I still be in the Bronx, and working around Baruch. This morning’s ride was very smooth, and I was grateful for that, though the DC train system is quite different from NYC’s; there is carpet on the train, the seats are cushioned, none of the people on the morning commute are busy endeavoring to consume five course meals in between stations, no dance performers, no ear-splitting, high-pitched squeals from the train wheels on the tracks, no half-possessed citizen preachers hurling lines about repentance, no street magicians… it is, in short, the antithesis of what I understand as a train.

Walking into the office on the first day was a unique experience; I managed to be coming out of the train at almost precisely the same time as two other classmates that work in the same agency, just in different departments. Amusingly, when I beta-tested the ride in the Friday before, I had also similarly encountered them as I was walked back towards the train station from the building. We strolled in together, happy to be embarking on a new adventure, and as the day wore on, we all began to get different flavors of just how the work of the year was going to unfold. My specific projects are going to have to do with an Municipal Regulation Amendment and a workflow management system implementation. Those are going to be fairly hefty endeavors, I guess it’s a good idea that they acquired someone who likes to lift weights!;) During the week I’ve met the agency’s head, as well as the actual Department Head, and both of these have been fairly interesting encounters.

During the week, there was a reception at a local restaurant where our program director, the alumni communications specialist, and a host of alumni who are also residents of the District of Columbia and the surrounding DVM area (DC, Virginia, Maryland; also sometimes seen as DMV – not to be confused with the Dpt of Motor Vehicles) came together. A major networking opportunity was had and many cards were exchanged.

Today, however, is an auspicious event: the anniversary of September 11, the Gen-X, Gen-Y, and Millenial’s version of the ‘Day that shall live in infamy’ (I’m paraphrasing from a report I’d seen earlier today, but the words are as poignant.) I’m not entirely certain however, that the verity of that fragment would be as significant to the whole of the generations mentioned. Yet, as we go forward, with remembrances, and even as I reposted the article that I had written in preparation for this day last year – having not seen as many answers to the questions I posted as I would have liked, there are yet some clearly defined concepts for leadership that I believe have not been focused on with as much fervor as I might have liked, though these come directly from my training in the dojo:

Hassuji: ‘target’, ‘objective’, or ‘angle’. Hit what you’re aiming at, essentially. What you’re aiming at might very well be world peace, or whirled peas, whichever is more crucial at the moment. This applies to both swordsmanship, as well as leading a nation.

Ma’ai: ‘distance’ – which is never static. The space you have to travel to an objective (this can be a beneficial one as well as a deleterious one. A win-win situation ideally,) target, enemy, or the distance along which you have to follow an angle to arrive at one of these, is in constant flux. Knowing how far you have to go in order to achieve what you’re after is essential. How far do we have to go until the economy rights itself? How far is left to go until the Middle East peace process is finalized (if it can be… or is it allowed to continue unresolved in perpetuity for a reason?) How far is left to go until there would no longer be a need for a War on Terror? Or a War on Drugs? Etc., etc., ad infinitum.

Choshi/Hyoshi: ‘rhythm’, ‘pace’, ‘cadence’ – on the mat, as well as in any type of encounter: personal, private, business, martial, or otherwise, if one partner is moving at an entirely different pace than the other, or if they are not steadily advancing towards the same goal at a similar pace, the technique, relationship, economic stimulus plan, withdrawal strategy, any and all of it is destined for failure.

Kurai: ‘spiritual/emotional readiness’ – are you truly ready to commit to a relationship, program of study, new position, conflict, etc. Many times, the answer is no, and if we’re not personally at a stage in our emotional development where we could conceivably engender the change we’d like to see, why then, would we expect someone else to be responsible for it?

Through the operation of all of these principles, two other overarching themes are in place:

Intent – are your actions having the consequence you’d originally wanted them to have? Did you achieve what you were originally intending to achieve? Have you corrected a problem? Or did you create far too many new ones during your operation for it to be considered a success?

Humility – not a trait for which leaders in our country are generally known, but one that is central to the proper attitude for leadership in the new century. If anything is clear, a new vision of what leadership means is in order. The face of America has changed, and our concepts of ‘leadership’ must change with it.

Mark Twain

"I have found out there ain't no surer way to find out whether you like people or hate them than to travel with them."
-Tom Sawyer Abroad, Mark Twain
 
This past week has been especially harrowing. In the slight amount of time we've had since classes have actually finished, there is the consolidation of (at least for me) 11 years of my history into a few boxes, and jettisoning whatever doesn't fit into the storage unit to be recovered upon my return. It's an interesting side trip down memory lane that hopefully won't take me too long. I'm planning on being in the DC area for the entire week preceding the beginning of the mentorship to get the apartment arranged and visit some long time friends that I haven't actually seen in person in quite some time.
 
Last week I journeyed to our nation's capital with a classmate intent on meeting with my mentor, and seeing the actual location where I'll be living. We actually managed to work rather well as a team on the way there and back, despite both of us being very take charge type personalities. So, Mr. Twain, we found out we don't hate each other. It's a major paradigm shift to go from living right in the middle of the Bronx to the suburbs of DC, questions arise every so often in my mind if I'll actually be able to handle the culture shock, but, stay tuned here, it should be interesting. I managed to trip over a 'New York Style deli' close to the apartment complex - which prepared some excellent sandwiches, had some good coffee, and cakes from Junior's. They will likely be seeing a good deal of me while I'm there.
 
My meeting with the mentor went well, I felt, and everyone in the office seemed excited to have me coming on. We spoke briefly about some cursory ideas relating to the project they decided to put me on, and I expressed my interest in being involved. After returning to New York, I was also able to read the writings of NUF's 2010 fellow that worked in a different section of the same office. Having done all this legwork, I now feel more informed about what opportunities and challenges I might face during the course of the mentorship.
 
And so, the end of an era, to begin anew. Like a phoenix rising out of the flames...
 

 

Here I am, back on the road again

At a certain point in history, I was constantly traveling. My parents lived in a different section of the country from me during my college years, when we were young, we went on so many road trips they simply became a matter of course. But for the past decade plus, my entire life has centered around the Bronx, and teaching, or translation/interpreting. For the past 12 weeks, we've been in a crucible - a container specifically designed to withstand fantastic temperatures, while at the same time allowing the metals within to compose a supposedly stronger, more resilient alloy. We've been tested, and tried, and not found wanting. Truly, we have woken up this morning to a much deeper understanding of the life process occurring around us, to a clearer perspective of our roles in it, and a renewed sense of purpose. Each of our personalities - all of us bringing worthwhile leadership qualities, - had begun to mesh, we each played off each other, we all contributed to make the classes we began and fought and worked through, the best that we could, and we had all come to rely on each others' strengths, become a unified team keeping each other afloat and keeping the communication very open, not unlike a Spartan phalanx.

And now we are off to widely disparate, very far away places.Many of us (including myself) have networks already where we're headed, and so will be far from alone. Though we won't be able to simply turn to a classmate during a budgeting issue and say "hey, how did we do this on the last case study?" Or, "I'm about to publish this OpEd, can you look at it real quick for me?" or, "Is this supposed to be a chi - squared analysis? Or a regression equation?" The process is a bit more difficult. Ah well. It's amazing how, despite our resistance, we've become so amazingly reliant on each other. I guess this is what Jim Collins is talking about when he suggests 'getting the right people on the bus'. Today was bittersweet: we were all excited for the new opportunities, sad that it won't be until January when we're all in the same space again.

And so, following the theme of a bit of song, Bob Seger: