These leaders don’t necessarily wear starched white shirts

Earlier this year, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel presented an analysis of the leadership scene in the community, with the main story of the analysis entitled “Is anybody in charge here?”
Rob Meiksins would answer “yes” to that headline. And he would speak from a very good perspective – as the director of Future Milwaukee, which this week celebrates 25 years of leadership training.
Meiksins would say there are a lot of leaders in Milwaukee, leaders who are very powerfully reshaping the community. And while among those leaders are white businessmen in starched white shirts, the are also people of every other color, they are women, and they live all kinds of lifestyles.
In this issue of SBT, we present some of those people. People like Jeanette Mitchell of the Helen Bader Foundation, Brenda Brown of U.S. Bank, Foley & Lardner attorney Mick Hatch, Urban Development Association of Wisconsin president and CEO Karen Gotzler, and Notre Dame Middle School president Alvaro Garcia-Velez.
Their roles in Milwaukee’s leadership scene are detailed in a special section SBT is presenting in cooperation with OnMilwaukee.com and Future Milwaukee. The section, which offers a representative sampling of Future Milwaukee graduates – one from each of the 25 classes, can be found on pages 10-17.
There are far more than 25 leaders to have gone through the program, with about 40 leadership students per year.
It’s only coincidental that, while Future Milwaukee is drawing attention to its leadership development, leadership of the more traditional definition has been much in the news, including the election of State Rep. Scott Walker as Milwaukee County executive to replace the resigned Tom Ament, Milwaukee Mayor John Norquist’s announcement that he wouldn’t seek re-election when his current term is up in 2004, Gov. Scott McCallum’s ups and downs in the polls, and Archbishop Rembert Weakland’s impending retirement.
All of those people are very intelligent and, in their own ways, very adept leaders. Yet Ament and Norquist depart amid scandal, and scandal tinges Weakland’s departure.
And if they inspire people, they do so from a deep, thoughtful perspective, and not in the rousing, charismatic manner.
Walker is from a different mold, however, with a more emotionally captivating approach. (No doubt the range of emotions will vary depending on whether or not you like his approach and direction.) How effective will he be as a leader of Milwaukee County? Who knows; he faces a monumental task. But an awful lot of people obviously trust him and want a new style of leadership, and his experience working in and with the legislature will be invaluable.
Which is the better kind of leadership? Both have their pros and cons.
While intellectual leadership can be insulated from distracting and potentially harmful populism, it can also leave people craving for dynamics, and it can squander opportunity by failing to ignite latent community energies.
And while charismatic leadership can be energizing, it can also lead to meaningless or dangerous populism.
Milwaukee County voters have opted for more dynamic leadership.
Now, it will be interesting to see what state voters do this fall in the gubernatorial election. And it will be fascinating to see what options city of Milwaukee voters will get – and what kind of new leader they will select in 2004.
May 10, 2002 Small Business Times, Milwaukee