Last December, I was asked to take over the effort to launch my group’s new website, a project that had languished for the better part of three years. I will be honest: I didn’t think it would be very hard. However, I quickly realized that one of the reasons the project had been spiraling out of control was because no one understood what the true status of the project was. And it was not good.
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The public sector is full of news about the “silver tsunami” and leadership gaps. We also speak of needing leaders who better reflect our communities, especially more women and more people of color.
Two different ideas expressed recently at a conference and on a blog might merge to generate one strategy to address this dual challenge of identifying and developing diverse talent.
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There are strong feelings and many ideas about what to do with Confederate flags and memorials in the aftermath of the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church murders.
The Confederate battle flag and flagpole were removed from the South Carolina Statehouse grounds on July 10th, after emotional debate in the S.C. Legislature.
North Carolina Governor Patrick McCrory believes the state should stop issuing Sons of Confederate Veterans car license plates which feature the Confederate battle flag. One writer calls for taking down the NC Capitol Confederate Memorial. Some other local flashpoints have included the Salisbury Confederate Statue, the use of the Fayetteville Market House as a town symbol, and several reports of vandalism of Confederate statues and memorials. [Update – on July 23, 2015, Governor McCrory signed S.B. 22 into law ]
On the other hand, the N.C. Legislature seems to be moving to preserve a range of memorials and markers by restricting what state agencies and local governments can do about current statues, memorials or monuments on public property (S.B. 22 – Historic Artifact Mgt. and Patriotism Act)
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When approaching the bridges to the nation’s capital, someone joining an agency, legislative staff, or NGO cannot help but notice the Washington Monument. This landmark does not depict the figure of the leader it honors, who commanded the revolutionary forces and then personified a civilian chief executive. Its simplicity and prominence reflect the unifying and transcendent nature of his leadership. The government and its military forces remain necessarily intertwined in public administration, but the cultures of service and leadership are increasingly separated in American society.
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