Rhode Island leaders not up to Roger Williams’ legacy

PBN Staff

08/20/2011

The real, and only, problem with Rhode Island is that the dominant political culture of leadership that has pervaded the state since Roger Williams left behind his lively experiment is primitive.
Contrary to what many may think, our problem is not the power of the Democrats and the public-sector unions or the lack of power of the Republicans or even “apathetic” voters. In fact those are merely symptoms of a deeper-rooted problem, because none of that would matter if the predominant level of consciousness of our leaders were higher.
There is a ground-breaking book called “Tribal Leadership” that just happens to define what is ailing Rhode Island. This bestseller, authored by Dave Logan, John King and Halee Fischer-Wright, is the result of a 10-year field study of more than 24,000 people in two dozen organizations.
The essence of their findings is that there are five stages of tribes and tribal leaders and that there exists a correlation between the culture of tribes and the individuals who lead them. For instance, if the leadership consciousness is high, the tribe advances and prospers. However, if the leadership consciousness is low, it is only a matter of time before calamity ensues or a collapse occurs.
The following is how they describe the five stages:
• Stage One cultures have “the mind-set that creates street gangs and people who show up to work with shotguns. If people at Stage One had T-shirts, they would read ‘Life Sucks.’ ” People at this stage are despairingly hostile and band together to get ahead in what they view as a violent and unfair world.
• Stage Two people believe “My life sucks.” While this is an upgrade, people in this stage are passively antagonistic, feel oppressed and lack passion. They are sarcastic and resigned because “they have seen it all before and nothing ever changes.” • The Stage Three dominant theme is: “I’m great and you’re not.” Still another upgrade but very problematic, because it is ego-driven.
• Stage Four cultures speak the language of “We are great.” This culture is very focused on helping everyone around them to improve and fosters cultural “stewardship.” Stage Four leaders strengthen bonds and compete only with other tribes.
• Stage Five cultures’ T-shirts would read “Life is Great!” Their language revolves around infinite potential, and they focus upon making history, not enemies. They are in competition only with what is possible as opposed to battling other people or tribes. Roger Williams was a Stage Five leader.
Another interesting dynamic the authors discovered was that since Stage Three leaders are self-centered, they tend to create alienated and resigned Stage Two tribes. They also learned that 76 percent of the cultures they studied were stuck in Stage Three or below.
But they also make it clear that it doesn’t have to be that way and give many examples of former Stage Three leaders having transformational epiphanies that led them to realize how much more they could achieve for themselves and their tribes by elevating to a Stage Four consciousness.
Perhaps the best example involves one of the most powerful and intimidating union leaders of our time: Bob Tobias.
In 1970, when Richard M. Nixon was president, Tobias was a self-styled tough guy who was living in the wild world of Stage Three and loving it. He made history when, as general counsel of the National Treasury Employee Union, he won a staggering $533 million U.S. Supreme Court case against President Nixon for freezing federal employee pay. In Tobias’ words: “It was an ego-hit of the highest order.” After that success, he spent the next 13 years as a highly aggressive and domineering force until becoming union president in 1983. It was then that his Stage Four epiphany came. The authors note that these epiphanies normally involve realizations such as: Stage Three has no legacy; I now see I have been a manipulator, not a leader; to win at Stage Three is to win small; and I see myself through others’ eyes, and I don’t like what I see.
In Tobias’ words, “Once I got it, I got it, and then I was relentless.” From that point on Tobias began collaborating. He both embraced and espoused a vision of how much more could be gained through cooperation and by working with opponents, as opposed to trying to destroy them. He then drove this new thinking deep into his tribe and changed the way local union bosses negotiated. While still an incredibly formidable opponent, Tobias built a negotiating culture that focused upon creating new possibilities and visions as opposed to punishing opponents while satisfying egotistical and short-sighted desires.
Tobias’ transformation, while impressive, represents what happens to anyone who chooses to rise above the primitive level of being a Stage Three ruler to become a true leader at Stage Four.
So, if that can happen to one as rabidly Stage Three as Tobias, surely it can happen to any political or union leaders who choose to truly serve their Rhode Island tribes by raising their leadership consciousness to the next level.
For our sake, and out of respect for Roger Williams, I hope they do it soon. •