A Weekly Note from Mayor Gary L. Graham
“Traditional Values, Progressive Thinking”
In my spare time, I enjoy reading and am an avid reader of all types of books and articles. I recently read James C. Collins’ book Good to Great and the Social Sectors: A Monograph to Accompany Good to Great. Good to Great is a management book by Jim Collins that describes how social sector organizations transition from being average organizations to great organizations. While the original book primarily describes private sector businesses, the social sectors monograph delves into the concepts that apply to the public sector which includes governmental entities and non-profit organizations such as churches.
Collins says that a great organization (public or private) is one that delivers superior performance and makes a distinctive impact over a long period of time. In order for an organization to accomplish this feat, good leadership is critical. Leadership is not the same as the exercise of power. True leadership only exists if people follow when they have the freedom not to!
According to Collins, there are two types of leadership in organizations, executive and legislative. With executive leadership, the individual leader has enough concentrated power to make decisions. This type of leadership is typically found in private sector businesses.
The second type of leadership is legislative leadership where no individual leader has the power to make decisions by himself or herself. This leader relies on persuasion, political currency and shared interest to create the conditions for the right decision to be made. Needless to say, this type of leadership is found in public sector organizations (government, churches, etc).
Legislative leaders differ from executive leaders in that they are ambitious, just, and foremost for the cause, the movement, the mission, the work (not themselves) and they have the will to do whatever it takes to reach the best decision for all concerned.
These leaders answer to non-profit boards, elected school boards, elected aldermanic boards, voters, trustees, and democratic religious congregations, which creates a complex and diffused power map for each of them. In addition, these leaders also have to consider the impacts of civil service systems, volunteers, police unions, and tenured faculty. Most of these leaders do not have the power of a private sector CEO.
Legislative leadership requires being clever for the greater good! As Mayor, in the end, it is my responsibility to ensure that the right decisions are made—even if I don’t have the sole power to make them. Sometimes, the right decision is not one that would win a popular vote. Since O’Fallon is a Weak Mayor-Strong Council form of government, I must work with the Council on issues that will move the City forward.
Legislative leadership is not about being “soft” or “nice” or purely “inclusive” or “consensus-building”. It is about making certain that the right decisions are made, no matter how difficult or painful, for the long-term greatness of the City and the achievement of its mission, independent of consensus or popularity!
Our mission is to deliver the best city services at a fair cost to our taxpayers, to treat our employees as partners, to never forget that our citizens are first and foremost customers, to protect your home values, to retain our Midwest family values as the pillars of our community, and to provide a safe haven to live, work and play.
It is an honor to serve as your Mayor, and I appreciate being given the opportunity to work for the residents of O’Fallon. I am willing to meet one-on-one with anyone who has a concern about any issues related to our city. I welcome your suggestions and comments and encourage you to contact me at 624-4500. It is through your input and dialog on important issues that we will make O’Fallon an even better place to live and work.
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