The Journal, Fall 2014

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THE COMMON GOOD

VOLUME 6 - ISSUE 3 - FALL 2014

A MESSAGE H H H H FROM YOUR DEMOCRACY

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DECISION POINT A SPECIAL 2014 ELECTION SECTION

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$10.00

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The Journal (Print edition: ISSN 2328-4366; Online edition: ISSN 2328-4374) is published quarterly by the Kansas Leadership Center, which receives core funding from the Kansas Health Foundation.

The Kansas Leadership Center equips people with the ability to make lasting change for the common good. KLC focuses on leadership being an activity, not a role or position. Open to anyone seeking to move the needle on tough challenges in the civic arena, KLC envisions more Kansans sharing responsibility for acting together in pursuit of the common good.

KLC MISSION To foster civic leadership for healthier Kansas communities KLC VISION To be the center of excellence for civic leadership development KANSAS LEADERSHIP CENTER BOARD OF DIRECTORS David Lindstrom, Overland Park (Chair) Ed O’Malley, Wichita (President & CEO)

Karen Humphreys, Wichita Susan Kang, Lawrence Carolyn Kennett, Parsons Greg Musil, Overland Park Reggie Robinson, Topeka Consuelo Sandoval, Garden City Clayton Tatro, Fort Scott Frank York, Ashland WEB EDITION

http://issuu.com/kansasleadershipcenter SUBSCRIPTIONS:

Annual subscriptions available on Amazon.com ($34.95 for four issues). Single issues available for $10 by emailing cgreen@kansasleadershipcenter.org.

PERMISSIONS

Abstracting is permitted with credit to the source. For other reprint, copying or reproduction permission contact Mike Matson at mmatson@kansasleadershipcenter.org.

KANSAS LEADERSHIP CENTER

325 East Douglas Avenue Wichita, KS 67202 316.712.4950 www.kansasleadershipcenter.org PHOTOGRAPHY

Jeff Tuttle Photography 316.706.8529 jefftuttlephotography.com ARTWORK

Stephen T. Johnson www.stephentjohnson.com MANAGING EDITOR

Chris Green 316.712.4945 cgreen@kansasleadershipcenter.org GRAPHIC DESIGN

Novella Brandhouse 816.868.9825 www.novellabrandhouse.com ©2014 Kansas Leadership Center

“I believe that our biggest success is making people think during these past two years. They may not think straight, but they are thinking in the right direction.”

– President Franklin Delano Roosevelt writing to H.G. Wells on the New Deal.

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contents Welcome to the Journal

By President & CEO Ed O’Malley . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Dispatches from the Kansas Leadership Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Letters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Leadership Library Book Review

By Mike Matson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Vote for Leadership

By Chris Green . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Voices of Civic Leadership Reflections on the Next Chapter By Susan Kang . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Speaking to Loss in the Midst of Victories By Darrell A. Hamlin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 DECISION POINT: A SPECIAL 2014 ELECTION SECTION. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 A Leadership Profile of Governor Sam Brownback

By Dawn Bormann Novascone . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 A Leadership Profile of Gubernatorial Candidate Paul Davis

By Patsy Terrell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 What Leadership Means to Sam Brownback & Paul Davis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 A Leadership Profile of Gubernatorial Candidate Keen Umbehr

By Chris Green . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 The Vote for Leadership Scorecard . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 Showtime in the Sky

by Sarah Caldwell Hancock . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 Clearing the Air: How Do You Create Space for Difficult Conversations?

By The Journal Staff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 The Path Less Traveled

By Paul Suellentrop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 Community Builder

By Erin Perry O’Donnell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 Artist: Freeform

By Stephen T. Johnson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 Poem: The Sod House Green

By William J. Karnowski . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 The Back Page

By Mark E. McCormick

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In PURsUIt oF sIMPLIcItY TO ACCOMPLISH SOMETHING TRULY SPECIAL, WE HAVE TO FOCUS ON WHAT MATTERS MOST

I was traveling from some place out east back to Kansas. During a layover, I stopped in an airport bookstore. One impulse buy later, I was walking toward my gate with a copy of Ken Segall’s “Insanely Simple: The Obsession That Drives Apple’s Success.”

Marty Linsky says, “simplicity is the flipside of complexity … you’ve got to push through complexity and make it simple.” My sister Clare – a successful artist and designer – helps me appreciate the simplicity of white space in design and tells me “less is more.”

A recent convert to the Apple fan club, I had been intrigued by Apple’s former CEO Steve Jobs ever since I read a biography of him. I assumed Segall’s book would be an interesting read about a company that intrigues me. It was that and more.

Segall’s book isn’t really about Apple, but instead about what he calls the “religion of simplicity” that flourished at Apple. A quick example: Think about smart phones before the iPhone. They had 47 buttons. Along came the iPhone with one.

I knew it would be good when I opened the cover and saw a quote from Henry David Thoreau (his book Walden had a big impact on me in college):

During the flight I came across a story in the book about when Jobs, who had returned to Apple as CEO after being forced out, convened Apple’s employees for a pivotal announcement. Apple would immediately reduce its product line from dozens of items to four. Everything else would be eliminated.

“Simplify! Simplify!”

And just under that quote was another from Steve Jobs:

Apple had the smarts to create all those products but to do something truly special – to transform how people live, work and play – Apple would need to focus.

“Simplify!”

The idea of simplicity had always intrigued me.

Dad, a former journalist, used to edit my school papers and would always start with a chat about “culling unnecessary words.” My good friend Bill Peterson – a smart man with degrees from Michigan and DePaul – says, “explain it to me like I’m a third grader.” Friend and mentor

Just because we can do something doesn’t mean we should. How many of our organizations and companies are stretched too thin, doing too many things and none of them as well as we could or should?

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• Teaching Leadership. A series of workshops and conferences for individuals to hone their leadership teaching, coaching and facilitation skills.

I stopped reading after that story, grabbed a pen and paper and started imagining what it would look like for KLC to simplify in a similar way.

At the time we had something like 27 different programs, each for a different audience or subaudience of a larger audience.

Now that you’ve been introduced to them, I want to encourage you to attend and promote these programs. They’ll happen on a regular monthly schedule. Encourage your colleagues to attend.

We would love to work with them.

Fast forward several months and Ken Segall is speaking to a group of 200 Kansans in the Konza Town Hall at KLC. He tells the same story and again I get out my paper.

But most importantly, I want to encourage you to define what simplicity means for your organization. Let me know if I can be helpful.

Let’s make Steve Jobs proud!

I began to realize that simplicity is harder than complexity. It took some time and lots of conversations but KLC’s version of simplicity emerged.

Twenty-seven programs boiled down to just three. It would significantly rock our boat, but faculty, staff and board members believe it will make us stronger.

Onward toward simplicity!

All KLC participants, from our special partnerships with community leadership programs, Project 17, faith communities and more, will engage in one or more of the following programs: • You. Lead. Now. An intense leadership program in a convenient, streamlined format.

• Lead for Change. A sustained, hands-on experience that features intensive coaching.

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Ed O’Malley President & CEO Kansas Leadership Center

DIsPAtcHes FROM THE KANSAS LEADERSHIP CENTER

Kansans from all walks of life who are interested in significantly improving their leadership abilities will have more options for attending a short-format program at the Kansas Leadership Center next year.

in a community, foster culture changes within organizations or navigate diverse perspectives on important issues requiring collaboration and coalition building.

There is no prerequisite for attending the program, although the high level of intensity and support makes it a great follow-up to the three-day experience.

An intense three-day program experience will be offered once a month for 10 months in 2015 from February through November. The three-day program is designed to help individuals make more progress on what they care about. It is designed for individuals who live or work in Kansas, although out-of-state residents may apply.

The first cohort of the program will meet Feb. 2-5 and will reconvene April 21-23. A second grouping of participants will begin meeting May 4-7 and gather again July 21-23. The final offering of the year starts Aug. 3-6 and ends Oct. 20-22.

INCREASING LEADERSHIP CAPACITY

TEACHING LEADERSHIP

The ideal participant will be someone working to improve his or her own leadership capacity, create change within his or her organization, or enhance his or her effectiveness on a team or in a small group.

Those looking to improve their teaching, coaching and facilitation skills will have monthly opportunities to do so next year at the Kansas Leadership Center.

Eight workshops and two three-day conferences will help teachers, coaches, facilitators, consultants and mentors instruct others to improve their ability to teach others to increase their leadership capacity. The workshops are ideal for individuals using KLC’s leadership framework, although anyone with the passion and aptitude for developing others or enhancing his or her own portfolio may attend.

Please select the three-day session that works best for your schedule. The exact dates of each program in 2015 are: Feb. 16-18; March 16-18; April 13-15; May 18-20; June 15-17; July 13-15; Aug. 17-19; Sept. 14-16; Oct. 12-14; and Nov. 16-18.

Please visit the KLC website, www.kansasleadershipcenter.org, to learn more or apply for any program being offered by KLC.

The conferences will run June 10-12 and Oct. 7-9.

Participants can also develop specific skills at the eight one-day workshops being offered over the course of the year. These offerings will be:

PRODUCING CHANGE

Individuals looking for a sustained, highly experiential leadership program with intensive coaching and support to foster change will be able to attend a multi-episodic offering next year at KLC.

• Feb. 11: Coaching to Make Progress on Adaptive Challenges • March 12: Case Teaching • April 8: Case-in-Point

A program specifically designed to help Kansans lead for creating change will be offered three times next year. Participants will gather for an initial fourday session and reconvene for a follow-up session about two months later.

• May 13: Coaching in Leadership Programs (Making Learning Stick) • July 8: Team Coaching • Aug. 12: Storytelling • Sept. 9: Case-in-Point

The length of this experience makes it ideal for individuals looking for sustained support as they work to create system changes on entrenched issues

• Nov. 11: Facilitating Peer Coaching Groups

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LetteRs the rich about the perils of wealth, and declared wealth rather than poverty as a barrier for people coming to faith. So if you are going to point to Catholicism, or other streams of Christianity, as a source of social transformation, at least figure out whom Christ primarily addressed as in need of transformation.

LOOK IN THE MIRROR, NOT TO HEROES

Arthur C. Brooks recommends a process of alleviating poverty beginning with the “moral transformation” of the poor led by “conservative warriors” who are “heroes” for the poor (“Launching a conservative crusade against poverty,” Summer 2014 Journal, p. 32-39). Yet, I think it would be harmful for those of us who are not economically impoverished to take either posture toward the poor. Let’s not think of ourselves as heroes for the poor folks in need of saving.

Rather, let’s each begin with the assumption that our own transformation is necessary for the greater good (“Manage Self”) and that our heroes may turn out to be among the poor (“Engage Unusual Voices”).

And maybe then we can talk about the kinds of moral transformations that are going to take place in poor communities. As someone living in a poor community in Kansas, the last thing I think we need is more rich heroes speaking at length about the necessity of others’ transformations. This is a little bit like having a log in your own eye and waxing philosophically about the splinter in another’s eye. What we need are people walking in a posture of humility, seeking out relationships with the poor, asking hard questions and listening.

To be fair, Dr. Brooks does acknowledge the necessity of moral transformation among the rich as well as the poor, but only in passing in the midst of a much lengthier discussion of the moral transformation of the poor. This is to miss the point that the existence of poverty is as much about the immorality of the rich as the immorality of the poor. How can anyone speak at length about the laziness of the poor without so much as a passing reference to the greed of the rich?

I find this particularly bizarre in light of Dr. Brooks’ own invocation of “faith” – the article mentions his Catholicism and he references Scripture – as a transformative institution in the lives of poor people.

Jesus, who also witnessed widespread economic injustice and inequality between the rich and the poor, never once mentioned the need for moral transformation of the poor. To the contrary, he specifically declared their status to be “blessed” already. On the other hand, he frequently warned

I once had the privilege of meeting a man like this in Guatemala. Also a Catholic man, his name was Bob Hentzen (the very same “Uncle Bob” described faithfully by Ed O’Malley in the beginning of the issue). When I asked Bob for wisdom about serving the poor, he didn’t lecture me expertly. Instead, he took out his guitar and sang songs about his personal experiences walking with the poor and the beauty he found among them. Change comes from loving people as we walk shoulder-to-shoulder, not lecturing folks from a distance about their need for change.

JOSHUA SHEPHERD Kansas City, Kansas

The Journal gladly welcomes letters to the editor, including responses to articles in the publication.

Please address your comments to cgreen@kansasleadershipcenter.org. Letters may also be mailed to the Kansas Leadership Center, 325 East Douglas Avenue, Wichita, KS 67202. We encourage readers to keep submissions to fewer than 500 words.

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MOVING PAST ‘WE’VE ALWAYS DONE IT THAT WAY’ A LEADERSHIP LIBRARY BOOK REVIEW

By Mike Matson

A few centuries ago, ordinary citizens took it upon themselves to serve the common good as watchmen. They patrolled and protected their communities in the dead of night, always on the lookout for signs of approaching nocturnal danger.

Rather than wield a blunderbuss, they often carried wooden rattles that apparently made a loud, harsh clacking noise – an alarm designed to roust the citizenry from its collective slumber.

COSTA’S FIVE SUPERMEMES

The message was simple and direct: Wake up and save your life.

Billing herself as an American sociobiologist, Rebecca Costa offers a “radical new theory of collapse” in “The Watchman’s Rattle” – and a way out – by examining the rise and fall of civilizations past.

On a parallel track, she drills deeply into 6 million years of biological human evolution.

Then Costa, who spoke at a Kansas Health Foundation symposium earlier this year, intertwines the two in a logical fashion that left me appreciative of her approach and optimistic for the future of the human race.

Here in the second decade of the 21st century, Costa argues that the human species has reached the exact point and time in our existence on the planet where our progress is outpacing our evolution. She offers what she calls five “supermemes,” described as “any widely accepted information, thought, feeling or behavior.” Think of them as frequently unquestioned beliefs that get in the way of change and action.

The first of these is irrational opposition.

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IRRATIONAL OPPOSITION. Every possible solution is found to be flawed, creating gridlock.

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PERSONALIZATION OF BLAME. Individuals are held accountable for societal problems.

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COUNTERFEIT CORRELATION. The relationship between cause and effect is determined hastily.

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SILO THINKING. Complex problems can’t be tackled unless nations, organizations and individuals work in tandem.

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EXTREME ECONOMICS. It’s only about the bottom line.

Economic considerations should not drive all decisions.

If our parents told us it’s true, then it’s true. Don’t go swimming for at least an hour after you’ve eaten.

We don’t question it. They said it, it’s true. Period.

Costa cautions that old wives’ tales still too often trump science.

failing. But in addition to retreating to what is familiar, we also have another reaction: fear.”

Human beings are the first known species blessed with the intellectual capacity to contemplate and take action to prevent our own extinction.

“Our vulnerability to beliefs grows stronger as our ability to acquire knowledge recedes,” Costa writes.

“When faced with complexity that exceeds the biological capabilities of the brain, we become susceptible to unproven ideologies and begin acquiescing to a dangerous ‘herd’ mentality.”

“Nature has provided an elegant solution to our conundrum,” she concludes. “An astonishing problem-solving capability buried deep in the human brain called insight.” (Costa’s italics, not mine.)

Her other supermemes: personalization of blame, counterfeit correlation, silo thinking and extreme economics.

We are at the point today where the convergence of knowledge, technology and resources is available to “stop the pattern.” Costa posits that we must restore the balance of knowledge and beliefs and allow uncommon insights to cure what ails humanity.

“An oppositional strategy polarizes choice,” she writes. “Choosing between two extreme options doesn’t work for solving highly complex problems such as global warming and war, because it forces the brain into choosing ‘which’ rather than considering ‘what.’”

Costa questions everything.

Personally, I get a kick out of thinking about the future.

I’ve often wondered what our society will look like a few millennia from now, how we’ll think, reason and act. I’m fascinated by books such as Carl Sagan’s “Contact.” Costa’s book is not futuristic science fiction, though. She offers a detailed, thoughtful, intricate snapshot of us earthlings right here, right now.

When it’s too hard to get smarter, when it’s too complex or difficult, we fall back on beliefs, Costa argues. When Columbus set sail, bearing west by southwest, human beings believed the world was flat. It was just too hard for our forebears to wrap their minds around anything else.

The very nature of the subject matter makes a huge assumption that those who wrestle with leadership challenges face every day: that an intervention will allow us to make progress. In that sense, Costa’s argument dovetails neatly with the belief that leadership is an activity.

“When faced with complexity, our first response is to retreat to the familiar, even if the familiar means

Once we heed the warning, it’s on us to make the common good better.

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HHH A M ES S A G E H C R ACY FR O M Y O U R D EM O H H

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TO: THE CIT IZEN S OF KA NS A S FROM: YOUR DEMOC RACY SU B JEC T : VOT ING FOR LEA DERS HIP

By Chris Green

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Dear Voter, HHH

First of all, let me start off by reintroducing myself. I’m your Democracy, and I approved this message. We have a long history, you and I. My roots run down deep in your country, your state and your family tree.

I’ve hardly been used perfectly over the years. But I think that I can say that, on the whole, I’ve served you pretty darn well. At the very least, better than the alternatives. I’m writing to you today because we’ve reached a crucial point in our relationship. And I hate to say it, but it’s you, not me, who needs to change.

Chances are you’re thinking about who to vote for in the general election on Nov. 4. But what I’m asking you to do today is to redefine the very way you think about voting. I call it “voting for leadership.”

I know what you’re thinking. You tell yourself, “I already do that.” But chances are there are more powerful forces – such as your identity and values – taking precedence. Voting for leadership would mean changing your behavior in some potentially painful ways, including recognizing and leaving behind some deeply ingrained presumptions. You’re going to need to set a much higher bar for both the candidates and yourself.

I say this because the trends I’m seeing right now aren’t looking good for me.

Voter turnout is on the wane. Hyper-partisanship is on the rise. Public approval of our politicians and institutions is tanking. There’s declining trust among citizens. Disaffection and cynicism seem to grow every day.

I know you’re frustrated. Me, too. But there is another path that offers the promise of a better future, provided you can stomach the perils of taking it.

“RAT HER THA N POS ING A S A WIZARD WHO C AN ALWAYS PU LL T HE RIG HT RA B B IT OU T OF THE HAT AT T HE RIGHT T IME, A LEA DER MUST BE WARY OF EV ER PULLING OU T RA B BITS . SUC H FEATS T END TO C REATE S OLUT IONS WIT H UNINT ENDED A ND UNFORESEEN SIDE EFFEC TS; WORS E T HEY REIN FORC E THE CONV ENT IONA L WISDOM T HAT TOUGH PROB LEMS REQUIRE WIZA RDS. AND EVERYON E KNOWS WHAT HAPPEN S TO WIZARDS WHEN THEY RUN INTO SIT UAT IONS FOR WHIC H THEY HAVE NO RA B B IT.” Ronald A. Heifetz and Riley M. Sinder in “Political Leadership: Managing the Public’s Problem Solving,” Chapter 8 in “The Power of Public Ideas” edited by Robert B. Reich.

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Flashy promises of magical solutions can be tempting.

ILLUST RATIONS BY PAT BY RN ES

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AVOIDING THE TRAP

HHHHH

A big source of the problem is the way people tend to think about voting and political leadership.

I’m a representative Democracy, which means you’re picking someone to represent you. To make decisions in your stead. Typically that means you’re voting for someone who thinks most like you or shares something with you, like your political party affiliation or ideology. Someone who mirrors your values or beliefs. Or at least makes you think he or she does.

Here’s the problem, though. Let’s say you vote for your preferred candidate. Your “leader” gets elected after spending the campaign making promises and outlining solutions to big problems.

In office, your official wants to start delivering and decides that something important needs to be done. He tries to advance his position. But, of course, the idea rubs some the wrong way.

All of a sudden, some of the negative consequences of change aren’t sounding so good. Your official gets wrapped up in trying to persuade everybody else to buy into his idea.

If the plan gets enacted, your official is a success. If it fails, he’s in trouble. And if at some point in the future that idea starts looking bad, your official pays the price by losing a race for re-election.

But the problem is: Just because you agree with someone doesn’t mean he or she has the right answers. In fact, really tough problems generally don’t have obvious solutions. Your right answer, the one you prefer, may be very good, but it’s probably just one piece of the puzzle. A 3-D puzzle, like a Rubik’s Cube. Even if you’re a genius, you can’t solve a Rubik’s Cube in only one move.

Your society is facing a number of a puzzles that feel like Rubik’s Cubes. If somebody could solve the problems of, say, childhood poverty, education funding, a stagnant economy or rising income inequality, he or she would have done it by now. And yet you expect someone just elected to have answers that nobody else has ever had. You expect magical solutions.

Being elected to public office, while quite an honor, doesn’t automatically give anyone super-human intelligence and wisdom. So smart and well-intentioned elected officials feel like they have to know the answers even when answers don’t exist. Sometimes they might look for shortcuts and define the problem in a way it can be solved. Even if that quick fix falls well short.

A S A CITIZEN , YOU HAVE A PA RT IN THIS MESS , I’M AFRA ID. FOLKS TOO OFT EN HAVE THIS EXPEC TAT ION T HAT POLIT ICIA NS C A N MAKE PROBLEMS DISA PPEA R. WHEN T HEY DON ’ T DELIV ER, YOU PUNISH T HEM FOR IT BY CRIT IC IZING T HEM OR VOT ING AG AIN ST THEM. Putting the responsibility on elected officials to do the work of solving tough problems is a seductive arrangement for voters. You don’t have to do the hard work of looking at the complexities of an issue or learning how you might have to change your mindset or actions to bring about a better reality.

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HHHHH

A DIFFERENT APPROACH

HHHHH

Here’s what can happen instead.

Candidates need to make it easier to vote for leadership by doing some changing themselves.

If you’re running for office this fall, don’t portray yourself as a problem-solving magician. Because the truth is, you probably aren’t. Nobody has all the answers.

Don’t get me wrong. You, the candidate, can still do a lot of good. But you will quickly need to recognize which problems are much bigger than you, your knowledge and your power. It can be confusing, because most complex problems have some aspects that can be reasonably solved. And it’s hard to disappoint people when they elected you to provide answers.

Chances are, though, if it’s a challenge that folks have been stuck on for a while and that a lot of people have a stake in, you’re probably in over your head. Or there’s no way to know for sure if you have the right answer, or it’s hard for people to even agree about what the problem is. A whole lot of what people talk about in politics today falls into these categories.

When you encounter big, messy situations, suspend your instincts to offer a quick fix. Your job isn’t to be the problem solver. It’s to level with everyone. You’re going to have to take on the difficult role of telling everybody the bad news and ask them to join you in working on the problem.

It’s not so much about you now as it is about helping stakeholders begin to sort through the issues. This is the starting point for that leadership thing that everyone is always talking about.

Rather than unveiling your big plan, you’ll need to figure out how to energize others to wrestle with the problem. You’ll need to help them see that there are no easy answers and that everyone must change, learn and grow to move forward. And because you’ll need the support of voters later on to tackle tough challenges, you’ll need to lay the groundwork for this approach now, while you are still campaigning.

This doesn’t mean you won’t ever propose solutions or make big decisions. But when you do something, you can design it to fuel the work that needs to be done by those you work with and serve. You’re not going to, all alone, solve ambiguous problems with the economy, jobs, education, health care, immigration or any area where the only possible good outcome is progress rather than success.

A S A VOT ER, YOU R JOB IS TO UN DERSTAND A LL T HIS. ADJU ST YOU R EXPECTAT ION S . DON’ T ASS UME ELECT ED OFFIC IALS WILL S OLV E T HE BIG PROBLEMS FOR YOU. DON’T PUN ISH THEM FOR FORC ING YOU TO S EE T HE PROBLEMS HU RTLING TOWARD YOU. S HOOTING T HE MES S ENG ER WON ’T STOP THE ON SLAUGHT. You’ll also have to come to grips with how you bear some responsibility for a less than ideal reality. What’s going on certainly isn’t all your fault (the mess belongs to everyone). But there are subtle ways that you may help perpetuate the problem

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But tough leadership challenges aren’t solved with “abracadabra.”

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HHH

BRINGING

LEADERSHIP INTO POLITICS HHH

WHAT CANDIDATES SHOULD BE DOING Don’t fool yourself (or let others fool you) into thinking you know the solutions to incredibly complex problems.

H Voters need you to help them define the biggest challenges and offer assistance in working through them.

Don’t try to solve them all by yourself.

H Don’t wait until after you’re elected to prepare voters to face the hard choices coming down the pike.

H Formulate plans that advance work on really tough problems rather than trying to propose quick-fix solutions for them.

WHAT VOTERS SHOULD BE DOING Don’t expect candidates to make truly difficult problems go away once they’re in office. It’s not going to happen.

H Don’t punish officials for compelling you to examine difficult issues.

Don’t reward those who only tell you what you want to hear.

H Evaluate candidates based on their leadership approach, not just their positions or party affiliation.

H Expect to have some “homework” in finding a way forward.

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Voting is an extremely personal, often gut-level decision. I can’t fault you for your choices this November. But I can tell you that if you factor leadership into your decision-making process, you will be doing yourself and others a big service.

The catch is that it may mean basing your voting decisions less on whether someone agrees with you and more on which candidate sees the problems the clearest and is willing to engage with them in the most productive way. That can be a hard thing to discern. You’re not going to see many 30-second ads featuring those attributes.

Choosing to vote for leadership means you’re also assigning yourself homework. It’s time to reassess your values. You’re going to have to be honest with yourself about the price of cutting taxes or increasing funding for education. You may have to decide what you’re willing to lose in order to win. Who knows? You may even have to step up and lead on something you care about yourself.

Trying to vote like this will feel awkward. It goes against your reflexes. It feels right to reward candidates who provide the solutions we love to hear, even deficient ones. Plus, not having a barrel of answers to supply is sure to make politicians feel a bit more inadequate and voters feel a bit more insecure. But make no mistake. From my vantage point, the handwriting is on the wall: Something needs to change.

I’ve enjoyed being your cherished institution and I’d sure like to keep it that way. But if I’m going to stick around and be relevant, you’re going to have use me effectively. After all, I’m about many things, ensuring liberty and setting a foundation for equality foremost among them. But those pillars will begin eroding if we can’t find ways to elect those who can help us make progress on our toughest problems.

CHOOS ING TO VOT E FOR LEADERSHIP C ERTAINLY WON ’ T B E EA SY FOR YOU . BUT IT’S A FIRST STEP THAT C OU LD HELP MA KE YOU R COMMUNIT Y, STATE, C OUNTRY A ND WORLD A B ET T ER PLAC E. LEADERSHIP IS THE GREASE THAT KEEPS MY WHEELS T U RN ING. PLEASE SEN D MORE.

Sincerely,

Your Democracy Note: This essay was inspired by the book chapter “Political Leadership: Managing the Public’s Problem Solving” by Ronald A. Heifetz and Riley M. Sinder, which appears in “The Power of Public Ideas” edited

by Robert B. Reich.

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REFLECTIONS ON THE NEXT CHAPTER

By Susan Kang

Everyone knows the old saying, “time flies.” If you’re a parent, you might be even more intimately acquainted with that adage. One minute, your voice is hoarse from having read “Goodnight Moon” for the hundredth time to an 8-month-old, and the next minute you’re proudly standing next to an 18-year-old, resplendent in her graduation regalia. My husband and I are in the middle of our first child, Hannah, leaving the nest. We will experience this again in two years when our younger daughter, Becca, bids farewell to high school.

As Hannah and I reach a milestone in our respective lives, I’ve been thinking about the differences between her experiences and mine in preparation for her leaving home and starting an exciting adventure as an independent woman. After giving birth to two daughters, I felt I needed to create a guiding set of principles upon which to anchor their upbringing to ensure a positive sense of self. What came out of this were three adjectives that framed many of our interactions: strong, smart and sensible. That this mantra was alliterative was a bonus, not planned. I could have chosen so many characteristics: kindness, empathy, leadership, charity. But I chose these three partly in response to my childhood.

Hannah’s 18 years were in part framed by these tenets, but there are so many differences between our lives. From birth, her life was infused with social and cultural capital, interesting vacations, a plethora of volunteer hours and meaningful dinner-table discussions. In fact, both my daughters distinctly remember me sharing, very excitedly I might add, the Kansas Leadership Center competencies I’d learned as a Kansas Health Foundation fellow.

Their mother, on the other hand, didn’t know what social or cultural capital meant until college; didn’t know people took vacations, even annually. She studied all the time, leaving hardly any time for a social life, let alone volunteerism. Dinner-table discussions, when they occurred, revolved around school and grades.

So how does Hannah’s experience help as she takes the next steps on her journey to adulthood? She, too, aspires to be a physician, a dream I gave up perhaps too quickly. I hope my daughter pursues her dream she’s had since sixth grade. But whether or not she decides on medical school, she’ll have a different framework through which she will see her future. She won’t be scared about changing course if she deems it necessary. She won’t be afraid to experiment and will be emboldened to exercise leadership, something with which she’s already had experience, and she won’t be afraid to question whether she’s really pursuing her passion. And most important, Hannah already understands the crucial importance of giving back to one’s community, something I learned much later in life.

Having immigrated to the United States as a 10-year-old from South Korea, I had a childhood that was a little different from those of native-born kids.

My parents emphasized the importance of excelling in school. Education was king at our house, and Mom and Dad spared no expense if it meant intellectual enrichment. I still have a World Book Encyclopedia set I just can’t seem to let go of. In almost equal measure, my parents stressed the importance of remaining strong in the face of adversity – because to do anything less was simply not an option. These and other lessons stuck with me, and, in the end, I guess I distilled them into being strong, smart and sensible.

Time will continue to fly too quickly: No sooner will I have one child in college, than I will have another following in her sister’s footsteps. And I firmly believe each will write her next chapter while remaining strong, smart and sensible.

Susan Kang of Lawrence is a member of the Kansas Leadership Center board of directors.

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voIces OF

CIVIC LEADERSHIP

SPEAKING TO LOSS IN THE MIDST OF VICTORIES

By Darrell A. Hamlin

You don’t have to follow sports or politics closely to know that professional football in our nation’s capital is caught in a perfect storm that has been gathering for a long time.

Since its founding in 1932, Washington’s NFL frachise has won five championships, including three Super Bowls, supported by record-breaking attendance rates for their games. Right now, however, the fans in Washington are facing a painful loss of civic identity, and we can learn something from the controversy.

Daniel Snyder, who has owned the team since 1999, is under intense, mounting pressure to change the name of the team – Redskins – to something that doesn’t carry the scars of historical contempt for Native Americans. Snyder has declared that he will never change the name because it signifies courage and nobility.

But the momentum is increasingly turning against the owner’s position. Last season, sports commentator Bob Costas editorialized against the name at halftime of a Sunday night football telecast. “Ask yourself,” Costas said, “what the equivalent would be toward African Americans, Hispanics, Asians or members of any other ethnic group.”

And earlier this year, the U.S. Patent Office voted to revoke six trademarks for the name because federal law prohibits copyright protection of expressions that are disparaging and disreputable. Although polls indicate that feelings around this controversy are mixed, clearly social, economic and legal forces are in full motion.

It might seem crazy, particularly to my Native American friends, but I can empathize with generations of Washington fans, many of whom acknowledge the moral wisdom of this change. Our allegiances in sports, like our political loyalties, are often handed down to us through family bonds. We carry memories of parents, grandparents, even great-grandparents who taught us who we are through our teams. In politics as in sports, our current commitments are emotionally tied to our past experiences of celebration, disappointment and renewal.

In Kansas, we might feel removed from this controversy, even though lots of us root for a team called the Chiefs.

But it’s important to remember that this kind of conflict – rooted in history, tradition, values – plays out in so many of the painful choices we have to make in public life. Our neighborhood associations, school boards and the Legislature face similarly difficult conflicts. Even a skillful civic intervention means that people will likely lose something that matters to them.

So how do we speak to someone else’s loss, especially when it comes as a result of our victory? What does speaking to loss really mean?

It means that when people lose something that matters to them, their pain matters to you, even if you disagree with the very basis of their commitment. Acknowledge that the other person was fighting for something deeper than a policy preference. Demonstrate your empathy by allowing those concerns to be present in your win.

From a broader perspective, this is a purposeful intervention where change is likely because the status quo is intolerable. But there is a deeper question about how something as technical as simply changing a team name can address the adaptive challenges that will remain after the transition.

Some autumn day, football in Washington will be represented by a new symbol of civic loyalty. Some hearts will be healing and some will be breaking, for the price of doing the right thing will cut deeply. But that shared cultural moment will be an opportunity beyond sports. More than the settling of an old score, it will be a chance to hear each other, not just the roar of the crowd.

Even as we understand why a team name should change because it is painful to some people, we should remember that such change is going to be experienced as real loss to others.

Darrell A. Hamlin is an assistant professor of justice studies and senior fellow at the Center for Civic Leadership at Fort Hays State University. He also serves as a leadership coach for the Kansas Leadership Center.

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DE CISION P OIN T A SPECIAL

2014 ELECTION SECTION

SEEING A RACE THROUGH THE LENS OF LEADERSHIP

It’s one of the state’s most compelling races in recent memory. And one of the most significant. H The outcome of the hard-fought campaign between Republican Gov. Sam Brownback and Democratic challenger Paul Davis will likely shape Kansas in significant ways for years to come. H But despite the amount of public attention being devoted to the campaign, it can be hard for voters to gain a sense of how either candidate would exercise leadership to make progress while in office.

A lot of political coverage these days focuses on the “horse race” – which candidates are up in the polls and what their strategies are or should be. Other reports may delve into policy differences but don’t often get into the nuances of how candidates will try to bring their goals to fruition. H This section of The Journal features extensive “leadership profiles” of Brownback and Davis, pieces that delve into what they think about leadership, how they’ve exercised it in the past and what others – both supporters and critics – think about their leadership skills and approaches. A third story features a Q&A with a third candidate on the ballot, Libertarian Keen Umbehr, focused on his leadership. H The goal of these stories is to help make it easier for readers to practice thinking about voting with leadership in mind. To that end, we’ve included a leadership scorecard for you to use in evaluating the leadership of candidates. Use what you know from the story (and from other knowledge) to grade each gubernatorial candidate on his leadership. There’s space on the scorecard for you to evaluate leadership in other races based on your own research.

H But this section isn’t just designed to be a resource. It’s also an opportunity to think more deeply about your own leadership. The challenges these candidates face are hardly unique to them. We all must deal with risk, learn how to exercise leadership in challenging situations, work across factions and maintain a clarity of purpose, to name just a few H Your political beliefs may differ from the candidates profiled here. You may be working at a much different scale or context. But if you’re trying to lead effectively, you’re likely to face very similar leadership dilemmas.

Their challenges, in a broad sense, are likely to be your challenges. If not now, then at least some point in the near future. Read onward with that in mind.

Chris Green, journal managing editor

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By Dawn Bormann Novascone

With an aim of reversing the state’s decline, Sam Brownback delivered a historic shift to Kansas government during his first term. But his bold push for change fueled a difficult re-election campaign that has become a referendum on his leadership.

Gutsy. Intimidating. Transformative. H Those are just a few of the words used to describe Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback’s leadership style. H Under his watch, Kansas has revamped the state pension system, arts funding, Medicaid and the tax code. The state has worked on the school finance formula and water preservation. Name a hot button issue for lawmakers, and Brownback has asked them to tackle it. H No other governor in recent Kansas history has engaged so many lingering issues so aggressively. He’s solidified state government around a conservative Republican direction. His decisions have earned praise and admiration from some. But his legislative priorities have also created plenty of enemies with sharply worded missives about a conservative agenda that excludes too many Kansans.

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NO TurNINg BACK

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His chief opponent in this fall’s campaign, House Minority Leader Paul Davis, a Lawrence Democrat, is basing much of his campaign on the idea that Brownback is the architect of a “failed” economic experiment with tax cuts in Kansas – threatening the state budget’s solvency in the process – and that his strong conservative push has left moderate Republicans and independents by the wayside.

You’ve got to be more competitive. Maybe that’s me being a K-State undergrad. You’ve got to fight harder if you’re going to be here without oceans or mountains.

If Brownback has regrets about his bold changes and legislative priorities, he gave no indication during an interview this summer in a Republican campaign office near Washburn University in Topeka. With a large Kansas map taking up the better part of a wall to his side, Brownback spoke in a relaxed, gracious manner about his leadership approach in his first term. He acknowledged the calculated risk involved in what he’s pushed for. After all, leadership is inherently risky.

“This is a long-term strategy to get us in a more competitive position. We predicted the dip (in revenue) and this is about jobs,” Brownback says. “And we’re at a record number of jobs with one of our key industries (aviation) still hobbled. So the plan is working. It’s early, and this is about long-term positioning of the state.”

“The truth of the matter is we can. We can win. And we are,” he says. “It’s moving but it takes time.”

He wants Kansans to think beyond short-term results.

The mere idea of dialing down his strategy fires Brownback up.

“Most of the time, the wiser political route is not to deal with your problem,” Brownback says.

He notes that Bob Dole was first elected to the 6th Congressional District, situated in northwest Kansas.

The state is down to four congressional districts and could easily lose another if population trends continue.

Even as challengers hammer away at his tax plan and the large revenue fallout, Brownback is convinced that the status quo wasn’t healthy for Kansas. The state needed to adapt to become more competitive.

He staked his first term on it.

“You could be in a position where you’ve lost half your congressional voting in one man’s lifetime,” he says, raising his voice slightly. “Is nobody concerned about that?”

“I’m just saying we’ve got 40 years of data that we’ve been in slow steady decline. We were the 28th most populous state at the first of the ’70s.

We’re 33, now headed to 35. If current trend lines continue for us and other American states, we will fall two more slots by 2020,” he says. “I was traveling and said: ‘Is anybody concerned about this?’

And some people would say, ‘Well, that’s the nature of an agrarian state when the population has gone to the urban areas.’ I’m there going, ‘No, we don’t have to just accept this.’ You don’t have to just say, ‘Well, that’s just kind of our lot.’ You can get in there and push about this. And we do something about it. So that’s what I was really pushing the tax plan around. We don’t have to continue to be an outmigration state. We were losing taxpayers to every surrounding state except Nebraska.”

INFLUENCED BY OTHERS

Brownback grew up on a farm outside Parker, Kansas, a town in Linn County. Even from a young age, Brownback was drawn to mobilizing others.

His birth order meant Brownback had to learn an important trait – skillful intervention – early.

“I had the good fortune – blessing – of being third in a family of four. So when you’re down the totem pole a ways, you’re trying to figure out: How do I get this done without getting beat up here,” he joked.

It was the start of a strong career. The boy who grew up feeding hogs drew on his early strengths becoming Kansas FFA president and then student body president at Kansas State University. He earned his law degree and held roles as a White House fellow and Kansas secretary of agriculture until being elected to Congress in 1994. His political career was elevated to a new level in 1996 during a special election to replace Dole, who had resigned his U.S. Senate seat to run for president.

The tax plan might be bold, but Kansas needs to be aggressive, he says.

“We are a rectangular-shaped state in the square middle of the country. We don’t have mountains, and we don’t have an ocean,” he says. “OK, what do you do? Then you’ve got to compete more.

24.

The 58-year-old married father of five says time in the Senate gave him a chance to explore leadership styles from across the globe. It’s served him well.

Brownback has never lost a political election. He ran for president in the 2008 campaign but withdrew early on, citing a lack of money.

back appointed to the Kansas Board of Regents.

“I’ve had the pleasure of working with him for about 25 years. It’s a very inclusive leadership style. I think he’s clearly very misrepresented in the media as being closed and not open to input and not open to conflicting opinions. I’ve seen the complete opposite.

He’s very open, very inclusive. Generally always solicits opposing input,” Wilk says. “Some of the best political debate that I’ve had in my political career has been with Sam Brownback at the table.”

Public speaking is one of Brownback’s strengths.

While some politicians grow agitated during rapidfire questions from angry constituents, Brownback’s calm public disposition – his ability to manage himself – allows him to thrive in prickly conversations. He has studied the decision-making styles from the likes of former U.S. Secretary of State and retired four-star Army Gen. Colin Powell, Dole and Mother Teresa.

Wilk chaired the transition team when Brownback became governor.

All of them have taught him something about policymaking, he says.

“We’d go around the table, and everybody would share their opinions. Most of the time we did not have a consensus but we’d keep working through it. We had all different views,” Wilk says.

Powell had a scale of one to 10 of when to make a decision, Brownback says.

There was always one unwritten rule – civility, he says.

“He always liked to make (a decision) if he could when it’s a seven in maturity so he could still affect the outcome but know as much information as possible. But if you’re going to shape the field, you’ve got to make the decision earlier. You’ve got to make it when it’s a three or four,” Brownback says. “You’ve got less information, but you’re trying to shape the terrain. I thought that was a real interesting kind of analysis.”

“He’s not a shouter. He’s not a screamer. You won’t find Sam Brownback beating on the table. He’s just not that way,” he says. “I’ve got to tell you in my 25 years, he’s never attacked anybody personally. It’s always about the policy. And he really doesn’t appreciate others around him doing that.”

Wilk says that side of Brownback doesn’t get a lot of public attention.

It’s happened, at least in part, Wilk believes, because Brownback’s strong conservative viewpoint never sat well with the media.

OPEN TO INPUT?

Brownback says his decision-making process involves soliciting as many opinions as possible. He calls his governing style a relational one.

“Obviously you want to try to get as much information and as much input as you can. I like to get as much counsel and advice. It’s great if you can float trial balloons to people,” he says.

“There’s a lot of folks in the media that don’t appreciate that, so they characterize him that way,” he says.

Wilk wishes more people would get a chance to see that Brownback – perhaps at face-to-face forums held around the state. “Whenever he does a town hall or whenever he does a public debate, you see that (side),” Wilk says.

Brownback says whenever possible he calls others and asks them to spread the message.

Before stepping into meetings, Brownback says, he regularly stops to check his motivation.

“Tell them we’re thinking about doing this and see how they react. The messenger matters, too.

Sometimes it has to be somebody other than me,” he says. “I want true reaction to it, so let’s get somebody that will be seen more neutral.”

“I’ll say, ‘Am I doing this for myself?’ And if that’s the case, then clean that out, throw that out, because selfish ambitions and pride – they’re just poisonous.

And people feel it,” he says. “And I’m not saying I get it right all the time, either. I don’t. But that’s really, that’s something I look at a lot.”

It’s a trait that many don’t see publicly, says Kenny Wilk, a former Kansas representative whom Brown25.

SAm BrOWNBACK

AT A G L ANCE AgE:

58 PArTy:

Republican ruNNINg mATE:

Lt. Gov. Jeff Colyer HOmETOWN:

Parker PrOfESSION:

Attorney SPOuSE:

Mary Brownback (Attorney and stay-at-home mom, volunteer) CHILDrEN:

Abby, Andy, Liz, Mark and Jenna Brownback EDuCATION:

Kansas State University and the University of Kansas School of Law POLITICAL CArEEr:

Kansas governor 2011 to present; U.S. senator 1996 to 2011; U.S. representative 1995 to 1996 U.S. representative 1995 to 1996

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: A supporter takes a selfie with Brownback following this fall’s gubernatorial debate at the Kansas State Fair; Brownback and his wife, Mary, wave while riding in Wamego’s Fourth of July Parade; A Brownback supporter voices her support during the lead up to the gubernatorial debate at the Kansas State Fair; Brownback shakes hands with a supporter following the State Fair debate. The governor, who has ushered in a series of significant initiatives since taking office in 2010, is locked in a heated campaign for re-election against Paul Davis, a Lawrence Democrat.

STANDING ON CONVICTION

Brownback says he learned how important it was to work with opposing viewpoints during his time in the U.S. Senate.

“I’m a big believer in relationships. I particularly saw that in the Senate and internationally. I did bills with Ted Kennedy and Paul Wellstone, both deceased now, but both very liberal,” he says.

Brownback and Wellstone, a Democrat from Minnesota, made history in 2000 by working together to pass bipartisan legislation to stop international sex trafficking of women and girls. The unlikely duo helped establish the historic first penalties for the crime.

“We came together, and I said, ‘Twenty percent of your ideas I cannot support.’ He said, ‘Twenty percent of your ideas are nonstarters for me,’” Brownback recalled. “We came up with that first bill that Gloria Steinem and Chuck Colson both endorsed. And so when people saw us coming, and we had that kind of coalition they said, ‘Sign me up. If you guys can agree on this, then it’s got to be as good as sliced bread.’”

Over the years Brownback has repeatedly praised Wellstone for taking stands on his core convictions and tackling problems that wouldn’t necessarily earn him votes on Election Day. “I think he also taught a good lesson for the rest of us about core convictions. There is no problem with having core convictions. It is a good thing to have core convictions and to stand by those. It is also a good thing to recognize when it is that the topics you are talking about are not your core convictions, so you can reach out across the aisle,” Brownback said, according to the Congressional Record.

think he has any grand expectations about everyone agreeing with those principles or endorsing those principles. So as I have seen him in the last few years, you know, he won’t compromise on values principles. But he will at the same time offer an olive branch and make every attempt to sit down with people who hold different values and different principles.”

Lynn points to his work on the historic income-tax cuts as one example.

In March 2012, the Kansas Senate was gridlocked on a plan to dramatically change the tax code by cutting income and sales taxes. The tax cut, which ultimately passed, was much deeper than Brownback proposed, but it was favored by conservative lawmakers.

Moderates were staunchly opposed. Ending the session without a tax cut of any kind would have been a political disaster for Brownback.

Virtually every media outlet, political observer and even lawmakers thought the tax plan was doomed.

What happened next astounded Lynn and many others.

“He got his opponents in a room, and he worked out something with them,” Lynn says. “He understood what was in the balance, and he understood that they all had to come to the table and work something out or we were never going to get out of there.”

While some consider it an example of good negotiation, there is a drastically different view of the dialogue.

Kansas City Star political reporter Steve Kraske wrote in a column that the tax plan “appears to be one of the most blatant examples of arm twisting under the Kansas dome since statehood.”

Former Senate President Steve Morris says Brownback called him during those days of deadlock.

Kansas Sen. Julia Lynn, an Olathe Republican, sees some of those same qualities in Brownback.

“He pleaded and he pleaded and he pleaded with me for us to reconsider it,” Morris says.

“I think he’s gutsy because he leads on principle, and he doesn’t waver. I think he leads out of convictions of a lot of fundamental values that he holds, but at the same time – and contrary to what some people may say or think about him – he’s not dogmatic. He takes his values and principles very seriously internally, and he obviously applies those internally. But I don’t

The moderate Republican, who sparred with Brownback on several issues, says he agreed to endorse the plan believing that it would be modified before becoming law. But the tax plan was never modified as they discussed, Morris says.

Days later, Brownback also vetoed a bill aimed at

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protecting an oil and gas trust fund that had passed unanimously in the House and Senate. The fund had been a source of pride for Morris because of its efforts to benefit his southwest Kansas constituents and others.

Owens was a key figure in two hot Statehouse issues.

The judiciary committee handled a proposal to give Brownback more power to appoint appellate judges of his own choosing. The redistricting committee helped set the state’s electoral boundaries for a decade. Owens faced notable pressure because he chaired both committees.

Kraske’s column said it was a clear message from Brownback to moderates “bogging down his agenda.

That message: Do. Not. Mess. With. Me.”

“He tried to strong-arm me into changing my mind, and that kind of leadership for somebody like me just doesn’t work,” Owens says.

Morris was later unseated in an election that a Slate.com headline dubbed “The Great Republican Purge of 2012.” Moderate Republicans were ousted by conservative Republicans who had the financial backing of key Brownback supporters, including the Kansas Chamber of Commerce and Americans for Prosperity.

Redistricting became such a disputed issue that it was ultimately decided in federal court. Conservative Republicans used redistricting to rally support against Owens when he lost his primary election in the summer of 2012. Brownback and his allies actively campaigned against him and other dissident Senate Republicans for allying with Democrats to thwart conservative policy initiatives.

“We weren’t conservative enough for them, and they wanted a blank check to proceed. And that was their way of getting a blank check,” says Morris, who supports Brownback’s competitor, Davis, in the November election.

“He’s got a soft voice and a nice smile,” Owens says.

When asked to describe Brownback, Morris offers the word intimidation.

“But make no mistake about it, he has a very definite direction that he wants to go. And if you disagree with him, you’re going to go.”

“I don’t know that you get that from Brownback directly, but people associated with him are into that in a big way,” Morris says.

But Brownback’s allies believe he’s taking the state in the right direction. Lynn, for one, believes his strategies are worth the political risks.

THE NATURE OF THE POLITICAL PROCESS

“The minute you capitulate on your core values – your core convictions – is the day you lose the fight not only for you but for everybody,” Lynn says.

The battle over the tax plan was just one of several pitched political battles that unfolded in Brownback’s first term. His allies and opponents also sparred over teacher job protections, judicial appointments and redistricting, and Brownback ultimately ended up on the winning side in most of those debates.

Brownback acknowledges that his changes haven’t been easy for everyone to digest.

“People say they don’t like change. I think it’s they don’t trust change. I don’t think that they necessarily don’t like change. They look at a situation and say, ‘This isn’t working well, but I don’t know that it’s going to work better.’ This is the devil I know versus the devil I don’t know,” he says. “Then the other side is always attacking you saying, ‘This is going to be worse.’ That’s the nature of the political process.”

Former Kansas Sen. Tim Owens, a moderate Republican who was unseated in the same election as Morris, says the political pressure he experienced often didn’t come directly from Brownback but instead from his staff members.

“Brownback has an approach where he likes to be the smile and the nice soft voice and the nice guy,” Owens says. “He doesn’t want to be viewed as the bad guy even though he’s the one that fired the shot.”

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A boisterous crowd greets Gov. Sam Brownback and House Minority Leader Paul Davis at the beginning of this fall’s gubernatorial debate at the Kansas State Fair.

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By Patsy Terrell In a series of leaps, Paul Davis has risen from a little-known legislator to a contender for governor. But can the Democrat really deliver on his campaign promises to work across factions in the Kansas Statehouse to solidify the state’s future?

On a summer morning in Hutchinson, about 100 people gather to hear Paul Davis, the top-ranking Democrat in the Kansas House of Representatives, lay out his case for being elected the next governor of Kansas. H Die-hard supporters mingle with those just looking for a little more information. Members of the state’s teachers union, the Kansas National Education Association, stand out in the crowd in their red T-shirts. Whispers of “He’s here” echo through the crowd as Davis’ tall figure is spotted. H After a brief introduction, Davis, 42, strides to the front of the room, takes the microphone and spends the next 20 minutes or so talking about his vision for Kansas. H The son of two teachers, he gives particular attention to education, the economy and the budget. He uses no notes and makes eye contact all around the room as he moves from one point to another. In careful, measured tones, Davis speaks of what he wants for Kansas.

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He answers questions for about 30 minutes, laughing with the crowd a couple of times but always returning to his main messages. A question about mental health concerns elicits the largest laugh when he mentions he lives with a lobbyist because his wife, Stephanie, is a psychologist (the couple has a 4-year-old daughter named Caroline).

Rhoades, a Newton Republican, says it is Davis’ core philosophies, not his collegiality, that are at issue. The direction you’re leading people matters, Rhoades says, and, in his view, Davis is pushing in the wrong direction.

“Good policy is foundational to good governance.

A pleasant persona with flawed policy does not make one well-suited to govern,” says Rhoades, who served with Davis on a pair of legislative committees.

After all, conservative Republicans in Kansas push for lower taxes and smaller government as being key to economic growth. They argue that Davis, who helped pass a 1-cent sales tax increase in 2010 to stabilize the state’s budget during the Great Recession, would divert Kansas from the path it has been on since Republican Gov. Sam Brownback took office.

After the presentation and questions, he shakes hands and visits with people individually.

It was just one of many small gatherings with groups across the state in recent months that Davis and his campaign have used to spread his message. One point that he made repeatedly was that he was not partisan by nature and that he believes in working across factions, in gathering different opinions.

“There are good ideas in both political parties,” Davis said in a telephone interview prior to the event.

“You have to be willing to listen to people who you may think don’t necessarily agree with you. You have to be willing to take input from them.” It’s a point that Davis has consistently hammered home as he’s risen from a little-known state legislator to a credible gubernatorial challenger.

“With a president who has hindered the national economy and added significantly to the national debt, the biggest issue the next governor will face is keeping Kansas on course and well-prepared for the next national economic crisis,” Rhoades says.

Davis’ supporters cast him as a smart, even-keeled, commonsense moderate, capable of building bridges with both Democrats and Republicans, a must in a state with a heavy GOP tilt.

Bipartisanship often sounds good to voters in the abstract, but bringing it to fruition is difficult. For instance, when he first ran for president, Barack Obama touted his ability to work with the opposing party and usher in a post-partisan era. But the country remains as politically polarized as ever.

THE LIMITS OF BIPARTISANSHIP

“He's just naturally risen through the ranks and he has done it the right way – not in an ideological fashion. He has not beat the drum for things that are normally Democratic principles,” says Charlie Roth, a retired Republican legislator from Salina who has endorsed Davis. “He's had the impact of making people around him more effective, and I think that's the hallmark of a good leader.”

If he’s elected governor, Davis would be stepping into a Statehouse environment where conservative Republicans hold considerable sway in the House and Senate. They see the world very differently than he does, and he’d have to find enough agreement with them to keep the basic functions of government running – passing a budget, paying the state’s bills, etc. – at a time when some observers fear a state budget crisis that could threaten funding for public education and social services.

Former State Treasurer Dennis McKinney, a Democrat who worked with Davis when both were in the Legislature, says Davis has a way of connecting with people. “He understands how to bring people into the conversation. And when people contribute to ideas, they will buy into them once they've adopted them,” McKinney says.

Getting a seal of approval for big ideas of his own in such an environment could prove even more challenging.

“With a fairly conservative House and an even more conservative Senate, he would probably struggle

But Davis’ critics contend that the candidate hails not from the center, but from the left. Rep. Marc

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getting budgets approved or new programs initiated without reaching across the aisle to make cuts in other areas,” Rhoades says.

House. “One thing I found out about Paul is that he's a solution guy,” Roth says. “He's looking for ways to solve problems, and I like that in him. I didn't detect an ideological bent that says we must go this way or we must go that way.”

In 2010, however, when moderate Republicans held more power in the Statehouse, Roth says, Davis proved adept at working across factions to help shore up the state’s budget position. And the process wasn’t necessarily an easy one.

But efforts to compromise with the opposing party can come with a steep price. House Democrats were routed in the 2010 general election following the sales tax hike that Davis supported. Nearly two years later, voters sent most of the Kansas Senate’s moderate Republican leaders – who also had a track record of working with Democrats on such issues – packing in the August primary vote. Brownback and his allies supported their challengers.

Representing a group of about 25 moderate Republicans, Roth and Rep. Don Hill of Emporia first approached the House’s budget committee chairman, Kevin Yoder (now a U.S. congressman), about coming up with a plan. Roth says their efforts were shut down quickly. Tax increases were off the table in the minds of Republicans who controlled the House at the time, including then-House Speaker Mike O’Neal.

Roth and Hill then approached Davis, who served in the role of minority leader in the House. “We said the same thing we said to Kevin Yoder: How do we solve this budget situation we're in?” Roth says. “Paul said, ‘Why don't we talk about it? There isn't anything off the table. We don't have to wind up in any particular place. Let’s talk about it.’”

The changed environment in the Kansas Legislature means Davis would face a very different kind of leadership challenge if he’s governor than he did four years ago, says Chapman Rackaway, a political science professor at Fort Hays State University.

“If he wants to show that he can work with this kind of Legislature, he needs a more recent example than 2010,” Rackaway says. “Because the Legislature is not going to behave the same way. They're not going to work, they're not going to think the same way that the Legislature of 2010 did, which was custom-made for someone like Paul Davis. But right now that does not compute.”

The decisions that legislators faced during the recession-fueled budget shortfall of 2009-10 were difficult. They had to cut more than a billion dollars from the state budget and ended up raising sales taxes. Davis says he tried to use the relationships he had built up over time to help address problems.

He says it gave him “a good idea of people who needed to be in the room.”

UP TO THE TASK?

Yet some people who have watched Davis over the years say he could rise to the challenge.

“We weren’t all like-minded by any means,” Davis says.

Bill Rich, a law professor at Washburn University, has known Davis since he was a law student. He says that Davis, who graduated in 1997, brings with him a barrister approach that allows him to be thoughtful, considerate and avoid rushes to judgment.

He also approached the situation knowing that he wouldn’t get everything he wanted, and neither would anyone else. “I learned how important it is to let people offer their perspective, but at the same time understand that you have to achieve some consensus, so not everyone is going to get their way,” Davis says. “You have to get a compromise. That’s part of politics.”

But his ability to work across factions could be severely tested in a state government environment where there are strong and conflicting opinions about what should be done.

With tax increases facing opposition from House Republican leaders, Roth says, Davis helped by being pragmatic. He just wanted to get the necessary 63 votes needed for the embattled legislation to pass the

“The biggest challenge is in dealing with people who aren’t similarly inclined and having the patience to deal with some people who prefer that you take

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PAuL DAVIS

AT A G L ANCE AgE:

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Democratic ruNNINg mATE:

Jill Docking HOmETOWN:

Lawrence PrOfESSION:

Attorney SP OuSE:

Stephanie Davis (psychologist) CHILDrEN:

Caroline, age 4 EDuCATION:

Graduate of University of Kansas and Washburn University School of Law POLITICAL CArEEr:

Kansas House of Representatives.

First legislative term began January 2003

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: House Minority Leader Paul Davis stands behind the podium during this fall’s gubernatorial debate at the Kansas State Fair; A crowd of supporters look on while Davis speaks during a late summer rally at Demofest in Wichita; A Davis-Docking supporter holds up a campaign sign during the State Fair debate. Davis has rapidly risen from a relatively unknown state representative to a gubernatorial contender over the past year; Davis raises arms with his running mate, Jill Docking of Wichita, at Demofest;

strong positions, and who themselves are not willing to listen,” Rich says. “It requires a kind of patience that not many of us have. My sense is that Paul does.”

But others tell a different story about Davis. Ronnie Metsker, chairman of the Johnson County Republican Party, served in the Legislature with Davis in 2007 and 2008. He says that although Davis is intelligent – “probably one of the brightest minds in the House” – his leadership style, in contrast to other Democrats such as McKinney, never won him over.

He says that Davis’ articulate style also has an assertive quality that came across as condescending, at least to him. “His confidence was translated as arrogance, and bright people need to probably consider guarding against that,” he says.

Metsker also notes that Davis has been largely mum about his specific plans, opting instead to attack Brownback’s goals. He points specifically to Davis’ response to Brownback’s education priorities for the next session.

education primarily at that time, and that's what motivated me. I think I was interested in government from dinner-time conversations with my parents, and I had some influential teachers in high school and college, but I really didn't think about running for office until pretty close to the time I ended up doing it.”

Despite being an unelected member of his chamber’s minority party in his first term, he helped forge a bipartisan coalition of freshman lawmakers who proposed a mixture of tax increases and spending changes. The plan ultimately failed, but it provided an alternative to the budget shifts being considered at the time.

Then in 2008, in the midst of another vacancy, he leapfrogged more senior members of his caucus and was chosen House minority leader.

The biggest leap was yet to come.

More than a year ago, when Democrats were struggling to find a credible candidate to run against Brownback, Davis threw his hat into the ring. He was hardly a household name among Kansans. His low profile and ties to a more liberal enclave of the state were considered a liability.

“When you look at the Brownback plan, it’s a smart goal. It is specific. It’s measurable. It’s attainable. It’s reasonable, and it’s time-sensitive. It’s got a deadline to it,” he says. “So (Brownback) laid out some very specific plans and goals in his education plan. And I haven’t heard Paul Davis lay anything out like that.”

But Davis saw an opportunity, and over the legislative break embarked on a listening tour across the state to understand the issues and possibilities.

A SERIES OF LEAPS

“As I was going through this process, I said to a lot of other people who were looking at the race or trying to counsel people to look at the race, I said to those people, ‘If there's somebody who's better to do this than I am, I am more than happy to defer to them,’” Davis says. “It has not been my lifelong ambition to be governor. I just wanted to ensure we were going to have a good candidate and somebody who could win the race and was going to be able to change the direction that things are going.”

One thing we do know about Davis is that he has seized key moments to step higher than convention would have indicated possible.

He first arrived at the Legislature in 2003, after a legislative vacancy came open in his hometown of Lawrence. He ended up winning the appointment over more established Democrats.

Davis says he never spent much time thinking about running for office until that seat in the Legislature came open.

Burdett Loomis, a University of Kansas political science professor, has known Davis most of the politician’s life. He says all three leaps in Davis’ political career are examples of his ability to keep moving forward. “It is seeing an opportunity clearly and saying, ‘Why not me? Why shouldn’t it be me?’”

Loomis says.

“When I decided to do this back 12 years ago, I really hadn't contemplated running all that much and an opportunity was presented to me,” Davis says. “I was concerned about the level of support for public

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WAITING FOR SUPERMAN?

Successfully leading in a statewide office as a Democrat in Kansas often requires working beyond one’s constraints, which include having only about a quarter of registered voters sharing your party affiliation. Davis says he will look for places where agreement is possible and build on those. But he also realizes that sometimes a sacrifice of political capital is necessary.

“You have to be straight with people. You have to be willing to tell them things they don’t want to hear.

You have to be willing to say no.”

Of course, partisanship is just one dividing line that Davis would face if he were governor.

The lack of understanding about differences around the state is something McKinney, a former House member from Greensburg, says is also a genuine struggle. He says there are people in northeast Kansas who have no idea how large the aircraft industry is in Wichita, and people in Wichita who don’t understand how important oil and gas are around the state. “Paul has the ability to reach across those partisan and geographic boundaries,” McKinney says.

One visible example of Davis’ potentially broad appeal is that he was endorsed by more than 100 former and current Republican officeholders this past summer.

But as important as Davis’ bipartisan push is to his winning election, Rackaway says, it’s likely to fail in practice with legislators, unless Davis can persuade voters to pressure lawmakers to meet him in the middle.

“If he doesn't establish himself as anything more than not Sam Brownback, even if he wins, he won't have enough good will of the constituents statewide to be able to bring that indirect pressure onto legislators that he would absolutely, positively, 100 percent need to get anything done,” Rackaway says. “Otherwise it's going to be the Legislature … daring him to use his veto pen.”

“What often motivates people who are in elective office is when their constituents are on their case about something. I think one of the things we're going to need to do a better job of is trying to talk directly to people about how they need to tell their legislators they want them to work together. Instead of emphasizing a lot of times, well, if you're a Republican and you work with a Democrat, that's wrong.”

Davis’ public statements give hints about what he values enough to advocate for, from the importance of public schools to the role of promoting economic development across the state. In a move that’s drawn heat from Brownback’s campaign and its allies, he’s also proposed postponing future income tax cuts instituted by Brownback.

But Davis’ statements don’t give a lot of indication as to how he would manage the tough circumstances, trade-offs and the clashing of values, loyalties and ideologies he would face in office.

“I, unfortunately, think what we need is someone with the strength and power of Superman right now,” says Rich, Davis’ former law professor. “We are going to be facing some significant problems. But I think, realistically, that if we have someone who is thoughtful, considerate, conscientious and will work hard, those are going to be the most critical aspects. Paul is that kind of person.”

Davis’ hunch is that’s the kind of discernment Kansans want in a governor these days.

“I think we've got too many people in politics now who think they have all the right answers, and if just everybody else would get out of their way they could solve all the world's problems,” Davis says. “I fundamentally disagree with that belief. Being part of the Legislature for 12 years now, I have found by bringing lots of people together, bringing different ideas together, that molding process does work.”

Journal writer Dawn Bormann Novascone and managing editor Chris Green contributed to this story.

With the help of voters, though, Davis says, he can help improve the climate for bipartisanship in the Kansas Statehouse.

“Oftentimes I think leaders have to help create a political atmosphere where there is incentive to compromise and work with one another,” Davis says.

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WHAT LEADErSHIP mEANS TO S A m B r OW N B A C K

Brownback wants to stay focused on long-term solutions – not negative media newspaper headlines or TV sound bites.

“Most of the time the wiser political route is not to deal with your problem. We had a problem with KPERS (the state pension for public employees) for 20 years. It will be there next year. It’s not killing us right now, let it go. We’ve been declining as a state relative to rest of the country population-wise as a state for 40 years.”

He sees his work on the state’s pension plan as one example of a time he has exercised leadership.

“I just kind of had to keep pushing people saying, ‘We all agree that this is a huge problem.

Let’s get it fixed.’ Then eventually people started coming out with their ideas. For a long time they wouldn’t put a proposal on the table. A decent part of some of these things is just getting somebody to put a bid out. Just anything so we can start negotiating. But I can’t negotiate if you won’t put a bid out.”

He says he wants to engage Kansans in the conversation about tough issues, such as water use.

“Let’s get a conversation going in the state. Where do you want to be in 50 years? That’s been the right way to do it because it’s everybody’s water. You’ve got to get people to own the solution to it.”

He says he believes in the value of relationships when it comes to leadership.

“I think relationships are so important. You need to work a lot on building relationships. Some people are more relational than others so it’s easy to build a relationship. Others they see most things as a fight, so less relational.”

He says fear that things could get worse causes people to resist change.

“People say they don’t like change. I think it’s they don’t trust change. I don’t think that they necessarily don’t like change. They look at a situation and say, ‘This isn’t working well but I don’t know that it’s going to work better. This is the devil I know versus the devil I don’t know.’

Then the other side is always attacking you saying this is going to be worse. That’s the nature of the political process.”

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WHAT LEADErSHIP mEANS TO PA u L D AV I S

Davis wants to work across factions.

“I want to find the best people in Kansas we can to assume key positions in state government.

I'm not interested in whether they are Democrats or Republicans. I really believe there are good ideas and very good people in both political parties. It begins with having really good people who have to be able to work as a team. It's going to be a very, very inclusive style of leadership.”

He wants to have a clear purpose and engage others in it.

“I think it really begins with having a vision of where you want to take the state and then having a team of people that can put together a plan to move forward on that. At the same time it has to be a very inclusive process and one in which you're willing to seek out diverse opinions and try to bring people into the process. My experience of 12 years in the legislature is that when there are a lot of perspectives brought to the table, the end product that you arrive at is better.”

He says he’s willing to test multiple interpretations and points of view.

“You have to be willing to listen to people who you may think don't necessarily agree with you.

You have to be willing to take input from them. That's where a lot of it begins. That is a defining characteristic that some leaders have and others just don't. You have a lot of people in government and politics who are completely unwilling to listen to people who they perceive to have a different perspective than they have. I don't think that serves the public interest.”

He wants to help build a trustworthy process in making decisions.

“People have to be able to get along. I really believe that everybody who comes to the legislative process wants to participate in the democratic process, and bring something of value to the table. It doesn't mean we're always going to agree. But it does mean you have to respect people's opinions.”

He says he’s willing to give up something to gain something larger.

“I'm an extremely pragmatic person. I usually try to look for the middle. I try to look for solutions that … are going to bring people together. I focus on issues that are going to unite people.”

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The Libertarian candidate for governor is used to fighting uphill battles to advance what he believes in. In this Q&A, he described what his approach to leadership would be in the governor’s office.

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Keen Umbehr’s route into politics sounds like it could be the plot to a film.

H He spent 17 years running a trash collection business in a small town and writing a newspaper column that often criticized local county officials.

When those officials terminated his 10-year contract, Umbehr sued. The case went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which handed down a 7-2 decision in his favor that established First Amendment rights for private contractors in the U.S. H Inspired by the experience, he sold his business and returned to college. After graduation with honors from Kansas State University, he earned a degree from the Washburn University School of Law and is currently an attorney in private practice.

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AgAINST THE ODDS

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The following are responses Keen Umbehr provided to The Journal about how he would exercise leadership in the governor’s office.

In your view, what does leadership look like in the governor's office? Please feel free to name any examples of individuals whose leadership you admire here.

What would your approach to leadership be in the governor's office? What tough issues would you prioritize making progress on? What process would you use to begin addressing them?

My leadership style as governor is best described as single-mindedly visionary. As governor, I will have 1,460 days or 35,040 hours to complete my primary agenda of eliminating income taxes for the W-2 wage earner, passage of the Kansas FairTax bill, full funding of K-12, and reducing job-killing regulations that inhibit the growth of our economy. Within my administration, I do not believe that the issues facing Kansas can be solved by using soft-power leadership styles like “consensus-building,” “pace-setting” or “affiliative” management strategies.

My approach to leadership in the governor’s office will be strictly constitutionally based. As such, my leadership style will jealously defend the constitutional power and independence granted to the executive branch by the Kansas Constitution. On this point, I won’t play well with others. This will be a stark departure from the leadership style of the current governor.

As governor, I will issue my legislative priorities to the 2015 Kansas Legislature. My legislative priorities will not be mere “suggestions” but pragmatic expectations.

The litmus test I will use to determine whether a legislative bill should become law will be:

My administration will be comprised of qualified and competent individuals representing the full political spectrum. I have the expectation that each person on my staff will aggressively advocate and argue for and against my legislative goals. Thereafter, all final decisions I make will reflect a leadership style known as a “Lincoln decision.”

• Is the proposed legislation constitutional?

• Does the legislation apply to all citizens equally, all the time?

• Is the legislation needed?

• Is the legislation paid for?

I view the role of governor as being responsible for shielding the citizens of Kansas from bad legislation.

I am not risk averse; I will fight for what is right and fair for all Kansans regardless of the “political costs” involved. My administration will be transparent and accountable, which means that, when mistakes are made, I will acknowledge them immediately and take the necessary corrective action before moving forward toward reaching the goals of my administration.

An individual whose leadership style I admire is Jack Welch, former chairman and CEO of General Electric Co., who is credited with stating, “Good business leaders create a vision, articulate the vision, passionately own the vision and relentlessly drive it to completion."

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If I determine that the answer to any of the aforementioned questions is “no,” then the proposed legislation will be vetoed.

The primary issue affecting Kansans this election cycle is the governor’s 2012 income tax law. This law allows 191,000 sole proprietorships and owners of LLCs to pay zero income tax while continuing to require 1.4 million hourly workers to pay state income tax. I believe this law violates the 14th Amendment in that it fails to provide equal protection under the law. I am advocating that all Kansans be granted a zero income tax rate in 2015 and that the Legislature pass a Kansas FairTax bill. The FairTax plan is a 5.7 percent consumption tax on all goods and services

at the retail level. This consumption tax will replace the revenue generated by the state’s former income tax system and apply equally to all citizens.

What I learned from this experience is that we can all make a difference. But the decision to challenge the powers that be came at a cost. Just days after the newspaper articles about the prison sex scandal were published, the Kansas deputy secretary of corrections filed an ethics complaint against me with the disciplinary administrator. After fighting the allegations for two years, the case was dismissed as there was no evidence that I had violated any rules of professional conduct.

Describe a time when you've exercised leadership (our definition of leadership is mobilizing yourself and others to make progress on a difficult problem).

What was your approach and why? What was the outcome? What did you learn from the experience?

In 2009, I became aware of allegations that female inmates incarcerated at the Topeka Correctional Facility (TCF) were being sexually exploited by Kansas Department of Corrections (KDOC) employees. In one case, an abused inmate became pregnant and was taken to an abortion clinic to terminate the pregnancy.

KEEN umBEHr

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As an attorney and government activist, I found this situation to be unacceptable and wholly repugnant and I embarked on a plan to publicly expose KDOC’s misconduct in their lack of oversight of prison employees by KDOC as well as the cruel and unusual punishment inflicted upon female inmates at TCF.

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55 PArTy:

Libertarian ruNNINg mATE:

Having some experience in my own First Amendment case, I knew that exposing a government official’s misconduct in the court of public opinion is oftentimes a quicker avenue to achieving justice. I then worked with an investigative reporter and a former TCF employee to uncover the facts. We began interviewing current and former TCF inmates and employees.

These interviews led to the additional discovery that TCF officials were using inmates to remove asbestos from the prison facility. I then filed a complaint with the EPA. The facility was later investigated by the Justice Department and found to have violated the constitutional rights of female inmates.

Josh Umbehr HOmETOWN:

Alma PrOfESSION:

Attorney SPOuSE:

Eileen CHILDrEN:

Four sons, eight grandchildren

In addition, the EPA found that the facility had violated certain provisions of the Clean Air Act and the Toxic Substances Control Act by failing to provide employees and inmates with appropriate training, equipment and monitoring. Public exposure of the atrocities occurring behind the walls of TCF and accountability for the same were the dual goals I sought to achieve. In addition, the 2010 Legislature amended the relevant law, raising the crime of sexual contact with an inmate from a Level 10 felony to a Level 5 person felony.

EDuCATION:

Kansas State University and Washburn University School of Law POLITICAL CArEEr:

Councilman, city of Alma, 1987-1993; board member, Mill Creek Valley USD 329, 1989-93

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THE

VOTE F O R L EADERSHIP SCOrECArD

INSTruCTIONS: Score each candidate on a scale of 1-5 based on how effectively they are using each leadership behavior, with 5 being the highest ranking and 1 being the lowest. See the detailed description of criteria below.

Use The Journal, news sources, candidate websites or your own knowledge to formulate your ranking.

If possible, respectfully discuss your rankings with others to see how they scored the same candidates differently and why.

Candidate

Ex., Jefferson Smith

Diagnose Situation

manage Self

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Intervene Skillfully

Energize Others

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D E S CR I P T I O N O F CRI T ERI A:

DIAgNOSE SITuATION A public official effective at this competency thinks and questions carefully before acting and looks to address underlying problems rather than just trying quick fixes.

He or she examines different viewpoints and explores the tough implications and multiple possible meanings of information. This official also considers how best to pursue progress and the process challenges that could emerge.

mANAgE SELf A public official effective at this competency has a strong understanding of his or her own strengths and weaknesses, as well as the triggers that set him or her off. This person tries to understand how he or she is viewed by others, stomachs uncertainty and conflict and stretches outside his or her comfort zone.

The official takes care of themselves by maintaining life balance and can consciously choose a highest priority when his or her values come into conflict.

I N T E r V E N E S K I L L f u L Ly A public official effective at intervening skillfully acts with a specific intent in mind.

He or she is willing to bring difficult and uncomfortable issues to people’s attention.

The official will also ask others to take ownership of the work and will act to hold to purpose amid uncertainty and conflict. An official will speak from his or her heart to the hearts of others, and is willing to try new things in service of making progress.

ENErgIzE OTHErS A public official effective at this competency engages voices who aren’t normally at the table and works across groups with different views, values and loyalties. He or she meets people where they’re at and is willing to acknowledge what individuals and groups are losing through change. This official also inspires stakeholders to work together for the common good and create a process for change that everyone can trust.

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Members of the crowd lean back to watch this summer’s Fourth of July fireworks show in Wamego, a town of 4,300 people near Manhattan.

By Sarah Caldwell Hancock

Showtime in the Sky BEHIND-THE-SCENES E F F O R T T O S TA G E M A J O R COMMUNITY EVENT AN EXERCISE OF LEADERSHIP

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Volunteer Vernon Fails unloads fireworks onto the launch field early on July Fourth; The fireworks show has become the climax of Wamego’s Fourth of July festivities, which included the 143rd annual parade; Ellie Steiner, 7, waves a flag as the parade passes by. Organizers say the parade, which spans more than six blocks and runs for over an hour, is the largest and longest running in the state.

In your town, it might be a spring or fall festival, homecoming or the county fair: the event around which everyone plans family gatherings and class reunions, when the town is abuzz with visitors and neighbors pause to celebrate and greet one another.

display lasts more than 30 minutes and has been dubbed “the finale that never ends.” The show was voted the best in the state in 2011 by “Kansas Best 150,” and local authorities estimate as many as 60,000 people attended this year. People who have seen fireworks all over the country tell Hupe the show is the best they’ve ever seen. Local businesses and individuals provide sponsorships and plenty of enthusiasm.

showtime in the sky In Wamego, a community of 4,300 people about 15 miles east of Manhattan, it’s the Fourth of July, a thoroughly All-American celebration. But in one fleeting moment, the community’s annual fireworks show almost went dud.

A group of volunteers known as the Pyro Crew, led

by Hupe, provides the labor. It’s a big commitment.

Lanny Bosse, who has been part of the effort since the beginning and who helps Hupe navigate regulatory hurdles, puts it simply when he says, “I have never spent the Fourth with my kids.”

Back in 1998, local businessman Mike Swanson received a call from the Chamber of Commerce president, who said the person hired to provide the fireworks show was ill and had to cancel.

“I thought of Chris Hupe,” he recalls.

The work is difficult and requires thousands of hours.

The 45 men of the Pyro Crew do everything from building racks to wiring the systems that shoot the majority of the show’s shells and hand-lighting the rest. They know that if they make a mistake, someone could be injured or even die.

Swanson and Hupe had grown up in Wamego, and their fathers had joined with other men to light fireworks over the park on the Fourth starting in 1979.

They quit when they had to become licensed, and the city contracted out the show.

“The companies that came in did a nice job, but it wasn’t connected to the community,” Hupe says.

Noting that neighboring larger communities were developing bigger shows, he realized that Wamego had to do something.

Hupe, Bosse, and Neil Ebert form the core group that works throughout the year, but the others work intensively from March until the holiday to complete safety training and become licensed and certified with Pyrotechnics Guild International, fill out stacks of paperwork, take inventory of materials, build racks, and refine and test every element of the show plus the visitor experience, including restrooms, entertainment and parking at the recreation complex where the show is held. Many more volunteers help with setup, cleanup and parking on July 3, 4 and 5.

“It was put up or shut up. If we let this slip away, we will never rekindle this fire,” he recalls thinking.

He found people to help put on the show in 1998 and 1999, then went to the Chamber with a vision and a message that Wamego could raise the bar.

This year, Wamego July Fourth festivities boasted the 143rd annual parade, the largest and longest-running in the state; a community band concert; a carnival; and a car and tractor show. Old-fashioned touches included a pork sandwich and pie feed at a local church, a dunk tank sponsored by the fire department and an ice cream social at the historical society museum.

THE BIG PAYOFF The group’s effort shows. People gather early at the recreation complex where the show is held.

They bring camp chairs, coolers, Frisbees and picnic blankets. They stop to visit with friends in the parking lot, then stake out a spot where they can watch the show. They enjoy concessions from a local restaurant and entertainment provided by the 1st Infantry Division

But the fireworks show was the marquee event. It has become the major draw Hupe envisioned. The

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CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Voters rated Wamego’s Fourth of July fireworks the best in the state in the 2011 “Kansas Best 150” survey.

Organizers estimate that this year’s event drew a record of 60,000 people; After hours of anticipation by the audience, the sky darkens enough for the half-hour fireworks show to start at 10 p.m.; Chris Hupe, center, gives a thumbs-up while on a float in the Fourth of July Parade. Pyro Crew members Monte White, left, and Steve Land, right, join him for the ride, during which the Pyro Crew received enthusiastic cheers from the crowd; A volunteer lights fireworks from the baseball fields that serve as a launch site.

Band from Fort Riley. Anticipation builds as the summer sky gradually darkens and 10 p.m. approaches. Kids swirl glow sticks, running and dancing and squirming with excitement when their families finally make them take a seat.

Then it’s time: Broadcast over an area radio station, there’s a patriotic reading, and a long list of sponsors and donors is thanked. The national anthem plays, a sparkling flag is lit, and the first two shells burst with “the rockets red glare, the bombs bursting in air.” As the anthem ends, patriotic music begins, and the fireworks fill everyone’s senses.

They sparkle and shine, choreographed to the music like a fireworks ballet. They’re high in the sky and low in the sky, and shimmering in the middle range just off the ground. Eyes, ears and minds of the spectators are brimming during that 30 minutes.

When the crew walks out of the firing area together at the end, the crowd shows its appreciation.

The real payoff for Hupe and his Pyro Crew is not the macho rush of blowing things up or the enthusiastic applause at the end of the show, but knowing that what they’re doing makes a difference in Wamego.

“It’s built around passion for the community,” says Brian Wohler, a recent addition to the group. Ebert, who has assumed more responsibility in the last few years to take some of the pressure off Hupe, says, “Wamego is an incredible place, and it was set up by people who came before us, and it’s our turn to do it.”

Jason Moore, who’s lived in Wamego only a few years and is a fairly new volunteer, says he, too, recognizes that Wamego is special. He also enjoys his Pyro Crew friendships. “You gain a respect for people when they work really hard for something they don’t get to put in their back pocket,” he says.

“You befriend these guys, and I’ve enjoyed that.

It’s like an extended family once you get into it. I feel blessed to have bumped into these knuckleheads.”

The men hope to ensure that the spirit of volunteerism and friendship lives on in their town. “Seeing my dad involved civically did something to me, and we must think it’s worthy to pass on. You pass it on not by talking about it, but by doing it,” Hupe says.

LEADING VOLUNTEERS No one puts in more hours than Hupe. He learned early on that part of mobilizing volunteers was modeling the right behavior. “You have to work harder than you would ask them to work to get them to put in the effort they need to. It was always lead by example,” he says, especially as the group solidified.

Equally important was understanding what volunteers wanted from the experience and recognizing that his philanthropic vision might not be compelling enough.

“I worked very diligently to understand what people’s triggers were and what they needed, and get them into roles that fulfilled their needs. It’s a delicate balance, relationship-wise, with people,” he says.

Hupe’s effort to understand what drives volunteers is substantial, conscious and ongoing. He’s also selective. “The core values and types of people have to align. I’m careful to guard who’s coming into this group. I have no capacity for drama. People have to be trustworthy and responsible and accountable.”

Identifying and mobilizing volunteers is one thing, but keeping them is another. Hupe attributes his success in this area to ensuring that everyone feels productive. He plans tasks carefully and looks for ways to improve the process of everything from ordering the fireworks to setup on July 3 and 4 and cleanup on July 5. Dwight Faulkner, a five-year volunteer, says: “That’s what makes people do it year after year – you know you’re going to go and get a lot of work done; you won’t waste your time.”

Volunteers are also encouraged to offer suggestions and ideas for improvements.

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LEFT: Although spectators are likely to focus on the fireworks, safety is an important part of the Pyro Crew’s job. Members do everything from building racks to wiring the systems that shoot the show's shells to hand-lighting the rest. They know that if they make a mistake, someone could be injured. BELOW: Chris Hupe, center, leads the Pyro Crew out of the launch area to cheers following the show. Hupe stepped in as a volunteer in 1998 when the person hired to provide Wamego’s fireworks show canceled.

PERFECTIONISM The Fourth was a beautiful day this year – sunny, but not too hot or windy, perfect weather for a parade and fireworks show. People started lining the route before 4 p.m. for the 6 p.m. parade.

One of the pitfalls of planning a community event is perfectionism. Hupe readily admits that he is sometimes so driven that he is pushed to his limits.

He has become upset with members of the crew in the past when things haven’t been done correctly or haven’t adhered to his vision. Last year, for example, some shells were fired at the wrong time. Hupe lost his temper, but only briefly, and he later apologized to the group and rectified the problem by communicating more clearly.

Local officials waved from pickups and convertibles, the community band circled around twice, members of organizations rode on themed floats, businesses displayed their wares, the Boy Scouts shot water guns into the crowd like they do each year, and children chased candy thrown by politicians running for every statewide office.

Hupe’s drive to succeed includes trying new things, such as a workflow board to replace a long “to do” document and new wireless systems to fire portions of the display that were previously wired or hand-fired.

The crowd oohed and aahed over huge farm implements, cheered veterans and the 1st Infantry Division marching band, and offered a polite smattering of applause for the various politicians.

The biggest cheer, by far, was for the float carrying the neon-shirted Pyro Crew. The men waved at their friends and neighbors. They were already tired after months of work and two long days of setup, but they couldn’t wait for showtime.

The community is wildly supportive. Volunteers are issued neon shirts each year with “Pyro Crew” emblazoned on both sides. Swanson says people see him wearing the shirt and ask him about next year’s show or tell him how much they loved it. The reinforcement is energizing. Lance White, a longtime volunteer and president and CEO of Bank of the Flint Hills in Wamego, says that, when he’s not at his desk, “I wear these more than any other shirt.”

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cLeARIng tHe AIR H O W D O Y O U C R E AT E T H E S PA C E F O R D I F F I C U LT C O N V E R S AT I O N S ?

W I C H I TA ’ S # N O F E R G U S O N H E R E G AT H E R I N G O F F E R S A C O M P E L L I N G E X A M P L E

By The Journal Staff

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in the next moment to make progress on this issue.

Let’s respect our disagreements while finding areas where we do agree.

With the tensions gripping Ferguson, Missouri, reverberating across the country, a racially diverse audience of 2,000 packed a Wichita high school auditorium in August for a community meeting.

If you want to go fast, go alone.

But if you want to go far, go together.

The topic? The events unfolding in Ferguson and how to improve relationships between police and the Wichita community. The shooting of an unarmed black teenager by a white police officer in Ferguson had sparked protests, civil unrest and racial tensions.

Similar issues simmered under the surface in Wichita.

Two local ministers, the Rev. Kevass Harding and the Rev. Junius Dotson, reached out to colleagues and stakeholders to prevent those tensions from boiling over. They wanted to connect residents, police and city officials, and local activists via public dialogue.

The discussions led to commitments from the mayor to outfit officers with body cameras and from other law enforcement agencies to reach out to the community about ways to make investigations and prosecutions more transparent.

As we attempt to figure out what’s wrong, be careful in characterizing the system as “broken.”

Systems produce what they are designed to produce.

Our system commodifies bodies – and that’s been true from the peonage of the past to the prison industrial complex of the present.

So, hold open the possibility that the system isn’t broken – but perhaps should be broken, and redesigned.

If you want to go fast, go alone.

But if you want to go far, go together.

Realize also that this meeting alone won’t resolve things. This is just a beginning. Though it’s likely we will lose some folks after Ferguson recedes from the headlines – once protesters return to their lives, once cameras disappear – we need to stay together.

Dr. (Martin Luther) King said once that our national memory was only about two weeks long, but we need to hang in long enough to achieve change – and that’s going to take more than two weeks.

Mark McCormick, executive director at The Kansas African American Museum, one of the organizers speaking that night, drew the role of outlining the meeting’s purpose. He wanted to shape the discussion, to curb certain behaviors and to attempt to inspire others.

In his remarks were subtle and not-so-subtle attempts to find connecting interests, to resist the urge to rush to solutions and to realize the importance of holding relentlessly to purpose.

If you want to go fast, go alone.

But if you want to go far, go together.

We believe we can accomplish amazing things when no one cares who gets the credit. This issue is bigger than any individual or any organization. Leadership, my friends, is an activity, which means anyone can lead. It just so happened that (organizer and Dellrose United Methodist pastor) Kevass [Harding] stepped up and created this forum. I’m sure he and all of us, me included, would support any subsequent rally any one of you takes the initiative to organize.

He emphasized how much could be accomplished when no one cares who gets the credit and when issues are framed as more important than any individual or group.

Here’s the full text of what he said: There’s an African proverb that says simply: If you want to go fast, go alone.

But if you want to go far, go together.

All of us want to go far, and we want to go together.

Remember tonight that the person you demonize in one moment may be the very person you need most

LEFT: Tia Butler, whose cousin was fatally shot by Wichita police over the summer, asks a question about police protocol when officers encounter the mentally ill. The #NoFergusonHere community forum was held in response to events earlier that month in Ferguson, Missouri.

(Photo by Fernando Salazar, courtesy of The Wichita Eagle) 59.

THE PATH LESS TRAVELED WH AT YOU LEA RN ABOUT LEAD ING FROM TAKING A LEAVE FROM YOUR JOB TO HIKE TH E APPA LA C HIA N TRAIL

By Paul Suellentrop

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Brittany Crabtree and her husband, Chris, hiked 119 miles of the Appalachian Trail this summer. They started in New Hampshire’s White Mountains at the trailhead near Lincoln and ended at Gifford Woods State Park in Vermont. (Trail photo courtesy of Brittany Crabtree) 35.

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By Paul Suellentrop

Students in nature’s leadership classroom don’t sit at desks or stare at computer screens. Nature unfolds at its own pace, teaching beside a quiet lake or in the rush of pitching a tent in a hailstorm.

might not achieve them, but we are going to make some kind of progress and we are going to learn something about our community by doing that.”

A blood-sucking parasite can also provide a lesson.

A CHANGE OF PLANS

“Sometimes the view isn’t worth the ticks,” says Brittany Crabtree, a Topekan who recently launched her own business, Blinx Consulting. “I think there’s parallels to that in the workplace. Working your way up the ladder sometimes isn’t worth the ticks it takes to get there.”

After three weeks, the Crabtrees veered off the Appalachian Trail and spent three weeks camping and hiking in Vermont and one in Maine, exploring less crowded areas and relying on new friends for shelter and advice.

The 400-mile plans they made in Kansas to walk from New Hampshire to the Delaware Water Gap looked solid on paper, but, on the Appalachian Trail, things changed. They became slaves to the daily mile-count, trying to hoof it as many as 14 a day.

Some days, they didn’t take breaks because of the mosquitoes. Making the next shelter became the goal, leaving little time to enjoy the sights and people and to reflect on the journey.

Crabtree spent two months this summer putting her leadership theories to the test with husband Chris, a light blue Osprey backpack carrying 30 pounds of gear, bear bags and a cheetah-print ninja suit for sleeping.

They hiked 119 miles of the Appalachian Trail, starting in New Hampshire’s White Mountains at the trailhead near Lincoln and ending in Gifford Woods State Park in Vermont. Each and every step came as part of the plan. Crabtree is a planner and a goal-setter.

“I am a goal-setter, and I can find myself putting my blinders on and missing opportunities,” Crabtree says. “It was a good lesson in letting go of the control, so that it can become what it's supposed to be.

We were pushing through so fast. Once we got off the trail, we started meeting these awesome people.”

What came next surprised even her. She and her husband ditched the plan and loved the results.

“We decided we would make our own trail,” says Crabtree, an alumna of the Kansas Leadership Center’s Art & Practice of Civic Leadership Development – 20s and 30s program.

With that decision came a flurry of leadership lessons she hopes to take back to her work on community challenges and at her job. She had to let go of her plans and admit to a bit of failure. She had to overcome her pride. She had to place trust in other people.

She had to slow down and make adjustments.

She turned 30 on the trail, which was not a coincidence, and used the experience to plan and ponder her future and her leadership challenges. The trail, she hoped, would help her figure out the next phase of her life during a three-month leave of absence.

“You find progress when you're walking that you won't sitting down,” she says, explaining that she often participates in conference calls while walking.

“Getting out in nature calms my mind, and I can see things more clearly.”

“When I think about going back to Topeka ...

I think it is about putting yourself out there and taking risks that you’re willing to fail at,” she says.

“For a community to set goals knowing that we

Crabtree grew up on a 10-acre farm near Zionsville, Indiana, moved to Wichita with her family while she was in middle school and attended Wichita State University. Although the outdoors always played

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“YOU FIND PROGRESS WHEN YOU’RE WALKING THAT YOU WON’T SITTING DOWN.”

Katahdin 5,267 ft.

BANGOR

ALBANY

NEW YORK CITY

HARRISBURG

WASHINGTON D.C.

ROANOKE

KNOXVILLE

ASHEVILLE

Springer Mtn. 3,782 ft.

ATLANTA

“HIKING THE APPALACHIAN TRAIL IS THE TOUGHEST THING I’VE EVER DONE, BOTH MENTALLY AND PHYSICALLY.”

a part in her life, hiking didn’t grow on her until she moved to Topeka after college. Walks with Perry, her beagle, introduced her to the state parks in the area. While hiking around Perry Lake, she ventured off the trail to get a better view of the water and sat on a log infested with ticks.

to communicate by asking open-ended questions and listening. In the workplace, or in a classroom, people’s focus is divided into blocks of time, Gilbertson says, which can limit the teaching. On the trail, schedules are less rigid, and the block of time extends until the issue is solved.

She wrote about the moment in her leadership journal to remind herself that career choices come with risks.

When hiking in the rain and mud, she wants to find beauty on an ugly trail – perhaps a flower glistening in the rain – to remind her to find the good even when struggling with a difficult job. The trail takes people out of their comfort zones behind a desk and forces them to make choices. On a short hike, the wrong turn might cost a person time or cause discomfort. On a long hike, a wrong turn, poor planning or an injury can present a serious problem.

“As you move through the development stages of leadership, you build cohesiveness,” Gilbertson says.

“The setting and the concentrative focus on that allows that to happen … out on the trail, they're with each other 24-7. It's not just getting away from the phone and electronic devices; it's being able to focus on the group and group development.”

“That’s the challenge of the workplace – do I ask for help?” she says. “There’s the fear of the unknown.

How am I not crippled by the fear of the unknown?”

The outdoors offers unique leadership lessons to combat group-think. Gilbertson has seen this when one student decides to approach a bison, causing others to follow.

“A good leader sometimes has to stand alone,” he says. “Being on the trail really brings out the best in people, and sometimes the worst, and that's a good time to work on that.”

LEADERSHIP A ND TH E OUTD OORS

Crabtree knew that hiking and leadership worked for her. She wanted to find out whether hiking and leadership worked for others and spent a year working with KLC to explore leadership and hiking. Last spring, she helped lead a two-hour leadership hike in the Tallgrass National Prairie Preserve near Strong City. The 14 participants included a mother and a daughter and a husband-wife team.

Learning about leadership by exploring the outdoors is hardly a new idea; it’s been practiced for decades at places such as the National Outdoor Leadership School in Wyoming. But the approach resonates anew as worries about health problems from sedentary lifestyles in the U.S. continue to grow.

The statistics can be eye-popping. In the contemporary workplace, many workers spend more than half their day sitting, according to the federal government, and, on average, Americans spend about 90 percent of their time indoors. Nearly two-thirds of Kansans are overweight or obese, and nearly 84 percent aren’t getting enough exercise. Several studies in recent years have suggested that physical activity outdoors can improve one’s mental and physical health.

Ken Gilbertson melds outdoor activity with leadership lessons every semester as a professor at the University of Minnesota Duluth. For 31 years, he has taught an outdoor leadership class for seniors that includes a nine-day stay in the North Dakota Badlands. He wants his students to learn how to work as a group and how

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The group hiked six miles, using the start of the trail to shift their minds away from the office and computers. They paused for a poem or a quote to inspire before stopping to ask questions about each person’s leadership challenge. When they came to a fork in the trail, they paused again.

“We asked, ‘What is a choice you’ve been unwilling to make on your leadership challenge?’” Crabtree says. “You’ve got two choices here on the trail – ‘What is a choice you’ve been unwilling to make?’”

Being on the trail offers some unique opportunities for learning because the setting is different and roles emerge differently.

“In a classroom, we can easily fall back into the student-teacher role,” Crabtree says. “As the Leadership Center says, ‘Leadership is an activity, not a position.’ Out on the trail, you couldn’t just fall into that student versus teacher role.”

Crabtree encouraged participants to find an accountability partner to provide a different perspective on workplace challenges. She hoped the contact led to a relationship and demonstrated that hiking can evolve into part of a leadership routine.

FOLLOW ING YOUR GUT

Crabtree long wanted to take on the Appalachian Trail, which stretches roughly 2,180 miles from Springer Mountain, Georgia, to Mount Katahdin, Maine. She worked for AmeriCorps 10 years ago and spent part of her time on a Virginia portion of the trail. While camping for six weeks, she read Bill Bryson’s “A Walk in the Woods,” a 1998 book chronicling a trek on the trail. Inspired by his humor and descriptions of life on the move, she vowed to hike the Appalachian Trail.

Jobs, marriage and travels intervened. Her desire to explore, while unfulfilled, never diminished. It took the death of an elderly friend to inspire her to make the journey a reality. Her leadership training pushed her to embrace her promise to herself from a decade ago. The timing – no children, no elderly parents to care for – seemed right. Her experiences with short hikes as a way to combat stress and think about work differently convinced her she could benefit from a lengthy trip.

“Now’s the time to take this risk,” she says. “If not now, when? My husband and I said, ‘We need this time with each other, and with nature.’”

Crabtree chronicled her trip on brittanyblinks.tumblr.com, a blog full of photos and updates such as: “The sun hasn’t risen yet here in Vermont. I’m awake, though.

Today will be our last day in this cabin and I’m feeling sentimental. Hiking the Appalachian Trail is the toughest thing I’ve ever done, both mentally and physically. Physically speaking, we hiked over 100

miles from New Hampshire to Vermont and those miles were intense.”

In early July in Vermont, the Crabtrees stopped at Gifford Woods State Park and paid $20 a night to sleep in a lean-to. A $2 bus ride to a nearby town allowed them to do laundry and buy the dehydrated mashed potatoes, carrots and peas that fueled their legs. Rain delayed their departure, and the break in momentum changed their trip.

“I finally got the feeling I was looking for – being immersed in nature, going through the daily chores of sweeping out the lean-to, cooking the meals and drinking tea at night, waiting out the rainstorm,” Crabtree says. “I knew I wanted to stay, and I didn’t need to stay on the trail. I wanted to follow my gut on that.”

An 87-year-old woman named Barbara gave them a ride to the state park. They played gin rummy with the park ranger. She took them to Burlington for dinner and offered a room in her cabin. The stay gave Brittany time to write and reflect and work in the park office. Chris helped paint signs.

“She had hiked the Appalachian Trail a couple years before, and she had to make tough choices on the trail, too,” Brittany Crabtree says. “So she understood where we were coming from. She did a kind thing for us, and it just was incredible.”

It was in those moments that Crabtree found the leadership lessons, taught by the people and the personalities she met with a change of plans.

“We met so many more people once we slowed down and stopped counting the miles,” she says.

“When I go back to work, I’m going to make sure I have more physical activity and fresh air in my life.

More important … I’m going to have to want to slow down and invite others to bring whatever they have to the table, too. Whatever I have, it just can’t be as good without mixing it with the great things other people offer.”

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Uriel Martinez, president of the Hispanic American Leadership Organization at Garden City Community College, says his group was energized by meeting HALO members from around the state during a meeting at the Kansas Leadership Center earlier this year.

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Community Builder H I S PA N I C C O L L E G E S T U D E N T S G A I N C O N N E C T I O N , S U P P O R T T H R O U G H L E A D E R S H I P O R G A N I Z AT I O N

By Erin Perry O’Donnell

In her biology classes at Emporia State University, Vilma Magana is usually the only Hispanic person in the room. She used to feel isolated by that. Then a friend invited her to a meeting of the campus’ Hispanic American Leadership Organization, or HALO. And just like that, Magana was welcomed into a community.

“It’s nice knowing there are people like you who share the same upbringing,” says Magana, now a senior in pre-medicine. “It makes me feel more at home, like this is my campus, too. And we can make others feel the same way.”

That feeling of community is becoming ever more important on college campuses in Kansas and around the nation as Hispanics enroll in record numbers at higher education institutions. Hispanics are, by leaps and bounds, the fastest-growing group of students attending state universities in Kansas, jumping 67 percent over the past five years.

But they still represent just under 6 percent of all university students in Kansas, even though Hispanics accounted for about 13 percent of the state’s high school graduates in 2012.

Hispanic youth have historically lagged in college attendance and graduate at lower rates than whites.

Nationwide, they accounted for just about 9 percent

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of those ages 25 to 29 with bachelor’s degrees in 2012, according to the Pew Research Center.

Hispanics are also less likely than whites to enroll in a four-year college, attend a selective college and enroll full-time.

Such gaps loom large as Hispanics represent an ever-greater share of the state’s population. Hispanics could generate close to $1 billion for the state’s economy in the coming years, and increasing educational attainment for Hispanics was identified as a key issue that could profoundly affect Kansas’ future during the 2011 “Kansas in Question” symposium.

Groups such as HALO can play a key role in helping move those numbers by providing a place of connection, support and involvement for the state’s growing ranks of Hispanics attending universities and community colleges.

This past spring, Magana joined more than 40 HALO members from colleges around Kansas for a conference at the Kansas Leadership Center.

Eleven Kansas colleges have chapters of the national organization. A main purpose of HALO is to encourage Latino youth to get a college education, but it also serves as a support system for Latinos on campus, many of whom don’t have family or friends who have been to college.

It turns out that Magana’s story is not unique.

Again and again, students at the conference talked about feeling like outsiders as the first in their families to attend college, or as Hispanics on a majority-white campus.

flocked to jobs at expanded feedlot and meatpacking operations. In Finney County, where Garden City is located, the Hispanic population shot up 110 percent from 1990 to 2000. Today, about 47 percent of the county’s residents are Hispanic.

The gathering provided an opportunity for students to make progress on the challenges facing their chapters. Those gathered shared an almost universal sense that they want to foster more active participation among their memberships and increase outreach to their communities, not just their campuses. During the event, they swapped ideas on topics from recruitment to fundraising to keeping members engaged.

But mostly they said it was an opportunity to draw inspiration and energy from one another.

Nearly 20 members of the Garden City Community College HALO chapter came to the conference in Wichita, and they were immediately recognizable as a team because of their matching hot-pink polo shirts.

It’s one of the most robust chapters in the state, thanks to the region’s thriving Latino culture.

“HALO gave me a home at Garden City Community College,” Pamela Hernandez says. “It gave me a place where I can be myself. We all want to be part of something.”

Uriel Martinez, president of the Garden City HALO chapter, says his group is well known in the community for events such as Hispanic Student Day. Last fall, the 26th annual HALO-sponsored event drew high school students from Garden City, Holcomb, Scott City, Lakin, Hugoton, Sublette and Ulysses to learn about how they can go to college, and why they should. “Something in our ethnicity drives us to help each other,” Martinez says. “That’s the kind of people we are.”

STRENGTH IN NUMBERS

The student leaders are eager to fan the embers of leadership and community involvement among other young Hispanic adults, whose numbers are on the rise. In Kansas, one in every 10 residents is Hispanic.

They have been concentrated mostly in larger cities, but recent growth has been greatest in pockets of western Kansas. In the 1990s, Hispanic residents

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Community service is woven tightly into the HALO fabric. Emporia State members collect school supplies for low-income local children. Students at Wichita State University adopt a financially needy family at Christmas. In Garden City, HALO runs a lending library of donated textbooks that saves students hundreds of dollars a semester. It’s open to anyone on campus.

FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: Pamela Hernandez, a student at Garden City Community College, says that HALO gave her a home at college and a place where she could be herself; Members of HALO chapters from across the state drew inspiration from each other during a meeting at KLC. The gathering provided an opportunity for students to discuss how to make progress on the challenges facing their chapters, including fostering more active participation among their memberships; Peter Cohen, faculty member for the Kansas Leadership Center, speaks to a group of HALO members assembled in the Konza Town Hall of the Kansas Leadership Center and Kansas Health Foundation Conference Center.

again and again, students talked aBout feeling like outsiders as the first in their families to attend College, or as hispaniCs on a majority-white Campus.

Martinez says his group was energized by meeting HALO members from around the state and learning what works for them. A few weeks after the trip to Wichita, the Garden City chapter threw its annual Cinco de Mayo party for the campus, and it was a blowout. They served up more Mexican food than ever before and had live music for the first time.

More club members pitched in to cook and to decorate, which Martinez says was gratifying.

LIVING IN TWO WORLDS

Alicia Newell, adviser to the WSU chapter, grew up in HALO – her own mother was an adviser to the Hutchinson Community College chapter. The students treated her like a little sister then, and today Newell’s students do the same with her daughter.

“Twenty years later, HALO still gives me that same feeling of being mi familia,” she says.

But not all Latino students have that strong cultural identity as young adults. They’re straddling two cultures, and sometimes feel accepted by neither.

“I told everybody in my club that we didn’t have to do it small,” he says. “But I was really surprised because, before, it was so complicated to get everybody on the same page. The conference was the motivation for them to be a little more involved.”

Felipe Lopez says he tried not to look, sound or act Mexican while growing up in Ulysses, in far western Kansas. He wanted to be a typical American kid, even more so because he didn’t get along well with his traditional Mexican stepfather.

The college’s Student Government Association even awarded Garden City’s HALO chapter with its club of the year award.

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“I didn’t like my culture because I didn’t like him. I was not ashamed, but I didn’t like being Mexican,” he says. “I hated dressing like he did. I hated boots.”

Then Lopez enrolled at Wichita State to study engineering. A friend took him to one HALO meeting, but he wasn’t sure it was the place for him. It was the second meeting that changed Lopez’s mind. People remembered him and welcomed him warmly. Soon, Lopez was stepping up to lead meetings and organize events. He was elected chapter president last spring.

Getting involved in HALO reconnected Lopez to his culture, he says. “At WSU, I found people who are proud to be Hispanic and Latin American,” Lopez says. “The mindset is different. They like soccer, and I watch football. But now I’m going to Mexican dances, and I’m speaking more Spanish.

might not have provided. This fall will be his final semester at Garden City, and then he hopes to transfer either to the University of Kansas or Texas A&M University to pursue a bachelor’s degree in accounting.

But Martinez is most animated when he talks about the future of Garden City, which he thinks has the potential to be a strong economic center and retain its young people as an educated workforce.

THE CONFIDENCE TO LEAD ANYWHERE, ANYTIME

Developing that kind of vision is at the core of the HALO mission, members say. Exercising leadership skills in the group gives members the confidence that they can be influential in the larger community and after college, too – even in settings where they are in the minority.

“And I want boots,” he adds.

The college experience is about so much more than academics, Lopez says. “You find out who you are.

Living away from home, it puts you through struggles you’ve never been through in your life.” Now, Lopez has shifted his focus to a career in the nonprofit arena, especially something where he can promote higher education.

Newell, the WSU adviser, says gathering with other HALO groups helped her students see that they shared many of the same challenges with Latino students from schools large and small. That was encouraging, she says.

“They were all Latino leaders with one common goal: that higher education is important,” Newell says. “They learned we can use our knowledge and positions to empower others to achieve the same dream. And they walked away seeing the value one person can have, and yet the power they all have when they come together.”

Meanwhile, Martinez says going to college has opened a future he never thought possible for himself. Instead of working with crops and livestock, he wants to trade stocks and run a business.

Martinez was born in Texas, was raised in Mexico and then moved back to San Antonio in high school. After graduation, he planned to find farm work in the fields of Colorado, like many in his family had done. His cousin in Garden City had a different idea: Move here and go to school. Martinez got a scholarship to Garden City Community College through Project KANCO, an assistance program for children of farm workers.

Martinez is a charismatic young man, easily commanding a group discussion on the fly. By his second year, he was elected president of his HALO chapter.

“Growing up, I was always president of my class and captain of my soccer team,” he says. “I was not the best student, but the teachers saw I could be in charge.”

Lopez, for one, is also learning to set boundaries. He spent the summer back home in Ulysses, considering his class load for the fall semester. The spring had been a struggle for him. There was a lot on his plate, and Lopez had to admit he was simply overcommitted.

He decided to step down as HALO president and return to being a member instead. In the process, though, he tapped a successor and is helping her to make the transition.

“One thing I got out of our training was showing someone else how to lead, so they wouldn’t depend on me so much,” Lopez says. “I saw others who had potential and I said, ‘I think you’d be great for this position.’”

Like Lopez, Martinez says college has been fertile ground for him to grow as a leader, which farm work

72.

Felipe Lopez, a Wichita State student from Ulysses, stepped down as his chapter’s HALO president this summer in hope of fostering leadership in others.

“you find out who you are. living away from home, it puts you through struggles you’ve never Been through in your life.

73.

Shaun Rojas, Kansas Community Leadership Initiative manager at KLC, speaks to HALO members gathered at KLC.

10 0 -10

over the last five years, enrollment of hispaniC students in state universities* inCreased 67%.

PERCENTAGE ENROLLMENT GROWTH PER ETHNICITY AT STATE UNIVERSITIES

Hispanic 67%

24% 15% -2% -4%

-37%

STUDENT RACE/ETHNICITY HEADCOUNT AT STATE UNIVERSITIES

fall

2013

Hispanic Enrollment 5.8%

White

Other/ Unknown

African American

American Indian/Alaska Native

Asian

Hispanic

* Totals include the six state universities, University of Kansas - Medical Center and KSU - Veterninary Medicine Center. Source: KBOR Student Demographics Report, Higher Education Enrollment Report (KHEER)

76.

FEATURED ARTIST

FReeFoRM BY stePHen t. JoHnson

Stephen T. Johnson’s art takes on a dizzying array of forms. Paintings.

Collages. Sculptures. Installations. Books. His work has graced the covers of Time and Forbes magazines, to name just a few examples of his commercial work. His talent and versatility prompted a Kansas City area magazine to describe him as a “mixed media mogul” in a 2011 article.

You’ll find Johnson’s art in gallery exhibitions or hovering above the entrance to a subway stop in the form of a mosaic mural. His 58-foot-long mural at the Universal City Metro Station in North Hollywood, California, is just one of nearly a dozen commissioned works of public art Johnson has completed in Brooklyn, Dallas, Los Angeles and Kansas. Freeform, pictured left, sits at the entrance of Lawrence’s historic downtown.

His art is on display at the Kansas Leadership Center and we’re featuring his public art from Kansas in this edition of The Journal.

Johnson frequently delves into the alphabet and language, beginning with his book “Alphabet City,” a Caldecott Honor and New York Times Best Illustrated Book of the Year. His illustrations reveal the letters formed by the everyday objects of urban life. A G appears in the curve of a lamppost, a U atop a fancy brick wall. He made the Times’ best illustrated book list again with “A is for Art: An Abstract Alphabet,” part of an ongoing series exploring “literal abstractions.”

Johnson studied at the University of Kansas in the 1980s, earning fine arts bachelor’s degrees in design and illustration, and painting before moving to live and work in New York City. He returned to Lawrence in 2000 to raise two daughters.

Since his return, he’s continued to write and design books that make art a multisensory experience for both kids and adults, including “My Little Red Toolbox,” which his website describes as a “do it yourself tactile adventure for kids.” He followed up that Publisher’s Weekly bestseller with “My Little Blue Robot” and “My Little Princess Purse.”

Despite the varied forms of Johnson’s art, his pieces can tied together with a common thread – re-imagination.

“Art doesn’t have to have a heavy message,” he told 435 South magazine in 2011. “I’m just happy when I can inspire people to look at their surroundings in a fresh and playful way,”

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Photo taken near Lincoln, Kansas, courtesy of Steve Rasmussen

FEATURED POEM

tHe soD HoUse gReen BY wILLIAM J. KARnowsKI

attached to the wind is the west wing of the sod house green while planting in the Spring I used to say oh look momma the sun is rising as the moon is going down then look poppa stop behind the plow that cloud looks like momma and like the Summer rains she has gone again just the growing remains everything I love smells like Kansas sod grown up now still behind the plow I kiss the earth as she rolls over dark damp and steaming dinner bell ringing for the water lost seagulls

William J. Karnowski is the author of seven books of poetry. He has sponsored the annual statewide Karnowski Youth Poetry Contest since 2004. He and his wife, Sue, live near the unincorporated village of Laclede, near Wamego.

Karnowski is the president of the Kansas Authors Club, an organization dedicated to encouraging all Kansas writers in their pursuit of excellence.

THE BACK PAGE KAnsAs’ toP exPoRt: socIAL LeADeRsHIP AnD ActIvIsM Compare the golden prairie with the green, sloping delta and Kansas has its topographical foil in Alabama.

The two states couldn’t stand further apart historically either, given Kansas’ campaign to enter the union as a free state and Montgomery, Alabama, serving as the original capital of the Confederacy.

The states did intersect however, in one powerful way – civil rights. I saw as much during a recent visit.

At an African American museum conference, some of us toured the historic civil rights trail from Birmingham’s 16th Street Baptist Church to the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma to Montgomery, where a then-26-year-old minister named the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. elevated a movement.

On the tour, I also noticed a couple of plaques honoring a federal judge named Frank Minis Johnson. King once referred to Johnson as “the face of justice” in America for Johnson’s protection of African American civil rights in that era, in that hostile region of the country.

Johnson was appointed by Kansas-reared President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who refused to appoint segregationists to the federal bench. Johnson ruled in favor of Rosa Parks and in favor of voting-rights marchers who wanted to march from Selma to Montgomery.

Our Selma tour guide showed us the Silver Moon Café, where a vicious group of segregationists attacked a native Wichitan, the Rev. James Reeb, with clubs, fatally injuring him. King gave Reeb’s eulogy. A beautiful white stone monument honoring King, Reeb and two other martyrs stands in front of the Brown Chapel AME church there in Selma.

In Montgomery, we circled the Capitol Building, the only state capitol in the United States that hosted the formation of a separate nation.

There downtown, we saw the town square where slaves once were auctioned, where civil rights marchers once rallied and where Confederate Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard in Charleston was ordered by telegram to open fire on Fort Sumter.

For many, this marked the beginning of a bloody Civil War. For others, the war was already underway in “Bleeding Kansas,” as John Brown fought incursions from Missouri border ruffians intent on making Kansas a slave state.

I’ve referred to Kansas for years as the nation’s social fault line. From the Civil War to Prohibition to Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka to today’s battle of conscience over abortion, national discussions convened here.

My great-grandfather, Joseph McCormick, was born farther south in Butler County, Alabama, and my father talked often about wanting to travel there.

Our family escaped the McCormick farm/plantation that he said still exists there and settled in Oklahoma.

But I dreaded the thought of visiting, given the history of state-sanctioned terror there.

I’m glad I went.

It was comforting to see and feel the comforts of home there when I arrived, most notably Kansas’ chief export – freedom.

As late as 2011, the FBI’s cold case unit was still seeking the prosecution of one of Reeb’s alleged attackers. Three white men had been tried and acquitted decades earlier by an all-white jury.

State prosecutors can’t try them again because of double jeopardy. The federal government will have to bring any charges.

Mark E. McCormick is the executive director of The Kansas African American Museum in Wichita.

Just a few blocks away stands the town’s Rexall Drug store. The nation’s first successful, studentled lunch counter sit-in took place in Wichita in 1958.

The teens who organized the sit-in liberated Rexall stores nationwide from segregation – including that one in Selma.

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“Our emphasis must be on educating and persuading, not on arguing and name-calling. For we shall never change our political leaders until we change the people who elect them.”

– economist Mark Skousen

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