Leadership and The Big Sort

Two weeks ago, I wrote a blog, Leadership For What. I argued that the reason that we can discriminate between Lincoln and Hitler lies in the prosocial imperative that is the mark of true leadership. Authentically leading people is about improving their quality of life, not diminishing it; uniting them, not dividing them. 

Since Monday night when I had the honor of being recognized as one of many past Goodmon Award winners for regional impact at the Durham Performing Arts Center, I have been reading a book that Mr. Goodmon gave us, working with teachers at Forest Pines Elementary School in Wake County, and thinking about authentic leadership. I think there is a connection. I'll lay out in three points.

Point one: Supported by tons of research, The Big Sort: Why the Clustering of Like-Minded America is Tearing Us Apart, Bill Bishop argues that over the last 40 years Americans have increasingly self-segregated into enclaves. Like with like. Income and education are primary drivers. One outcome of the Big Sort is what social psychologists discovered a generation ago--when people live and listen only to people who think like they do, they become more extreme in their positions and more intolerant of everyone else's.

Point two: Principal Freda Cole and Instructional Coach Diane Daly-New are part of the Equity Coalition, a group of Wake County School educators committed to eliminating the white-minority student achievement gap. Wednesday afternoon, my team met with Freda, Diane, and their team to consider ways to help Forest Pines teachers improve learning outcomes for all student regardless of race or class.

Point three: Freda and Diane are authentic leaders. I would follow them anywhere. In the most educated region of this state, that Freda and Diane have now to address the very problem the U.S. Supreme Court sought to remedy 56 years ago in Brown vs. Topeka gives us little to celebrate beyond the fact that they are committed to doing it. When it comes to educating our children for a multicultural knowledge economy, we ignore the implications of The Big Sort at our peril.