Revisiting my Leadership Executive MBA Legacy Project

Inspired by Marilyn Gist and in the spirit of the New Year, I thought it would be worthy to revisit the organization I resolved to build when I graduated from Seattle University last spring: bCivil.org. Since graduating, work, life and everything else that happens along the way intervened and prevented me from making significant progress on my vision. However, as I reflect on 2019, I recognize this is the year to make my vision a reality. I also realize that I could use a little help from my friends -- if you're interested in helping I look forward to hearing from you!

Here is an abridged version of my legacy project description. I hope it inspires some of you as you consider your own legacies for 2019.

My Leadership Journey

I have a burning desire to be a great leader – a visionary who inspires, an orator who motivates, and a business leader who “walks the walk” just as well as he “talks the talk”. Despite my desire, my fire had been burning out. Needing inspiration, new ideas, and a change in outlook, my aspiration to develop my leadership skills brought me to Seattle University, where my fire has been rekindled.

The spark that became the flame was ignited in my youth, when as a student in sixth grade, I took the first significant steps in my leadership journey. My classmate was a young woman named Yemi Fleming, whose father George was a noted Washington State Senator. During a field trip to Olympia, I received a crash course in civil rights and civic responsibility from George and his Senate colleagues. At the age of eleven, I learned why it was so important to be an active and engaged citizen.

Later, I was fortunate enough to attend Garfield High School, where I met and made friends with people of all races and socio-economic backgrounds. It was at Garfield where I discovered my voice, first as the co-host of a radio program on KING AM called Studio 1090, and later as the Sports Editor of the Garfield Messenger. Garfield is also where I met my best friend Mike Weltman. Mike was convinced that I had greatness in me, greatness I couldn’t yet see in myself. Tragically, Mike killed himself in 1997. My flame grew brighter because of Mike, and I work hard every day to honor his memory.

As a young man at Western Washington University (WWU), I was adrift until my junior year, when a counselor suggested I could benefit from focusing on something that wasn’t strictly academic. He proposed that I run for student office, which struck me as a brilliant suggestion. I immediately filed the necessary paperwork, and six-weeks later I had lost my first election. Undeterred, I ran again the next year and won my election as President. While campus debates were frequently uncivil, I committed to staying above the fray and to serving all students, not just the ones who had supported me.

While I was appalled by the rancor that defined politics in Olympia, I was inspired by State Senator Eugene Prince, a conservative Republican who took a liberal young idealist from Seattle under his wing. “The best policy comes from people of good will and good intention working together despite differences to solve problems”, he would often say to me (and others).

Inspired by the memory of that long ago visit to Olympia, I pursued a degree in Political Science, and upon graduation was hired as the Executive Director of the Washington Student Lobby, where I lobbied on behalf of public university students. While I was appalled by the rancor that defined politics in Olympia, I was inspired by State Senator Eugene Prince, a conservative Republican who took a liberal young idealist from Seattle under his wing. “The best policy comes from people of good will and good intention working together despite differences to solve problems”, he would say to me, while expressing disappointment about the politics of the mid-90s. While I left politics in 1997, I never stopped thinking about how I could apply those early life lessons to make my community and country a better place.

My Significant Legacy

Inspired by my past and motivated by the present, I have committed to building an organization that I call bCivil, a platform for civil discourse, debate, and dialog beyond political differences. bCivil will strengthen our global commons by creating safe spaces for political expression by challenging people to look beyond their narrow political differences. After all, a world without civility is antithetical to the vision of a global commons.

My vision for bCivil is inspired by transformational political figures like Vice President Joe Biden and Senator John McCain, both of whom transcend labels by demonstrating a commitment to working across boundaries to solve problems. I’ve also drawn inspiration from Supreme Court Justice Sonya Sotomayor, who during a recent visit to Seattle noted that “No one is born a citizen. You have to be taught what that means (Rowe, 2018).” Despite advocacy from influential leaders and politicians, only 25 percent of U.S. students achieve proficiency in civics, with wealthy white students 4-6 times more likely than their peers to exceed that level (Litvinov, 2017).

In fact, our nation’s founders made education a paramount responsibility of the state for precisely the purpose of ensuring that young people were equipped to be citizens – “protecting the common good would require developing students’ critical thinking and debate skills, along with strong civic virtues (Litvinov, 2017).”

bCivil will support civics education and engagement by creating a virtual and real-world platform for sharing and promoting civics education, for matching teachers and school districts with qualified external instructors like lawyers, judges, political scientists or activists to inspire and motivate young people to become active citizens, and as a facilitator of workshops in the real world that bring people together of all political persuasions to discuss issues in a way that’s open, respectful, and that honors and rewards civility. A bCivil workshop would encourage constructive debate and reward measured compromise. Steps might include:

1. Inviting students and community members to engage in a civic forum to identify and discuss solutions to complex societal issues (e.g., gun violence).
2. Signing a pledge of civility, stating that participants will treat people with opposing viewpoints with dignity and respect, and actively listen to their ideas and concerns.
3. Self-selecting into teams, to work together to enumerate solutions to a problem domain.
4. Preparing arguments, before being paired with a team with an opposing point of view and determining if they can identify a mutually agreeable middle ground.
5. Evaluating the quality of proposed solutions, and awarding points based on how effectively teams worked together to solve problems. Videos would be uploaded to bcivil.org to inspire future participants. Ideas for solving problems would be promoted on the website, and shared with political leaders in Olympia or Washington D.C.

Success or failure would be determined by how well participants live up to their pledge to engage in respectful civil discourse, especially in disagreement. Ultimately teams would be asked to report out on their experience. Were they able to compromise? Was the conversation productive? Did everyone remain civil? What lessons did they learn because of their participation?

The first bCivil workshop will take place at WWU as part of the Munro Seminar on Civil Engagement. The Seminar is named for former Secretary of State Ralph Munro, who defied political labels and won reelection year after year despite being a Republican in a deep blue state. Building on learnings from the first workshop, additional sessions will be held quarterly at WWU. Concurrent with that effort, I will establish relationships with district administrators and faculty in the Shoreline School district to introduce bCivil and offer my services as a volunteer instructor. Seattle Public schools would be my next focus, along with local community colleges and the Seattle University College of Arts & Sciences. By the end of year three, I would want a minimum of five active partnerships at secondary or tertiary educational institutions, ten highly curated civics curricula hosted on bcivil.org, and 50 facilitated matches of qualified instructors into classrooms.

I want bCivil to be the spark that kindles a new common fire.

As the program becomes more mature and requires less hands-on nurturing, I envision developing chapters at additional educational institutions. Within five years, I envision the bCivil platform to be a transformative force for civics education throughout Washington, with chapters in high schools, colleges, and universities. In time, this model could be extended nationally. I want bCivil to be the spark that kindles a new common fire. It will also keep my own fire lit, as within ten years I intend to pursue my dream of leaving the tech sector to teach civics, government, and history full time. I can think of no better way to shape my own path or to honor the legacies of the men and women who have inspired me than to improve our civil discourse through meaningful engagement in our global commons.