by Maura Wolf, Robert Lewis, Jr.

How do organizations cultivate greatness? What are the core strategies that build leadership in young people? At CityYear, a national service organization for youth between the ages of 17 and 24, the belief is that every young person has the potential to be great leader. This article describes the ways one dynamic organization nurtures young leaders and supports greatness.

These are times in which a genius would wish to live. It is not in the still calm of life, or in the repose of a pacific station, that great characters are formed . . . Great necessities call out great virtues.

--Abigail Adams, Letter to John Quincy Adams, January 19, 1780

With these words Abigail Adams points to the notion that great need gives rise to great leadership. Most would agree that this is a time of great need: a time when so many are focused on the individual good, instead of the common good; a time when the disparity between those with resources and those without continues to grow; a time when many are struggling to define what really matters and to live their lives accordingly; a time when violence--in the form of shootings in offices and schools--has taken on a whole new level of intensity. It is a time that calls for great leadership.

When you think about great leaders, who comes to your mind? Martin Luther King, Jr., Eleanor Roosevelt, Magic Johnson, Roberta Manchu, Jesus, Nelson Mandela, John F. Kennedy, a relative, or a local community leader? What is it that makes these people great? If we wanted to identify and cultivate the next generation of great leaders, what would we look for? Is it what they've done, or how they've done it? Is it something they are born with, or something that has been nurtured by the experiences they had along the way? How did the people in their lives, their education, and their challenges play a role in their road to greatness? We engaged staff and corps members at City Year in a dialogue about this topic.

City Year, an Americorps program, is a national service organization that unites young adults, ages 17--24, from diverse racial, cultural, and socioeconomic backgrounds for a demanding year of full-time community service, leadership development, and civic engagement. Through their service work, young people learn the value of community, realize their potential to improve the lives of others, and develop the skills necessary to excel in educational and professional endeavors. Our commitment is to develop challenges that stretch corps members while allowing them to succeed; to build an environment where young people can share leadership and responsibility with adult partners; and to nurture the next generation of civic leaders.

Our commitment is to develop challenges that stretch corps members while allowing them to succeed; to build an environment where young people can share leadership and responsibility with adult partners; and to nurture the next generation of civic leaders.

Sidebar 1 City Year: Putting Idealism to Work

What is Greatness?
According to Caroline Joyce, who works in City Year's national office,

Greatness is a state of mind that one embraces and exudes that reaches into depths beyond oneself. By their passion, conviction, and continual giving to others you can recognize greatness in a young person.

Jean Seigle, a Peace Corps volunteer from 1976 to 1979 and the current director of national recruitment at City Year, goes on to say:

Greatness is a way of life; it is the way a person lives relationships both professional and personal. They live consistently with integrity, commitment, and respect for others. You can recognize greatness in the calm of a young person's gaze, in the passion of their commitment, in the way they live their life as a son, daughter, brother, sister, or friend. Greatness looks as different as the face of youth; yet when evident, it sets that young person apart as one whom others are drawn to, following their leadership.

• They have a deep conviction and live their lives according to it.
• They embody compassion and are able to listen deeply to people's needs and ideas.
• They have courage and are willing to take risks for what they believe in--sometimes to the point of death.
• They mobilize people and leverage resources to support their efforts.
• They see great possibilities, while utilizing their discipline to focus their energy in very tangible ways.
• They bring humility to their work, and learn from the people and places around them.

These qualities remind us that greatness is not one act or moment; it is a way of life. Greatness is an attitude, a re-deciding every day not to do what's easiest, but to do what's right.

The Strategies That Support Greatness
Once we defined the qualities of greatness, our next task was to identify the ways we work to develop these characteristics at City Year. Through informal conversations, as well as an examination of the structured trainings and ongoing program activities, we came up with seven ways we cultivate greatness within the City Year corps:

1. Promote core values.
2. Provide appropriate challenges.
3. Expose young people to great leaders.
4. Reinforce values with daily, weekly, and monthly practices.
5. Develop core competencies
6. Utilize diversity as a strength.
7. Provide resources and support for growth.

These strategies are discussed in the sections that follow.

Core values. In his book, Stride Towards Freedom: The Montgomery Story, Martin Luther King, Jr., wrote:

Nonviolence in the truest sense is not a strategy that one uses simply because it is expedient at the moment; nonviolence is ultimately a way of life that men live by because of the sheer morality of its claim.

Everything about Dr. King's campaign was rooted in nonviolence; indeed, this value was the foundation for the civil rights movement.

At City Year the core values we work to cultivate are spirit, discipline, purpose, and pride. We build our program, our staff training, and our organization around these values, and we believe that each one cultivates a different aspect of greatness:

• Spirit. Spirit is the bringing to life of pride in serving communities and the country. Our hope is that corps members will make service feel contagious, so those around them will be inspired to join as change agents in their own communities.
• Discipline. Debie Parker, one of City Year's best program directors, is often quoted as saying: "Don't do what's easiest, do what's best." Because we believe that young people need high standards, we challenge them to exceed their expectations of themselves. Through emphasizing the importance of discipline, we help them to understand that reaching goals takes a tremendous amount of "stick-to-itiveness."
• Purpose. For young people to develop a strong sense of self and confidence they need a sense of purpose. Knowing they are critically needed and wanted is vitally important. Through our service we create opportunities for young people to be of high value to their teams and communities. We reinforce the responsibility they have to help others and strengthen this country--to be part of the solution and not the problem.
• Pride. What might the world be like if every young person felt they were part of a powerful movement working for change? At City Year, young people are challenged to have that sense of pride in themselves, their work, and their communities. Corps members' uniforms are a key element in this development of pride. Through them they are linked to all the young people that have come before them and those who will follow after.

Through our service we create opportunities for young people to be of high value to their teams and communities. We reinforce the responsibility they have to help others and strengthen this country--to be part of the solution and not the problem.

Providing challenges. As stated previously, our commitment is to develop challenges that stretch corps members while allowing them to succeed. Over the course of the year, this balancing act--offering young people structure and direction, while also creating ample room for their own leadership and innovation--is an evolving process with ever-increasing challenges. In the beginning of the year corps members participate in teams led by staff and senior corps members. These leaders offer strong direction by enforcing rules and explaining the rationale behind them and, at the same time, helping the team buy into an ethic of excellence. By the end of the year, each corps member is leading his or her own team, playing the role of "Team Leader for the Week," and upholding the same standards their leader set for them in the beginning of the year.

The act of creating appropriate challenges requires a strong coach or, in our case, a team leader who is setting people up for success. Their role is to keep a close enough eye on a project--making sure young people don't feel like they are out on a limb, but staying far enough away so that young people feel like the project is theirs. Instead of dictating how to run a Saturday program for elementary school children, for instance, a good coach helps the team develop a vision with questions like "How do you want the program to feel for the children?" and "How do you want parents to be involved?" Once they are committed to the vision, a coach helps the team break their vision into pieces, helping them delegate tasks, set a structure, and ensure accountability.


Connecting with leaders. Think about the people who worked directly with Martin Luther King, Jr.--Jesse Jackson, Dorothy Cotton, and Bob Moses are just a few of the thousands who have continued to lead with greatness since Dr. King's death. They are a testament to the power of direct contact with great leaders.

Role modeling is critical. We select and train staff members with great care and attention, asking questions such as "Is this person capable of leading in an environment that promotes and enforces high standards in terms of our uniform, time management, and practices of courtesy? Does this person have a strong conviction about service and the community, and a strong sense of purpose and pride?" Once hired, our staff and senior corps members model the values we work to cultivate. Indeed, this commitment to staff training does not go unnoticed; after graduation, when asked what impacted them most in the program, corps members often cite their team leader.

In addition to the role modeling that happens on a daily basis, corps members meet with great leaders at conferences, leadership development days, and during our morning program. By providing a wide diversity of speakers and workshop leaders, role models provide corps members with strategies for change and influence their lives.

Reinforcing values. Regardless of the setting or format, many of us rely on daily practices to reinforce the values and mission of our organization or campaign. Gandhi meditated daily and frequently fasted. At 3M, a Minneapolis-based company that manufactures Post-its and other imaginative items, every employee gets time each week to dream up innovations. At City Year every day begins the same way and ends the same way with readiness checks, community meetings, and debriefs--a time at the end of the day for reflection. Team members might offer their thoughts about the quality of the service that day or discuss a racial conflict that recently occurred at their school. Whatever the form, there is a daily structure for pulling meaning and learning from the day's experiences.

Developing competencies. It is one thing to want to be a great leader; it is another to be a great leader. We believe that everyone has the ability to develop competencies with appropriate training. But since few of us are born with the natural ability to give a good speech, run a soup kitchen, or organize a group of people into committees, we must develop the necessary skills. While everyone doesn't have to be great at everything, some skills are helpful in most people's lives. Corp members are trained in many areas, including public speaking, team leading, technological literacy, and curriculum development. One of the key ways we do this is through a course in civic leadership (see the sidebar that follows).

Sidebar 2 A Course in Civic Leadership

Valuing diversity. Given the world we live in, it is impossible to be a great leader without a respect for diversity and an ability to work with people from different walks of life. Our team structure is one way we address this issue. Each corps member is placed on a diverse team and spends the year learning how to work with others who are different from them. Molly Jacobs, a City Year alum, is just one of many who speak of the impact of her year:

My experience with City Year has impacted my level of dedication and my desire to value diversity in my everyday life. When I was a corps member a conflict arose between myself and another corps member. Because of the team structure, we were forced to continue working together each day. Through a facilitated feedback session, we eventually worked through the issue. I learned something about addressing conflict and she learned something about how her actions impact other people.

Providing support. Every other Wednesday morning, City Year Boston senior corps members leave their teams, turn off their computers, and journey from their work spaces to four floors above. In a closed room borrowed from the American Red Cross, they come together as a group for support. Their facilitator, Jenny Sazama, is the executive director of Youth on Board and an experienced counselor and support group leader.

In this setting, service leaders take turns listening to each other and the struggles they are having, both in their own lives and in their teams. Carrie Baldwin, a 21-year-old corps members, notes:

These sessions have been incredibly helpful. They have brought us together in a way that has truly bonded us. They have helped us to break out of isolation with our work struggles in addition to relieving stress that is going on in life outside of City Year.

Support also comes in the form of GED classes, job leads, one-on-one crisis and career counseling, SAT prep classes, men and women's groups, basketball nights, and much more. Without additional support, growth is a much more challenging endeavor.

Where Do We Go from Here?
Cultivating greatness is like sculpting--it takes the awareness that every piece of raw material--wood, metal, soap--contains inside of it the possibility of profound beauty. It takes the balance of the right touches at the right time and a deep listening to know what is needed when. Greatness is about setting up the conditions and then letting the form emerge.

Michelangelo was 26 when he finished his famous sculpture The David. At that young age he had the desire to create perfection and an understanding of what it would take to achieve greatness. Within every young person lies this potential. As educators, mentors, parents, and supporters of young people's development we must step up to create the conditions for greatness to emerge.


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