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First and foremost I want to salute the North American Association of Wardens and Superintendents. NAAWS has singularly put the fear of sleepless nights due to extraordinary noise and abundance of “partying” coupled with use of extensive ice, mixers and something to add kick to the ice and mixers into the Gondles room requirements at ACA meetings. Simply put, Dr. Elizabeth Gondles states – “listen Big Boy, you put us three or four floors away from the NAAWS suite – even better five or six floors”. Yes – NAAWS is a legend unto itself at ACA conferences…and I wouldn’t have it any other way. Like peanut butter and jelly, apple pie and ice cream, or steak with a beer, NAAWS is a part of ACA conferences – a part we could simply not do without. The North American Association of Wardens and Superintendents is synonymous with enjoying life and not taking ones’ self too serious, along with the very highest standards of professionalism, ethics, and loyalty to duty. NAAWS is what many other associations strive to be – an organization that exemplifies the best of two worlds – living life (i.e., having fun) and contributing to the greater good (i.e., protecting the public and being a professional). This conference is yet another example of the importance NAAWS places upon living life and contributing to society. From fun events like Pittsburgh Pirates baseball games to sessions on the radicalization of inmates, you have successfully combined the best of two worlds. Your well written and highly successful training tool for wardens and superintendents, “A View from the Trenches” is scheduled for a second edition already. This new edition will allow veterans as well as newcomers to receive valuable information on being a warden/superintendent – on being a leader. [back to top] Leadership is not a place, it’s not a position, and it’s not a secret code that can’t be deciphered by ordinary people. Leadership is an observable set of skills and abilities. Of course, some people are better at it than others according to Kouzes. Often times we all fall into the trap of measuring an effective leader with power. Hitler, for example, had millions of Germans following him for a time – yet his “leadership” most often came from delusional promises and coercive techniques. To measure leadership more specifically one must assess the extent of the influence on the followers, that is to say, the amount of leading. Effective leaders generate higher productivity, lower costs, and more opportunities than ineffective leaders. Effective leaders create results, attain goals, and realize vision and other objectives more quickly and at a higher level of quality than ineffective leaders. Bernard Bass has developed a theory of how people become leaders in three different ways. These theories are:
When a person is deciding if she respects you as a leader, she does not think about your attributes, rather, she observes what you do so that she can know who you really are. She uses this observation to tell if you are an honorable and trusted leader or a self serving person who misuses authority to look good and get promoted. Self-serving leaders are not as effective because their employees only obey them, not follow them. They succeed in many areas because they present a good image to their seniors at the expense of their workers. [back to top] The basis of good leadership is honorable character and selfless service to your organization. In your employees’ eyes, your leadership is everything you do that effects the organization’s objectives and their well being. Respected leaders concentrate on what they are (beliefs and character), what they know (job tasks and human nature), and what they do (implementing, motivating and providing direction). What makes a person want to follow a leader? People want to be guided by those they respect and who have a clear sense of direction. To gain respect, they must be ethical. A sense of direction is achieved by conveying a strong vision of the future. Leadership sometimes demands courage. Courage to do the right thing. Courage to know the right thing to do. Courage to defend your actions or at a minimum to know that what you did was a decision you can live with even if others can not. In 1956, a young United States Senator from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts wrote a book about courage – John F. Kennedy’s book Profiles in Courage illustrates eight different persons who stood up for what was right – not what was popular. Each was a leader within his community, state, or nation. Each incurred the wrath of the public or their political parties or their fellow House or Senate members. I’d like to share a short history lesson with you about one of the more obscure persons Kennedy profiled – Edmund Ross. Edmund Ross, a Kansas Republican, cast the deciding vote that ended the impeachment proceedings against President Andrew Johnson. The proceedings began because doctrinaire “Radical Republicans,” then in control of the Senate, passed a Tenure of Office Act to prevent a president from firing cabinet members without Senate consent. This was done to try to stop Johnson from firing Secretary of War Edwin Stanton. Johnson believed Stanton was a tool of the Radicals who wanted to establish a military dictatorship in the South. Johnson felt the wiser course would be to reconstruct the Confederate states back into the Union as quickly as possible without unnecessary military intervention, as Lincoln had intended. When Johnson fired Stanton, the impeachment began. The House voted for impeachment and the trial then moved to the Senate. As the trial went on it became clear that the Republicans had no intention of giving Johnson a fair trial; rather, their emphasis was on convincing enough Senators to find Johnson guilty. Ross was overheard saying that while he had no sympathy for Johnson, he would do his best to see that he was fairly tried. Because Ross had previously been such a partisan Republican, he became the principal target of abuse from the press, the public, and his fellow Republican legislators. Nonetheless, Ross voted against convicting Johnson, reasoning that if a president could be forced out of office by insufficient evidence that was based on partisan disagreement, the presidency would then be under the control of whatever congressional faction held sway. Ross’s action unleashed relentless criticism. Neither he nor any other Republican who voted to acquit Andrew Johnson was reelected to the Senate, and Ross and his family suffered ostracism and poverty upon their return to Kansas in 1871. Eventually, Ross was vindicated by the Supreme Court, which declared the Tenure of Office Act to be unconstitutional, and praised by the press and the public for having saved the country from dictatorship. NAAWS practices leadership through meetings such as this. NAAWS recognizes leadership through its “Warden of the Year” dating from Montana’s Roger Crist in 1979-80 to CCA’s Mike Samberg for 2005-06. Your President, Luella Burke, said in her initial comments upon becoming the leader of NAAWS – “we need youth”, “we need diversity”, and for you to continue to grow those two needs are cornerstones for a healthy NAAWS foundation. [back to top] Finally, leadership recognizes others for their contributions to the team. A good leader does not sit back and take all the credit – he or she realizes that teams build success. So permit me to a personal moment here at the end. I became ACA’s Executive Director in 1991. I didn’t know as many people then as I know now. I had been on ACA’s Board of Governors during a rather contentious period of time in our 137 year history. Many in NAAWS were deeply involved in the midst of those controversies. When I took the helm from Tony Travisono I knew we had to build new bridges and repair old ones – NAAWS was to ACA like peanut butter is to jelly. We needed to repair that important bridge. And I think we did – we need the Mel Williams, Luella Burkes, Art Leonardos, Pat Keohanes, Pat Carusos, Mike Sambergs, Mark Saunders, Judy Andersons, Pam Withrows – all of you. We need NAAWS and so long as I work at ACA we will keep that bridge well repaired and in excellent working order. You ask three questions on your website for prospective NAAWS members. The third question I would like to help work on so it no longer is a question – it should be a fact. “Do you think that the American Correctional Association needs to respond more aggressively to the needs of jail and prison administrators?” I hope I hear from you on ways that ACA can become a better voice, a more aggressive voice on your behalf.
I am honored that you would include me in your program and I wish you well in your future endeavors – including that very important social event – the NAAWS suite. [back to top]
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