Georgia Sorenson, KNFP-15 Advisor, Senior Scholar, Jepson School of Leadership Studies; Founder, James MacGregor Burns Academy of Leadership.
This article was originally published in the April 2003 issue of the KFLA Newsletter.
Georgia Sorenson Quick Fact: A presidential leadership scholar, she is currently Visiting Senior Scholar at the Jepson School of Leadership Studies at the University of Richmond. Sorenson’s latest work is a 4- volume comprehensive Encyclopedia of Leadership published by Berkshire/Sage Press (with George Goethals and James MacGregor Burns) due out in 2004.
What sustains you in your practice of leadership and your commitment to change?
Some people ”follow the money.” My teachers and parents taught me to ”follow the need.” An elder politician, Walter Fauntleroy, once told me to be especially mindful of the young, the old, the sick and the poor.” That made sense then and it still does.
What do you consciously say to yourself or do that helps you stay on track with your goals?
’This, too, shall pass” and ”In the scope of the universe, this little problem is completely insignificant.” Sometimes I find myself repeating Robert Kennedy’s, ”If not you, who?”
If you had to give an aspiring leader one piece of advice, what would it be?
There’s no aspiration, no body, no mind, no color, no taste, no sound and so forth. You have already arrived, so get on with it. Don’t waste time! When nothing is done, nothing is left undone. Don’t just do something, sit there! Truth is paradoxical.
How are you different or what do you do differently as a result of your experience as a Kellogg Fellow? Why?
As an advisor, my ”Fellows” are also my teachers in a very profound sense. We got that straight very early. I discovered breast cancer (now cured) during my term as Kellogg Advisor, and I also felt deeply taken care of by my fellows and the Kellogg family. I still feel that way; I only hope that I can offer something as profound in return.
Are you a better leader than you were five years ago? How do you know?
I am wiser. I better understand the full range of human motivation in others, not just the pretty ones. How do I know? Because I am no longer stupid. Is this a good thing? Yes.
Can leadership be invisible? How and why have you practiced invisible leadership?
As I have written elsewhere, I think true leadership is the relationship or ”space between” people. Like jazz-great Thelonius Monk’s invisible blue notes, the space between the actual musical notes–the phrasing, nuance, timing, emotion–that’s what makes the music so remarkable. There are many invisible leaders–as Gill Hickman and I write about–people who contribute to a common cause of core public value without personal ambition or need to be recognized. They are like pinewinds spreading truth–powerful, unseen, and quiet. Joanne Robinson’s role in the Birmingham bus strike is one such example. On the other hand, there are political forces that attempt to render people and groups invisible. I think this especially true of women, people of color, and other disenfranchised peoples. We must fight against this at all costs. In these situations, we must show up, throw off the forces that silence us–in ourselves and in others. We all need to work at both seeing and being seen and to tell our truth as we understand it.