Innovation Blog

Additional Author 1: Daniel G. Mulhern

Daniel Mulhern (KNFP 14), Leadership Consultant and First Gentleman of Michigan.

This article was published in the January 2008 issue of the KFLA Newsletter.

As the first gentleman of Michigan, Dan Mulhern considers his primary roles are supporting his wife, Governor Jennifer Granholm, and creating a sane life for their three children. Dan's work as an executive coach and business consultant has taken a back seat, although his recently published book, Everyday Leadership: Getting Results in Business, Politics, and Life, provided an outlet for his messages. As first gentleman, he declines all work for pay in Michigan. "I've shifted to public speaking because I can no longer be answerable to a client," he says. Now, with several weekly speaking engagements and a daily radio show, he recognizes, "It's great to have a voice and get my message out." Dan's message must be carefully crafted. "People have attacked me for influencing my wife. I've had to lay low and stay out of many policy conversations." With tongue in cheek, he likens being a first gentleman to "being a good caddy or bus boy, if you do your job well, no one sees it." In earnest, he adds, "If I'm doing a good job in supporting Jennifer as governor, or in listening to someone in the administration who feels she or he is not being heard, it all makes a difference, but is not visible." Dan has carved out a role in Michigan's state government that is in line with his passion to "create a world where people see and bring out the greatness in each other." He chairs the Michigan Community Service Commission, which encompasses Mentor Michigan, a program his wife started when she was Michigan's Attorney General to help kids at risk and reduce crime. A mentor himself, Dan explains, "I took over the mentors program when she became governor. Jennifer campaigned on increasing the number of mentors statewide to 10,000. We've surpassed that." Dan also chairs the Next Great Companies Project in Michigan to promote quality work environments that can attract and retain a quality workforce, and produce great results. He says, "I've worked hard to create a great workplace culture around the governor's office. I believe we have a great team and have improved morale and productivity." In much of his work, Dan taps the learnings from his Kellogg Fellowship. "Diversity was a huge gift that the Kellogg Fellowship gave to me, helping me to have the hard conversations. It provided a hospitable space for people to speak in a more candid way. It taught me to shut up and listen. I've tried to take that way of hearing into the context of state government." He also claims, "The fellowship got me into meditation, which helped me to slow down, to be intentional, and to keep my ego in check." Asked if he is a better leader than he was five years ago, Dan states, "Yes, because I am immersed in it constantly. Jen and I are always in our leadership roles. People never see us as anything but the governor and the first gentleman.‚" Upon reflection, he adds, "I believe we teach best what we most need to learn. I teach that true leaders must have great vision and positive energy. I constantly ask myself: 'Am I modeling leadership; am I walking the walk?'" Fellows can engage with Dan by joining in his lively blog community or enrolling in his weekly e-column, Reading for Leading, by going to www.danmulhern.com.

Details

Written by Kellogg Fellows Leadership Alliance

Additional Author 1: Evelyn Hu-DeHart

Evelyn Hu-DeHart (KNFP 5), Director and Professor, Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity in America, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island.

This article was originally published in the January 2006 issue of the KFLA Newsletter.

In her pursuit of social justice, Evelyn Hu-DeHart is working to close the gap between those who have access to opportunities in our country and those who do not. Evelyn's career in higher education has taken her from City University in the Bronx, with a predominately low-income and immigrant student population, to large universities around the country, and now to a private, elite university. Regardless of the institution, she says, "I feel we have an obligation to reach out to students who have barriers, by race or socio-economics, to allow them one of the precious slots in higher education." Evelyn points out, "The students we don't have to worry about, middle-class students with educated parents, find us. It's important to reach out to less privileged students, those who attend high schools with few advanced placement courses and only a handful of counselors, but who still have high ambitions and aspirations." She also stresses the importance of retention efforts once the students arrive. Apart from welcoming them and keeping them motivated and involved, she believes it's critical that the issues of their culture are not treated as add-ons in the curriculum. "We have a commitment to making sure that their communities and their histories in America are reflected in all our departments," says Evelyn. "If you teach world history, what does it mean if 80 percent of the course is on Europe? Or, if in medical school, the health of women and of minorities aren't addressed? Are we really preparing future professionals?" she asks. Evelyn has seen strides in the diversification of students by race and class on college campuses around the country. However, much less progress has been made in the diversity of faculty. "Progress isn't always made in a linear way," she points out. "We can point to milestones in history, the civil rights act, affirmative action, yet, instead of moving forward, we are still in a position of defending them and possibly losing them. You have to be ever vigilant. Now," she says, "we have a Supreme Court that may undermine the rights of women; we have an administration that is cutting funding for education. We have to make sure we don't slip too far back." 

Details

Written by Kellogg Fellows Leadership Alliance

Additional Author 1: Martha W. Bidez

Martha Bidez (KNFP 13), President, Bidez & Associates.

This article was originally published in the July 2006 issue of the KFLA Newsletter.

Martha Bidez is passionate about giving a voice to those who don't have one, to individuals who have been marginalized because of gender, race, or socio-economic status. Her passion has been the driving force behind her career path, which has led her from a faculty position in the biomedical engineering department at the University of Alabama at Birmingham; to founding a biomedical company; and, now, to heading a consulting firm and advocating for automotive safety.

Through conducting research at the university, Martha and her team developed a revolutionary dental implant product. The university encouraged her to commercialize the product and, in 1995, she started BioHorizons Implant Systems, Inc. In 2000, she stepped down as CEO of BioHorizons, but remains the board chair.

"Now, I'm able to focus more on my passion through my consulting and activist work," she says. Much of her energy has been directed at working to change discriminatory practices in the automotive industry. "From my technical expertise and my corporate background, I know what it requires to put out a safe product," Martha explains. "And as an engineer, I believe we have a responsibility for safety. Now, I'm trying to convince the 'big boys' , Ford, General Motors, and others, to stop making management decisions that seriously hurt folks, and to convince the government to require stricter standards." She admits, "I have the dubious distinction of being the only person Ford Motor Company has attacked personally on its website, so I know I'm getting through.

"Before her Kellogg Fellowship, Martha says, she was "content in the calm, comfortable university environment. The fellowship instilled a sense of fearlessness in me. It allowed me to give up my tenure and launch a new company, which was like jumping out of an airplane without a parachute. It has helped me to take on, so to speak, the automotive industry." Today she asserts, "the network of Fellows provides enormous, ongoing inspiration for me.

"Her advice for aspiring leaders: "Do what has heart and meaning in your own life. Without it, there's no way to sustain the difficulties and challenges you'll be facing."

Details

Written by Kellogg Fellows Leadership Alliance

Additional Author 1: Kenneth L. Fox

Kenneth L. Fox, M.D. (KNFP 16), Physician, Erie Family Health Center, Chicago.

This article was originally published in the January 2005 issue of the KFLA Newsletter.

Ken Fox is a pediatrician and a medical anthropologist who tirelessly advocates for youth, particularly youth of color. He recently relocated to Chicago, his hometown, after spending a decade working and teaching in Boston. Ken worked as a primary care physician at the South End Community Health Center and at Boston Medical Center's Adolescent Clinic. He also taught in the Department of Pediatrics at Boston University's School of Medicine, as well as in the Department of Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School.

As a Kellogg Fellow, Ken explored popular culture among African American and Afro-Latino urban male youth and how it could be applied to positive social and civic identity under conditions of inequality. Ken's questions eventually led him to Cape Town, South Africa.

"In Boston," he recounts, "the rapper TuPak Shuker was the kids' patron saint. So when I went out to the Cape Flats, those blighted ghettoes created by Apartheid's ethnic cleansing and social dislocation, I was shocked to find a 50-foot mural of TuPac Shuker. I wondered, 'How can this iconic figure be so useful to teens with such different histories in such different places? What does the figure's presence tell us about the nature and movement of global culture and commerce? And how can we use these ideas and cultural forms to work with youth?'"

With a Fulbright Scholarship, Ken took a sabbatical and worked as a "roadie" for the South African Hip-Hop band, Black Noise. He discovered, "These kids take the best of what the cultural form has to offer and use it to do progressive community building in their own neighborhoods. Perhaps this is a lesson we can use at home."Back in Boston, he created the Hip Hop Literacy Project and acted as an advisor to B City Voices, a youth leadership development program in Boston's Roxbury neighborhood, both efforts to empower urban youth and keep them from succumbing to alienation or turning to violence.

Ken returned to South Africa last summer to help organize a regional youth festival, Hip Hop Indaba, attended by some 2,500 young people. Every young person who attended received a program that included the articles from the United Nation's Convention on the Rights of the Child, and a detachable postcard addressed to South African President Thabo Mbeki that read, "Health is a human right."Says Ken, "South Africa has a strong tradition of youth activism. The country has seen many gains through the struggle of the people, but there's still a lot to be done. Young people must continue to find new ways to make their voices heard, and that was a lot of what the Hip Hop Indaba was about."

Now, in Chicago, Ken feels he has returned to his roots. Working full time at the Erie Family Health Center, he measures success by continually asking himself: "How well did I serve the poor today?" He explains, "I have to be able to know: What difference did I make today? Did I help a colleague or learn something from a colleague who's committed to the kind of work I do? Did I listen well? Was I able to amplify the voices of people who are insightful on these issues?"

Ken's advice to students aspiring to go into social medicine: "Craft your critical spaces carefully." He continues, "It's painful to hear sad stories of people getting shafted by history or by situations beyond their control. It takes clarity to stay focused and stay fresh. I would ask the students, 'Do you have a community of people around you who can help maintain that critical space where you can go when things are hard or difficult?' If you're going to be committed to health care for the poor, you need that kind of space."

Details

Written by Kellogg Fellows Leadership Alliance

For some reason, it is easier to recognize 2010 as the last year of the new millennium's first decade than it was ten years ago to recognize Y2K as the final year of the twentieth century.

Details

Written by Kellogg Fellows Leadership Alliance

Additional Author 1: Debra Joy Perez

Debra Joy Perez (National Medical Fellowships 2000-'01, Harvard), Senior Program Officer, Research and Evaluation, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Princeton, New Jersey.

This article was originally published in the JUne 2007 issue of the KFLA Newsletter.

Debra Perez bridged the worlds from her childhood neighborhood in Trenton, New Jersey, to the ivy walls of Harvard University. Now an expert on reducing racial disparities in healthcare, she ensures others from neighborhoods like her own have a voice.

A first-generation college graduate, Debra recalls, "I was the only non-white person in a very small group of college-prep students at Trenton High. My tenth grade guidance counselor was the first person to say to me, 'You can go to college.' She made the difference in my life. I now have two master's degrees, and a Ph.D. from Harvard. I'm committed to living as an example of what is possible based on where I've come from and what I've accomplished."

Debra's journey was a difficult one. She says, "During my graduate work at Harvard, I often felt, 'I don't belong here. They don't want me here.' I was confronted with racism in subtle forms everyday. They questioned my intelligence, my pedigree, and whether or not I got in because I was a minority. It was very painful." She felt that she continually had to fight battles to address the topic of inequity in health and healthcare. Debra and a colleague approached a professor about incorporating the literature on healthcare disparities. Debra recalls, "The professor said what many still say today when a brown person suggests more outreach, more diversity, or broader networks, 'make it happen.'" So Debra and her colleague found the materials and the speakers, and put the first session on disparities into the curriculum.

Today, health disparities is a central session of that core course. But Debra believed in possibilities and knew others around campus cared about racial and ethnic disparities in health and healthcare. In 2001, Debra co-chaired Harvard's first symposium on public health disparities. Some 300 attended from across the country. Says Debra, "I remember thinking, 'What if I wasn't here?' She realized that she was at Harvard for a reason and, to create change, "had to be in that conversation in that Ivory Tower." Today, as part of the nation's largest foundation working to improve healthcare, Debra is continuing the conversation. She is a well-known speaker on issues of diversity and disparities in public healthcare. At the foundation, Debra works to strengthen programs through incorporating diverse perspectives at every level.

Recently, she and her colleagues in Research and Evaluation created New Connections, a program to link first-time grantees to the foundation's research priorities. In its first annual symposium, the New Connections initiative brought together a network of historically underrepresented researchers, including not only New Connections grantees, but those who had been turned down for funding. This had never been done before. 

"I'm inspired by the work we do," she says. "The infusion of diversity and the elimination of disparities is my purpose in life and I'm able to see it operationalized here at the foundation." In regards to her personal achievements, Debra says, "I measure success by the people I inspire." She explains, "I'd like to live an inspiring life, both to myself and others. There's plenty that can be done in the world, and I really believe all things are possible."

Details

Written by Kellogg Fellows Leadership Alliance