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DECEMBER 2005

The True Meaning of Leadership
By Scott Noppe-Brandon

Lately, I’ve begun to notice some strange developments. For instance, I no longer recognize the names of many of the pop heroes who reign over the charts—and I thought I was au courant. Also, most of the people I meet are younger than I am—many are considerably younger. AARP is sending me material, although I am convinced they’ve got the wrong person.

I am becoming part of the older generation and I am humbled by the experience. I have always felt “young for my age,” certainly youthful in my beliefs. It seems only a few short days ago that I first realized that people older than me were retiring.

Retirement—the inevitable generational shift, and a very important one, as it opens up positions of leadership for younger executives. My first whiff of this transition was some 18 years ago, in Bowling Green, Ohio, when a mentor and friend of mine started talking about retirement and his plans for the future, ranging from fishing and gardening to consulting and publishing. He was at the age when people start thinking about leaving their current position in order to do other things in life—even though most people I know “flunk retirement” and remain quite active, as I am sure I will. I remember commenting to a colleague at the time that we were entering an exciting phase of our professional lives, the moment of leadership changes. But I also felt a lacking, a certain sadness. What happens to the knowledge base, the professional maturity, the organizational history? Must they end with the changing of the guard? Shouldn’t there be a plan put into place by all organizations, for-profit and non-profit, that articulates an orderly change in leadership based on a thoughtful mentoring process? My mentor at LCI was Mark Schubart, the Institute’s founder and long-time director, and I benefited enormously from my many years working with him. He understood how valuable it was for “generational shifters” to understand that helping shape and cultivate leadership of the next generation is not only part of our job, it is part of our legacy. Mark believed that each organization should build for the present as well as the future through careful financial and leadership planning.      

Yet there is some rebelliousness at the thought of passing the torch. That part of me that is still convinced that the AARP leaflet is in the wrong mailbox thinks, why should I think about someone replacing me when I have so many productive years ahead? The answer, in a disarmingly simple form, was recently given to me by my eight-year old, who came home from school and announced that he had learned that all creatures must have off-spring or our world as we know it would cease to exist! Yes, for all matters, large and small, this is the natural order. For those of us over a certain age, now in leadership positions in the arts and education, it is a matter of responsible tenure to start planning for our succession and working with our successors. We must ask ourselves, “Who will guide the organization along the path that we have strived to open?” What are we doing to facilitate the transition?

When I speak of leadership I do not only mean leading in the business sense, but also in a personal way, on a daily basis. To a great extent, leadership is only as good as the leadership it creates. I strongly believe that creating future leadership is part of my work, and this belief helps me feel grounded in it. I may never know the names of current pop stars, but I will know those whose leadership is the future of our organization. Now that is music to my ears, a tune for many generations.#

Scott Noppe-Brandon is Executive Director of the Lincoln Center Institute.

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