As some of you know, I am working towards my MBA. Often I find the workload tedious and routine, but every once-in-a-while I come across something that is extremely valuable in the big picture. This is one of those little nuggets that could one day save the day.About 30 years ago, a young man studying to earn his masters degree won a study grant to teach leadership skills to poor, inner city neighborhoods in Miami. He assembled a team to help, and together, they isolated 10 square blocks (100 blocks in total.) The team went around talking with people and soon they had identified 100 people who had the makings of leaders and more importantly, were willing to participate in the study. Out of this initial 100, they conducted some tests to determine the 10 best candidates. A noteworthy fact was 95% of the participants with natural leadership abilities were women and all of the top 10 were women. So these top 10 were trained every Saturday for 3 months on the subject of Leadership. After their class, each of these 10 women was responsible for disseminating or relaying the teachings down to 9 people of the remaining pool of participants. During the final weekend of the 3 month program, a 100 block clean-up project was organized by these 10 women. They were able to orchestrate thousands of volunteers to do the work and numerous corporations to donate the supplies they needed. The leadership skills the 10 women had acquired were proving immensely valuable. There was no doubt they were in control and exercising their newly developed skills and power with grace and dignity: An asset to their neighborhood. At the end of the final weekend, the change in the neighborhood was astonishing. All the streets, houses, fences and alleyways glistened from new paint and repairs. A ghetto had turned into a beautiful and wonderful place to live.
The program was over, but the study was not. Each of these 10 women had agreed to be interviewed 30 days, 90 days and 365 days after completion of the program. At the 30 day interview, the young man who originally obtained the grant was summoned to the interviews. He had concluded his part of the grants’ obligations and the university was taking over the long term interviews. He arrived to find what he thought resembled one of the woman in the top ten; it was difficult to be certain if it was her because she had been beaten so severely. Her face and body were swollen and bruised with copious cuts healing all over her body. He was quickly pulled aside by one of the researchers and told that 4 of the 10 women had been beaten and the women he saw when he arrived was in the best condition of the 4. Needless to say he and the others were shocked. What was happening? What was going on here?
After delving deeper into the situation and lives of these 10 women, an answer came to light. They had been successful in changing the power structure of the neighborhood, but they had neglected to change the culture. And the culture that existed at this time – and often to this day – doesn’t accept women holding positions of power.
So the morale of this story: Change can be good; Just make certain you recognize all of the elements that need changing if you want the change to be successful. Otherwise people get hurt.
