It was lunch-and-learn at Friday’s luncheon for the Mississippi Conference of Black Mayors. The subject was democracy and leadership. The teacher was Mississippi Supreme Court Justice James E. Graves.
“I’m sure I don’t have to remind you that my view of democracy is that democracy is not intolerant … It is not insensitive, but it is responsive, and democracy is not fixed; it can hear the cries of the poor and disenfranchised,” Graves said.
Democracy, he said, can speak out against injustice.
“So it really is meant to be government of the people, for the people and by the people, and not government for the rich, by the powerful and in spite of the poor and disenfranchised,” Graves said.
“I hope that we are ever mindful of that as we go about carrying out our daily duties and responsibilities in these jobs and offices that we are so fortunate to hold,” he added. “And I hope we remember that these positions are about service.”
Graves warned the mayors and other officials that leadership is not about control. A leader’s success, he said, “is not measured by the number of servants you have, but by the number of people you serve.”
“When God measures a man or a woman, he puts the tape about the heart, not the head.”
Graves discussed the book “The Leader’s Bible,” a King James version of the Bible directed at leaders where biblical stories and passages are highlighted to show examples of good leadership. He described several of the qualities that a leader should have:
• Charisma. “Charisma is a person asking, ‘How can I do the most good for the most people most of the time?’ ” Graves said.
“It’s commitment, communication,” he said. “No matter who you are or what you do, you can do it a little bit better.
“You can work just a little harder to get a little bit better, because people want to follow people who are competent.
“One of the big mistakes leaders make is that they get positions and then they worry about the politics,” he said. “If you’re doing a good job, politics won’t matter; politics will take care of itself.”
• A leader should be giving, Graves said, adding that leaders listen.
“It is very important that leaders listen to other people,” he said. “It’s a good way for you to learn what other people think, what other people care about, what other people feel. And you miss all of that when you’re unwilling to listen.”
Leaders, Graves said, listen and solve problems, and work on relationships with others.
“Relationships just don’t happen,” he said. “You have to work them, nurture them, cultivate them, be good to them. That’s how you have relationships, and they are very important.”
• Take responsibility.
“It’s not where whatever happens is someone else’s fault,” Graves said. “I think there are some leaders who keep people around just to take the blame.”
• Self-discipline.
The good leaders are willing to be servants, and leaders are teachable, Graves said.
“That means we are all in a position where we can still learn,” he said.
Another quality is vision, he said, but warned the mayors, “you should not allow your view to obstruct your vision.
“Your view is right in front of you,” Graves said. “Your vision is the ability to imagine or picture something that is not there but one day could be.”
Graves urged the mayors to emphasize education in their communities.
He recalled that as a circuit judge he sentenced many young men to prison, adding, “the common thing among all those people I sent to prison was they dropped out of school.”
He said Mississippi’s dropout rate leads the nation, and the students are dropping out in the sixth, seventh and eighth grades.
The reason, Graves said, “is we don’t show that we care. We say we value education, but we don’t act like we do.”
He said leaders and parents need to get more involved in the education of a community’s young people.
Graves recalled the election and swearing in of President Barack Obama, adding, “no matter who you are and what your opinions are, you should be struck by this moment in time and in history.”
He said he hoped the officials would take Obama’s election and “reconfirm our commitment to try and make sure there is equal justice for all.
“I hope we review our commitment to become more loving, more tolerant and more responsible citizens in our democracy,” he said.
“Somebody once said man’s capacity for justice makes democracy possible, but man’s inclination to injustice makes democracy a necessity,” Graves said.
“You are a very vital part of this necessary democracy, so I hope that we all renew our commitment to making sure that this democracy works in a way that we can do the most good for the most people.”
