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Introducing Black leadership
Introducing Black leadership

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2 Leadership checklist

After the discussion of definitions, it’s possible to form a checklist of necessary elements for something to count as leadership:

  1. There is a tangible practice that can be observed.
  2. There is a process of influence at work.
  3. The process affects feelings and intellect.
  4. Routine ways of thinking, feeling and doing are disrupted.
  5. The process empowers people to generate alternative ways of thinking, feeling and doing.
  6. These alternatives, which stretch notions of what was previously considered possible, can become normalised over time through persistence.

Make a note of these six checklist items, because you will be returning to them often as this course – and your own practice – progresses.

Activity 2 Is this leadership?

Timing: Allow around 20 minutes

Watch the following video clip, Leading for a Cause, which is a short programme co-produced by the OU and BBC World Service. The video features the footballer Marcus Rashford, Black Lives Matter organiser Boni Adeliyi and OU academic Michael Ngoasong. As you watch, try to identify an example of each aspect of the leadership practice checklist, making some notes in the box below as you proceed.

As a reminder, the checklist is as follows:

  1. There is a tangible practice that can be observed.
  2. There is a process of influence at work.
  3. The practice affects feelings and intellect.
  4. Routine ways of thinking, feeling and doing are disrupted.
  5. The process empowers people to generate alternative ways of thinking, feeling and doing.
  6. These alternatives, which stretch notions of what was previously considered possible, can become normalised over time through persistence.
Download this video clip.Video player: Video 2
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Transcript: Video 2 Leading for a cause

SPEAKER 1:
The footballer who forced his government to feed hungry children...
BONI ADELIYI:
Fight for your Black friends. Defend your Black colleagues.
SPEAKER 1:
...And the young student who got her community active and fighting for their rights. We’ll show you what qualities these young leaders showed in fighting for something they believe in.
Marcus Rashford, in action for Manchester United. Not the obvious person you’d expect to help fight hunger and poverty. The COVID pandemic. Children in the UK were sent home from school, and many poorer children no longer got free school meals. Marcus wanted to help get food to those that need it the most. He wrote a letter to the government calling on them to end child poverty. Unlike many in the British government, Marcus had come from a poor background.
MARCUS RASHFORD:
I know what families are going through now. I once had to go through that same system, and it’s very difficult to find a way out. But now that I’m in this position that I’m in, it’s very important for me to help the people that are struggling. And that was the main reason why the letter was written.
SPEAKER 1:
Public support for the footballer grew. He became a leading voice in the campaign to end child food poverty. He got the British government to carry on giving free food to those that needed it, with the support of thousands of people. How did he do it?
MICHAEL NGOASONG:
The personal connection that Marcus Rashford has to the cause is very important because of his strong belief and conviction that child poverty is not something that should be allowed in society. And because he has experienced it, he knows that this is a cause that is as important and even bigger than football.
SPEAKER 1:
So Marcus Rashford’s personal connection to the cause is important here. And we can see how that motivates him.
MICHAEL NGOASONG:
Although there is so much you can get from being a footballer, there is a bigger cause in society, in this case child poverty, that is bigger than football. And he sees that as a vision and feels that he has the position and power to be able to influence that.
SPEAKER 1:
So Marcus Rashford sees the bigger picture. He knows there are many children experiencing hunger like he did, and this drives his leadership.
MICHAEL NGOASONG:
Marcus Rashford feels he’s got a role to play in fighting child poverty, because he’s in a position as a professional footballer and he has the vision. And the honesty and simple way in which he communicates and drives that vision pulls people around him and creates a team spirit within the community, such that even politicians are challenged to try to do more.
SPEAKER 1:
Marcus Rashford knows he has a role to play. His passion and commitment draws people to the cause, and his message cannot be ignored, even by the politicians.
MICHAEL NGOASONG:
He’s able to stay the course. Irrespective of what people might say or want him to do, he knows that he has to stay the course to be able to achieve his vision because that is what he has been doing most of his life.
SPEAKER 1:
So resilience and persistence are important character traits here and enable you to stand firm in the face of criticism. But what if you aren’t a high profile footballer? The killing of George Floyd, a Black man, at the hands of a white police officer, was caught on video and led to massive protests around the world. Boni Adeliyi, a student from the UK, decided to join the growing movement.
BONI ADELIYI:
Fight for your Black friends. Defend your Black colleagues.
SPEAKER 1:
Boni organised a protest in her hometown. She set it up in just two days. So what were Boni’s experiences of leadership?
BONI ADELIYI:
I didn’t watch the video. But I felt the effects of that. Sorry. I felt the effects of that immediately because just hearing about it is enough to shake somebody, I think.
SPEAKER 1:
Boni Adeliyi, as a Black woman, had been personally affected by the killing and wanted to respond.
BONI ADELIYI:
I tried to make sure that this protest is not linked to any political party, any local agenda, nothing. This is about Black people having a space to grieve. And if you are a self-proclaimed ally and you want to support, then you have a space to come and support.
SPEAKER 1:
Boni knew others felt the same way as her and wanted to give them an opportunity to come together. She also knew she was putting herself at risk.
BONI ADELIYI:
As somebody in charge, you take full accountability for everything that happens. And knowing that, you have to be ready for things to go wrong, things to not go your way, for people to hurl abuse at you. I think knowing that before you decide to take something on is really, really important, because self-awareness should let you know whether or not you can hold that.
SPEAKER 1:
Boni took a risk and accepted personal responsibility for the event, knowing it might not go well. This makes her a believable leader. She also thinks it’s important to not forget the issue you are fighting for.
BONI ADELIYI:
Honour the people that you’ve come to serve, because I think it’s about leading and taking charge, sure, but it’s also about serving. You’re there to-- I organised a protest, but it was to serve. It was to serve my community. I don’t know how else to phrase that. But when you lead, you also serve. And there’s a lot of humility that comes with that, I think. I was, like I said, very humbled by the end of that protest, humbled to the absolute extreme.
SPEAKER 1:
Boni says she was humbled. She didn’t see herself as bigger than the cause. People are more likely to follow her because of this.
So, to lead for a cause, you need to show your connection to the cause. You might need to take a real risk, and you should remember you’re not bigger than the cause itself. Be humble.
End transcript: Video 2 Leading for a cause
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Video 2 Leading for a cause
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Discussion

One example from each checklist item is provided below.

  1. There is a tangible practice that can be observed.

    Boni Adeliyi organised a BLM protest, something we can point to and say, yes, that was a real and tangible practice that happened.

  2. There is a process of influence at work.

    Marcus Rashford influenced through simple and persistent communication. It also helped that he was closely personally related to the issue of child poverty, meaning that this communication would be accepted as sincere.

  3. The practice affects feelings and intellect.

    Boni Adeliyi allowed herself to feel the trauma of the George Floyd murder, and invited others not only to connect to that feeling but to channel it into something positive.

  4. Routine ways of thinking, feeling and doing are disrupted.

    Marcus Rashford disrupted notions of who can and can’t be recognised as an activist leader – after all, we are not so accustomed to professional footballers taking such a stand. He used his profile to disrupt the government by embarrassing its senior decision-makers.

  5. The process empowers people to generate alternative ways of thinking, feeling and doing.

    What is the evidence that Boni Adeliyi empowered people – or was herself empowered – to generate alternative ways of thinking, feeling and doing? The number of people who attended the protest and her alluding to the work she did on social media before and afterwards provide clues. Prior to these events, a lot of the people who expressed themselves at the protest didn’t think of themselves as campaigners for racial justice. Likewise, Boni developed agency as someone effective in public-facing activism through organising the protest and receiving support.

  6. These alternatives, which stretch notions of what was previously considered possible, can become normalised over time through persistence.

    Admittedly it isn’t evident from this video that Marcus Rashford persisted with his work over time. However, our knowledge of Rashford tells us that he did – doggedly, despite ups and downs in his professional career.

Now that you have been introduced to a definition of leadership, you will be introduced to a working definition of race.