Reflecting an American Vista: The Character and Impact of Latino Leadership

Executive Summary The United States is becoming more ethnically and culturally diverse-it is also becoming more Latino. The growing presence of Latinos in the United States has profound implications for the future of leadership in our nation. By the year 2025, there will be over 60 million Latinos living in the United States. By 2050, 100 million Latinos will be living in the United States-one out of every four Americans. Over the next half century, 68 percent of the nation's population increase will be fueled by Latino population growth. The Latino community will be one of the principal crucibles out of which leadership develops, emerges, and is held accountable. As workers, managers, voters, and leader/followers, Latinos will determine both the quality and quantity of effective and meaningful leadership across every sector of American life. As Latinos play an increasingly significant role in determining our leaders, there is a corresponding imperative to understand how leadership is experienced, understood, and developed within the Latino community.

This first in a series of NCLL reports on Latino perspectives on leadership examines the qualities Latinos want leaders to possess. The study, based on NCLL's random phone survey of 3,032 Latinos, revealed that Latinos are clear about what these qualities are: leaders should be honest, trustworthy, ethical, and demonstrate integrity in their private and public conduct. In other words, Latinos are looking for sound character in their leaders. Latinos also want leaders to be competent, compassionate, and to practice community servanthood, by putting community interests before their own.

The Four C's of Latino Leadership

Based on the NCLL survey results, the twenty most desired leadership qualities are clustered around four general leadership traits Latinos expect leaders to possess. Latinos want leaders to:

Demonstrate character in their public dealings and private lives (58.9%) Be competent (11.8%) Express compassion in their exercise of leadership (9.6%) Work as a community servant (9.2%)

CharacterHigh ideals of character are at the heart of Latino leadership values according to respondents. The primacy of honesty and integrity, along with the emphasis of a leader being spiritual, ethical, possessing strong moral values, and being a good person, attests to character. The public dimension of character demands that leaders keep their word and deliver on their promises. In the words of one respondent, "que sea un cumplidor"- one who does what s/he says s/he is going to do. The personal dimension of character has to do with ethical living and spirituality. Indeed with 8.5 percent of the respondents citing strong moral values, spirituality, or being a good person, as their most desirable quality, this dimension of personal character was one of the most valued qualities.

CompetenceLatino respondents want leaders to be intelligent, experienced and wise. They expect leaders to know what they are doing, know how to get the job done, and produce results. Latinos also expect leaders to use common sense on the task at hand.

CompassionLeaders are expected not only to be competent; they should also be compassionate, loving, and kind. Latinos also want leaders to be humble, sincere, and sensitive to those whom they

purport to lead. The words humilde and sincero when used to describe a person have a different connotation in Spanish than they do in English. They refer to someone who is not just unassuming, but also someone who is unselfish and empathetic toward others. This sense of valuing the individual in a relationship is closely tied to the notions of respect in the Latino community. An individual is worthy of respect because of who they are as a person, rather than what they've accomplished. The centrality of the person may explain why Latinos valued fairness and impartiality as desirable leadership traits.

Community ServiceLatinos also believe that their leaders should be dedicated and willing to serve the community. Latinos expect leaders to be community servants. One respondent expressed this sentiment as, "que ayude a la gente"- a leader should help the people (community). This suggests a vision of leaders as servant leaders who give the people or the community their proper place and priority. Additionally, preliminary results from NCLL focus group research of grassroots leaders also found that community servanthood is viewed as a key leadership ingredient.

Latino views on leadership reflected, but also diverged from non-Latino mainstream perspectives. Like non-Latino whites, Latinos placed a priority on character and competence in leaders. However, Latinos differed from non-Latino citizens by placing a prime emphasis on compassion, caring, respect, and community servanthood as qualities they want to see in leaders.

Within the Latino community, there was a striking consensus on views and values toward leaders. The study found no significant differences between Latino subgroups, between Latino young adults and seniors, citizens or non-citizens, or between Latinos and Latinas in the qualities they deemed important for leaders to possess.

The focal point of "el pueblo" (people and community) resonates throughout much of the survey and points to a cultural framework that places more emphasis on family and community than it does on the individual. In the survey, over a third of Latino respondents (38 percent) mentioned a family member as the person they most admired. In contrast, surveys by Gallup and other pollsters find only 20-24 percent of the general population mentions a relative or friend as the individual they most admire.

Conclusion NCLL's preliminary findings suggest a distinct Latino cultural perspective on leadership that creates new possibilities for understanding the emergence and practice of leadership. The communal, collectivist, people-centered orientation of Latino leadership values, coupled with preferred leadership styles that are empathetic and compassionate, point to a new way of thinking about leadership which runs parallel with new paradigms of leadership that are currently being discussed in leadership circles. Stephen R. Covey writes that the leader of the future is one who creates a culture or value system based on the principles of service, integrity, fairness, and equity. Similarly, Daniel Coleman argues that the most effective leaders are those that possess emotional intelligence-of which empathy and cross-cultural sensitivity are key components. Marshall Shaskin and William Rosenback outline the "new" leadership profile in terms of capable management: credible, and caring with a follower-orientation. These "new paradigm" leadership qualities coincide with the qualities that Latinos expect from their leaders.

There are also connecting points and common ground with what is being discovered about women's leadership and African American leadership. For example, one of the distinctive features of women's leadership is the preference for interpersonal, participatory, and collaborative leadership. This mirrors Latinos' valuing of leaders who are caring and compassionate, as well as other leadership values cited in this study. Additionally, the centrality of the community as a point of departure in African American leadership has much in common with Latino communal values. We hope that as more is learned about the experience and the dynamic of leadership in the Latino community, it will push research scholars and experts to rethink what constitutes effective and

meaningful leadership. We at NCLL are optimistic that in the not too distant future, Latino leadership visions, values, and experiences will complement, inform, and challenge mainstream cultural models and practices.

Executive Summary  

The Latino American Dream:High Hopes and Harsh Realities “The Latino American Dream: High Hopes and Harsh Realities” is the first report to take an in-depth look at what the American Dream means to Latinos in the United States. The report, commissioned by The National Community for Leadership, Inc. (NCLL), is based on a recent national survey taken from a sampling of more than 3,000 Latinos. The survey also examines the extent to which Latinos believe in and live the American Dream. To Latinos, this dream encompasses much more than economic prosperity – it symbolizes personal advancement, the ability to provide a better life for one’s children, and the individual pursuit of liberty and justice. The survey’s key findings, illustrated below, point to positive conclusions about the Latino population in the United States. Latinos are among America’s most dedicated dream makers. Latinos believe in the promise of the American Dream to a greater extent than many Americans, are more optimistic about the nation’s future and their own future. Latinos also tend to be very supportive of the United States government. Their faith in the American Dream exists despite the harsh reality of discrimination faced by millions of Latinos. Key Findings  Faith in the American Dream Seventy-six percent of the Latino respondents believed the American Dream is attainable. Eighty-one percent agreed that it was likely that today’s Latino children would achieve the American Dream in their lifetime. Seventy-five percent of Latino young adults (age 18 to 24) believed the American Dream could be theirs.  Timetable for Achieving the American Dream Close to one-third (32 percent) of the Latino respondents said they had already achieved the American Dream. Another forty-four percent believed they would achieve the American Dream in five to ten years. Seventy-six percent of the Latino respondents felt they either had already achieved the American Dream or were on their way to doing so over the next 10 years.  Optimism Among Latinos 

Latinos were generally positive about their future and the future of the Latino community in the United States. Sixty-one percent believed the lives of the average Latino would get better over the next 25 years.  The Latino American Dream For Latinos the most meaningful aspect of the American Dream was to provide “a better life for their children (35 percent).” Financial success and security ranked as the least important – only nine percent indicated this represented the American Dream to them.  Discrimination: Still a Reality Forty percent of the Latino respondents said they experienced discrimination because of their race.  Over 9 million Latinos reported they were discriminated against because of their ethnicity and culture. Half of the Latinos living in Illinois said they were discriminated against compared to 29 percent of Latinos living in Texas.  Latinos are Patriotic Latinos tend to feel closer to the United States government than many other Americans. A majority (52 percent) claimed seeing "the" government as "our" government in contrast to fifty-five percent of non-Latino Americans who think of government as "the" government. Eighty percent of the Latino respondents agreed with the statement, “Voting gives people like me some say in what government does.” Fifty-six percent completely agreed with the statement.