Stokely Carmichael, SNCC, and Eco-Leadership

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Stokely Carmichael in 1966. Source

In this week’s readings, we discussed the concept of team leadership and how effective they can be when done correctly. In our group discussions, I spoke about the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and their take on leadership. Before globalization and networking were the buzzwords that they are today, the group utilized them in the manner that Western defines eco-leadership. According to Western (2013), eco-leadership focuses on a network of leaders as opposed to one centralized figure. The group functioned differently from some organizations and instead of utilizing top down methods, utilized a committee to achieve their goals. From their initial committee of protest group representatives, they formed an Executive Committee to help move the group forward. One member of this group was Stokely Carmichael. 

Carmichael was a master networker. In the hyperlink above, NPR refers to him as having “his hand in every major demonstration and event that occurs between 1960-1965” (Para. 2). In a time where social media is nonexistent, to be among those who cast long shadows, especially at his age, is impressive. He is well known for being a charismatic and transformational leader. In fact, in an obituary penned by the New York Times, one man was quoted as saying that “watching him made him believe that the young man could ‘stroll through Dixie in broad daylight using the Confederate flag for a handkerchief.’” So how does Carmichael relate to the idea of team leadership? 

Carmichael at the University of California in 1966. Source

Ideally, Northouse (2016) states that “for teams to be successful, the organizational culture needs to support member involvement” (p. 364). SNCC most certainly made efforts to include and educate members of the public, epitomized in the figure of the young Carmichael. Northouse (2016) further states that taking on shared leadership does have its risks, especially for the member who provides leadership outside of the team. Carmichael became the chairman of SNCC in 1966, but soon irritated his cohort as he achieved celebrity status, earning him the nickname “Stokely Starmichael”. Eventually, because his ideas became too radical for his team members (he popularized the slogan “Black Power” and became more revolutionary), he was expelled from SNCC. 

In his reflections, Carmichael thought that his expulsion “revealed SNCC’s ‘struggle between reformers and revolutionaries.’” According to Western (2013), eco-leadership is often divided between the two: reformers are typically politicians and organizational leaders who “advocate responsible or caring capitalism” while radicals are activists who believe “that reform merely prolongs a dying system” (p. 266). Carmichael died of cancer in 1998 and, despite his fractured connection with SNCC, their relationship frames eco-leadership, both strengths and weaknesses, almost perfectly.

Rosetta Stone and LMX Theory

According to Northouse (2016), Leader-Member Exchange Theory focuses on the relationship between leaders and members. Those who go above and beyond the scope of their job duties become members of the leader's in-group and are more likely to get their additional support. Those who stay strictly within their job duties are members of the out-group and only get the support required by the job. 

My partner, Alfonso, works for Rosetta Stone in their Global Order Processing division. During the third quarter of the 2016 fiscal year, the company laid off a large number of employees in their international and Arlington offices and reorganized some divisions. In the final quarter of FY2016, his division had a meeting about their ordering processing errors. During the company reorganization, leadership decided to put more focus on quality control. As such, during the meeting, the three team leads discussed the division’s error rate and the leadership’s desire for an overall error rate of 5%. At the time, the division’s rate was 16%, while Alfonso’s was 11%.

When an employee finishes an order, a copy is sent to the team leads. Part of their duty is to review them and catch any errors. To meet the division goal, each quarter, team leads now meet with each employee to discuss their errors for improvement in the next quarter. Though Alfonso knew that his error rate was now down to 8%, he recognized that he still had improvements to make. Before his meeting, he took two hours out of his day to review every case, take notes, and make a list of questions. When he entered the meeting, his supervisors were pleasantly surprised by the amount of preparation put in. They complimented his work and suggested that the other employees do the same.

Because of cases like this, Alfonso has become one of the in-group members for the team leads, while conversely, some of the other employees are members of the out-group. 

By understanding LMX Theory, we can better understand the dynamic s between leaders and followers. For leaders, this can be a revelation of how they subconsciously group their followers and can help them to counteract that. For followers, this can help them understand how to improve their standing with the leaders of their organizations.

Fred Hampton as a Transformational Leader

"You can kill a revolutionary, but you can never kill the revolution."~ Fred Hampton

Fred Hampton began life as a leader among his peers. A leader of several school groups, Hampton transferred this leadership to his time at Crane Junior College where he became the president of the NAACP Youth Branch in his hometown of Maywood, Illinois in the late 1960s. During his time there, Hampton began making the connections that would lead him to prominence in the Civil Rights Movement including Rev. Jesse Jackson, Stokeley Carmichael (Kwame Toure), and Dick Gregory. In 1968, along with Bobby Rush, Hampton founded the Illinois Chapter of the Black Panther Party. The Panthers spent much of their time educating future members about the politics behind their actions as well as providing free meals for local youth. As a result of his activism, Hampton became a target for the FBI’s COINTELPRO and was murdered in his home at the age of 21. 

Despite his youth, Hampton was a transformational leader. Northouse (2016) defines transformational leadership as “the process whereby a person engages with others and creates a connection that raises the level of motivation and morality in both the leader and the follower” (p. 162). Hampton has been described as being charismatic and, continuing with other Northouse leadership descriptors, he was able to be an inspirational motivator. As aforementioned, the Panthers spent six weeks educating potential members before allowing them to join, setting high expectations for members. Hampton also provided intellectual stimulation and individualized consideration to his chapter members as he led them through several successful local protests.

Despite being a controversial figure, Hampton’s transformational leadership style is an example of how age does not determine leadership. An article that I read earlier this week, Keeping Leadership White by Frank Lowe (2013), talks about the leader prototype and how it is commonly that of a white male. As a young black man, Hampton rose to his leadership role despite this prototype as a part of the counterculture. He engaged the youth around him to raise awareness about racial injustice and to support his community. As we study leaders and work to improve our own communities, it’s important that we remember that traditional leadership doesn’t have to look the same; black youth can be just as powerful as white men.