Harris Voices: Viviana Martinez, CLA'20, on What It Means to "Crown Up"

As a part of Harris Public Policy's and the Center for Effective Government’s celebration of the 10-year anniversary of the Civic Leadership Academy (CLA), we asked previous fellows how CLA has impacted their work as civic leaders. These are their opinions and perspectives, informed by their own life experiences and worldviews (and do not necessarily reflect the views of Harris).

As a member of the CLA Class of 2020, the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic underscored the impact that the fellowship would have on us. The indications were subtle at first, albeit undeniable. For example, at the US Embassy in Paris, a veritable ivory tower, we found ourselves the exclusive guests at a reception for our French counterparts, and, with many empty seats on our return flight, our global practicum came to a close just before the airports did. As a result of the sudden need to isolate and transition to virtual learning, opportunities for the interpersonal interaction that typically characterizes the fellowship experience were limited. It was a humbling experience shared by many, the overarching lesson being to check your crown.

On our first day of class, we had no idea this would happen. When we introduced ourselves, we were proud and content. We knew that everyone else knew that we were in the room because we had been crowned. Having acquired a seat at the table in part because we had been sponsored by the proper persons, we relished our titles, our positions, and our growing sphere of influence, eager to learn how we could further expand it. We did not know what we did not know. We simply wanted to be kings. The architects of the fellowship knew this and smiled upon us, and so we got to work right away at learning what it truly means to crown up.

Lesson 1: Be wary of the temptation to rest on your laurels. The crown we coveted came with the weight of responsibility. There was urgent need, everywhere. The prevailing theme during this time being equity and inclusion, a departure from tradition, across the government and non-profit sectors. The disproportionate impact of COVID-19 exposed the effects of systemic oppression and disenfranchisement and challenged us to put our values into action. In the words of our esteemed CLA colleague, Dean Constantinou, during an impassioned speech, we were people who wanted to “do something.” Unsure what role each of us could play, our first responsibility was to figure it out.

Lesson 2: Cultivate yourself. Our titles can render us figureheads or “tokens,” if we do not tread carefully. True power lies in our ability to impact change. The influence we have on a single person, perhaps one that is easily overlooked, can expand or diminish our power. We need to meaningfully engage with people—not strong arm them. We need to seek out the uncomfortable and unfamiliar, experiences we can learn from. We need to cultivate a culture of open dialogue and stay rooted in connection. It is not enough to have a seat at the table; more is needed, and more is expected. A memorable example of collaborative impact was the organization Yes We Camp in Paris, which emphasized a presumption of trust as fundamental—a concept rather antithetical to the notoriously Chicago way of doing things where “we don’t want nobody nobody sent,” and something we might all do well to reflect further upon given that organization’s track record of success.

Lesson 3: When you get comfortable, leave. This perhaps is the hardest and most important lesson to learn. We become more effective over time, as we learn systems, and build a network of people who share our values and a commitment to putting them into action. But we reach a point of diminishing returns. It simply is not true that there is no one else who can do the job better. In fact, it is our responsibility to ensure that there is. We must lead by example and cultivate the next generation of leaders. All too often, people in leadership begin to believe they are indispensable, and they want to remain so. In reading Kafka’s Metamorphosis during our fellowship experience, we learned the tragic tale of someone who succumbs to this very delusion resulting in dependency and stagnation among those who surround him, and his own lack of fulfilment. Instead, a leader takes pride in the expanding potential and contributions of others, even as his own necessarily diminishes. The final lesson being that commitment to the cause, not the crown, makes a king.

The CLA Fellowship, with its diverse group of participants, array of experiences, and opportunities to engage in candid debate, reframes the struggles budding leaders in Chicago face and offers a wide range of strategies and solutions for consideration. Your participation is part of what makes each fellowship unique, and you are to take from the experience what serves you. It is a challenging and intense experiment that stretches the imagination and emboldens you to eventually put your values into action, in a thoughtful and strategic way. That is what my CLA colleagues did, with many accepting new roles, running for office, or ascending to distinguished appointments afterwards, and all hopefully continuing to apply the lessons conveyed.