November 22, 2009
UTNE READER

Heartland: A Leader Is Born

(Page 2 of 2)

Mar.-Apr. 2008
by Nina Rothschild Utne 
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In the intervening years, Van has consistently brought those qualities to the fore, whether he’s coaching a young staffer on how to run a more effective meeting or delivering keynote speeches or cavorting on the playground with his son Cabral, who is named after the African freedom fighter Amílcar Cabral.

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In every e-mail Van sends, he includes this quote from Amílcar Cabral: “Hide nothing from the masses of our people. Tell no lies. Expose lies whenever they are told. Mask no difficulties, mistakes, failures. Claim no easy victories. . . . Our experience has shown us that in the general framework of daily struggle this battle against ourselves, this struggle against our own weaknesses . . . is the most difficult of all.”

Van has struggled to come to terms with the magnitude of his charisma and leadership skills. He has schooled himself on speeches by people from Gandhi to Reagan and is continually educating himself on a vast array of topics ranging from politics to mythology to pop culture. He says he has never smoked or done drugs or drunk, though he is remarkably candid about his shortcomings and quick to say that just because his demons aren’t in a bottle doesn’t mean that he is a saint. I have never met anyone with a more single-minded dedication to service.

I have also never met anyone who is more adept at gently but relentlessly inspiring others to step up to their own leadership capacities. The Tao Te Ching characterizes leadership this way: “When the true leader leads, the people say, ‘We did it ourselves.’ ”

We desperately need leaders with the courage and vulnerability to show us how to struggle against our own weakness, leaders who embody truth and compassion. I participated in a leadership training program with Van in which we were asked to distill our core mission and to deliver it with our full presence. I still get shivers when I recall Van declaring, “I am fire, bringing water.”

For more information, go to www.vanjones.net or www.greenforall.org.

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