Helping Kentucky
Leaders Be More Effective

by Randy Weckman

It takes more than a red tie or black sensible-but-chic pumps or a toothsome smile to be a leader. While popular descriptions of leaders oftentimes focus on the veneers of leadership, the real DNA of leadership involves what the French call savoir faire, the knowing how to do.

It is the “knowing how to do” that is the core of the College of Agriculture’s Public Service and Leadership major and its other programs that help Kentuckians become better leaders.

“From the studies of voting behavior in the 1940s onward, those who study leadership have noted that practically everyone is a leader in some situations,” said Lori Garkovich, rural sociologist who serves as advisor and mentor to the 40 or so students majoring in public service and leadership.

“Our precept in the public service and leadership major is to give our graduates the 'knowledge to do'—to be leaders—in a variety of situations,” said Garkovich.

Attracting Some of the Best
Her notion 15 years ago of a public service and leadership program for undergraduates has blossomed into a major that attracts some of the best and brightest of UK’s students, such as Ryan Quarles '06, a senior from Georgetown, Kentucky, who was selected this year as a Truman Scholar. Quarles, also majoring in agricultural economics and political science, plans to earn a master’s degree in agricultural economics before attending law school.

Quarles is the second student from the public service and leadership program in the past three years to be named a Truman Scholar, one of the country’s most prestigious recognition programs, with only 75 undergraduates nationally honored each year.

 

Ryan Quarles

 

Conley Chaney '03 was named a Truman Scholar in 2002. He enters UK law school this fall, after serving as an intern with the USDA’s National Rural Development Partnership in Washington, D.C.

Local Leaders Envision the Future
In addition to being the guiding hand for the public service and leadership major, Garkovich also has a vibrant extension program through her community visioning efforts, which guides local leaders in plotting out the future of counties and small communities in Kentucky.

In the typical visioning program, local leaders realize that hope for the future, alone, is not a strategy. They conclude that a sensible plan for the future can provide them a road map for improving their common lot. That’s when they call in Garkovich, who helps them organize a program to allow citizens from throughout the community to discuss what’s good in their community and what needs attention. They also articulate their aspirations for their own lives and their children’s lives.

Owen County newspaper publisher Patti Clark sees the visioning process being led by Garkovich in her community as a critical link between today and the future, especially as the county deals with issues associated with a substantial increase in population that already is straining the local infrastructure.

“With Garkovich’s help, we will create a shared vision in Owen County that involves completed surveys from more than 20 percent of the county’s residents,” Clark said.

“The resulting plan will let our leaders know what the county’s citizens believe are critical needs. This plan for the next 20 years is proactive and will help keep our leaders from having to take a reactive stance on issues relating to infrastructure,” she said.

Danielle Clore, Nonprofit Leadership Institute

Assisting Nonprofits
To help leaders in Kentucky even further, the three-year-old Nonprofit Leadership Initiative in the College’s Center for Leadership Development provides technical assistance, consulting, and education to nonprofit organizations throughout Kentucky.

“We work with nonprofits—many of which are underfunded, considering their goals—to be effective in accomplishing their mission,” said Danielle Clore, director of the initiative.

Clore has organized workshops during the last year about topics such as tax-exempt status, risk management, strategic planning, fund raising, and building effective boards.

Already planned for this fall are the Kentucky Nonprofit Leadership Forum and seminars dealing with marketing, earned-income strategies, budgeting, and crisis communication.

And, a set of seminars called Boards 101 and sponsored by Fifth Third Bank each January and July provides a thorough orientation to the roles and responsibilities of serving on a nonprofit board.

“Fifth Third is proud to support the Nonprofit Leadership Initiative, and this partnership is just one way we strive to support the effectiveness of nonprofit organizations,” said Sam Barnes, president of Fifth Third Bank of Central Kentucky.

Larry Turner, director of the Cooperative Extension Service, said that nurturing nonprofit organizations is especially important because the number of nonprofits has increased in response to the need for additional services and decreased governmental funding.

“Our efforts support community initiatives that combat many of the 'Kentucky Uglies' that UK President Lee Todd has identified, such as low literacy rates, poor health, and other social issues,” Turner said.

 

Kentucky Enterpreneurial Coaches Institute

Seeding Entrepreneurship
Another leadership program that has garnered excitement nationally is the Kentucky Entrepreneurial Coaches Institute. Started in 2004 through a grant from the Kentucky Agricultural Development Board, the program was recognized this summer by the Small Business Administration as one of the nation’s best entrepreneurship programs.

The program seeks to stimulate small business start-ups in 19 tobacco-dependent counties in northeastern Kentucky that are grappling with the draconian changes to the tobacco economy with the end of the quota system.

“Local entrepreneurs and the businesses they start will create more jobs in communities at a faster pace than existing big businesses,” said Ron Hustedde, director of the program.

Here’s how the program works: 30 individuals from the 19 counties were selected to attend the 16-month-long institute. During that time, they attend nine seminars—each lasting two to three days—oriented around various facets of entrepreneurship.
Participants work in teams to apply what they learn in the program to help and encourage entrepreneurs in their own communities.

Two threads that are constantly front and center of the seminars are dreaming of possibilities and learning ways to make those dreams a reality, Hustedde said.

Program participant Sue Nickell of Fleming County is enthusiastic about the institute.

“Small businesses provide the lion’s share of jobs in the U.S. but are often treated as ugly stepsisters,” Nickell said. “So much time is spent luring industry into our communities that the small business owners are simply an afterthought or not thought of at all.

“This program recognizes small business as the leader in economic improvement,” she said.

The Philip Morris Program
For two decades, another College of Agriculture leadership effort, the Philip Morris Agricultural Leadership Development program, has focused on honing the leadership talents of burley tobacco producers. More than 200 people associated with the burley industry have benefited.

In the two-year-long program, funded largely by Philip Morris Inc., the 30 participants attend 10 seminars, each lasting three days. They also take part in a week-long study tour in Richmond, Va. Twenty of the participants are from Kentucky, five are from Tennessee, and one each are from North Carolina, Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, and Missouri.

At the end of the program, the participants complete a two-week study tour of a major agricultural producing region of the world.
“This program focuses on building human capital for a better agricultural industry,” said Larry Jones, agricultural economist, who serves as the program’s director.

Whether you call it knowledge to do, savoir faire, or just plain savvy, programs of the College of Agriculture are teaching leadership to people who can lead their organizations, business, and communities to greatness.