Iron Jawed Angels is the Film Study in the unit on “Articulating a Vision” in Phi Theta Kappa Leadership Development Studies: A Humanities Approach. The unit provides numerous examples of great historical figures who articulated compelling visions that helped propel movements to success (the Classic Case in the unit is the St. Crispin’s Day speech from Shakespeare’s Henry V, the Leadership Profile is Martin Luther King, Jr. and his “I have a dream” speech of 1963, and the Reflect~Focus selection is Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address). Like Martin Luther King, Jr., who said we cannot be satisfied with a return to business as usual when he articulated his vision for equal Civil Rights and a race-blind society, young suffragettes of the early 1900s Alice Paul, Lucy Burns and Inez Mulholland were frustrated with the lack of progress regarding a constitutional amendment giving women the right to vote throughout the United States.

A different unit of Phi Theta Kappa Leadership Development Studies: A Humanities Approach focuses on “Initiating Change” and includes the writing of two earlier activists for women’s right to vote. Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton played pivotal roles in bringing the suffrage issue to the national arena in the late 1800s, but nevertheless did not succeed in gaining the right to vote for women nationally. They were articulate and provided historical perspective and the rationale for the movement in the 1800s, but they were not so inspirational or driven as the next generation, including Paul, Burns, and particularly Mulholland — a gifted orator — who displayed the passion and enthusiasm for their vision that Martin Luther King, Jr. later does as well; and like King and other heroes of the Civil Rights Movement, they are willing to go to jail for their cause. In addition to providing examples of individuals who articulate their vision with determination, Iron Jawed Angels brings up the important matters of “successorship” and what leaders do to move an issue forward or create momentum for meaningful change and progress when progress slows or stalls.

In 1912, when the film opens, the vision of the older suffragists of the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) was not a constitutional amendment; women like Carrie Chapman Catt and Anna Howard Shaw favored a state-by-state approach. The film illustrates multiple methods that the younger women employ to communicate their vision and gain increasing support despite resistance from many quarters, including within NAWSA. As criticism and suspicion of them mounts in NAWSA, they break away and form the National Women’s Party in an effort to more effectively continue the work toward attaining their vision. Their picket line and banners at the White House are extremely controversial, inviting intense public criticism that dramatically increased when the United States entered World War I. When the women are arrested and charged with “obstructing traffic,” they refuse to pay any fines for a crime they did not commit and must go to prison. There they face harsh and cruel treatment when they demand their rights as political prisoners, not criminals. Their strength, determination, and solidarity through a hunger strike, solitary confinement or straightjackets for some, and force-feeding is a true story of courage. These women demonstrate the power of effectively and creatively communicating a vision to motivate others into action and sacrifice.

To reflect more deeply on the leadership insights of the film, consider the following questions:

• What evidence is there that Alice Paul very carefully and thoughtfully developed the message for particular groups of stakeholders?
• How does Alice Paul communicate her vision in a way that eventually overcomes others’ doubts or resistance to it?
• Why do you think she is so effective at convincing others to make sacrifices in order to make progress toward the vision?
• What keeps the suffragists so focused on the vision?
• How do these women create opportunities to repeatedly, and in a variety of ways, articulate their vision? Why is this important?

Click here to learn more from the film’s official web site.

[Monika Byrd, February 2007]

Questions or Comments about Phi Theta Kappa Leadership Briefs may be directed to Monika Byrd, Director of Leadership Development Programs.

It’s not a new strain of the flu, it’s not even a virus. But it’s so common that just about everyone has had it at one time or another.

It is the fear of public speaking.

It has been said that most people, including a great many executives, fear presenting to large groups even more than they fear death. As a member of Phi Theta Kappa, chances are you have addressed your peers, at the college, regional or even international level, at one time or another. Although public speaking is a common source of stress for everyone, if you understand the principles of an effective presentation, and if you keep just a few key principles in mind, public speaking can become an invigorating and satisfying experience.

Any effective presentation must do three things:

1. Communicate the speaker’s arguments and ideas;
2. Persuade the audience that these arguments and ideas are factual; and
3. Be interesting and entertaining.

Listening is hard work. At Phi Theta Kappa chapter meetings, regional meetings and international conferences, audiences may attend many talks over many hours. The audience relies on the speaker’s help to maintain their focus. It is important for the speaker to remember that a good public speech must help the audience stay alert and interested in the topic at hand.

The following tips will help you prepare an effective presentation. The more familiar you are with the following principles, the more confident you will feel speaking in front of a group.

Talk, Don’t Read. If you talk, you will be easier to understand, and you will be better able to make genuine contact with your audience. Talking will also help you think more clearly by forcing you to communicate your points in ordinary language.
Stand, Don’t Sit. This is better for two reasons. First, people can see you better. Second, standing puts you in a physically more dominant position. The audience needs your help to maintain their attention. Standing makes their job of listening easier.
Use Visual Aids. The old adage “a picture is worth a thousand words” is apropos while talking to a group of Phi Theta Kappa members.
Move Around. It is easier for the audience to keep focused on someone who is moving than on a motionless talking head. Hand gestures are also helpful.
Vary the Pitch of Your Voice. Monotones are sleep-inducing. Does your delivery sound lively? You need to speak loudly, clearly and confidently. Tape or videotape yourself and check out how you sound.
Make Eye Contact with the Audience. If this is anxiety-inducing, at least pretend to do this by casting your gaze toward the back and sides of the room.
Focus on Main Arguments. Your audience will not remember the details of your presentation. A good rule of thumb is to make no more than three main points in any given talk. That is about all most people will be able to remember.
Finish Within the Time Limit. Respect your audience’s schedule by staying within the allotted time limit. Rehearse and time your presentation and make changes accordingly.
Summarize Your Talk at the Beginning and Again at the End. Tell them what you will tell them, then tell them what you told them is an ancient principle that still holds true. If you follow this rule, your audience is more likely to remember your main points.

Learning how to give an effective, interesting and lively presentation encourages confidence and helps ease the fear of public speaking. Arm yourself with these easy principles, and take your turn in the spotlight!

“Leaders breathe life into their visions,” explain James M. Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner in an article, “Enlist Others: Attracting People to Common Purposes,” included in Phi Theta Kappa Leadership Development Studies . (For more information on Phi Theta Kappa’s Leadership Development Program, click here)

According to Kouzes and Posner, “Leaders communicate their hopes and dreams so that others clearly understand and accept them as their own. Leaders know what motivates their constituents. They show others how their values and interests will be served by the long-term vision of the future.” For example, Martin Luther King, Jr.?s speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., demonstrates that the ability to influence others is “rooted as much in the fundamental values, cultural traditions and personal convictions as it is in rhetorical technique.”

The mystery behind King?s speech is the appeal of the message to the audience. Kouzes and Posner state that three fundamental qualities must exist in an inspirational presentation. “In order to move others to share the vision, leaders must (1) appeal to common purpose, (2) communicate aggressively and (3) sincerely believe in what they are saying.”

When you want to share your own vision, first make an effort to get to know the people with whom you will be sharing it — your class, a campus organization, or your co-workers. “No matter how grand the dream of the individual visionary, if others do not see in it the possibility of realizing their own hopes and desires, they will not follow it,” says Kouzes and Posner. Sensitivity to others? needs, values and dreams is a precious human ability. Being sensitive to others simply means knowing your followers, listening to them and taking their advice. Show others how the vision can directly benefit them and how their specific needs can be met.

Language is one of the most powerful tools for expressing a vision. As a leader, you must be able to describe your visions so that others can see it, hear it, taste it, touch it and feel it. A leader must be able to animate his or her vision.

A positive communication style can also help the leader express his or her vision. “We don?t like leaders who are negative,” state Kouzes and Posner. “They bring us down. We want leaders with enthusiasm, with a bounce in their steps, with a can-do attitude. We want to believe that we are part of an invigorating journey.” Positive leaders share in the fun, excitement and triumph of group and individual successes. “One of the primary ingredients in getting others to sign up for your cause is letting your own enthusiasm show, conveying to others that they too can be great.”

Successful leaders also know that aggression does not attract followers. Expressions of warmth, caring and friendship will take a person much closer to helping others see the vision of greatness that the leader has for his or her organization.

As you begin to apply your leadership skills, you will discover that articulating a vision is not just based on technique nor learning to speak with eloquence and style. These elements play an important role, but they are not enough. The leader must also be dedicated to the dream.

According to Kouzes and Posner, “You must be sincere in your own belief. None of these suggestions will be of any value whatsoever if you do not believe in what you are saying.” If the leader is not excited about the possibilities, how can he or she expect anyone else to be?

As Kouzes and Posner point out, sharing a vision with others involves “heart to heart, spirit to spirit, life to life. The true force that attracts others is the force of the heart.”

Back in Houston, astronaut Ken Mattingly (Gary Sinise) was feeling sorry for himself after being grounded from Apollo 13 due to medical reasons. Little did he know the key role he was about to play in the lives of his fellow astronauts.

The NASA broadcast showing the astronauts giving the American public a tour from outer space was bumped from programming due to lack of interest from the networks. But, during a routine equipment check, Lovell’s simple, heart-stopping message crackled across the radio “Houston, we’ve had a problem here.” While over 320,000 kilometers from Earth, an oxygen tank aboard the spacecraft had exploded, severely damaging the service module and leaving the command module without power or air. Stranded in space, the astronauts faced the grim reality that they might never return to earth.

Although oxygen supplies were adequate, the system for removing carbon dioxide in the lunar module was not. A team in Houston set about improvising a way to use any materials available in the spacecraft to filter out the carbon dioxide. They must build the new filter in Houston and provide a description and instructions of what they come up with for the crew of the Apollo before the carbon dioxide reaches toxic levels. Flight Director, Gene Kranz (portrayed by Ed Harris) and Houston’s team of engineers must also work out a new flight plan that would minimize the consumption of oxygen, water and electricity while keeping vital systems operating.

After five and a half hours of weighing the choices and their consequences, flight directors met with NASA and contractor officials and presented their findings and recommendations. With time running out, the revised reentry sequence was practiced by Mattingly in a training module and read to the Apollo 13 crew via radio to give them time to review and practice.

The three astronauts would have to move into the lunar module, Aquarius, which was only designed for two and attempt a tricky loop around the moon using Aquarius’ engines which had been intended for the lunar landing. The lunar module was not equipped to handle reentry into the earth’s atmosphere, so the astronauts would have to use the battery-powered command module for that purpose.

As commander of the mission, Lovell was a great example of a leader putting rational problem- solving into action. After identifying the problem, he and the NASA team had to evaluate and choose alternatives. Lovell not only effectively dealt with conflict between Haise and Swigert as tension ran high, he also battled his own disappointment over the failed mission. He encouraged his team to establish and focus on a new goal — a safe return to earth.

The NASA team and family members listened in rapt attention as communication was lost with the Apollo 13 capsule as it attempted to survive a fiery re-entry through the earth’s atmosphere. A collective sigh of relief was breathed when Lovell’s voice came across the radio as the capsule safely splashed down near the recovery ship. Three tired, chilled astronauts boarded the U.S.S. Iwo Jima on April 17, six days after originally starting their ill-fated mission.

Lovell’s actions reflect the concept that “implementing a decision involves more that giving appropriate orders.” Available resources have to be used efficiently, and potential risks and uncertainties must be faced.

There are four steps in the rational problem-solving process. These steps involve: (1) Investigating the situation; (2) Developing Alternatives; (3) Evaluating the alternatives and selecting the best one; and (4) Implementing and monitoring the decision.

You will find that a similar problem-solving process is used aboard Apollo 13 as Lovell, Haise and Swigert weather some pretty heavy-duty problems and still make it through.

The movie Apollo 13, directed by Ron Howard, is based on the book, Lost Moon, written by Jim Lovell and Jeffrey Kluger. Cutline: Apollo 13 astronauts, clockwise, from top, Jim Lovell (portrayed by Tom Hanks), Jack Swigert (Kevin Bacon) and Fred Haise (Bill Paxton) focus on a new goal a safe return to earth.

“To train athletes, you make them run. To train leaders, you do — what exactly? Teach them management? Teach them the numbers? Teach them confidence? Or perhaps you teach them how humanity really works: how to tap into what goes on beneath sophisticated human surfaces; how to find the connection that makes perfect strangers identify with an idea, a project, a vision, even the unknown. Isn’t leadership, after all, a higher form of selling, where what you’re selling is the future? If you want to sell shares of the future, you need more than off-the-shelf business skills.”

Actors avoid boring or alienating an audience by becoming truly in touch with the character they are playing, but they must first become truly in touch with themselves. Russian Constantin Stanislavski, the father of modern acting methods, taught that acting is about revealing the truth. Denise Halbach, of Phi Theta Kappa’s Development Department and a retired Theater Director explains that “The difference between good acting and bad acting is truth — an actor must work to be fully in tune with the reality — the human-ness — of himself in order to be believable. An actor can only understand a character, another human being, through a truthful understanding of himself and a constant awareness of himself.”

Leaders must also be truly in touch with themselves. Gaulier designs class activities to strip away concern for responsibilities and fears to reveal true character and tap the raw energy for life that is part of true character. “That raw energy . . . is who you are and who you have the potential to be.” The passion of your calling in life and the pleasure you have in pursuing it will shine for all to see. The shine — the aura, as Gaulier calls it — is the essence of charisma. And anyone can have charisma if their true character, their soul, is exposed. That is a frightening thing for most people, however, and actors must first overcome the fear of revealing themselves. If leadership requires the same revelation of self, then leaders must also overcome this “stage fright.” Exposing the soul is not the end of the training techniques Gaulier uses; it is just the first step. Next he teaches how to engage others, and that requires training your raw energy into “Elan” — a French word that is something like Flair, Spirit, Buoyancy, Vivacity — but with an edge those English words cannot convey.

We recognize charisma and ?lan in great actors and great leaders alike, and theater training such as that Gaulier conducts in London as well as leadership development programs are based on the premise that they are qualities and behavior with which all individuals are born, but most of us need to consciously uncover and develop. One of the most famous dramatists of all time, William Shakespeare, underscores the importance of the concepts of understanding self and of self-revelation to being an effective leader throughout his play Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. Lord Chamberlain Polonius is very direct about these concepts when he says to his son Laertes: “This above all: to thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man.”

Florence Nightingale provides a vivid and meaningful example of the transformation possible with a positive, broad, and powerful mindset. In England in the 1840s, Nightingale (then 25) wanted to work as a nurse in Salisbury Hospital. Her father was aware of the status and reputation of nursing and forbade it. At the time, the word “Nurse” conjured up an image of a rough, old woman, largely ignorant and dirty, of low moral standards, often tipsy or even brutal. Nightingale was disappointed, but not deterred. She had a view of nursing much bigger than that represented by lowly and little-respected maids without the grace to work in homes and businesses and thus worked amid human disease and waste. Her family’s wealth provided ample opportunities for travel and she privately studied in hospitals and medical commission offices in the capitals of Europe and toured hospitals and convalescent homes. After four years of arguments, her family finally permitted her to go to Germany for?a nursing training course that the Institution of Protestant Deaconesses established for girls of good character. When she returned to England, she went to work as the unpaid superintendent of the Institution for the Care of Sick Gentlewomen in London, and began building a reputation for?excellent care and?impeccable administration.

In 1854, England sent soldiers to Crimea on the north coast of the Black Sea to fight with Turkey against Russia. Journalists at the front lines (another story of expanded horizons) reported to the English public that wounded soldiers were left to die without basic medical attention. Nightingale knew the secretary of war, Sidney Herbert, and she immediately offered her services. Within six days she assembled thirty-eight nurses and departed for the war zone. The death rate in the military hospitals was outrageous. Filthy and infested with rats, no supplies, tightly rationed water, cholera, typhus, and dysentery were rampant in the hospitals, and yet the army surgeons thought it ridiculous that the War Office had shipped civilian women to the rescue and forbade them entry. It took only days and a fierce battle with hundreds more wounded for the doctors to change their minds as wounded, malnourished soldiers suffering from exposure filled the wards and the hallways. Nightingale had the mindset — the vision — to change the system. She brought a new set of skills to the profession and transformed it in Crimea: with tact, sense, influence, and confident authority she reorganized and cleaned up the military hospitals. She returned to England a heroine, with an even stronger conviction to improve the health of the British army and all society, not merely heal the wounded in a war zone. Nursing students still read Nightingale’s 1860 book Notes on Nursing: What It is and What It Is Not.

Progress happens when we change our thinking, expand the horizons and possibilities and potential of our organizations and professions. As Nelson Mandela has said, “. . .playing small does not serve the world.”

[Monika Byrd, June 21, 2004]

When we think of Visionary Leadership as simply seeing the unseen — knowing what the future could be/should be — it’s not that different from imagination or dreaming, and we are leaving out an important element of Visionary Leadership. The analogy with the European cartographers of the Era of Discovery adds valuable insight: A visionary is like a cartographer/explorer forging ahead of the rest of humanity and possessing the ability to chart the unknown so others can follow.

To further the analogy, a Cartographer/explorer requires preparation, stamina, and courage to embark on a voyage of discovery not unlike a leader requires preparation, stamina, and courage to lead a group to an improved future. A Cartographer and a leader must both pay attention to the challenges presented with an awareness of the fear others will have of the unknown territory. To the visionary leader, the future is not unknown — it is like they have been there and charted the landscape so if others pay attention to the map — the vision — they can anticipate the change in direction of the river or the coming passage through seemingly impassable mountain ranges. Just like a cartographer, the visionary leader must make the map as accurate as possible, especially for the early phases of a journey into the future so that those who use it as a guide develop faith in the map — NOT the map-maker — but the map – so that if the leader cannot finish the journey there are those who have the faith and the courage to continue it.

It is noteworthy that a map shows an infinite number of destinations, and that its usefulness is often not that it illuminates the destination or possible destinations, but that it reveals the paths available to reach a destiny. Cartographers and leaders must be realistic in portraying obstacles and dangers and highlight the truest, safest path for the journey. We can take the difficult cruel, harsh route and risk perishing in the wicked heat and dryness of a desert or losing our way in an impenetrable dark forest, but why would we want to reduce our chances of making it to the goal in tact with our whole team? Or we can reach the goal by way of clearer, more peaceful routes that may provide human interaction and supplies, filling spiritual, intellectual, and physical needs for our continued journey, and reach the goal enriched, not exhausted or broken, and providing others the opportunity to join the journey and share the destination of an improved future. Some people consider themselves leaders because they can lead through harsh environments — but are they not perhaps seeking out these harsh environments so they can say “See? You NEED me to get through this — and I’m tough enough to do it.” They could be seeking a more congenial path to the same goal and teaching others how to read a map that keeps them from the dangerous, destructive places. Those who continue to follow these leaders into the dark, dangerous parts of human nature or the world perpetuate this risky, dangerous way to go through life. Travelers, thus, — whether following a map on a vacation or moving toward a vision of a better future — must always stay attuned to the route and think critically about the path they are following to determine if it is the road down which they want to go. Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. could have taken different paths to their goals, their visions — descending into the dark valleys of hatred, revenge, and violence — but they led their followers to a better future by a higher road.

[Cartographers and those who study maps and mapmaking have explored the similarities between leadership and cartography too, writing essays and books like Denis Wood's The Power of Maps and Jeremy Black's Maps and Politics, or Mark Monmonier in How to Lie with Maps and Maps with the News: The Development of American Journalistic Cartography, describing how maps inform and shape or re-shape reality by the cartographer's selection of geography and symbols to feature.]
[Monika Byrd, July 15, 2004.]

A Unit in Phi Theta Kappa Leadership Development Studies is called “Articulating a Vision.” It is this unit that speaks a great deal to the topic of motivating others. Classic speeches from Shakespeare’s Henry V and from Martin Luther King, Jr. included in the Unit bring focus to concepts of excellent communication; but articulating a vision or an idea is only part of Motivation. The word articulate, in fact, has an additional meaning beyond “expression in clear, effective language.” Articulate is also “to fit together into a coherent whole,” and for a vision to be truly motivating, it must fit together with one’s actions.

Look at the word MOTIVATION.

It’s easy to see parts of the words MOTIVE and ACTION contained in it.

When we articulate a vision, we are communicating our motive — what we want to accomplish and why, so we have covered the motive part of motivation. If we consider that the word motivation has an additional component — action — then our actions in addition to our words accomplish more complete, more effective motivation. Look at what Aristotle had to say about actions: “We become just by performing just actions, temperate by performing temperate actions, brave by performing brave actions.” (Nicomachean Ethics, 4th Century BCE) “Walking the talk” defines us and is inspirational to others.

Shakespeare said it even more succinctly and closely identifies a bias for action with communication skills: “Action is eloquence.” (Coriolanus, III, ii)

This classically-inspired lesson in motivation reminds us to take action as well as communicate the vision in order to motivate others.

[Monika Byrd, May 2005]
Questions or Comments about Phi Theta Kappa Leadership Briefs may be directed to Monika Byrd, Director of Leadership Development Programs