Anger is in the air. These North Carolinians are trying to do something about it.
Few times in recent American history have been as polarized as this election season. Political ads don’t just attack opponents, they demonize them. Compromise is a dirty word. Anger is in the air.
The idea that these politics might somehow lead to effective governance after the election seems impossible. Yet, in North Carolina, the political dysfunction that grabs the headlines is not the only story.
Three years ago, John Hood, the conservative president of the Pope Foundation, and Leslie Winner, a liberal former state senator and then executive director of the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation, began a conversation about how to get away from the extreme partisanship plaguing North Carolina politics. At the same moment, Duke University’s Sanford School of Public Policy was seeking to be more engaged in North Carolina (Fritz was leading that effort).
The result was the creation of the North Carolina Leadership Forum, co-chaired by Hood and Winner, based at Duke, and directed by Mayer.
With a mission to foster more constructive engagement among leaders in North Carolina, the Leadership Forum annually brings together a bipartisan cohort of 30 elected officials, business leaders, and heads of non-governmental organizations from different backgrounds, professions, ethnicities, and regions for candid, respectful and informed conversations about a major issue facing our state.
Participants commit to spend five full days together over the course of a year. And they work: digesting volumes of background information, discussing what values and criteria should inform policy, agreeing on a common set of facts, developing a deeper understanding of causes of the problem, considering a range of policies that might address it, and seeking to find common ground on solutions.
Recently, the NC Leadership Forum issued a report on its second season. The question it tackled: “How can North Carolina best meet its future energy needs?” If you are looking for a single answer to that question, you might be disappointed. The report provides a rich analysis of the challenges facing the state in meeting the energy needs of all its citizens. It highlights suggests many promising initiatives. But there are no simple solutions.
Read deeper though and you will see that the real significance of the report lies in the process that led to it. Of course, participants didn’t abandon their fundamental beliefs and they continue to disagree about many things. But by working together—and, yes, breaking bread together—these leaders got to know each other, to understand why they differed, to respect each others’ perspectives, and to value the friendships they developed. As one participant put it, “I would never have had that kind of opportunity—or rather, taken that opportunity—to engage with someone so far out of my social circle, my echo chamber.”
Those relationships are already paying dividends. Said one prominent North Carolina leader, “I have learned to call on people for advice, comment, etc., whose views are very different from mine.”
So far, two groups of leaders have taken part in the program and a third cohort will begin soon. Over the next decade, the forum hopes build a community of 1,000 North Carolina leaders committed to working together to address major issues facing the state and its citizens.
The NC Leadership Forum is now beginning to attract national attention. There are many promising efforts around the country seeking to bridge political divides, but the Leadership Forum approach appears unique. Outside our state many are watching to see whether North Carolina can provide a model for how to we can once again come together in these intemperate times.
This story was originally published October 31, 2018 at 9:32 AM.