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John Gardner: Legacy Of A Civic Olympian

Neal Peirce

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WASHINGTON--Don't expect a man on a white horse to save your country, city, region. Don't wait on some Establishment "them." You have to do it yourself. Everyman (and woman) a leader. Make alliances. Respect others. Get with it.

That was the essence of John W. Gardner, the erstwhile Marine and educator, foundation executive and Cabinet secretary, author of noted books, founder of such major organizations as Common Cause. He was taken from us last week, at age 89, after a phenomenally full life.

Gardner walked the walk. He was a lead creator, in Lyndon Johnson's administration, of Medicare and what became our Public Broadcasting System. He founded the White House Fellows Program. In the Watergate era, he sparked the citizen-based revolt against the corrosive effects of special interest money in our politics. He authored seven books on such topics as excellence, self-renewal, leadership.

Gardner fought ferociously for inclusive citizenship, extending the democratic process to Americans of all ages, colors, creeds--but then insisted we're all "responsibles."

The fire was still burning in this remarkable man last summer when I heard him complain that he knew many ostensibly successful Americans, often stashed away in law firms, businesses, universities, contributing virtually nothing to civic life. His message to these indifferent ones: "Who gave you permission to stand aside?"

Gardner's life progression was significant, says Doug Henton, founder of the Collaborative Economics firm and more recently the Alliance for Regional Stewardship. Gardner helped author Great Society programs in the LBJ era, but he also saw the limits of national laws. Reacting to the bitter urban riots of 1967, he enlisted major corporate leaders into the National Urban Coalition--but then he realized how removed corporate chieftains like Henry Ford II were from real city neighborhoods and peoples.

Common Cause came next--an effort to organize for America from the grass roots up. Gardner followed that with the Independent Sector, focused on foundations, to reinvigorate the civic sector.

But while each of those efforts represented steps forward, Gardner by the 1990s was recognizing that there was a missing piece to the puzzle--namely coalescence across businesses, disciplines, neighborhood leaders, ethnic groups, unions--in the real-life communities where we all live.

Or as I heard him put it to a board meeting of the National Civic League, which he was then chairing: "Behind all the current buzz about collaboration is a discipline. And with all due respect to the ancient arts of governing and diplomacy, the more recent art of collaboration does represent something new--maybe Copernican. If it contained a silicon chip, we'd all be excited."

Gardner saw limits both in federal power and local activism. He became intrigued with metropolitan regions as the arena in which critical collaborations--for the economy, environment, social issues--must be forged, through expanded "networks of responsibility."

With project management by my colleagues John Parr and Bruce Adams, he inaugurated a study of why some regions (Chattanooga, Portland, Cleveland, for example) so often seem to excel. Citistates Group President Curtis Johnson and I were commissioned to write the results--in a booklet we entitled "Boundary Crossers"--an attempt to define leading elements of a "civic DNA" for the emerging global age (www.citistates.com/library.html).

But before long, we found ourselves thinking--and writing--in John Gardner-style aphorisms. For example: "Collaboration is messy, frustrating, and indispensable." "There's no magical leadership structure--just people and relationships." "The agenda gets tougher." "No one's excused." "Government always needs reforming, but all the reforms need government." "Place matters."

Our experience encapsulated the experience of thousands of others--touch Gardner, and your horizons expanded, in fact you felt yourself more a man or woman than the day before.

Small wonder Gardner became so widely regarded as the civic long-distance runner, the champion mentor of his generation. Or as former Common Cause President Fred Wertheimer summed it up: "John Gardner was the citizen of his era."

Now the Alliance for Regional Stewardship, which Gardner helped inspire and supported in his last years, is working to establish a John W. Gardner Academy for Regional Leadership, targeted at advanced training for cross-cutting regional teams from across the United States.

Last summer, Gardner had summed up the goal for our times: "A future which is humane, just, and generous."

Then just weeks ago, he outlined the next steps to make regionalism work: keep business leaders and their self-interest involved--civic good will is insufficient. Translate global issues into real-life regional issues people can understand. Communicate more vividly, to much broader audiences, the importance of regionwide alliances to build better, shared futures--economic, environmental, social.

And, said Gardner, as tough and honest as ever: "No more regionalism for it's own sake." The future demands tough, pragmatic regionalism--clear purposes, strong strategies.

Goodbye John. Now it's up to us.

Neal Peirce's e-mail address is nrp@citistates.com.