Thoughts on Effective Leadership From “Professor X”

The unique talent I bring to Black Enterprise, and every publication I’ve ever led (including my first, the Black Voice/Carta Boricua, a periodical for black and Latino students at Rutgers, back in 1981), is not writing ability, or editing skill, or a background in web media or great intelligence. It’s this: the ability to look beyond credentials, formal training and job history, to find the people with “IT”–that unique mix of talent, desire, character, attitude and potential (it’s hard to describe but I know it when I see it), organize these special people into a team (not just a staff or a group) and motivate them to accomplish amazing things. When it comes down to it, that’s what I was really hired to do when I took the position of editor-in-chief of BlackEnterprise.com; to build a winning organization.

I’ve had a passion for this specific kind of challenge

long before I was aware of it, and I believe it is a gift from God (one of the talents the Master entrusted to me to manage, develop and invest until He returns). For example, I’ve always been a mediocre basketball player, even though I like to play. When I played pick-up basketball as a teen at my neighborhood playground in Long Branch, N.J., I developed a knack for choosing teammates who could compensate for my lack of skill–instinctively taking into consideration attitude as well as talent and ability. My teams could hold the court all day, despite a significant liability–namely me. I now remember that if I was on a losing team that was not of my choosing, I’d feel bad (I don’t like to lose). But if a team I personally selected lost, I’d be furious, more at myself than at my teammates. I did not recognize that pattern until I grew older, but I now recognize that I’ve always instinctively known that a team is far more than the sum of its members, and that if you could put the right people together and motivate them properly, they could do amazing things, despite apparent or perceived disadvantages.

Similarly, my lifelong love of pro football has never been about individual athletes. I’ve always been obsessed with the question of why, in a league of teams with the same access to talent, money and resources–with parity–certain teams consistently win (Giants, Patriots, Cowboys, Steelers), certain teams consistently lose (Lions, Raiders, Falcons, Cardinals, Saints), and certain teams are consistently inconsistent, winning a respectable number of games (Chargers, Browns, Bills, Chiefs), but rarely championships. It’s why I have few favorite players, but I am fascinated by the likes of Vince Lombardi, Tom Landry, Bill Parcells, Bill Walsh, Bill Belichick, Tony Dungy, etc.–people who know how to build winning organizations of winning people.

I see everything in these terms. Anyone who knows me knows that I love superhero comic books. My favorites are the ones about teams of superheroes working together (Justice League, Avengers, X-Men, Blood Syndicate, etc.), not individual heroes like Superman or Spiderman. In fact, it dawned on me the other day that leading the staff of Black Enterprise magazine (an honor I enjoyed for 13 years) was like leading The Avengers: a team of polished, experienced, exceptionally talented professionals operating as part of a long-established and esteemed tradition of excellence. My new team at BlackEnterprise.com is more like the X-Men: a group of gifted individualists of prodigious potential who are often in conflict with one another, and must be taught how to use their abilities productively and operate as a team. My challenge is to help them see past their differences by getting them focused on a

common ideal and vision. (I’ve already identified, in my mind, a Wolverine, a Jean Grey, and a Rogue on my team.) I’ve taken to thinking of Derek Dingle, who succeeded me as editor-in-chief of our magazine in July of 2008, as Captain America, and seeing myself as Professor X.

The point of all this is: I passionately believe that organizations can win without exceptional talent, but talent–even extraordinary talent–cannot win outside of a winning organization. It’s my job to build that organization, to take that talented group of individuals and create and maintain a winning–and yes, heroic–team, one that will consistently do special, amazing, important things. Black Enterprise–the very definition of a winning organization–has always afforded me the opportunity to do this over my two-decades-plus tenure at the company. And that’s exactly what I love.

Alfred Edmond Jr. is the editor-in-chief of BlackEnterprise.com