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PD2 Wk 3 Leadership in the Community
Due: Walking Tour of Troy
Guest Lecturer: Mayor Mark Pattison
This week, our guest speaker is Mayor Mark Pattison of the city of Troy. He will be talking
about his experiences and strategies as a community leader. Many American cities are in the
midst of revitalization—the development of natural attractions such as riverwalks, encouraging
new businesses, and luring people to downtown areas for living, work and play. Successful
revitalizations often demonstrate participatory democracy at its best as in the case of
Chattanooga, Tennessee and of Troy, NY.
Course learning objectives:
 Appreciate structural difficulties (e.g., ability to raise money through taxes) for
leadership in the community of Troy
 Give examples of leadership strategies and styles in cases where leaders have minimum
power or resources (using Troy and Chattanooga as examples)
 Enact community-style leadership in a class exercise
Reading Study Guide
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“The Right Approach: Reconnecting Troy and RPI.”
http://www.rpi.edu/dept/NewsComm/Magazine/sept99/approach.html
“National Engineers Week Ideas for your Community”
http://www.eweek.org/2000/Engineers/zoo.shtml. Explore this site thoroughly.
Crockett, “Transforming Chattanooga into an environmental city,’ in Eco-pioneers:
Practical visionaries solving today’s environmental problems.
Goldberg’s chapter 7 is about meetings and brainstorming, which you’ll need for an in-class
exercise, centered on developing an idea for Troy’s revitalization (see details of the exercise). It’s
not required, but you might also want to read Goldberg’s chapter on presenting because you’ll
have to make a quick presentation about your project in class.
As you take the walking tour, jot down brainstorming notes about what kind of changes in Troy
would improve the technological, economic, environmental and social climate of the city. In
particular, think of how your engineering skills can be applied to better Troy. Don’t worry if
your ideas are impractical; that comes later. (Goldberg: Create first, criticize second.) “The
Right Approach” gives you background material on town-grown relationships in Troy. The
Notes Guide below should tell you what to look for in the Chattanooga article. You want to
read for 1) examples of leadership styles and strategy (e.g., getting the schools to teach
environmental studies,) 2) structural issues (e.g., toxic waste dumps and no money to fund
cleanups), 3) ideas that might inspire you when you think of “Transforming Troy into a
Technological City.” (Note: "Read for" in the preceding paragraph means, "skim to get the gist
of the article and to respond to the questions in the handout.") The site for National Engineers
Week should give you a lot of good ideas for engineering-related projects for Troy. Be inspired
by this site, but don’t copy the author’s ideas wholesale.
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Mayor Mark Pattison, Study Guide
Mayor Pattison will be talking about his leadership experience in Troy. The best preparation for
his talk will be to take the Troy Walking Tour, do your assigned reading and read this entire
study guide before his visit. You’ll be doing a class exercise (see below), and the more you
think about the exercise, the better prepared you’ll be to ask him questions that may be useful
for your own project. The Fast Co. Leadership Kit provides a checklist to help you observe and
think about the mayor’s leadership style.
Background: The New York Times, Aug. 28, 2000, B1 & B5 published a story on Troy, “Nearly
Broke in ’95, A City Turns Around.” The article features Mayor Pattison and pictures of the
Approach and other sights in Troy. Ask the librarian how you can find this article.
Describe some of the structural obstacles to leadership in the Chattanooga case.
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Sustainable cities need environmental, social and economic pieces to fit together. Briefly
describe those pieces for Troy. (Your walk and the mayor’s talk will give you material for this
analysis.)
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Describe leadership style in a participatory democracy using Chattanooga as a case study. What
leadership strategies could be used in Troy?
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What leadership styles and strategies can you use in your own life?
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What aspects of leadership described in the Fast Company Leadership Kit do you deduce (or
heard described) in the mayor’s leadership style?
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Class Exercise—Transforming Troy into a Technological City –See attached
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Section: Class Exercise—Transforming Troy into a Technological City
It is essential that you come to class prepared for this exercise. You have completed the Troy
tour and made notes about what you’ve seen and you have thoroughly explored the assigned
website. Depending on circumstances, I may need to make some last minute changes in the
details of this exercise, but that will not reduce the importance of your coming to class
thoroughly prepared.
You will be in teams of 5 people. Your team represents a community group that wants to
contribute to Troy’s revitalization. Your contribution may be a technological improvement that
takes advantage of your engineering skills, something that enhances “communiversity”
(President Jackson’s term for relationships between Rensselaer and Troy), or change for the
better in some other domain.
Materials: transparency for presentation, water-soluble marker. (Section leader will bring to
class)
In the two hours we have for section you must:
1. Brainstorm—Bring your brainstorming ideas from your walk. In a meeting where you
brainstorm on the spot, first have people brainstorm on paper individually for a few
minutes. Research shows that if people write down ideas before the brainstorming
session starts, more ideas will come out in the session.
2. Critique and bulletize your main points for a presentation. Critique the brainstorming
ideas adapting Goldberg’s techniques to your situation (e.g., you might use plain paper
instead of flip charts). Pick an idea and prepare for your presentation
 Idea
 Its benefits, and to whom (name stakeholders)
 Who might object and why (name stakeholders)
 What it requires in terms of money, effort, cooperation
 Why we should do it—this should be a persuasive slam-dunk
3. Class presentations—each group has five minutes. You should give your group’s name
(e.g., the Coalition for Community Internet), each person has one minute to say their
own name and make their point. The others in the class are members of the community.
Each person has 10 points to distribute to the projects (but you can’t give points to your
own group; only the other four). The group with the most points will have their project
be at the top of the Action Priority List (i.e., “wins”).
4. Reflection (See “Leading a Reflection” below) – 15 minutes for within group reflection
and 15 for reflection as a class.
Class presentations will occur one hour from the start of class. You might want to start your
exercise by making a quick timetable so that you’re ready for presentations.
See over for instructions for leading a reflection.
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Leading A Reflection
Lay the Ground Rules for Discussion
Have participants sit so they can see each other, and ask them to agree not to interrupt or make
fun of each other. Let them know they are free to keep silent if they wish.
Facilitate the Discussion
As a leader, avoid the temptation to talk about your own experiences. Reserve judgment about
what the participants say to avoid criticizing them. Help the discussion get going, and then let
the participants take over with limited guidance from you. If you describe what you saw, be
sure your comments do not stop the participants from adding their own thoughts. Above all, be
positive. Have fun with the activity and with the session.
Use Thought-Provoking Questions
The following types of questions are useful in reflecting:
Open-ended questions prevent yes and no answers. "What was the purpose of the exercise?"
"What did you learn about yourself?" Feeling questions require participants to reflect on how
they feel about what they did. "How did it feel when you started to pull together?" Judgment
questions ask participants to make decisions about things. "What was the best part?" "Was it a
good idea?" Guiding questions steer the participants toward the purpose of the activity and
keep the discussion focused. "What got you all going in the right direction?" Closing question
help participants draw conclusions and end the discussion. "What did you learn?" "What would
you do differently?"
Reflecting on an activity should take no more than ten to fifteen minutes. The more you do it,
the easier it becomes.
(Adapted from the White Stag Scout Troop leadership skills guide.)