What Kind of State do We Want?

Twenty-five years ago, leaders and community members across NH came together to discuss the state of our state and its future and together developed a blueprint to cultivate thoughtful leadership. Their report, New Hampshire: My Responsibility essentially asked “What kind of state do we want and what do we need to do to preserve the quality of life we all value?

The extended conversations over those two years revealed something quite unexpected and almost paradoxical about the “Live Free or Die” state. As much as Granite Staters championed individual independence and personal prerogatives, when needed to, they worked together for the common good.

To preserve this societal trait, the Commission made several recommendations, including identifying and recruiting “emerging leaders from the corporate, public and non-profit sectors to take on statewide responsibilities.” In addition, the Commission recommended that, from time to time, we come together to assess how well we are working together as a state and “to take action to make the community work better.”

Much has changed since 1991. Then, the NH’s population of 1.1 million was 99 percent white. Today, NH has 1.3 million residents and though still overwhelmingly white, parts of Manchester, Concord and Nashua are experiencing a rapidly growing ethnically-diverse population that includes immigrants and refugees from Africa, Asia, and Latin America. But to those from the suburbs and rural areas of our state, there still is virtually no diversity.

So one might ask, is it time for another Governor’s commission or at least a progress report on the recommendations of the earlier one? Were a retake to be done today, what traits and what needs would stand out? One clear fact would: As a predominately white state—96 percent versus 76 percent nationally—leadership positions here mirror that reality. Elected offices, governing and corporate boards, commissions, task force groups and most appointed positions are nearly all populated by white people.

People of color see almost no leaders who look like them. At the same time, the majority population rarely even acknowledges, much less discusses, this reality. Would a latter-day commission recognize that, and further, would it identify the need to diversify community and statewide leadership as a means to strengthening a sense of community for all our citizens?

Clear vision and decisive action are usually cited as defining characteristics of leadership and especially valued in troubled times. Demographic changes, particularly ones supercharged by other—sometimes completely unrelated factors—can make for very troubled times. The unprecedented large and rapid influx of refugees into Europe, for example, has precipitated a series of responses that may well have been more moderate had not the shadow of terrorist suspicion overcast it. Nevertheless any major alteration of the status quo can be unsettling to many.

Historically, NH has sometimes been ambivalent about ethnic and cultural changes to its society. While needing the specific skills of certain immigrants, it has often marginalized them, slowing their integration into the larger community. In many ways, we face a similar challenge today. As our state’s ethnic and cultural complexion begins to change, we have an opportunity not to repeat that mistake.

The lessons of divided communities—a consequence of white privilege—are written large for us to see, whether in Ferguson or Baltimore.

All such examples, however, should prompt us to ask, as was done 25 years ago, what kind of state do we want and what do we need to do to ensure that? Now as then, the role of leaders is critical. What should be done to sensitize people across our state to the changing demography and, equally, how can we get non-white people more engaged in leadership? As the Gregg Commission recognized 25 years ago, the preservation of those values of civil discourse and civic engagement rests upon the role of truly representative and committed leaders. Collectively, we need their vision, clear voice and decisive action even more so today.

Stephen Reno is the executive director of Leadership NH, a statewide leadership development program. He is also the former chancellor of the University System of NH. He can be reached at 603-226-2265.