A Time for Civic Leadership
Over the past 10 years, I’ve worked both privately and publicly through leadership development programs and institutional opportunities to grow as a leader. I believe that it is necessary for all leaders to receive training and mentorship from other leaders who are experts in their respective field of study. I also believe that it’s necessary for leaders to learn and build bridges and strong networks with their peers who have like-minded ideals of civic action and social impact. I’m a huge proponent of mentoring and training and believe individuals must improve and enhance those skills to grow as a leader. I believe in order to strengthen our city we must work collectively with other leaders to address the needs of Chicago.
At the beginning of the year, I committed to reading a book a year in order to grow myself personally and professionally. The first book in the series was Donald T. Phillips’ Martin Luther King Jr., on Leadership and it helped me reshape how I look at civic leadership. I believe similarly to Dr. King, that leadership is the ability to engage others with your heart while acting in accordance with high values and moral character to achieve an established goal or vision. I believe civic leadership means refusing to settle for the status quo while actively listening to the needs of your constituents, members, or stakeholders to craft the best solution to address the needs of the community. Civic leadership has nothing to do with a title; it is one’s ability to influence others for the good of the people. Civic leadership is defined by one’s ability to step up when others are unable to act. Civic leadership means accepting responsibility and ultimately finding innovative solutions to the large problems of the community. Lastly, I believe civic leadership is rooted in faith’s definition; it’s having the ability to find substance in hope and to believe the seemingly impossible can come to fruition with strategy, teamwork, and effort.
I founded Black Box Creative Incorporate in 2008 and as the President; it has been my responsibility to lead the company’s daily operations. For 10 years, I’ve had to make business decisions that affect the company’s revenues and financial outlook, which also impacts the ability of my employees to make a living and be productive members of the Chicago community. I started the company as an effort to improve the digital presence of community-based non-profit organizations and small businesses across the country. Since 2009 we’ve worked to help organizations like Link Unlimited Scholars, The Greater Chatham Initiative, Trinity United Church of Christ, Just The Beginning and Center’s for New Horizon tell the story of their work through digital channels. I recently, however, had a mentee impacted by gun violence and decided to get closer to the work in youth leadership development. At the start of the year, I sold part of my company to go work more closely with youth inside an organization that would allow me to build a talent pipeline of leaders.
In May I was selected to lead career and leadership work as the Vice President of Career and Leadership Development at Chicago Scholars. The mission of Chicago Scholars is to uniquely select, train, and mentor academically ambitious students from under-resourced communities to complete college and become the next generation of leaders who will transform their neighborhoods and our city. We work with first-generation or low-income students to help them complete college and become successful in their selected career fields. Our model is a 7 year one where students are coached, mentored, and counseled to find both colleges and careers that are a fit and match with their strengths. This summer my career and leadership development team created a summer fellowship program for our Scholars in partnership with Invest for Kids that placed 20 scholars in companies all over the city for a summer internship. The Emerge Fellowship program consisted of an eight-week internship along with Friday leadership development sessions. Each Friday, the students participated in intense leadership development training programs that took place at locations all over Chicago. After the successful completion of the program this summer, Invest for Kids committed to funding the program for 100 kids next summer and possible greater scaling in the future. Our CEO Dominique Jordan Turner has a great vision of what Chicago can look like, one in which I share. We believe in a Chicago that provides equitable access to education and opportunity for all and this Emerge program is just one of the many ways Chicago Scholars is innovating in the space of youth Leadership Development to archive that vision.
Youth leadership development is the work I’m committed to the advancement of our city. I not only do this work in my job but I also run a career and leadership development program at the University of Illinois Chicago for the 100 Black Men of Chicago and I am a director at a Neighborhood Business Development Center in the Bronzeville neighborhood which looks to create opportunities for youth in my community. So when I’m asked, “Why the switch to civic leadership, why now?” My response is, “There is no better season than now to step in a leadership role to create change at scale.”
Jeffery Beckham
Vice President of Leadership and Career Development
Chicago Scholars
Founder
Black Box Creative Inc.
