3 MLK Leadership Lessons We Need Right Now

It’s been my habit for many years now on Martin Luther King Jr. Day to spend time reflecting on his legacy and, specifically, his leadership. Dr. King’s insights and courage are more relevant now than ever, as we grapple with a fearsome pandemic, engage a critically important movement for racial justice and equity, and endure political polarization that reached new and horrifying depths with the recent attack at the U.S. Capitol. As we seek a way forward in the coming year, Dr. King’s example sheds great light on the fundamentals of leading well in challenging times. And what better way for us to honor his memory than to identify and act on his principles.

In studying the work of Dr. King and in reflecting on my own mentors throughout my careers in the U.S. Navy, higher education, for-profit and nonprofit sectors, three key principles for leading in challenging times emerge:

1. Model realistic positivity: During turbulent times, there’s a temptation to lose our balance. Hard-core realists might say, “Look, this is how it is. Things won’t get better for a while and might not ever get to where we want.” Likewise, the most optimistic among us will say, “Just stay positive — things are going to work out!” The truth is usually somewhere in the middle, so leaders need to model both realism and positivity. Realism means fully acknowledging what the current conditions are; positivity means believing we can get to the other side, and figuring out how to do it. Dr. King was jailed 29 times in his lifetime, and his “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” is a master class in realistic positivity. It very candidly documents the shocking injustices endured by Black Americans – from the power structures fully intent on oppressing them to the vicious attacks on peaceful demonstrators by law enforcement to the many moderate Americans who merely stood by and watched. At the same time, his letter — deeply couched in the Christian faith tradition — rings with the hope that “in some not too distant tomorrow the radiant stars of love and brotherhood will shine over our great nation with all their scintillating beauty.”
2. Be fully transparent: Leadership in challenging times often requires total transparency, a willingness among leaders to offer a clear window into their thoughts. This approach has the dual purpose of building trust while also encouraging collaboration. With transparency, leaders and those they are privileged to lead are working from the same set of assumptions and can build on each other’s work. That way, the work is not contingent on the leader alone and can continue even in their absence. When he spoke to striking sanitation workers in Memphis, Tennessee in 1968, Dr. King — reflecting on more than a decade of death threats and attacks on his life — said this at the very end of his speech:

We've got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn't matter with me now. Because I've been to the mountaintop. And I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land. And I'm happy, tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.

The next day he was assassinated. But his transparency had helped the movement prepare to carry on — and his work continues.

3. Embrace authenticity: Authenticity has become a buzzword in leadership, one used so much that it’s sometimes hard to tell what it means anymore. Dr. King reminds us that leadership authenticity ultimately comes down to this: being fully in touch with your purpose. Louis Menand’s superb essay “When Martin Luther King, Jr., Became a Leader” brings this principle to life. Dr. King, he writes, wrestled at first with whether to support the Montgomery bus boycotts that Rosa Parks sparked; he wasn’t sure if these actions were ethical or Christian. The boycotts could make it difficult for people to get to work, and they could also cost bus drivers their jobs. In the end, however, as Dr. King wrote in his autobiography, “I came to see that what we were really doing was withdrawing our cooperation from an evil system, rather than merely withdrawing our support from the bus company.” He had found his authentic cause fighting that evil system of segregation. He didn’t look back, and the depth of his conviction changed hearts, minds, and the world.

Dr King frequently said “the time is always right to do what is right.” We are all leaders in at least some, if not many, aspects of our lives. And as we navigate continuing turbulence throughout this year and into the future, we will do well to lean on Martin Luther King, Jr.’s wisdom  — and to hold ourselves and others accountable for putting it into action.