What I’m Reading: ‘Lives of Moral Leadership’

I’ve been rereading Lives of Moral Leadership, by the scholar Robert Coles. Every summer I teach a capstone course in educational leadership, and this book is a staple in our class.

Mr. Coles reminds us that great leaders can come from anywhere. Some are people we know — like John F. Kennedy or Gandhi — and some are unknowns. A story in the book that resonates with me is about Albert Jones, a janitor in Boston in the 1960s, when the schools were being desegregated. He was not a public figure; he was a private, concerned citizen.

He went to a meeting of black parents who were trying to improve educational opportunities for their children. He hadn’t planned to speak, but when he went in, he recognized that someone needed to step up. Mr. Jones volunteered to drive the bus that took those kids from Roxbury across town to their new schools.

He wasn’t a rich or powerful person. But he had the qualities that truly matter in a leader. He identified a challenge, he showed a passion to solve it, and he had an obligation to help. It’s important for my students to learn — and for me to be reminded — that we all have the stuff of leadership in us.

J. Keith Motley is chancellor of the University of Massachusetts at Boston.