The Job Interview

The Job Interview

Something's been missing from this mayor's race: The questions an employer would ask a chore bidder

The Job Interview

Something's been missing from this mayor'southward race: The questions an employer would ask a task bidder

May. xv, 2015

Last month, at the "Mayoral MilenniaLab" we hosted along with Commission of seventy, Young Involved Philadelphia and the Pattison Leader Group, I said something that unintentionally drew some knowing guffaws from the mayoral candidates in attendance. "I've been frustrated by the questions being put to the candidates this election season," I said, prompting Jim Kenney to practically snort: "You've been frustrated!"

Since then, I've spoken to many of the candidates, and the 1 sentiment all seem to share is this sense that, for i reason or another, this campaign never really bankrupt through the pop civilization ambient noise that so often distorts our public narrative. Just this calendar week, Mustafa Rashad, campaign chair for Doug Oliver, penned a slice for Al Dia critiquing the media coverage of the race. Now, every campaign in political history has criticized the media roofing information technology—even Obama in '08, and that was as close to a lovefest as ever had been. It'south part of the job clarification. And then some of the candidate frustration is to be expected.

Simply I think there's something else going on, because I've felt information technology, also. I've attended a couple of forums, watched a couple of the debates. Each candidate has washed his or her homework. Yet, more often than not, they're asked to answer to inanities—did Nelson Diaz steal Tony Williams' community bank idea?—or they're queried about their political strategy, ie, the "horserace," or they're forced to respond to sweeping policy questions in 45 seconds. I think that's what Kenney and the others were sighing well-nigh: You effort solving poverty in 45 seconds.

"A leader has to lead," says Abraham, "and I am, and always volition be, a strong leader who makes the ultimate tough decisions afterwards being informed of all the bug and facts."

My sense is that, every bit happened eight years ago, nosotros've failed to ask the questions that are the best predictor of mayoral job performance. We haven't treated this entrada as a city-wide job interview in which we're the employer.

In hindsight, that's where nosotros came up short back in 2007, the last time nosotros had a contested mayoral election. But a couple of months earlier the Democratic primary, yous'll recall, information technology had been a foregone determination: Chaka Fattah was going to exist the side by side mayor of Philadelphia. At to the lowest degree, that's what all the self-appointed smart people said.

"Voting against Drop lost me the back up of all three municipal unions, including my father," says Kenney. "And I about lost my seat that twelvemonth, coming in fifth place in the Council at-large race."

But then Michael Nutter, at one point running a distant 5th in the polls, showed an acumen for policy in the debates. And when he ran a commercial starring his girl that pulled at the electorate's heartstrings, Nutter surged; running as a reformer and promising a "New Day," he won.

For those of us who supported him but concluded upwardly vaguely disappointed by Nutter, nosotros now wish nosotros'd asked some important questions. Foreshadowing the presidential election that would take place the following twelvemonth, nosotros covered Nutter's campaign more than like a social movement phenomenon. He spoke stirringly of turning the page on how the city had been operating; we just forgot to inspect his operational chops.

"I stood up to the trial lawyers who supported me in my campaign and voted confronting them on Tort Reform," says Williams.

Had we covered that entrada with an middle toward predicting job performance, there would take been in-depth pieces and chat virtually Nutter's relationship with his brethren on Urban center Council, none of whom supported him. Was that a harbinger of the gridlock that was to come? Did Nutter have the political skills to get things done? It's a question that wasn't asked enough in 2007, and should have been. Only many of us, yours truly included, were more taken past the fact that he had a daughter in public school, knew the lyrics to "Rapper'southward Please" and was committed to ethics reform. We didn't terminate to think: We're hiring a Chief Executive Officer. So what's this legislator ever run?

Information technology kinda feels similar déjà vu all over again. So I reached out to Kenney, Williams and Abraham and asked the questions I don't think have been asked oft enough. Permit'south compare and contrast their responses. (All questions and responses came via email).

The Citizen : Can you provide one specific example where you've used political skill to solve a problem, i.eastward. where you've brought warring factions together or somehow managed to span a divide in service of the common good?

Kenney: Both the Police Commissioner and Mayor Nutter were initially opposed to marijuana decriminalization, but through compromise, we were able to enact a police that drastically reduced the number of pocket-size amount of marijuana possession arrests and, in turn, prevented many young people from being saddled with a criminal record, which cuts off employment and educational opportunities.

Williams: The cigarette revenue enhancement that finally created a source of funding for the Philly schools. I brought a bipartisan vote together to get it done over 2 years. It'south something Governor Rendell couldn't get done.

Abraham: I fought a very long and contentious battle to change the Constitution of Pennsylvania and then very immature children witnesses of tender years would no longer have to evidence 'eyeball to eyeball' with someone they had, for example, seen murder a parent…Children would cease testifying while the defendant was glaring at them…Subsequently many years, we passed an amendment and then that now the trial gauge makes a determination after a hearing if the kid witness has to testify confront to face or can evidence via closed circuit TV with counsel nowadays, but the accused watching from a remote location.

The Takeaway: In Kenney's case, decriminalizing marijuana did showroom compromise, as he suggests, but information technology also dovetailed with the arc of public opinion; even Nutter, who had opposed it, no doubt saw which fashion the pungent winds were blowing on the result. That said, someone had to be offset, and it was Kenney who demonstrated a keen sense of the electorate's mood.

As for Williams, yeah: He played a pivotal role in passing that bipartisan tax, and it dovetails with his reputation every bit an able legislator.

Finally, interesting, isn't it, that Abraham responds to a question near political skill by referencing a "long and contentious battle?" That's because Abraham believes the city needs a fighter. "I'm going to be a Richardson Dilworth-type mayor," she once told me. Dilworth, the legendary reformer of the belatedly '50s who toppled the longstanding Republican machine, was combative, and Abraham has long admired, and exhibited, that pugnaciousness. ("Yeah, I am an emotional human being, but I am a fighter," Dilworth once said. "Where would the cities of this land be if information technology were non for men like me who fought for them?")

The Citizen : What have you lot run, i.due east. managed, in terms of staffing and upkeep, and what is your direction philosophy?

Kenney: As a Urban center Councilman, I was responsible for my staff and budget. I as well serve on the Independence Blue Cross Board and as a business evolution manager at Vitetta [an architecture and engineering firm]. I believe every elected official is merely as good as his people, and so I put a focus on hiring smart, efficient folks from all parts of the urban center and the country.

Williams: As the regional managing director for PepsiCo, I managed near a 75 fellow member staff and oversaw a $3 million budget. I would describe my management fashion as relatively straight forrad. Hire smart people, establish standards and goals, give management, and permit them to abound in their positions. I also have a stiff belief in mentoring and giving people an opportunity to shine. I'm proud of the fact that people I've hired have gone on to practice great things, similar Councilman Kenyatta Johnson, State Rep. Jordan Harris and Estimate Timika Lane. Currently, about a third of my senate staff is made up of reentering citizens and the boilerplate historic period of my campaign staff is 27.

Abraham: I ran the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authorization with, at outset, 530 people, overseeing the development of multi-meg dollar projects, including Franklin Town, The University Urban center Science Center, Market Street East, and the beginnings of the Airdrome expansion. At the District Attorney's function, I managed a staff of 600 and a budget of around $35 one thousand thousand per year. My management style is a highly collaborative affair, with my hiring and listening to the very best and brightest senior staff…I always let managers to have significant autonomy, encourage team building, solicit ideas and new approaches from anyone on staff and keep the entire function in the loop equally much as possible. Having said this, a leader has to pb and I am, and always will exist, a strong leader who makes the ultimate tough decisions after being informed of all the problems and facts.

The Takeaway: All good, competent answers, right? However, in that location'due south a part of me that wants more. There are many theories of direction bouncing around inside the walls of places like Wharton or, for that matter, the Fels Establish of Government or Drexel's Center for Public Policy, and I wish our next mayor would give some thought equally to how he or she can managerially plough around a moribund culture. How practice you infuse a irksome-moving bureaucracy with a culture of innovation and experimentation? One fellow member of the Nutter administration recently lamented that "working in city government has killed my grit."

Well, it's the mayor'southward task to reignite that worker'due south idealism. That's what Arlen Specter did when he was the metropolis'southward District Attorney. "It was us against the world," Ed Rendell once told me when reflecting on his time working for Specter. "He had a style of making you experience like you were on a mission."

Whether information technology'due south the Japanese business philosophy Kaizen (the practice of continual improvement), or legendary CEO Jack Welch's Vi Sigma precepts, great organizational turnaround doesn't just happen. There's always a strategy and a culture shift. For all the policy questions we're putting to the candidates, being mayor is notwithstanding essentially a managerial position and I wish we'd all devoted more fourth dimension to fleshing out what that means.

The Citizen : Please provide one example of you committing an human action of political courage—proverb no to a contributor, standing upwardly to an interest grouping, etc.

Kenney: I was the simply City Council member to vote against DROP in 2011. I thought it was unfair that elected officials were able to walk away with hundreds of thousands in pension benefits while so many of our working families were still suffering from the Great Recession. That vote lost me the back up of all three municipal unions, including my male parent—and I nearly lost my seat that year, coming in 5th place in the Quango at-large race.

Williams: I stood upward to the trial lawyers who supported me in my campaign and voted against them on Tort Reform.

Abraham: My determination to launch the only thorough and exhaustive Grand Jury investigation by a prosecutor in the entire United States into widespread clergy sexual abuse of children and adolescents by members of the Roman Catholic Clergy inside the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. We subpoenaed the Primal Archbishop of Philadelphia to testify before the Grand Jury, along with many other powerful members of the Catholic hierarchy. In addition to the five year investigation, nosotros published the names and photographs of those who were engaged in these crimes…The Thousand Jury reports set along the reasons these hideous practices had been permitted to keep for decades, including the massive and immoral coverup engaged in past many of the most powerful people in the Roman Cosmic Church bureaucracy: at least two Cardinals, endless Bishops, and others. I decided to become ahead with this investigation in spite of virtually every 'powerful' person warning, if not threatening, me of the 'consequences' for going through with this investigation.

The Takeaway: Start off, kudos to all iii, particularly Abraham—who took on an issue after the Statute of Limitations had run out because she saw it as the right thing to do.

I'd forgotten about Kenney's courageous stand against Driblet, which makes me experience better about him. He's clearly smart and committed to the city. And he arguably has the virtually impressive campaign staff going, which says something about him: Campaign manager Jane Slusser is a star, and media consultant Ken Snyder is a longtime pro. But the ane question that has gnawed about Kenney'southward 23-year career on Council is his seeming aversion to run a risk. That he couldn't bring himself to defy Darrell Clarke by but introducing a motility to hold a hearing on the PGW auction; that, for years, he wouldn't run for mayor considering he needed the security of his Council salary (and only ran this fourth dimension in one case in that location was an opening and Johnny Doc was solidly behind him), and that it was his bill guaranteeing pension bonuses irrespective of the unfunded land of the pension organisation…it all added upward to a question, essentially, about character: Would Jim Kenney take unpopular stands? His position on DROP was certainly that.

Finally, Williams has shown a willingness to take risks. As he points out, at that place's his defiance of the trial lawyer foyer. And, wherever you come down on charters, requite the guy credit for taking a stand up—and being early on to it. Williams, informed by his time at the great Westtown School near West Chester, saw the polls showing that two-thirds of African-American parents favored the option of charter schools. Not considering they were ideologically driven to charters, but rather because they knew how bad their neighborhood schools were and were willing to try something unlike. He was responding to demand—something one wishes more politicians would do. That said, he hasn't fabricated the instance during this campaign for charters, allowing himself to be likewise easily-defined. And his eleventh-hour torpedoing of Commissioner Ramsey was a head-scratcher, and smacked of desperation.

Then when you vote to essentially hire one of these candidates, hither's hoping you lot consider the primal predictors of time to come operation: Who has the managerial chops to change the government'southward civilization, and who has the guts to stand for what he or she believes? Because we're non merely electing someone with good ideas. We should be electing someone who has the skill to have those ideas and spread them through a bureaucracy, activating change.

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Source: https://thephiladelphiacitizen.org/the-job-interview/