"All citizens should have the opportunity to be active, but all will not respond. Those who do respond carry the burden of our free society. I call them the Responsibles. They exist in every segment of the community- ethnic groups, labor unions, neighborhood associations, businesses- but they rarely form an effective network of responsibility because they don't know one another across segments. They must find each other, learn to communicate, and find common ground. Then they can function as the keepers of the long-term agenda." (John W. Gardner, 1912-2002 (right) "Civic Partners", 1997)

This quote from John Gardner, one of America's leading thinkers on community, society and leadership, becomes more poignant day to day since he wrote the words. I often rely on Gardner's work and his concept about "the Responsibles" in our leadership sessions as both a call to action and inspiration. In their short and intensive time together, our Leadership L.A. and Leadership Southern California fellows certainly connect across their traditional segments, communicate and find common ground on the large issues facing our communities.

Over the past two decades, I have sought to immerse myself in the unique challenges and opportunities facing Southern California. This work has allowed me to engage in a much more productive dialogue with many of our 1,000+ leadership fellows, SCLN's board members and corporate and philanthropic investors, as well as political and business leaders here and abroad.

Inevitably, I tend to more easily engage in the opportunities that we face as a region, especially given the magnitude of the economic and global leadership challenges that currently confront us. It is my personal philosophy that the only way to address challenges is through solutions created by the opportunities we seize. Through innovation, stronger social networks, and commitment, I believe that Southern California is well positioned to move forward.

Gardner's "Responsibles" keeps coming back to me with a renewed energy as a result of my work with the Southern California Leadership Network and our vantage point in this region. The larger question is not just meeting and connecting, but moving forward on the question of how "the Responsibles" can become the "keeper of the long-term agenda." In other words, what are the mechanics of moving Southern California forward?

Without question, the long-term agenda for Los Angeles and Southern California needs to address our concerns about congestion, expansion of our economy and opportunities for all, quality education, public safety, and healthy communities and environment. This sort of agenda will also make our region the global model of success. With a quick look around the globe, it is crystal clear that the race is on. With a quick look around Southern California, we seem as capable, if not more capable, than other regions in large part due to our history of innovation, cultural diversity, and infrastructure development.

Being a part of "the Responsibles" is not for the glory seekers, the faint of heart, or those looking for quick returns. The glory is likely to be limited, the successes will be incremental, and the investment of time and energy to connect in the region are significant due to the mobility issues we face. However, the returns are much larger in terms of a moral legacy in serving our fellow citizens and creating a path of prosperity and sustainability for the generations to come.

In an effort to move forward our dialogue here, I ask these questions:

1. What types of initiatives or activities do you think can strengthen our network of "the Responsibles" in this region?
2. What do you think are the top three opportunities on the long-term agenda?

-Kevin Cottrell
Executive Director, Southern California Leadership Network
and Vice President of Leadership Programs, L.A. Area Chamber

Posts below from June 2008 through August 2008 were written by Southern California Leadership Network Executive Director Kevin Cottrell while on his American Marshall Memorial Fellowship from the German Marshall Fund in Europe.

Since my return at the end of June, news about Europe has a new or refreshed meaning. A few items in particular have been more meaningful and insightful as they touch upon places we visited and the issues engaged and debated:

• Iran's test of its medium- and long-range missile in early July sparked outcry in the midst of the G8 Summit. European concerns on the "rise of Iran" were addressed in our meeting with members of the E.U. Parliament, including Parliament Member Paolo Casaca of Portugal (pictured below, second from right). Casaca is a member of the E.U. Delegation for Relations with Iran.

• In Turkey, the latest internal security struggles and the Turkish Supreme Court decision on its ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), sparked initially by AKP efforts to lift the headscarf ban in secular Turkey.


• The capture of Radovan Karadzic in Serbia and his extradition to the Hague to face the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).


• The U.S. presidential race, when the foreign policy debate between candidates Obama and McCain was magnified by their tours abroad as well as Obama's speech in Tiergarten Park which drew more than 200,000 Berliners.

The news feels different. Perhaps it was because as I hear or read the news, I also think of my time in Europe. I tend to think the Fellowship is more meaningful for me because of the personal relationships that were developed. My thoughts turn to how Europeans are both reporting and reacting to these issues. The experience has seeped into my bones. Feelings are now playing a role.

As leaders, we are bombarded with media and internet information about our communities, our economy and our world. Relationships help to provide a context to this information; we all know it is easier to verify information from a trusted relationship. It is reassuring. Perhaps the greatest lesson for me is a new appreciation of formal and informal access to information about the world.

The best news, however, is that through this experience, new opportunities to build relationships have already emerged. I am continuing to host visiting European fellows, Los Angeles will play host to the American Marshall Forum in late September 2008, and I will travel to Copenhagen in October for the European Marshall Forum in late October 2008.

In moving forward, the Southern California Leadership Network will continue this blog, with some exciting changes in store. In the coming month we will be moving to a new format that will provide reflections on cutting-edge leadership themes and commentary on community leadership issues with guest bloggers, incorporating podcasting and interactivity. We hope you will stay tuned for these enhancements.

Kevin Cottrell is Executive Director of the Southern California Leadership Network, blogging from his fellowship with the German Marshall Fund in Europe.

by Kevin Cottrell

We arrived in Berlin as a larger group of fellows. In fact, many of us connected in Vienna after our journeys through Eastern Europe. It was great to reconnect with our colleagues, some of whom we had not seen since Brussels. I was still in a warm Montenegro-induced aura. I was pleased with myself that I had a wonderful experience in the former Yugoslavia.

We set out to our hotel in Berlin, and almost immediately I recognized that the Adriatic way of life had been left behind and replaced with something less exotic, but none-the-less charged with creative energy. I had been excited to visit Berlin. Since reunification, so much media attention has focused on Berlin as a global capital of creativity where low rents, new-found freedoms, and dynamic municipal leadership had converged to unleash a new creative economy. The mayor of Berlin has been quoted as saying that "Berlin is poor, but it is sexy." Now born from a modern bohemian movement, Berlin is seen as an underground cultural Mecca- a place where you can find neighborhood theaters, live music clubs, and art studios amidst cafes and bars that sell beer and coffee for two euros. This is almost unheard of in most major European capitals these days. The net result is Berlin is attracting young creative capitalists from all over the world.

Our first day was spent in a short briefing on the German political system, and then free time for dinner to reconnect with our colleagues. Our hotel was located in the Mitte area, or the middle or center of Berlin. This area was part of the former East Berlin, yet the energy and excitement of the area is now both creative and capitalistic. The shops in the area carry cutting-edge design and fashion, many that trend toward street fashion. It seemed that every other store is a cutting-edge sneaker store. It made me think I would have 100 pairs of funky sneakers if I lived in Berlin.

I had an opportunity for an individual appointment with Alexander Koplin who heads the media and creative industries business unit for Berlin Partner- Berlin's most significant public/private partnership focused on economic development. In addition to my discovering that Los Angeles and Berlin are sister cities, I spent time learning how Berlin has invested in building its creative industries- particularly in the areas of fashion, IT, communications, film and television, and music. Berlin Partner has already added 1,000 new creative industry jobs with employers like Pfizer, Universal, MTV Networks, SONY, Newscorp and AEG. They are projecting to add 4,000 more jobs within the next year. When asked about how they have made economic development hip, Koplin joked that it helped that few members of the team were older than their 40s and could be spotted taking in Berlin club life from time to time. He was serious. In fact, it would seem that their breakthrough has been to create a network of traditional and new or creative industry leaders into a cohesive strategy. I sensed that there is a very strong lesson here for Berlin's sister city of Los Angeles. What if L.A. could build this same sort of cohesive strategy to improve upon our natural assets.

As part of the visit, a colleague and I had the opportunity to have dinner with Stephan Eisel, a member of the German Bundestag and the Christian Democrat Party. It was a wonderful opportunity to hear first-hand about the changes in Germany since reunification, as well as the range of social and economic issues that are dominating the political agenda. Our visit included this member-only tour of the Reichstag (pictured right), which is one of the most impressive pieces of architecture I witnessed on the trip. The building has been completely renovated with a design by Sir Norman Foster, which includes a glass dome that opens to the sky and provides visitors with a direct view into the inner workings of German democracy. It is stunning.

While the fall of the Berlin wall has now led to the unleashed creativity and significant public investment in infrastructure and reunification, the East/West history is still poignant in Berlin. We had an opportunity to explore the former East German Ministry for Sate Security (MfS), or Stazi (pictured below), that was a center piece of the East German oppression and brutality. Today, the jail is a symbol perhaps most importantly of the treatment of political prisoners. Although, to me, it also stands out as part of the larger story about the remnants of war and persecution, political ideology gone awry, and the extraordinary amount of time it takes to heal from these man-made afflictions. One cannot look at modern Germany without thinking about the fragility of democracy. It makes us all pause and remember, and perhaps to be prepared to respond should our society ever be shaken to its core. Germany is not the only country, nor will it be the last, to suffer from economic depression, dictatorship, nationalism, and war that dramatically transforms its society. This was a powerful lesson that concluded our fellowship.

We ended our travels together as a group in Berlin. Over three weeks we had become closer than we ever expected. I stayed on a few days in Berlin to explore the city, spending time in both the former East and West sides. Of course, I bought a new pair of sneakers, too.

Kevin Cottrell is Executive Director of the Southern California Leadership Network, blogging from his fellowship with the German Marshall Fund in Europe.

Montenegro thus became a source of a bit of humor and teasing by me, my colleagues, and new friends we met during our travels.

Upon reflection, I realize that I was not really prepared for what might be one of the most powerful travel experiences of my life. In short, "wild beauty" is perhaps the best way to easily describe the small and fascinating country of Montenegro.

Arriving in the capital of Podgorica (formerly known as Titograd), I was challenged by the city's physical appearance: the 1950-60's style of communist concrete block structures. The original city was mostly destroyed during WWII and had since become a victim of egalitarian central planning. I was a bit dismayed, especially after visiting such amazing, and yet traditional, cultural centers on this trip.

On our first night in town, however, a transformation had begun. We were greeted by our city coordinator Daliborka "Dali" Uljarevic, who is the executive director of the Centre for Civic Education. Upon first meeting her, my first impression was of a young, soft spoken, petite NGO professional. I have since come to see her as a powerful and dynamic civic leader in a transforming democracy. Dali was an instrumental student leader in Belgrade during the historic student protests that lead to the end of the Slodoban Milosevic-era in Serbia and Montenegro. Today, she is a respected leader in the civil society arena.

Our first full day in Montenegro was spent in the stunning mountainous region in the north, where our group of six went white water rafting in the Tara River that is also the shared border between Montenegro and Bosnia. The Tara River Canyon (pictured left) is one of the deepest and longest in Europe. Our guides proudly shared that it is second in depth to the Grand Canyon. It was spectacular. The experience was unconventional, exhilarating, and a perfect introduction to the country. It was our first experience in the geographic location of Montenegro which, in addition to Bosnia, also borders Serbia, Kosovo, Croatia, and Albania. Without question, the mere mention of these Balkan countries raises questions about the strife of previous years. This was an issue that was with us constantly and, over the days, our hosts began to offer some powerful insights. It did take some time and trust to develop. To help in this, Dali organized a special dinner with journalists, heads of NGOs, and academics focused on civil society and democracy-building efforts in Montenegro. The evening was wonderful. In addition to sharing mutual interests in building strong community leadership, I deepened my relationships with my MMF colleagues and made several new friends.

We had the unique opportunity to spend two days traveling the country, particularly the coastal region that stretches from Croatia to Albania and provides stunning frontage on the Adriatic. The coastline is striking, where lush mountain ranges steeply slope to meet the sea. Throughout the region, small villages- both ancient and new- are nestled in the hills surrounding the harbors and beaches. At stops along the way in places like Bar (pictured right), Ulcinj, Cetinje, Perast, Kotor, and Budva we met with business and political leaders to talk about the next stages of development of the democracy and the role of business. We stopped to visit many of the unique historical settings that give Montenegro its charm.

As tourism is booming, and all sights are set on the attraction of foreign investment to build the tourism infrastructure, we visited Porto Montenegro in Tivat on the Bay of Kotor (pictured below). The slated project is a massive redevelopment of a former Yugoslavian naval base in the deep port bay. The Bay was one of the most stunning areas in our visit. So it came as no surprise the deep and protected Porto Montenegro at Tivat will be developed as a new port for the growing mega yacht industry. Currently, ports are limited in their
capacity to dock the massive private yachts that are a growing trend in the industry. A development partnership driven by Canadian billionaire businessman Peter Munk, with the Four Seasons Hotel, is now proceeding with the redevelopment of the 25-acre former base. The project is estimated to provide a net gain of 5,000 new jobs upon completion. The overall economic impact of the project is estimated to be 80 million Euros to Montenegro's annual GDP. The transformation will be monumental. Our group joked about a reunion scheduled to coincide with the grand opening. Some of us were serious!

Our final day in Montenegro provided us with the opportunity to meet the president, Filip Vujanovic (pictured below, center). He was very cordial, a gracious host and after some brief comments he spent nearly an hour taking our questions. I know we surprised him with our newly adopted passion for his country and the range of the issues and geography we covered. We left the meeting with the strong sense that Montenegro's independence in 2006 was a major milestone for the country and the president. Our visit was posted to the president's website on the same day. The remainder of our meetings focused on perspective on the future agenda items for the country including the further development of political opposition parties, education and workforce issues, human rights, and dialogue and reconciliation over the civil war. According to our coordinator Dali, on the issues of the civil war, "these issues must be confronted and not buried. This is the only way to prevent them from happening again," she said. I respected her strength and integrity.

I was touched at how connected I felt at the end of this visit. It was a little emotional and very transformative for me personally. I was sad to leave as I was just getting started. I will have to find a way to return one day.

Kevin Cottrell is Executive Director of the Southern California Leadership Network, blogging from his fellowship with the German Marshall Fund in Europe.