CitizensLeague VerneJohnson CivicLeadership

Expanding Minnesotas Conversation
Making Minnesota a leading-edge state

A call for civic leadership
By Verne Johnson
he 60th anniversary of the Citizens League is an opportunity to look to the future. We cannot rest on what we have, because times are changing. Since my time as director of the Citizens League, politics have grown more confrontational. I think this is in part because we dont have a clear idea about our direction. We lack a vision, and without a vision you cant know where you are going. Our concept for the future should include making Minnesota a leading-edge state. This will not happen through our taxing or spendingthe most common topics that divide usbut by what we do and how we do it. We must strive for the opportunity to change, recognizing now that we cannot cut or tax our way to greatness. We need to redesign. Leadership must be shown by the executive, term after term. Gov. Mark Dayton demonstrated with the recent stadium debate what vision and leadership from the states executive can do. The Legislature is an essential and important partner, but nothing in government surpasses the capacity of the position of governor to set a vision and drive it. But leadership also needs to come from business. When former Citizens League
president and board member Jim Hetland passed this spring, Minnesota lost a brilliant man, and I lost a friend and colleague of 50 years. Reflecting on his life, I was reminded about the nature of civic leadership and my days at the League: It is about professionals and executives getting involved themselves, not relegating community involvement to public relations or making donations and ending their commitment there. When I decided at age 55 to retire as vice president at General Mills, they asked me to identify a project for the public good and direct it for one year. The company had done this before with Stevens Court, a successful housing project in Minneapolis that empowered people to live with dignity, improved a neighborhood and was financially self-sustaining. Our CEO was proud of what they had accomplished with Stevens Court in applying business principles to doing public good. The project we agreed upon was to provide care options for older citizens who were no longer able to live on their own but did not yet need a nursing home. This was a present and growing problem for families and the government. General Mills made the project a priority among its executive leadership, and professionals
within the company made it part of their portfolios. What emerged was Elder Homestead and the organization Altcare the first of what came to be known as assisted living facilities. I stayed for 10 years as CEO, and by the end it was in the black and sustainable. Peoples lives improved, families and taxpayers saved money, and Minnesota againas it has in so many areasled the nation in the development of a new theme. We need new generations to come in to redesign, to find creative ideas for organizations or for policy. Education and health care provide two of the most pressing opportunities. They are two prime examples of areas where Minnesota is already No. 1, but not as good as we can be or need to be. We can lead the country, and people will follow. We need to recognize that the future is full of opportunity and we need to seize it. Minnesota needs leadership and vision if it is to continue to be a leading-edge state. Without leadership, the politicians dither. Its time that business leadership, foundations and other civic organizations reengage in the work of redesign.
Verne Johnson was the executive director of the Citizens League from 1958-1967 and is a member.
60 years of impact through innovation

A former state legislator, Verne Johnson led the Citizens League as executive director from 1958 to 1967 and subsequently served as board president. During Johnsons tenure, the Citizens Leagues ability to positively influence policy in the state grew immensely, and it broadened its focus to affect the entire state of Minnesota. In the early days of the Citizens League, Verne Johnson and his contemporaries imagined new roles for citizens, and generated innovative and seemingly impossible policy ideas. Johnson passed along a knack for innovative thinking to his son, Ron, who will be the featured speaker at the Citizens Leagues Civic Celebration event this October. Now CEO of J. C. Penney, Ron Johnson has created some of the most significant retail concepts in a generation. He is recognized for bringing affordable versions of designer products into Target Stores and pioneered the concept of the Apple Stores and their Genius Bars. On Oct. 25, Ron Johnson will share lessons on innovation and imagination he learned from his father and from his retail successes. He will also describe how, as the Citizens League believes, all individuals and all organizations can and must be involved in innovating and generating new policy solutions. This is what we call civic policy making. Join us to celebrate the Citizens Leagues 60 years of accomplishments for Minnesota, and to look ahead to a new generation of policy innovation.
SUMMER 2012
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CitizensLeague VerneJohnson CivicLeadership

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Expanding Minnesotas Conversation

Making Minnesota a leading-edge state

60 years of impact through innovation

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