Is Your Leadership Reliable and Valid?

 My partner at Academy Leadership is Dr. Carr Boyd.  Six months ago (December 2008) Carr and I published an article in Fire Engineering Magazine titled How to get the Most of Hiring and Promotional Exams (viewable at http://www.fireengineering.com/display_article/347478/25/none/none/Feat/How-To-Get-the-Most-Out-of-Hiring-and-Promotional-Exam).  The main point of the article is that exams for hiring or promotional processes must be both reliable and valid.  If they are not reliable and valid, they are not worth the paper they are printed on.

 

     In a few days the U. S. Congress will commence one of its most important functions when they sit for confirmation hearings for prospective Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor.   The key question for the Congress is,  “Can Judge Sotomayor be a reliable and valid leader of the American judicial system?” 

 

     Can you guess what the debate will likely orbit around?  That’s right… Judge Sotomayor’s confirmation may hinge upon her decision (some would say non-decision) in Ricci v. New Haven, a case about the reliability and validity of fire department promotion exams!  

     To sum up the case, the City of New Haven gave a written exam to determine firefighter promotions.  When the results of the exam came back, there were no blacks or Hispanics eligible for promtion.  So New Haven simply threw out the results.  Firefighter Ricci, a white firefighter who passed the test and was set for promotion, sued the City for reverse discrimination.  So far the Courts, including Sotomayor’s, have sided with the City of New Haven’s decision to throw out the test.

 

     What is about reliability and validity?  Basically validity means what you are doing is right, and reliability means it is consistent.  With respect to Sotomayor’s confirmation, the jury is out on both questions.  It isn’t so much what she wrote in the Ricci decision as what she didn’t write.  Her previous decisions, along with remarks she has made during speeches, indicate that she has thoughtful and considered opinions about Constitutional issues regarding race and ethnicity.  She’s written extensively on these issues.  However, in the case of Ricci, the decision was basically a short paragraph!  This in spite of the fact that the legal community regards Ricci v. New Haven as a very important legal issue.

 

   So what gives?  How is that a couple of simple firefighters like Carr and myself can sling out a few thousand words on the issue, but a potential Supreme Court Justice shrugs it off in a few sentences? 

 

    I really don’t know enough about the law to propose an answer to that obvious question.  I do know that leaders MUST be reliable and valid in their courage to face controversial issues head-on despite possible repercussions.  Leaders cannot hide from controversial issues.  Is that what happened with Sotomayor in Ricci v. New Haven?  When you’re on the cusp of something like a Supreme Court nomination it’s tempting to keep your head down and lay low… to avoid a controversy that might derail your dream.

 

   Odds are that Sotomayor will be seated on the high Court, but not before she gives a pound of flesh for an important decision that seems neither reliable nor valid when viewed against her other decisions.

    The only way for leaders to ensure reliability and validity is to make sure their leadership philosophy is well-conceived and open for all to see.  When this alignment is assured, there is no reason to side step decisions. 

 

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