Marc Morial - The Gumbo Coalition: 10 Leadership Lessons That Help You Inspire, Unite, and Achieve

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Praise for

THE GUMBO COALITION

When Marc talks about building coalitions to successfully meet challenges, hes not only talking theory; hes sharing with readers what hes practiced his entire life.

TIM MURPHY,

General Counsel of Mastercard

I found the words of The Gumbo Coalition ministering to my spirit. Readers of Marc Morials blessed work will find an uplifting, challenging, and encouraging word they can use along their journeys to becoming their best selves.

BISHOP PAUL S. MORTON,

Pastor, Recording Artist, Author

As witness and participant to Marc Morials gumbo skills over many years, his actions speak loudly alongside his words. The combination wins the outcomes that are Marcs leadership hallmarks. To see him in action is to see his embrace of the youngest, least certain to the oldest, most experienced; to feel his strength building momentum tempered by his compassion for all, including those with differences; to witness his respect for each person in his presence and their desire to be encouraged and emboldened by his deeds and assurances. His story and leadership benefit us all.

JOHN HOFMEISTER,

Founding CEO of Citizens for Affordable Energy, Former President of Shell Oil Company

The Gumbo Coalition will help you avoid so many of the pitfalls I and others learned the hard way. Bravo Marc Morial, on penning this contemporary classic.

SIMON LESLIE,

CEO of Ink, Author of There Is No F in Sales

Marc Morials The Gumbo Coalition underscores the essentiality of multicultural, coalition-focused leadership in the twenty-first centurya leadership where all communities sit at the table as equals.

JANET MURGUA,

President and CEO of UnidosUS

Marc Morial is a star of strategy and execution. The Gumbo Coalition, a deeply personal, easy read, brings alive the generational wisdom that lives in the heart and soul of one of the most admired leaders of our time. A winning recipe for achievement, it illuminates behaviors that get in our way and demonstrates that you never have to sacrifice your soul to succeed in building on any front. This is a book that will help you thrive and save you time, money, and heartache. I wish I had it at the beginning my career.

SUSAN L. TAYLOR,

Founder and CEO of National CARES Mentoring Movement, Editor-in-Chief Emerita of Essence magazine

2020 by Marc Morial

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or otherexcept for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Published by HarperCollins Leadership, an imprint of HarperCollins Focus LLC, in association with One Street Books. Any internet addresses, phone numbers, or company or product information printed in this book are offered as a resource and are not intended in any way to be or to imply an endorsement by HarperCollins Leadership, nor does HarperCollins Leadership vouch for the existence, content, or services of these sites, phone numbers, companies, or products beyond the life of this book.

ISBN 978-1-4002-1629-1 (Ebook)

ISBN 978-1-4002-1628-4 (HC)

Epub Edition March 2020 9781400216291

Library of Congress Control Number: 2019956839

Printed in the United States of America

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Contents

W hen my friend Marc told me that he was writing a book, I couldnt wait to read it. Hes a lifelong crusader for civil rights, has had one of the all-time great careers, and is a gripping storyteller. I knew his book would be outstanding.

Then I read it. I was rightit is outstanding. And its outstanding in ways I didnt expect.

This book captures Marcs extraordinary journey from the youngest mayor in the history of New Orleans to the head of the National Urban League, one of the countrys leading civil rights organizations. In these pages, he tells the story of that mayoral race, which he won against more experienced candidates; his fight to get racial bias out of judicial elections in Louisiana; his tough battles to reduce crime and police corruption in New Orleans; and how he transformed the National Urban League from a loose group of individual affiliates into a strong, united national team. Though this book does a good deal of looking back, it feels entirely current. So many of the issues Marc has taken on still demand our moral and political attention. So many of the fights he fought are still being waged by courageous activists across the country. Anyone who wants to know more about politics, organizing, and what its really like inside the fight for equityin New Orleans, in Louisiana, and across Americashould read this book.

But while The Gumbo Coalition is a fascinating political memoir, its also something more: a leadership manual, complete with checklists, tips, and pitfalls to avoid. Marc writes about how to increase your collective power by building consensus, how vital it is to communicate your vision to your team at every step, and how networking done right is about building purposeful and intentional relationships for the common good. This playbook is both practical and deeply principled. And the theme that unites it allthe core of Marcs leadership philosophyis the value of building diverse and inclusive teams.

To my mind, that makes The Gumbo Coalition essential reading for people across sectorsespecially business leaders.

The business case for diversity and inclusion is incontrovertible, yet too many companies either dont know it or dont completely buy it. C-suites are still overwhelmingly white and male. The pipeline numbers are moving far too slowly. Marc has worked hard to improve diversity in corporate America; he spends a chapter outlining how the National Urban League partnered with several corporations to set concrete goals to hire and promote more people of color. As he explains, theres a great deal of research that diverse companies, schools, and other organizations far outpace their competition in terms of profits, market share, innovation, and overall effectiveness. The top leaders of our time will be those who know how to take full advantage of Americas incredible diversityand who can build workplaces that make everyone feel included and valued. As someone who has spent a lot of time studying the corporate gender gap, I couldnt agree more with Marcs analysisand I truly believe this book will help people embrace and activate their commitment to diversity, to the benefit of us all.

Marc describes his approach to leadership as gumbo, the classic Louisiana dish that melds African, Native American, French, and Spanish culinary traditions. Throughout my life, Ive found myself creating diverse teams before I even realized their power, he writes. As I grew older, I realized that my penchant for coalition-building was really gumbo principles at work in the world.

Im grateful that someone of Marc Morials talent and character has dedicated his life to making our country more just and equal. He has made and witnessed historyand took notes all along the way. Now hes turned those notes into this wise and warm book. The country and our workplaces will be the better for it.