PART III
The Cultural Foundations of Leadership
CULTURE DEFINES REALITY. EVEN AS a baby you were swaddled in your cultural loincloth: a tight serape close to your mother’s chest, a papoose carrier that kept you strong and upright, a cradle rocking by your parents’ bedside, a bold colorful kanga hanging from your mother’s back, or a buggy strolling through an urban neighborhood. Sounds, language tones, music, family size, food, home—all were determined by your cultural patterns. Most likely, everything you were taught and believed in was framed by a cultural lens.
Through these lenses, culture provides the focus through which groups of individuals define their world. It has been described as collective programming.1 Culture is tradition, customs, ethos, philosophy, and a way of life, the cloth that dresses our human experience. Culture is the norms—the dos and don’ts. One of its most significant functions is teaching values—the cultural ideal of how one should live.
Values are enduring beliefs describing ways of acting or being that are preferred by a given group. Cultures organize value systems and reinforce them through symbols, myths, education, role modeling, and oral communication. As noted, dichos (adages) are a shorthand way to infuse norms and values.
Two strong cultural streams that integrate Latino values are a humanistic (people) orientation and a love of diversity. These dynamics fashion an accessible, inclusive culture that celebrates people’s uniqueness. Most Latinos value people and community before material wealth or individual achievement. Relationships are the heart of the culture! Many values, therefore, emphasize the way people should relate to and treat one another. Chapter 6 explores the role that values play in framing leadership. Leaders must model and emulate these values in order to be seen as part of the community and someone people would want to follow.
Chapter 7 weaves the intriguing story of how a conglomerate of races, cultures, and nationalities was given a collective identity as Hispanics. This diversity has infused leadership with a bienvenido spirit that embraces an intergenerational approach. Today’s youthful demographics and growing influence emphasize the need to bring young Latinos into the leadership circle.