Liberty Fellowship looks to put S.C. in forefront
The organizers hoped 400 or 500 would come.
Instead, the meeting hall at the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center filled to capacity Tuesday with nearly 750 people eager to transform South Carolina.
The Liberty Fellowship Summit 2010 marked a turning point for a program started in October 2003. Seven years and 140 fellows later, it was time to include all like-minded South Carolinians, to identify allies and issues, to focus -- to push the state into the future.
The Liberty Fellowship, started by Hayne Hipp in collaboration with Wofford College President Bernie Dunlap, was inspired by a seminar the men attended at the Aspen Institute. That experience, which focused on the concepts of the Just Society and purpose-driven life, and drew from classical sources such as Aristotle and Socrates, formed the basis of the South Carolina program, Hipp said.
"Bernie and I felt that in South Carolina there were a number of bright young leaders, but there didn't appear to be a platform where they could come together and discuss issues that South Carolinafaced, and do it in the framework of the classics," Hipp said.
The Liberty Fellowship, a 21-month program of seminars and collaborative forums, is designed to cultivate new generations of leaders, successful in their fields, active in their communities; leaders who have the potential to make an impact at the state level, to improve the quality of life for the residents of the state and, by extension, improve the standing of South Carolina nationally, he said.
Each year, hundreds are nominated and 20 are chosen, 15 from the business world, five from the nonprofit sector. Fellows focus on public policy, education issues, health and the environment and economic development.
At the summit, fellows led discussions based on a framework provided by keynote speaker Dan Heath, co-author of "Switch," a book on how to effect change.
Participants were divided into groups based on selected areas of interest, then challenged to identify a problem and devise a scenario for fixing it.
It was not a frivolous exercise, but one that will lead to a series of follow-up webinars and, possibly, the formation of action groups, organizers explained.
In attendance were many of the state's legislators, mayors, nonprofit executives, business leaders and education specialists. The Charleston area has produced 18 fellows.
Hipp prides himself on the nonpartisan and diverse nature of the program. Fellows come from all corners of the state and all walks of life. Blacks and women are well-represented (indeed, issues of race and equality are among the program's hot topics).
The problem, Hipp said, is that South Carolina's divided into recalcitrant "silos" in which various interests act independently. "South Carolina, being a relatively small state and tight-knit community, has more than its fair share."
Over time, Hipp and the fellows hope to break down silos and reach across divides, fostering respectful dialogue and promoting substantive change.
This, he said, depends on embracing a variety of viewpoints and encouraging honest discussion.
You cannot have a great symphony with 20 world-class flutists, Hipp and Dunlap like to say.
The Rev. Bill Stanfield, co-founder and chief executive of Metanoia Community Development Corp. in North Charleston and a 2011 graduate of the program, said the experience "fuels my fire."
"I take comfort in knowing that others in the state think along similar lines," he said. There's just one common denominator: a willingness to listen and learn, to consider the ideas of others.
The program provides a safe zone where confidentiality is respected, Stanfield and other fellows said. This allows people to share honest opinions, to reveal aspects of their thinking that weren't known before. It creates channels of communication between people who often don't agree on the issues, and those channels are sustained once the program is finished.
Kathleen Wilson, a member of Charleston City Council and a 2010 Fellow, agreed. She said access to "a huge brain trust" is a good "way to break out of a trench," explore "new ways of thinking" and learn from others with more experience.
"I routinely touch base with other fellows in Charleston and outside Charleston," she said. "It's absolutely made me a better thinker."
The Liberty Fellowship is privately funded. Some money is contributed by corporations, but most comes from a family foundation Hipp established. Former CEO of Greenville-based Liberty Corp. and a trustee of the Aspen Institute, Hipp is now dedicated to expanding the program and sending enlightened, forward-looking leaders into every corner of the state.
Jennie Johnson, executive director of the Liberty Fellowship and member of Gov.-elect Nikki Haley's transition team, said it took a leap of faith to launch the initiative.
She said the program has gained traction, and the fellows expressed a desire to include more people in the transformation process.
"The fellows said they wanted a platform on which to build the issues," which is why the summit was organized and the forums coordinated, Johnson said. "We realized quickly it was going to take as many South Carolinians of goodwill as possible to make it work."
The program now is open to any state resident interested in joining a forum and willing to follow the rules of engagement. "This is a big undertaking," she said. "We're hoping for a snowball effect."
The aim, Johnson added, is not to coerce and persuade others to change their political views but "to change the culture of discourse" and the way problems are approached.
Hipp said there are 12 similar programs operating around the world, giving Liberty Fellows a chance to share ideas with leaders from other countries.
"It gives us a real chance to showcase the community and (opportunities) that South Carolina can offer," he said.
At one of the many tables on Tuesday, Class of 2011 Liberty Fellow Deb Sofield of Greenville led a public policy discussion. The focus was the state Legislature. The issue was accountability. Should votes be secret? Probably not, most said. But conservationist John Ramsburgh pointed out that secret ballots can liberate lawmakers, enable them to vote in ways their party allies might not agree but their constituents might appreciate. It's a double-edged sword, he said.
Still, transparency led to accountability, and accountability was essential, all agreed.
So the table came up with a plan -- a small, manageable, doable plan. It probably wouldn't cost that much money, they said. Why not upgrade the website of the state Legislature, make it work more like the Library of Congress' THOMAS system? Votes could be captured and published online in real time. More information on bills could be made available to the public. Journalists would have an easier time accessing critical information and tracking the votes of elected officials.
And so they discussed the matter. Perhaps academia could be involved and help pay for the project in exchange for research opportunities. It would be part of a Sunshine Campaign.
And perhaps here was a small example of idea incubation at work. Here was a group of people assembled based on their general public policy interests engaged in a collaborative problem-solving discussion.
They were attempting "to break out of a trench." They were justifying Hipp's determination "to invest in the bloodstream of the state." They were demonstrating what Hipp and Dunlap and many of the fellows described as a "spirited" and "respectful" dialogue.
In his address to the group, Hipp paraphrased cultural anthropologist Margaret Mead. "Never underestimate what a small group of people can do to change the world," he said.
