Phoebe Stein is Executive Director of the Maryland Humanities Council (MHC), a nonprofit that uses the humanities to stimulate and promote informed dialogue and civic engagement on critical issues with the citizens of Maryland.

Peter:

How would you describe your leadership of the MHC?

Phoebe:

My role is to create an atmosphere for the best work to be done, where there can be collaboration and respect, and hopefully some fun, too.

I think I have a lot to learn. That’s important to me. I have a sense of humor. You have to be able to laugh at yourself, take a look at yourself and understand what’s motivating you as a leader.

What motivates me is getting to synergy, getting people excited and united in the core of what we’re doing. Everyone doesn’t have to agree.

The most personal aspect (of leadership), to me, is my 10 years of Quaker education, which is about consensus and consensus building, that there is a light in all of us. It’s hard for me to shake that. We do a lot of things collaboratively here. It may be frustrating, at times, to wait until everyone is on the same page to move forward. And I’m beginning to realize maybe that’s not always possible. I’m not a Quaker, but my Quaker education really factors in how I lead.

Peter:

How does having a Ph.D. in Literature inform your leadership?

Phoebe:

All the studying and research that I did helps me have a great attention to detail in service of the bigger picture of what we’re doing here. What difference are we making? How can we give people access to the kind of aha moments that many of us had reading a poem, a short story, experiencing theater or philosophy? How can we provide those opportunities in libraries, hospitals, and VFW halls free of charge?

Being a good reader and a good listener is always helpful, and I think it’s not so much about the Ph.D. as it is the teaching that I did. I remember my reviews for teaching that said, “Some of this I found kind of boring, but, she’s really into it.” The passion I exuded for the work and what we were looking at, and enthusiasm, that’s something that serves me well as a leader.

Peter:

Where does your passion lie? What moves you?

Phoebe:

Personally, it lies with my family, my family relationships, the history of my family, and our history in Baltimore. I love that.

Literature, more specifically, moves me. I include poetry in that. The way writers can capture a feeling or essence in language I never would have been able to think of. Being able to tap into a whole expansive emotional experience through a fictional world.

Professionally, my colleagues have my back. They get me out of bed in the morning. They’re wonderful people to work with. And I’m passionate about seeing the humanities help us understand ourselves and others better.

Peter:

MHC serves Maryland. You have a diverse board, staff, a host of volunteers, and many strategic partners. How do you keep everyone on the same page headed in the same direction?

Phoebe:

I show up. Other members of the staff and I travel all over the state. There’s no substitute for an authentic presence in the community.

By reaching out. It could be email, a phone call is better, and best is getting in the car and going there to programs we fund, programs that are run by our partners, and programs we create and run ourselves. Being present and experiencing our programs in the way that our participants do. To quote Margaret Wheatley, “…participate more than plan.”

Peter:

How are storytelling and leadership linked?

Phoebe:

We tell the story every day through our social media, our website, through press releases, and in personal communication. Repeating what we are doing and why it matters.

Telling the story of how to get people to gather and provide them the space for reflection, for these aha moments, to more fully understand what it means to be human. Lifelong learning comes through from a shared cultural context even though we may have many different traditions.

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My goal with the leadership column is to create a bridge between the up and coming cultural creatives and entrepreneurs driving the Baltimore Renaissance and established leaders who have made an impact in the world. We have much to learn from each other.