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- This is One-On-One.

- I'm an equal American just like you are.

- The way we change Presidents in this country is by voting.

- A quartet is already a jawn, it’s just The New Jawn.

- January 6th was not some sort of violent, crazy outlier.

- I don't care how good you are or how good you think you are, there is always something to learn.

- I mean what other country sends comedians over to embedded military to make them feel better.

- People call me 'cause they feel nobody's paying attention.

_ It’s not all about memorizing and getting information, it’s what you do with that information.

- (slowly) Start talking right now.

- That's a good question, high five.

(upbeat music) - Hi, everyone, Steve Adubato.

We kick off the program with an important conversation with Donna Walker Kuhne, who is senior advisor for diversity, equity, and inclusion at the great New Jersey Performing Arts Center, otherwise known as NJPAC.

Donna, great to have you with us.

- Thank you so much.

- Well, listen, we've talked to John Schreiber and others at NJPAC, and many of your folks and colleagues on the art side.

You're on a different side of the house dealing with different issues.

Describe the work of diversity, equity, and inclusion at NJPAC, please.

- Yes, so I am the senior advisor of diversity, equity, and inclusion, and we created this role approximately four years ago when we started looking at our strategic plan and realized that we wanted to make sure that DEI was a pillar of NJPAC and how we do business on every level, every aspect.

So it's more of a thread as to how we're making sure that we are recognizing the diversity, particularly of Newark, New Jersey, that we are being as equitable as possible in how we deal with our staff, and our artists, our students, that we are including as many people as possible in the conversations, and, of course, looking at accessibility from a neural disability perspective, as well as the physical components.

- Donna, let me ask you this, there's a new initiative called Standing in Solidarity.

- Yes.

- What is it, and why is it so impactful?

- So after the murder of George Floyd, NJPAC really started thinking very quickly about how can we be responsive as the state's cultural anchor institution?

How can we really demonstrate what it means to be anti-discriminatory arts organization?

And we already had a series called the PSEG True Diversity Film Series.

We had been running those films and panel discussions five years prior to 2020.

So we decided to use that format, but focus on social justice topics that primarily impact Black and Brown, LGBTQ, and women.

And so we launched immediately that July with our first series, and if you recall, we were in the pandemic, so all of this was on Zoom.

So each month we present a social justice topic with action steps and solutions.

And so we choose a film that reflects the theme, and then we bring together panelists who have expertise in these particular areas.

- Donna, we're gonna put up the website for the New Jersey Performing Arts Center so people can find out more.

I'm curious about this, and I've talked to John Schreiber about this, the CEO there, many times, on the air and off the air.

So I often wonder, and this is in connection with this initiative, the Black Jewish Dinner Dialogue.

First of all, what is that?

And then, I'll ask my question.

What is the Black Jewish Dinner Dialogue?

- That is a monthly series of dialogues between Jewish leadership, primarily rabbis, and heads of civic organizations, as well as Black faith-based, and civic leaders, and educators.

We come together every month and we talk about how do we get to know each other more deeply?

What are the issues that each of us faces?

And how can we unite?

How can we look at solidarity, and what would that mean in 2024?

- I actually had this conversation with Dr. Cornel West recently, and I asked him in the interview, why is it so hard for so many of us to have honest conversations about race, racial differences, race relations?

We had an interesting conversation about it.

But let's shift this a little bit.

As hard as it is, what role do you believe NJPAC potentially plays in creating possible dialogue between those in the Jewish community, those who are strong advocates of Israel, particularly given the horrific events of October 7th, and those who are sensitive to the experience of those in Gaza, Palestinians, who are clearly suffering?

Here's the question, is there a possibility to actually have a real dialogue that's respectful and meaningful, acknowledging some differences and similarities, but at least talk to each other, not past each other?

Is there a question there at all, Donna?

- Oh, I can answer that on two levels.

- Sure.

- Personally, I do believe there's an opportunity for dialogue.

It's difficult, but I do believe that personally.

As an institution, we have chosen not to make a public statement on either side of the Middle East conflict, but what we do believe is in peace.

And we do believe that we want to support any effort that is advocating people looking at the humanity that we all have and the dignity of life that we all share.

So that's our position regarding- - But we can talk, you're saying it's not about taking, I'm not talking about taking a position, because we're trying to do meaningful programming in this area and it's challenging.

Is it realistic at NJPAC and other organizations, like ours and others, can have leaders in the Jewish community and leaders in the Palestinian/Muslim community together to have a conversation?

Or is it, "Let's stay away from that"?

- That's an interesting question.

I think that's something we would be discussing more internally, but immediately I would say, yes, I believe that we can.

I think it will be challenging and difficult.

But with these monthly dialogues that we've been having, it's laid the foundation of how to really support and respect, regardless of perhaps political beliefs, and that we believe is important as an anchor institution.

- You know, the whole concept of being anti-racist or an anti-racist initiative, NJPAC's involved, other folks that we are connected to have anti-racism, anti-racist initiative.

Donna, is it about potentially trying to change people's hearts?

Or help them try to understand our own prejudice and racism and confront why it's so dangerous?

I know it's a loaded question.

- Yes.

- Go ahead, please.

- No, it's a perfect question, because that's a lot of my responsibility here.

So we have online diversity training four times per year, and we've been doing this now for three years.

After each of these mandatory staff trainings, we have small group discussions that I lead, and in these discussions we unpack what does it mean to have bias?

What does it mean to have microaggressions?

What does it feel like and how can we be conscious of that?

So we're very active on that lane.

And then, we have a book club where we read books that also inform us about shared identities regardless of what we look like culturally or racially.

And that has been a wonderful opportunity for us to deepen our knowledge of each other.

Our focus here is really building a culture of inclusion.

In order to do that, we have to unpack what are the barriers.

And, fortunately, because John Schreiber is leading the way, and that's imperative that the CEO has solid footprints in this area, you know, we're able to create this culture, I think, in a very robust and authentic way.

- Well said, Donna.

- Thank you.

- We need more of the work you're doing every day.

Can't thank you enough for joining us, we appreciate it.

- Thank you so much.

- You got it.

Stay with us, we'll be right back.

- [Narrator] To watch more One on One with Steve Adubato find us online and follow us on Social media.

- Recently on our series, Lessons and Leadership, our sister series, my colleague, Mary, again, when I interviewed Dr. Stan Brown, who's Executive Director and Professor in the practice of leadership at the Buccino Leadership Institute at Seton Hall University, one of our higher ed partners, we talked to Dr. Brown about leadership today, how it's evolved, how he's evolved as a leader.

And the importance of teaching leadership, frankly, to young people in colleges and universities.

Some people argue and question whether university life, college life, higher ed is even relevant anymore.

Well it is in the eyes of Dr. Brown and he talked about the work that needs to be done to help the next generation of leaders make a difference in a very complicated, challenging world we're living in.

This is Dr. Brown from Seton Hall.

- Dr. Brown, great to have you with us.

- Great to be here, thank you.

Thank you for inviting me.

- You got it.

We see the Seton Hall logo behind you, and let me ask you this, you come to Seton Hall and the Buccino Leadership Institute where I've taught and I've learned so much from your students there and your colleagues, and you come from a very diverse background in corporate America and other places.

Your philosophy and approach to leadership developed by so many, who would you say, if you had to pick one, possibly two, the most significant influencers of your leadership approach and philosophy would be?

- Oh wow.

I'd probably have two or three, but let em give you one at a time.

One was my father, Sherman Brown Sr., and a big part of why I would, you know, say he's a role model, or was a role model for me, was just being able to lead through adversity, you know, he and my mom raised three boys, you know, through the 70s, 80s and 90s.

And I never heard a peep of a complaint from him.

And so I think from a leadership perspective, being able to go through, whether it's crucible moments, downturns in your life, whatever it might be happening in the environment, but no one else knows that you're suffering, right, because you're always being a servant and being a servant leader, so actually, I'll stay with that one, because it's just been sort of a guiding point in my life.

You know, he left us over maybe 15 years ago, but it stays true to my heart about how I lead and leading the way he would.

- The word, "Grit," when you're talking about your dad, you didn't use the word, but it seems to me, didn't complain, no matter how tough times were.

He had a tremendous amount of grit and he imbued that in you.

Long winded way to get to this question.

There are some who argue that younger people, college students today coming out, that they lack the, "grit," needed to get through tough times because too many of us have told them too often how great they are and they're not necessarily, a lot of generalizations here, I know, they're not great at hearing tough talk and tough conversations, and they don't have a lot of grit.

I don't know if I buy it.

What do you say, Doctor?

- Yeah, well and I think that's our fault.

I also have a college-aged, you know, Junior, and sometimes we're protecting our kids so much, right, and I think with my dad, call it grit, call it resilience, it's sort of something that you learn as you grow up and go through experiences, and I think as parents, since I spent some time in the K12 industry running charter schools and leading there, we want to protect them so much, but they need these experiences, so, you know, I would say, and again, I've been so impressed with the students in our program at the Buccino Leadership Institute, and a lot of them have been through some stuff and they've gotten that grit, you know, a lot of things happened in their life before they got here that took that edge off.

But others, you know, need to go through some experiences, and some of them will go through it later in life, and some go through it early.

But I am also a believer in grit, and it's kind of hard to teach, and that's why with you having, you know, experiential learning, what we do here that sort of anchors our curriculum can put you in those situations, at least in a somewhat safe environment before you go out in the real world.

But I believe that's important, that you gotta be resilient and have grit to be able to manage, you know, changes in your environment.

- If a global pandemic hasn't taught us the need for resilience and grit, I don't know what will.

Go ahead, Mary.

- Yeah, one thing that I was thinking about as you were talking is the connection between, we have our young adults, I know the Buccino Leadership Institute prides itself in taking students from different disciplines, right.

So you're bringing them into this cohort, this group of students.

Some may be a computer science major.

Some may be art.

Some may be an English major.

Some may be political science.

What advice do you have for young adults today to remain open-minded to other's points of view, especially tied to leadership, because when you bring all those people into a room, there must be conflicting views.

What is your viewpoint, and what is your hope for the Buccino Leadership Institute in that regard?

- Sure, that's a great question, great point.

So I have the belief, and I've been in a lot of different places from insurance companies to big, you know, banks and very small schools, you know, that you try to run, and I would tell you that...

I would tell students that you have to honor the diversity of thought.

And as many aspects of diversity, but particularly diversity of thought, because you're gonna learn from that.

So respect that people have different ways, different routes to a solution and I experienced that, you know, I was trained to, you know, as a management consultant is that, you know, this is how you help a client get there and you get there pretty quickly and you have different tools and methodology.

And then when I jump into the K12 industry and part of higher ed, they just think differently.

No less smarter, maybe a little bit smarter than other folks I've found in the industry, but there's different routes to get there.

So if you don't respect that, and as a leader, you're gonna miss what the answer is, 'cause the answer's all around you.

And so I think that, respecting the diversity of thought and that's why we put our students in these interdisciplinary teams, Mary, so they can see how someone whose gonna start in nursing and then you have a finance person, they're together on a project, and they may come at it differently, right, 'cause they go through, there's just different ways, particularly as they go through their years here at Seton Hall.

Different ways they've been being taught to think, and in the leadership organization, and once you've been able to take all that in and then make decisions collectively and then individually, too, based on that diversity of thought to come up with a really good solution.

- Question in your mind, what is the correlation, the connection, Dr. Brown, between being a great leader and being a solid, confident, communicator under pressure?

- Got you.

It is almost one in the same.

Right, so you could be a great thinker, tactition, you have the answer, you made the calculation, you've done other stuff.

If you cannot communicate and influence people that you are a path to be able to follow, you're gonna be dead in the water.

Right and even, you know, we see that in our politics, in the world about, it's about how can I convince people, have the decision signs behind me that I can present to folks who like to hear that type of stuff or read it, but also have people to be able to follow me, so if folks are not gonna follow you, I don't care what type of answer you got, it's not gonna work.

If you are also, you know, I guess what the kids say, into your feelings, right, you caught some feelings, you're also, you know, you're emoting, right, along with everyone else 'cause you're under crisis.

Is that folks can hear that you have a solution and so I think being able to... And that's part of communication, that's part of particularly with, you know, our millennials and Gen Z's that, you know, it's claimed that their attention span is a lot shorter because of everything they're exposed to, is that how do I get people's attention right away?

Yes, and the phone, and knowing what's true, what's false, you know, there's a lot of conflicting information.

And just, you know, what do you do at that period of time, so it's very important to be an effective communicator, that's in your speech, and how you write.

You know, you have to teach kids nowadays in college how to go back to writing and being able to write something, you know, critically and have it believable.

And then, you know, your posture and the etiquette you take when you're inside a meeting that folks see your executive presence and know that oh, you know, the way you're standing, the way you're moving your hands, obviously what you put on the screen if you're using PowerPoint just makes sense and communicates that you have good sense of what the direction should be.

- To Seton Hall University's credit, and the Buccino Leadership Institute, the fact that they acknowledge the importance, regardless of what someone's major is, and they have this diverse group of students at the Buccino Leadership Institute, to understand the importance of having executive presence, as Dr. Brown said, particularly in pressure, filled situations, that is leadership.

We thank you and all your colleagues at the Buccino Leadership Institute and our great friends and partners at Seton Hall University.

Thank you, Doctor.

- You're welcome.

Wonderful to be here.

- You got it.

We'll see you right after this.

- [Narrator] To watch more One on One with Steve Adubato find us online and follow us on Social media.

- We're now joined by Michele Adubato, Chief Executive Officer of the North Ward Center, and the founder of the Center for Autism, my sister Michele.

Hey, how are we doing today?

- Hi.

Good.

- Why do you think it's so difficult for so many of us, and I'll say us, who create organizations, lead organizations, to create a succession plan that we are no longer the leader, that we have to hand the ball off?

Gotta take it, hand the...

I got a lot of props here, Michele.

You hand the ball off and you prepare people to take over.

You say?

- I say that as a founder of an organization, and yes, I run the North Ward Center and I'm proud to run the North Ward Center, but I founded the Center for Autism, and that's all I think, one of the major things I think about is what's gonna happen when I'm gone, is that you don't own it.

- Hold on, not only when you're gone, Michele.

Don't even just say when you're gone.

- When I'm done.

When this is- - Yes, go ahead.

- Whatever that looks like.

- Yes.

- It's not ours.

That's where I think people make a huge mistake, especially if they're nonprofits, or any business.

Who does it really belong to, okay?

And I look at it I guess the way other people look at it like it's mine, okay?

It's ours, okay?

I have a responsibility to make sure that the North Ward Center continues.

I have a responsibility to make sure that the Center for Autism is as strong as it was when I founded it.

And if I don't do that, I'm being irresponsible.

That's how I feel about it.

I'm irresponsible.

- But Michele, I'm gonna push back a little bit.

Everything you're saying makes perfect sense, and let me disclose the North Ward Center, a longtime underwriter of our programming, particularly in the field of autism awareness.

But let me try this.

The Caucus Educational Corporation our not-for-profit production company celebrating 30 years.

So, I created it with a bunch of people, right?

Some of whom not with us anymore, not working with us.

We have this great team.

How could I separate my stuff?

You said it's not for us.

I get it.

- Because you didn't create it on your own.

- Not at all.

- Okay?

You didn't.

No, you didn't.

- And it's not just- - Just like our father did not create the North Ward Center on his own, okay?

You were able to do this with the help of many people.

Yes, it was your initiative, just like it was my initiative to start the Center for Autism.

I absolutely could not have done that without the people that were around me.

And I think that's the key.

If we think- - Yeah, but Michele, hold on, I'm gonna push back on this way, in this way.

Everything you're saying makes perfect sense.

Logical.

It's rational.

But I'm dealing with the, to actually say, we separate ourselves and our ego, our self-esteem- - Yes, it's ego.

It's ego.

Maybe it's a guy thing.

I don't know.

- Oh, no, don't do that.

Seriously?

- (laughs) I'm just thinking.

- You think that's uniquely male?

- I think that when it comes to responsibility and when it comes to looking at certain organizations, and, again, I'm gonna look at it just from like a nonprofit standpoint, is that the fact of thinking that it's yours, it's not yours, okay?

It's not mine, okay?

There's a board of directors, there's funding that goes from, and there's guidelines with that funding.

And I honestly, you know, that's how I feel about it.

It's not mine.

Yes- - But you're personally invested.

- Yes, I leaned in to doing it.

I took that risk, okay?

And I said, "We're gonna do it."

You always need that person, you know, leading the charge.

But you said something in this really wonderful book, okay?

You know, and it says, you said about people, like, are everybody leaders, and it says, "I'm not going to wait until the boss tells me.

I'm gonna take initiative."

Those kind of people, if you have, you know, those people around you and you are able to do what you do, that's what makes success and that's how I founded the Center for Autism and how I continue to run the North Ward Center.

It's not mine.

I love it.

I love what I'm doing.

I'm so proud and I'm so honored to be doing it.

But I look at different people and go, "What about this person?

You know, how can I help this person?

Does this person fit into the future of our organization?"

That's something I think we absolutely have a responsibility.

- Do you think that a great organization can just have followers?

- Well, it all depends on how you define what a follower is.

I mean, I do think it's important to have, let's not use the word follower.

Let's use the word support team, okay?

I think a great organization has support teams and people who are supporting the organization.

And I do think that there has to be a level from the person that's running it to give license to other people to make decisions, to say, "I feel like whatever decision you're gonna make, I'm good with it."

And I think that's what's missing right now when it comes to leaders or, like, "Okay, I'm gonna make the decision, okay?

And this is how it's gonna go."

And I've really gone away from that in the past couple of years.

I'd say we've probably- - You've evolved as a leader in that way?

- I think I have.

I'm much more into saying to...

But it took a long time to get the people, you know, that are supposed to be here.

And I just ran, I'll give you an example.

I just ran a pretty big program for autism with Regina Belle.

There would be absolutely no way that I could have done that without my support team.

They ran it.

They ran everything.

- They led.

They led.

- And they made decisions.

They absolutely led.

So, they led in different ways, but they had it in their personality to do that.

You know, I don't know if you can teach it.

You can support it.

- Can you promote it and push it and encourage it?

- You can promote it and push it, but if the person, if the person keeps on saying, "Well, you know, I didn't know and I wasn't sure," and you have said over and over again to them, "But I'm giving you license to do this.

I want you to do this," and they don't do it, you gotta get them out.

My opinion.

- Out of the organization?

- 100%.

- We agree on this.

- Yeah, it's no help.

The reason why I'm doing as well, or the center, and then the Center for Autism, I have great, great people around, great leaders.

- Let me also say this to not just to Mary Gamba, but everyone on our team, you know who you are.

The credits will come up at the end of the show.

You don't just do your job, stay in your lane.

You step up, you speak up, you challenge, you lead, you question, "Hey, why don't we do this?

Why aren't we doing that?"

And that's what I said, not a mediocre team, but on a great team, everyone's gotta be a leader.

Hey, Michele, thank you for joining us, talking about leadership.

Good luck to you and the team at the North Ward Center and the Center for Autism.

Steve Adubato.

- Thank you.

- Michele Adubato.

We'll see you next time.

- [Narrator] One-On-One with Steve Adubato is a production of the Caucus Educational Corporation.

Celebrating 30 years in public broadcasting.

Funding has been provided by PSEG Foundation.

Newark Board of Education.

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey.

RWJBarnabas Health.

Let’s be healthy together.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

The Turrell Fund, a foundation serving children.

Wells Fargo.

And by The Fidelco Group.

Promotional support provided by NJ.Com.

And by BestofNJ.com.

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