**4. Hierarchical, meritocratic and egalitarian-transformational local leaders**

The volume and quality of the resources given to politicians, whether material or abstract, existing or invented, may indicate very little about the real dynamics of leadership and urban change. Resources alone offer meager insight, if one ignores the question: What are the fundamental cultural values in a politician's background that guide the practical use of those resources? The following discusses this question and provides empirical comparisons of various types of local leaders in Yeruham.

#### **4.1. The geographic, political, sociological and cultural context**

Yeruham, inhabited by approximately 10,000 people [11], is a small disadvantaged town located in Israel's Negev desert, far from the biggest Israeli metropolitan areas. The political history of this town in the later twentieth century and early twenty-first century shows three substantial transformations, each with a distinct pattern: hierarchy, meritocracy and egalitarianism. Since its founding in 1955 and until the early 1983, Yeruham was markedly dominated by the Israeli establishment. The town was characterized by a high level of dependency and a client-patron-style relationship, further exacerbated in the 1980s, when it was governed by a mayor who employed a paternalistic and centralistic style (from 1983 to 1992). This mayor

<sup>6</sup> Svara ([8], Figures 2–4, p. 105). In Svara's words: the innovator is one who characterize by having a high level of "effectiveness in policy initiation" plus a high level of "effectiveness in implementation".

regularly bypassed the professional suggestions made by other officials and uprooted local criticism by means of a tactic of co-opting political rivals. At that time, such leadership norms had a great impact on Yeruham's residents. For example, the citizens were deeply convinced that if they have a tangible problem, the best way to handle it would be by seeking political assistance by means of gaining personal favor with the mayor, rather than making an effort to deal with their own problems by themselves. This political pattern changed significantly in 1992, when a young local leader, Mayor Moti Avisror, entered the Mayor's Office (1992–2003).

did Sheetrit correctly identify the competitive advantage of Yavne, he also tailored it to fit the target populations. Furthermore, after gaining this advantage, Sheetrit harnessed the abilities and high potential of his upper-middle class residents for the benefit of the greater Yavne community. Sheetrit accomplished these difficult and selfless tasks by remaining committed to his urban social vision, standing firm and engaging in tough negotiations with relatively strong people. To borrow a well-known typological model suggested by Svara [8], it seems that Sheetrit fits the *entrepreneurial* model of leadership (or the 'innovator'). According Svara, the *entrepreneurial* leader is one who sets a policy that strives to push forward *structural* 

The above analysis concentrated on the relationship between a mayor and his socio-political environment, showing that strong leadership can make a significant difference. However, this analysis may be deceptive and unintentionally lead some to a naïve attitude towards leadership, due to the use of the social-class perspective to analyze the 'leader-followers relationship', while taking for granted the cultural and value orientations of both the leader and the followers. To achieve a more comprehensive understanding of the mechanism of leadership, we must also incorporate the cultural context and the value orientation of the actors involved.

**4. Hierarchical, meritocratic and egalitarian-transformational local** 

The volume and quality of the resources given to politicians, whether material or abstract, existing or invented, may indicate very little about the real dynamics of leadership and urban change. Resources alone offer meager insight, if one ignores the question: What are the fundamental cultural values in a politician's background that guide the practical use of those resources? The following discusses this question and provides empirical comparisons of vari-

Yeruham, inhabited by approximately 10,000 people [11], is a small disadvantaged town located in Israel's Negev desert, far from the biggest Israeli metropolitan areas. The political history of this town in the later twentieth century and early twenty-first century shows three substantial transformations, each with a distinct pattern: hierarchy, meritocracy and egalitarianism. Since its founding in 1955 and until the early 1983, Yeruham was markedly dominated by the Israeli establishment. The town was characterized by a high level of dependency and a client-patron-style relationship, further exacerbated in the 1980s, when it was governed by a mayor who employed a paternalistic and centralistic style (from 1983 to 1992). This mayor

Svara ([8], Figures 2–4, p. 105). In Svara's words: the innovator is one who characterize by having a high level of "effec-

*reforms* within the urban sphere and successfully carries them.<sup>6</sup>

The following section highlights and clarifies this aspect.

**4.1. The geographic, political, sociological and cultural context**

tiveness in policy initiation" plus a high level of "effectiveness in implementation".

ous types of local leaders in Yeruham.

**leaders**

68 Leadership

6

Right after being elected, Avisror stated that he wished to substantially change the common practice in the Yeruham municipality and in city politics as a whole. Avisror took many steps designed to undermine the culture of dependency and to thwart the popular habit of leaning on exogenous political aid. He strove to make Yeruham a place where its citizens are prouder, more independent and self-sustaining. For instance, when local citizens would enter the Mayor's Office seeking help, Avisror would politely reject them, saying: "You should first go to the professional department manager, who'll gladly help you. If they can't help you there, then come back to me." Furthermore, in contrast to the former prevailing governing norms (based on access to the mayor being granted only to select political comrades or by nepotism), Mayor Avisror practiced norms based on professional considerations and meritocratic values. Thus, whenever the municipality of Yeruham sought to recruit professional contractors, Avisror insisted that the screening of potential candidates be given to impartial, private agencies that would examine them in accordance with professional criteria. He always explained to those seeking jobs within the municipality: "First, you should pass the external tests," (i.e., the relevant occupational aptitude tests). By applying such practices and policy, Avisror sought to change the 'old' well-established norms and to promote a political culture of professionalism and autonomy. Unsurprisingly, in late 1990s, the municipality of Yeruham received many awards from various Israeli ministries and state agencies praising Mayor Avisror and his staff on their excellence and professionalism in management and leadership.

However, many young people in Yeruham were deeply disappointed with this managerial style, and unlike the governmental ministries and officials, they did not consider it to be efficient or successful; they argued that the unavoidable outcome of choosing meritocratic values and higher professional standards is the deprivation and exclusion the weakest, most disadvantaged residents. To a certain degree, their criticism was justified. This highlights the paradoxical nature of applying the meritocratic model of leadership in marginal, disadvantaged peripheral areas; the inherent structure of this model promotes and benefits only the more professional and well-educated members of the lower class (often correlating with young people). In many cases, the less privileged, those most in need of help from local leadership, do not stand a chance in meritocratic competition.

A reasonable and logical solution to this problem might be to implement an egalitarian policy alongside the meritocracy, as, in fact, was done by Mayor Avisror. Although he insisted on establishing local norms based on higher professional standards, at same time, he advanced certain egalitarian projects, directly targeting the young strata of local residents, such as the high-school students, as described below.

#### **4.2. The egalitarian-transformational leader**

From the moment he took office, Mayor Avisror strove to shape the social order in a way that would provide local teenagers with an equal opportunity. He determined that the local formal education system was the best platform for the fulfillment of this vision and for the promotion of social mobility for the younger generation.

*I remember myself sitting cross-legged [i.e., oriental style; body-language interpreted by Israelis as a genuine expression of spontaneity and authenticity]. I asked someone to speak briefly about his role and life story. When it was my turn, I said: "My name is Moti Avisror. I was born here in Yeruham. I had a poor childhood. About twenty years ago, when I was seventeen years old and still studying in our local high-school, I was enrolled in the study track designed prepare me and my classmate for a full highschool matriculation certificate. But then some officials from the Ministry of Education canceled that study track. This was traumatic news for me and my classmate; I was shocked and almost desperate. However, despite the difficulty, I decided to continue studying for the matriculation examinations on my own. I took myself in hand and made great efforts to achieve a full matriculation certificate. I wanted* 

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*So, you see--if I did it, there's no reason why all of you cannot! So, what I am asking now is that all you students sitting here with us, join the prep course and get yourself a full high-school matriculation* 

This statement was not enthusiastically accepted by everyone present at that meeting. Some students, parents, teachers, educators, and even the school principal refused, at first, to take part in the mayor's vision, arguing that Avisror did not really know enough about the highschool. Initially, they did not understand what he was expecting of them. Some declared: "It's

This kind of reaction was not entirely unexpected; frequently marginal or disadvantaged communities are characterized by a low level of expectations and a political culture of distrust towards authorities and elites, often resulting from histories of bad collective experiences, similar to the socio-political history of Yeruham before Avisror became the mayor. The people of Yeruham had a long and bad experience with politicians (both nationally and locally), as well as with elite groups, all of whom had low expectations of them and never considered

Avisror sought to put an end to that negative dynamic. He refused to accept the rationalizations voiced by teachers, parents and students. He insisted on executing his novel intervention program. Shortly after that first general meeting, he held a conversation with the reluctant high-school principal and fired him, replacing him with a cooperative principal. The entire concept of classroom learning was substantially changed once the recruited professional contractors from outside Yeruham arrived. Meanwhile, Mayor Avisror interacted with various parties—bureaucrats, teachers, parents, students and contractors—revealing his fundamentally different mode of leadership to them (to break the old stereotype); he strove to change their fatalistic orientations and to raise their levels of expectation and optimism. Recall that in 1996, the official data received from the Israeli Ministry of Education was very positive, citing a dramatic rise in the number of students who completed the maximal highschool study track. Avisror also utilized this good news to generate positive, attitude-changing publicity via the local news media, posters in school corridors, announcements at official meetings, stressing one simple, blatant message: "Yes, you can!". Furthermore, whenever the mayor met the officials, teachers, parents and students who had attended that first meeting, he reminded them, pleasantly but firmly, of their original, skeptical reactions to his initiative, and he did this repeatedly on every possible occasion. Following Richard L. Daft's conceptual framework [21], Avisror utilized a storytelling technique in which the leader tells the followers a story, involving facts and myths, one that teaches an important lesson; that story is then

*to improve myself and to prove to myself that I could do it--and I did!*

an impossible goal." Others believed: "It's a waste of time and energy."

encouraging them to try harder, never thinking they might succeed.

*certificate. Just do what I did--dare! Strive! Make an effort!"*

To that end, Mayor Avisror would have to overcome certain difficult structural problems to enable the application of such equal-opportunity policy and programming under the inherent conditions of peripherality and marginality. Although his policy appears to be worthy and achievable, a structural-cultural perspective may dampen that optimism. As implied earlier, local leaders who attempt to break free of the natural mechanism that maintains and perpetuates poverty, must inevitably deal with severe problems born of local cultural preconceptions, such as: clientelism [18], passiveness, fatalism [19], cultural distrust [20], and low-level expectations. Nonetheless, the following empirical analysis shows that this structural scenario was not necessarily practiced. Determined local leaders, who are well-apprised of local political culture, may successfully break the vicious cycle to introduce a totally different socio-cultural dynamic.

Until mid-1990s, Yeruham high-school students (there was only one high-school) presented poor achievements in terms of the rate of students who were awarded full high-school matriculation certificates. For three decades, the residents of Yeruham, especially the children and youth, passed through the low-quality educational system, characterized by low standards, low expectations, low professionality, and graduated, suffering from a sense of stigma and with a poor self-image. This negative dynamic significantly changed during the late 1990s under Avisror's leadership.

In 1994, the Israeli Ministry of Education decided to take affirmative action by applying a policy that granted poor municipalities (including Yeruham) some 40 million new shekels (about 10 million dollars) to improve their school systems. Avisror recognized this opportunity to apply his egalitarian vision by instituting a massive reform in the Yeruham school system. He stated that the ultimate goal of the Yeruham municipality is to raise the rate of students who graduate with full high-school matriculation certificates. To accomplish this, he hired an expert team of educators to execute an intensive intervention in the high-school, and to work together with the students, the parents, the teaching staff, and the Municipal Department of Education. By 1996, after the great efforts that had been invested, Yeruham began to enjoy the results, as the rate of high-school graduates with full high school matriculation certificates rose dramatically from a mere 20% to 60%, remaining stable since then. As will be shown in the analysis below, Avisror's success in accomplishing significant structural changes in organizational culture would not have come to pass without his personal leadership resources and his effective mode of interaction and persuasion with his constituency and the higher authorities.

This educational intervention project began in the summer of 1994, when Mayor Avisror held a general meeting (in the desert just outside the town), including the participation of: highschool students, parents, teachers, educators and representatives of the municipality. The official explanation given for this meeting was: "preparation for the upcoming school year." Mayor Avisror recalled the proceedings as follows:

*I remember myself sitting cross-legged [i.e., oriental style; body-language interpreted by Israelis as a genuine expression of spontaneity and authenticity]. I asked someone to speak briefly about his role and life story. When it was my turn, I said: "My name is Moti Avisror. I was born here in Yeruham. I had a poor childhood. About twenty years ago, when I was seventeen years old and still studying in our local high-school, I was enrolled in the study track designed prepare me and my classmate for a full highschool matriculation certificate. But then some officials from the Ministry of Education canceled that study track. This was traumatic news for me and my classmate; I was shocked and almost desperate. However, despite the difficulty, I decided to continue studying for the matriculation examinations on my own. I took myself in hand and made great efforts to achieve a full matriculation certificate. I wanted to improve myself and to prove to myself that I could do it--and I did!*

**4.2. The egalitarian-transformational leader**

dynamic.

70 Leadership

under Avisror's leadership.

Mayor Avisror recalled the proceedings as follows:

promotion of social mobility for the younger generation.

From the moment he took office, Mayor Avisror strove to shape the social order in a way that would provide local teenagers with an equal opportunity. He determined that the local formal education system was the best platform for the fulfillment of this vision and for the

To that end, Mayor Avisror would have to overcome certain difficult structural problems to enable the application of such equal-opportunity policy and programming under the inherent conditions of peripherality and marginality. Although his policy appears to be worthy and achievable, a structural-cultural perspective may dampen that optimism. As implied earlier, local leaders who attempt to break free of the natural mechanism that maintains and perpetuates poverty, must inevitably deal with severe problems born of local cultural preconceptions, such as: clientelism [18], passiveness, fatalism [19], cultural distrust [20], and low-level expectations. Nonetheless, the following empirical analysis shows that this structural scenario was not necessarily practiced. Determined local leaders, who are well-apprised of local political culture, may successfully break the vicious cycle to introduce a totally different socio-cultural

Until mid-1990s, Yeruham high-school students (there was only one high-school) presented poor achievements in terms of the rate of students who were awarded full high-school matriculation certificates. For three decades, the residents of Yeruham, especially the children and youth, passed through the low-quality educational system, characterized by low standards, low expectations, low professionality, and graduated, suffering from a sense of stigma and with a poor self-image. This negative dynamic significantly changed during the late 1990s

In 1994, the Israeli Ministry of Education decided to take affirmative action by applying a policy that granted poor municipalities (including Yeruham) some 40 million new shekels (about 10 million dollars) to improve their school systems. Avisror recognized this opportunity to apply his egalitarian vision by instituting a massive reform in the Yeruham school system. He stated that the ultimate goal of the Yeruham municipality is to raise the rate of students who graduate with full high-school matriculation certificates. To accomplish this, he hired an expert team of educators to execute an intensive intervention in the high-school, and to work together with the students, the parents, the teaching staff, and the Municipal Department of Education. By 1996, after the great efforts that had been invested, Yeruham began to enjoy the results, as the rate of high-school graduates with full high school matriculation certificates rose dramatically from a mere 20% to 60%, remaining stable since then. As will be shown in the analysis below, Avisror's success in accomplishing significant structural changes in organizational culture would not have come to pass without his personal leadership resources and his effective mode of interaction and persuasion with his constituency and the higher authorities. This educational intervention project began in the summer of 1994, when Mayor Avisror held a general meeting (in the desert just outside the town), including the participation of: highschool students, parents, teachers, educators and representatives of the municipality. The official explanation given for this meeting was: "preparation for the upcoming school year." *So, you see--if I did it, there's no reason why all of you cannot! So, what I am asking now is that all you students sitting here with us, join the prep course and get yourself a full high-school matriculation certificate. Just do what I did--dare! Strive! Make an effort!"*

This statement was not enthusiastically accepted by everyone present at that meeting. Some students, parents, teachers, educators, and even the school principal refused, at first, to take part in the mayor's vision, arguing that Avisror did not really know enough about the highschool. Initially, they did not understand what he was expecting of them. Some declared: "It's an impossible goal." Others believed: "It's a waste of time and energy."

This kind of reaction was not entirely unexpected; frequently marginal or disadvantaged communities are characterized by a low level of expectations and a political culture of distrust towards authorities and elites, often resulting from histories of bad collective experiences, similar to the socio-political history of Yeruham before Avisror became the mayor. The people of Yeruham had a long and bad experience with politicians (both nationally and locally), as well as with elite groups, all of whom had low expectations of them and never considered encouraging them to try harder, never thinking they might succeed.

Avisror sought to put an end to that negative dynamic. He refused to accept the rationalizations voiced by teachers, parents and students. He insisted on executing his novel intervention program. Shortly after that first general meeting, he held a conversation with the reluctant high-school principal and fired him, replacing him with a cooperative principal. The entire concept of classroom learning was substantially changed once the recruited professional contractors from outside Yeruham arrived. Meanwhile, Mayor Avisror interacted with various parties—bureaucrats, teachers, parents, students and contractors—revealing his fundamentally different mode of leadership to them (to break the old stereotype); he strove to change their fatalistic orientations and to raise their levels of expectation and optimism. Recall that in 1996, the official data received from the Israeli Ministry of Education was very positive, citing a dramatic rise in the number of students who completed the maximal highschool study track. Avisror also utilized this good news to generate positive, attitude-changing publicity via the local news media, posters in school corridors, announcements at official meetings, stressing one simple, blatant message: "Yes, you can!". Furthermore, whenever the mayor met the officials, teachers, parents and students who had attended that first meeting, he reminded them, pleasantly but firmly, of their original, skeptical reactions to his initiative, and he did this repeatedly on every possible occasion. Following Richard L. Daft's conceptual framework [21], Avisror utilized a storytelling technique in which the leader tells the followers a story, involving facts and myths, one that teaches an important lesson; that story is then often repeated by the followers. According to Daft, the more the leader repeats that story, the more likely it is that the followers will internalize and assimilate the desired message and the embedded values.

cities and towns, the cultural and political heritage of their residents and, no less important, the political orientation (attitudes, values, perceptions) of the Israeli-Arab activists who are engaged in mixed-city/town politics. The following provides a more detailed discussion.

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Until recently, Israeli-Arab citizens living in mixed cities and towns were dominated by two prototypical kinds of leaders ([13], pp. 261–268). The first kind is the traditional-hierarchical leader, who holds a pragmatic, relatively-subjective position towards the Israeli majority and the Israeli establishment. The basic rationale of this type of leader is that there is no point in even thinking about changing the existing power structure (i.e., the Jewish majority versus the Arab minority). Based on this perception, such leaders believe that by maintaining close ties with the existing power centers (e.g., municipal officials, mayors, Israeli politicians) and by respecting the rules of the game, they better serve the material and political interests of the Arabs residents and may benefit them more. In addition, unlike radical activists (more below), such Israeli-Arab leaders are deeply convinced that their local problems have nothing to do with national problems (i.e., the ongoing conflict between Jews and Arabs) that should remain separate. Hence, they feel that local problems can be resolved incrementally, by means

In a sharp contrast, radical Israeli-Arab local leaders view the power system fundamentally differently; they firmly believe that national and local-municipal issues are intertwined. As such, they blame the Israeli establishment as being primarily responsible for their bad circumstances and the low standard-of-living in the mixed cities and towns. Due to this fundamental preconception, the radicals despise their more senior hierarchical opponents, blaming them for cooperating with the hegemonic power and being manipulated by it. Thus, the chosen strategy of radical Israeli-Arab local leaders is to ignore governmental and municipal activity. Instead, they favor taking part in various NGOs (through which they wish to promote psychosocial change in the minds of the Israeli-Arab public) and by appealing to the Israeli

It seems that since the beginning of the twenty-first century, these two competing types of leaders are both being challenged by a third type of young Israeli-Arab local leader—one who severely criticizes both the traditional-hierarchical type and the radical type. Someone who clearly represents this new third type of Israeli-Arab leader is Faraj Eben-Faraj—a local activist in the city of Lod (Lyda). Before presenting a political profile of this person I'll briefly review the geographical context, i.e., the local condition upon which this leader interact and operate. Lod (Lyda) is a small-medium mixed town located not far from Tel Aviv. In 2017, its total population was about 74,000 residents [23] and it ranked as one of the poorest municipalities in Israel. Two-thirds of the city population are Jews and the rest are Arabs. Most of residents (especially the Arabs) came from low socioeconomic strata and have, for many years, experienced poor levels of municipal services. In addition, this town is characterized by severe social problems, such as: serious ethnic conflicts; [24] a high crime rate; and a bad reputation as a commercial center for illegal drugs. Furthermore, since the early 1980s, many of Lod's residents have been concerned about housing; there is a severe lack of suitable housing, especially for the Arab population (most of whom live in illegal housing). Faraj Eben-Faraj was

of local arrangements made at the local level of governance.

Supreme Court.

born into this context and is affected by it.

In summation, the above analysis shows that policy outcomes cannot be understood solely by analyzing the volume of the resources given to a community or a mayor (in this case, governmental financial assistance given to the municipality of Yeruham in the mid-1990s). Policy makers, as well as researchers, must also answer the question: How do leaders utilize gifted resources?

In light of these consequences, it appears that Avisror's policies fit the type of leader called a 'transformational leader' by Bass and Riggio [22]. Unlike a 'transactional leader', Avisror did not identify success with the satisfaction of his constituent, nor by exchanging gratification with them. Instead, he worked to reshape their expectations and consciousness; by doing so, he got them to internalize a valuable life lesson, *beyond* the specific, concrete outcomes (i.e., increased full-matriculation rates). That lesson was: "What may seem to be impossible at first may be possible. That depends on you!" Avisror formulized this particular message intentionally, in order to dash the negative presumptions (or *idees fixes*). According to Bass and Riggio, the main features that characterize "transformational leadership" are the reshaping of expectations, the setting of high expectations, the internalization of greater responsibility, and facing real challenges.

Thus far, this discussion has emphasized the notion that leaders (both Sheetrit and Avisror) have succeeded in their missions by utilizing personal internal resources: to motivate change, to determine which challenges to face and how to handle them, to conceptualize and analyze the state-of-mind of others, and to negotiate with conviction regardless of the others' reticence or skepticism. An additional subcategory within 'personal internal resources' is— 'biographical resources'. The following section demonstrates the political use of biographical resources empirically by presenting it in a different context–that of local Israeli-Arab leaders in mixed cities and towns.
