Legitimacy

What would our community look like if we only lent legitimacy to the ideas, people, places, and things that contribute to the future we hope to experience? According to Merriam-Webster, the definition of legitimize is to make it legitimate.

YourDictionary.com defines legitimize as making it acceptable, permissible, or correct. “It” in the case of legitimizing as a model for community development could be a person, place, thing, idea, or anything that has an effect on the future of a community. 

For many citizens, the days pass and are filled with the busyness of life. There’s nothing inherently wrong with that. For many, life offers a variety of seasons where focus may shift from career, to parenting, back to career, and eventually to retirement and beyond. However, throughout those seasons, there may be times when a citizen is more keenly aware of the community around them and the symbiotic relationship between their personal impact on the community and the community’s impact on himself or herself. It is here, in the times of awareness, where the opportunity lies.

If we can address how we extend legitimacy during these times, we increase the chance of living in a community we all want to call home in twenty years. Additionally, by increasing our awareness of these times, we have a chance to increase the frequency of such moments thereby increasing our chances at a thriving, vibrant community that not only retains our friends and neighbors but also attracts others to our community. The power of that collaborative potential is something we in Northeast Indiana haven’t yet fully experienced.

So who has the authority to offer legitimacy? Everyone! In fact, the influence someone has doesn’t come solely because he or she is in a position of power. In fact, being legitimate is important to a person or organization’s success and the ability to influence others. (Tyler, 2006) 

We all extend legitimacy every day whether it’s deliberate or not. Consider the simple act of your morning coffee. Do you brew a cup at home? If yes, you’re extending legitimacy to a particular style of brewing, roast, and even brand of beans. Maybe you visit a coffee shop each morning. Is it a local shop or a major national chain? These choices, deliberate or unconscious, are extensions of legitimacy. Yes — you have legitimacy. It’s an inherent aspect of being a human being. How you choose to share it is how we each decide how we will take part in developing our community.

Not extending legitimacy is unacceptable for citizens who want to live in a community built for the future. Communities lacking citizens who intentionally legitimize others and their ideas do not thrive in the future. To succeed as a community, we must all take on the role of legitimizing our desired future.

Legitimizing is the act of a leader. Not every citizen has a position of leadership, and yet every person can lead. By leveraging and extending legitimacy, you lead. Our community needs more leaders. We don’t need leaders who stay home or keep their ideas to themselves. We need leaders who show up, stand up, and speak up. Regardless of position, we can all give voice to those who may not have found theirs yet or those who don't know how to use it, who to share it with, or where to go to have their voice heard. If you have a voice already, be inquisitive about the sounds around you that need to be legitimized and amplified. Two is greater than one. And two can quickly grow to many.

At TEDxFort Wayne in 2012, I first shared the concept of “legitimize” and posed the potential of Fort Wayne’s Power of 2. Our community is uniquely positioned to legitimize others and their ideas. Here, it isn’t six degrees to [fill in the blank], it’s two or less. Attendees to TEDxFort Wayne were given a list of over one hundred citizens who were willing to serve as connections, willing to hear their ideas, and willing to legitimize them for simply showing the initiative to attend an event focused on reimagining our community. That extension and endorsement does not happen in every city. So how do we harness this opportunity and capitalize on one of our greatest resources?

First, we must be aware of what we are currently offering legitimacy to. Who and what are you legitimizing?

Stop. Take a moment to consider this really. What are you endorsing and giving life to through the minutes in your hours and your days. What are you sharing, liking, or retweeting? When you consider the valuable investment that is your time, thought, and energy, how does it align with your vision and goals for the future? Is that investment going to deliver the ROI you desire for yourself?

Take it one step further. Step beyond yourself and consider how what you’re legitimizing is changing or shaping the trajectory of our community. Are you part of where we’re going or part of why we’re not going to get there? There is room in the future for all of us, for you. Your voice is important. The legitimacy you offer is critical to our community’s success now and in the future.

Northeast Indiana can point to the positive outcomes when a few people gather and legitimize an idea and one another. One example is Parkview Field. More than a baseball stadium, this project is a mixed-use development in downtown Fort Wayne that wasn’t initially a homerun (pun intended) in the minds of many. Despite the opposition, the project moved forward because enough people gave it legitimacy; they spoke at City Council meetings, wrote letters to the editor, talked to their friends and neighbors, and even bought season tickets. Today, we point to it as a shining example of what we can do together and why we must dream bigger.

Perhaps a lesser-known example is the Parkview Healing Arts program. Because one community member, Dan Swartz, knew the potential and opportunity of the Fort Wayne Dance Collective, he legitimized Alison Gerardot and connected her and me. As a result of that meeting, I further extended legitimacy to the concept and connected it to financial resources I knew were available for that specific purpose, and Parkview’s leadership gave it legitimacy after understanding the benefits for co-workers and patients. That was eight years ago. Today, professional artists and their art continue to be legitimized as they are paid to deliver art in a hospital setting. A simple step of connection has touched hundreds if not thousands of lives at a time when they need hope the most.

Our community is rich with examples of a person or idea being legitimized. This collection of essays is another example, and the authors and ideas throughout are even more. What we must do to continue our momentum is recognize its power and leverage it as we shape our community for the future. Remember, we are already giving legitimacy through our time and energy whether or not we are intentional about it.

If you’re committing to the concept of “legitimize,” it’s important to be cognizant of the words you use. Growing up, my mom instilled in us a belief that our words have power. We don’t dare speak something out loud for fear it would have existence. In the same way, our words legitimize thoughts and even actions. A transplant to Fort Wayne, Christophe Dessaigne uses his words with intention when asked where he’s from. He proudly claims, “The best city in the Midwest — Fort Wayne!” What an endorsement! And those he is engaged with extend Christophe’s personal legitimacy to our community because legitimacy is a psychological property of a social arrangement that leads others to believe that it is appropriate, proper, and just. (Tyler, 2006) To the contrary, our words can have the opposite effect. A local retailer sells a shirt that says, “Fort Wayne. It’s not that bad.” Unacceptable. We must think and say better of and for our community. We cannot legitimize the opposite course for our future.

A model for community development should be to only legitimize our positive attributes and to speak life about our people and places. In her Scientific American article, “Why Words Matter: What Cognitive Science Says About Prohibiting Certain Terms,” Dina Fine Maron shares, “There are two outcomes that happen when we don’t name or talk about something. Things that are named are the ones most likely to be thought about and to be visible in our consciousness. The kinds of things we tend to think about are the ones that are named. Also, what isn’t named can’t be counted. And what can’t be counted can’t be acted upon.” (Maron, 2017)
Let’s be intentional and legitimize one another and our best ideas on purpose so that we can act on them.

If this concept seems too altruistic or generous, consider it from a selfish lens. When you give an endorsement, it reflects on your personal brand as well as the person, thing, or idea you’re extending it to. If you’ve ever given a gift, shared an encouraging word, written a thank you note, or performed a random act of kindness, you know the “helper’s high” felt afterward. Psychology Today outlines the neurochemical reactions that create this feeling and states oxytocin is released when two people are kind together, thereby strengthening the bonds between the two individuals expressing kindness to one another. (Sreenivasan, Ph.D. & Weinberger, Ph.D., 2017) Can you imagine living in a community full of happy, kind people? That’s the power when we legitimize others.

Legitimizing others at a time when our country feels divided may seem like an insurmountable challenge. If it does, start with the concept at a local level or even hyperlocal level. Simply, can we at least legitimize the lives of our neighbors? Your neighbors — my neighbors — are the people who, like you and I, choose to call Fort Wayne and Northeast Indiana home. We all have that in common and therefore have a common connection and value.

Let’s legitimize one another. Let’s legitimize our neighbor’s individual goals, unique skills, talents and gifts, and our vision for the future. I believe when we do, we will find even more things in common. And when we find those points of commonality, let’s legitimize those ideas. Let’s bring them to life. That is where the power of our future and our connection will be found.

As a first step in legitimacy, I recognize your effort to read this essay and the others presented here, and therefore legitimize you to be a citizen leader who has a role in shaping our community's future.

We can write this future for our community together if we are willing to bring forward our best — individually and collectively — and give our best the legitimacy it deserves. We can do it and our community deserves it.

This essay is part of a citizen-led book project in Fort Wayne called FORTHCOMING: Considering the Future State of Our City. To learn more and read additional essays, visit the Foreword and Preface.

Heather Schoegler serves as Parkview Health’s Director of Strategic Educational Partnerships. Her work for over 15 years has been centered in healthcare strategy and communication where she focuses on solving challenges through design thinking and research. She has earned a M.S. in Organizational Leadership, B.A. in Media and Public Communications, as well as completed graduate courses in Public Health. Heather is an active community volunteer currently serving on the boards of the Community Foundation of Greater Fort Wayne (Chairwoman); Fort Wayne Museum of Art (Secretary); Junior Achievement of Northeast Indiana; and NeighborLink Fort Wayne. Her work and community service have been recognized with IPFW's Outstanding Young Alumni Award; an Athena Award nominee; a Future 40 Award; a 40 Under 40 Award; and various industry awards. She is a graduate of both Leadership Fort Wayne and YLNI's Leadership Institute. 

Recommended Resources
Aida, K. (2016, November 22). How To Speak Your Dreams Into Existence (with the law of attraction). The Inspirational Blog. Retrieved from https://kelseyaida.com/theinspirationalblog/how-to-speak-your-dreams-into-existence-law-of-attraction   
Johnson, C., Dowd, T. J., & Ridgeway, C. L. (2006, August 11). Legitimacy as a Social Process. Annual Review of Sociology, 32(1), 53-78. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.soc.32.061604.123101  
Lumen Learning. The Power to Influence. Organizational Behavior. Retrieved October 25, 2020, from https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-orgbehavior/chapter/13-3-the-power-to-influence/Legitimating  
Maron, D. F. (2017, December 19). Why Words Matter: What Cognitive Science Says about Prohibiting Certain Terms. Scientific American. Retrieved from https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-words-matter-what-cognitive-science-says-about-prohibiting-certain-terms/  
Peale, D. N. V. (2003). The Power of Positive Thinking (Reprint ed.). Touchstone. 978-0743234801
Sreenivasan, Ph.D., S., & Weinberger, Ph.D., L. (2017, November 16). Why Random Acts of Kindness Matter to Your Well-being. Psychology Today. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/emotional-nourishment/201711/why-random-acts-kindness-matter-your-well- being#:~:text=When%20we%20practice%20random%20acts,be%20kind%20to%20other%20people.&text=In%20turn%2C%20bonds%20between%20those,both%20physical%2
Tyler, T. R. (2006, January 10). Psychological Perspectives on Legitimacy and Legitimation. Annual Review of Psychology, 57(1), 375-400. https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/pdf/10.1146/annurev.psych.57.102904.190038