Marge Cunningham was my first editor. In her offices at the Missouri State Teachers Association (MSTA), a short walk across the campus from the University of Missouri School of Journalism, I had my first taste of her unconventional approach to managing a staff and a publications department. Although she would have rolled her eyes at the terms, I believe what she practiced was something called "participatory management" or possibly "shared decision making."
Having been a J-school grad herself (and an award-winning reporter), Marge initiated a partnership with the university through which selected graduate students worked on MSTA's magazine, School and Community, and its newspaper, The Communicator. The students received graduate credit, and more important, professional experience for their résumés. MSTA benefited from the students' talent and unpaid labor. Except for forever objecting to not being able to pay us, Marge liked this arrangement and made it work.
For at least five years (I was employed as assistant editor there after my own internship), a stream of young people wandered in with all the ideas in the world. They suggested remakes of the magazine, in-depth interviews with legislators, controversial articles, new logos and designs, innovative departments and projects. They wanted to participate in everything—from deciding the table of contents to ruling on style questions. Sometimes what one wanted to do directly collided with the vision of another.
As our leader, Marge was that rare combination of both good talker and true listener. But after all the conversation, Marge made the decision. Some of her actions regarding my own work stay in my mind. There was the time she went to bat for the article called "What Do Teachers Want Anyway?" The teachers I interviewed at a large suburban school were angry because they could not receive credit on the salary scale for their teaching experience should they transfer to another school district. Their superintendent wanted the article killed. An MSTA executive was inclined to agree, but Marge persuaded him otherwise. Several principles were at stake: the teachers' voice, for one.
Another time she convinced me that freedom of speech was not the only important principle for an editor to hold. When I was appalled that an educator wanted to change a direct quotation, she helped me understand why. "One of his students might read it and he would be embarrassed," she told me. "And does it really add that much to your story?" she wanted to know. Had I said yes, she probably would have listened.
As a leader, Marge was not always taken seriously. Known throughout the state for her jokes (if you told her one on the phone, she'd immediately hang up on you so she could begin telling it to all her friends), Marge zipped around in her orange convertible with her enormous dog, or presided in her office strewn with paper. People sometimes underestimated her abilities because she didn't look like someone to reckon with. Yet as her colleagues would tell you, in that chaotic office was born more than one idea that resulted in an important benefit for educators. A one-cent sales tax funding public schools—which required a state initiative to pass—was one successful effort. Marge never claimed credit for the idea. She often was the behind-the-scenes writer and thinker.
One more thing about Marge and leadership. In addition to creative ideas, charisma, and trust in others, Marge had courage. Marge, who died February 9, managed illness that others would have succumbed to long before. On a respirator for eight months, she regained her independence, only to fall and become a victim of spinal cord syndrome. Confined much of the day to a wheelchair, she was publishing—and advocating for others—up until a few weeks before she died. At that time she was volunteer editor of a legislative newsletter published by a local AARP branch, and an appointed member of the Columbia (Missouri) Disabilities Commission.
This issue is dedicated to the topic of leadership. There are many kinds of leadership, of course. Marge's focus was on bringing out the best in others. For all those interns now professionals, thanks for believing in us, Marge.
