What Leaders Can Learn From Josh Shapiro

Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro speaks to members of the media near a collapsed portion of I-95 on June 11, 2023. / Photograph by Kena Betancur / AFP via Getty Images

The election is over, and at least for me, the end couldn’t have come too soon. Living in a swing state during a Presidential election might put you in the center of the action, but, boy, the barrage of campaign ads was exhausting and divisive.

I always try to be optimistic. And I am sincerely hoping president-elect Trump can be an effective leader for our country. It makes no sense to me to root for anything else.

What does effective political leadership look like? I think we in Pennsylvania are fortunate to have a great example of it with our governor, Josh Shapiro. Shapiro was on Vice President Kamala Harris’s short list to be VP, and people are already talking about him as a presidential candidate in 2028. That’s a long way off, and we’ll see what happens. For now, I think there are a lot of things political leaders everywhere can learn from him.

He Has a Unique Mix of Skills

In my experience, different elected officials have different skill sets. Legislators — from City Council members to members of Congress — stand out when they understand specific issues and act as strong advocates for their constituents. In contrast, executives, from mayors and governors to presidents, typically do best when they see the big picture and are able to get things accomplished.

As I say, most public officials have one set of skills or the other — but Shapiro has both. He works at understanding what really matters to the people he’s serving, and he’s demonstrated the ability to implement real solutions.

One reason for that, I think, is that Shapiro possesses a particular kind of humility. He knows what he doesn’t know, and he’s not afraid to ask questions in order to find solutions. Combine that with the empathy he has, and it makes for a rare and powerful combination of skills.

He Looks for Win-Win Scenarios

During my years on City Council I observed a lot of what I call “win by losing” situations. That is, politicians try to solve the problems of one group of people by punishing another group of people.

Shapiro has always impressed me because his first instinct is to look for solutions that actually help everyone. He does that, again, by listening to people — and taking good ideas no matter where they come from. During his first budget cycle as governor, for instance, he made a point of reaching out to Republicans even before he submitted a budget proposal.

That doesn’t mean everything always goes smoothly — people have disagreements about policies and priorities, and politics can get in the way — but an open approach builds trust on both sides. Even if you didn’t get everything you wanted, at least the process didn’t start with the other side trying to squash you. I wish more of our politicians would follow that model. I think it’s exactly what the public wants.

He Gets Stuff Done

When a truck fire caused a portion of I-95 to collapse in the summer of 2023, the initial fear was that the road would be shut down for months, disrupting the flow of people and goods along one of America’s most traveled highways.

I love the fact that Shapiro wouldn’t settle for that. He pushed for creative solutions to fixing the highway quickly, and he helped slash red tape so that the work could actually be done quickly. The fact that I-95 was reopened within a matter of days was important not only because it let traffic start flowing again, but because — as Shapiro himself has said — it demonstrated that government doesn’t have to be a slow, lumbering bureaucracy that takes forever to accomplish things.

We’ve seen that mindset in other areas of the Shapiro administration. After hearing that dealing with state government was maddeningly slow, his team has implemented a series of standards and practices and technology that cut wait lists, back logs and wait times by the thousands for different government approvals and services.

All of that matters because it gives citizens trust and confidence that government actually works.

He’s Ambitious

One of the criticisms you sometimes hear about Shapiro is that he’s too “ambitious.” People say his eye is always on the next prize, and cite the fact that he’s systematically risen from legislator to county commissioner to attorney general to governor.

My response: Why is that a bad thing? While Shapiro can be humble when it comes to understanding tricky issues, he’s clearly a leader who wants to lead. Isn’t that what we want? Would it somehow be better to have people in charge who are content to muddle through and just stay where they are? I love the energy and focus Shapiro brings to whatever position he has, and the fact that he’s been able to rise through the ranks is evidence that voters (on both sides of the aisle) approve of how he handles himself.

As I say, I’m not rooting for any of our politicians to fail. We’re all in this together. But it comforts me that there are leaders out there like Josh Shapiro, who understand what the public is asking for and are committed to doing it.