A Symphonic Profile: Robert Putnam
Bridging the Gap: What Robert Putnam’s Work Reminds Us About Alignment
When Symphonic Strategies founder Dr. A.J. Robinson was a graduate student, Dr. Robert Putnam was one of the thesis advisors who guided his research on collective action. In his own work, Putnam—best known for Bowling Alone—keeps sharing a message both sobering and hopeful: the widening divides in American society are neither inevitable nor irreversible. In The Upswing, their 2020 book that’s getting renewed urgent attention right now, Putnam and co-author Shaylyn Romney Garrett trace a historical arc from individualism to solidarity and back again, suggesting we’ve been here before—and can find our way forward again through intentional, collective action. Putnam’s research affirms Symphonic Strategies’ core belief that meaningful, lasting change requires aligning people, organizations, communities, and systems around shared purpose.
Putnam is famous for sounding the alarm on the steady erosion of social capital in American life. In his earlier work he documented how Americans were becoming less likely to join civic associations, participate in community groups, or even socialize informally—using the now-famous image of people bowling alone rather than in leagues. For systems thinkers, this wasn’t just a cultural shift; it was a signal of deeper structural disconnection. The institutions and informal networks that once stitched our society together were fraying, leaving individuals isolated and systems misaligned. This breakdown in civic cohesion wasn’t simply about nostalgia—it had real consequences for trust, collaboration, and our collective capacity to solve problems.
At Symphonic Strategies, we see this moment as a critical opportunity to reflect on what Putnam calls the “I-we-I” cycle. His diagnosis aligns with what we’ve seen inside organizations, coalitions, and communities: systems fall out of sync when the people within them stop seeing themselves as part of a greater whole. Alignment, then, isn’t just a technical strategy. It’s a moral and cultural act—a shift in mindset from fragmentation to connection. His research also challenges us to think beyond short-term interventions and toward long-term renewal. It’s not enough to “fix” one node in the network. We must reweave the web.
Putnam’s historical analysis shows that periods of greater equity, civic engagement, and social trust have emerged when leaders—formal and informal—created space for inclusive dialogue and co-creation. This is precisely the work of strategic alignment. At Symphonic Strategies, we help organizations design the conditions where that kind of generative participation can flourish. That means clarifying a shared vision, ensuring everyone understands their role, and creating feedback loops that keep the whole system learning and adapting.
One of Putnam’s key insights is that societal alignment begins with a reawakening of shared values. Our work often begins there too. We ask: What are the unspoken assumptions driving this team, this institution, this community? Are those assumptions serving the mission—or standing in its way?
Putnam doesn’t promise a quick fix. Nor do we. But his research offers a compelling invitation: to remember that change is possible when people believe their voices matter and their contributions are aligned toward a shared goal.
For leaders, facilitators, and systems thinkers, the takeaway is clear: we can’t wait for alignment to emerge organically. We must create it—together. That means building trust, embracing transparency, and making space for the hard conversations that precede transformation.
Putnam’s work gives us historical evidence. Our work gives us tools and practices. Together, they form a roadmap—not just back to “we,” but forward to a better “we.”
Post by: Symphonic Strategies
Not everyone knows Dr. June Jackson Christmas’s name, but fellow leaders in her field are fully aware of how her contributions made other peoples’ lives better. Dr. Christmas, who passed away on New Year’s Eve at age 99, was a pioneering Black woman psychiatrist and one of the first scholars and practitioners to address the impact of social and economic factors on mental health
She made history early in life as one of the first three students who identified as Black to graduate from Vassar College, where she was in the class of 1945-4. (The few Black students who attended Vassar years earlier had kept their racial identities hidden and “passed” as white while on campus.) After college, like her fellow trailblazing Black classmate Beatrix McCleary Hamburg, Dr. Christmas chose to go to medical school to study psychiatry. Dr. Hamburg became the first Black woman graduate of the Yale School of Medicine and an expert in child psychiatry. Dr. Christmas, who was one of just seven women in her class at Boston University’s School of Medicine, said she originally hoped studying psychiatry might help her teach people not to be racist. It did help her address race and class as she fought to make sure vulnerable populations had better access to care.
Dr. Christmas was a clinical professor of psychiatry at Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons, a professor of behavioral science at the City University of New York School of Medicine, a resident professor of mental health policy at the Heller Graduate School of Social Welfare of Brandeis University, the first Black woman president of the American Public Health Association, and an appointed leader who shaped New York City’s mental health care policy. As the New York Times said, Dr. Christmas “broke barriers as a Black woman by heading New York City’s Department of Mental Health and Retardation Services under three mayors . . . As a city commissioner, as chief of rehabilitation services at Harlem Hospital Center, and in her role overseeing the transition of the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare to a Democratic administration for President-elect Jimmy Carter, Dr. Christmas ardently advanced her professional agenda.”
The Times continued: “Her priorities included improving mental health services for older people, helping people cope with alcoholism, and assisting children ensnared in the bureaucracies of foster care and the legal system. She also sought to ease the transition of patients from being warehoused in state mental hospitals to living independently . . . In 1964 she founded Harlem Rehabilitation Center, a Harlem Hospital program, which gained a national reputation for providing vocational training and psychiatric help to psychiatric hospital patients who had returned to their communities after being discharged.” This became a model for patient care.
All of this gives a sense of not just what made Dr. Christmas a trailblazing leader, but how she displayed the characteristics of a symphonic leader. Throughout her life she was used to seeing the impossible: possessing a mindset that is free from the constraints imposed by the current reality, even a 13-year-old growing up in Boston who organized a spontaneous sit-in to try to integrate a roller-skating rink in neighboring Cambridge. She brought that mindset to each new role where she seized the opportunity to make advances in patient care. When asked in an interview how she motivated people, Dr. Christmas answered: “Let people know that you are on their side. That you are behind them and you are supportive. I do care that a patient or staff person is able to stand up for himself or herself. When we motivate others we just don’t look at a person. We look at a person and at their environment.” This perspective shows several of the principles of symphonic leadership, and is an example of playing from the soul: the ability to shape situations in ways that align collective action with the protection and advancement of self-interest.
Eric Wilson, the co-chair of Vassar’s African American Alumnae/i organization, gave one more clue about Dr. Christmas’s leadership style with this description: “Dr. Christmas was as regular as they came. Humble, personable, so totally lacking in pretension as to be considered old-school cool, and beyond brilliant.” This hints at a third characteristic of symphonic leaders, moving the crowd: a depth of social grace where social interactions leave people wanting more.
At Symphonic Strategies, we’re always on the lookout for new examples of symphonic leaders to study and share with others. Women’s History Month is a wonderful opportunity to highlight and celebrate great women leaders, but be sure you’re aware of the great leaders around you every day.
A Symphonic Profile: Robert Putnam
SOLUTIONS