EX ALCALDE DE KC REPRESENTA A LA UNIVERSIDAD DE PARK
While Kay Barnes may be best known for the public service branch of her career, especially the two terms she served as Kansas City mayor, she doesn’t consider herself a career politician. Instead, the 84-year-old believes her biggest impact is as a communicator.
Her roles throughout her career have focused on the skill she said we all can benefit from improving. Since 2007, Barnes has offered her communication expertise—first as founding director of Park University’s Center for Leadership and as a teacher of leadership for several years within Park’s Hauptmann School of Public Affairs.
Barnes described, during a recent telephone interview, the basic tenants of good communication: “be a better listener and learn how to be assertive and not aggressive.”
Since 2018, Barnes has taken on a new role, serving as Park’s senior director for university engagement, where she acts as “ambassador in its government relations and business development initiatives,” according to a Park news release at the time of her appointment to the role.
Como directora sénior de participación universitaria, "ofrece presentaciones públicas y conecta a colegas de toda la universidad con partes interesadas externas", afirma el comunicado.
Park’s Chief Strategic Communications Officer Erik Bergrud said Barnes’ latest role sees her serving as a member of a four-person team who represent the university in area civic groups, including the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce. The team, of which Bergrud also is a member, advocates for the university and its students.
A veces, ese papel lleva a Barnes a hablar con varios grupos, dijo Bergrud.
“Con todo lo que sucede en Kansas City, puedes imaginar que mucha gente quiere que ella hable”, dijo sobre avances como la reciente apertura del nuevo aeropuerto. “Ella tiene una gran cantidad de conocimientos”, dijo, y agregó que su servicio de larga data en Kansas City le ha dado una perspectiva histórica igualada por pocos. “Ella conoce a tanta gente”, dijo. “Confío en ella completamente”.
Al principio de su carrera, Barnes estuvo ocupada como fundadora y presidenta de Kay Waldo Inc. durante más de 20 años. La empresa de desarrollo de recursos humanos, que ya no existe, se especializó en comunicación, desarrollo y gestión de liderazgo, formación de equipos y gestión del tiempo/estrés.
Barnes aprendió una valiosa lección de sus padres mientras crecía en St. Joseph, lo que eventualmente la llevó a postularse para un cargo político. Su perfil de LinkedIn afirma que sus padres modelaron la importancia de "colaborar y trabajar duro para mejorar nuestra comunidad". Su padre era entrenador de fútbol y baloncesto en la escuela secundaria, y su madre era maestra.
Además de sus dos mandatos como alcaldesa de Kansas City, Barnes también se desempeñó como miembro del Concejo Municipal de Kansas City Missouri y de la Legislatura del Condado de Jackson. También se postuló sin éxito, en 2008, contra el congresista Sam Graves para el Congreso de los Estados Unidos.
A fierce advocate of women, Barnes assisted in founding the Women’s Resource Service Center, now known as the Women’s Center, at the University of Missouri-Kansas City and co-authored a book, “About Time! A Woman’s Guide to Time Management.” She also co-hosted and produced a cable television talk show highlighting community issues.
Her career as a communicator runs deep. During the 1980s, Barnes said she spoke to residents in more than 100 cities per year, delivering messages about leadership and communication skills as a speaker for National Seminars. But Barnes, with a perspective unlike most given her more than half-century of professional interactions with others, weaves a cautionary tale about the impact of today’s technology on exchanges with others. She said modern technology is “wonderful and reliable,” but also needs to be kept in its place and not used exclusively. Instead, it’s face-to-face communication and conversations via cellphones that offer “value and richness” that can be lost when conducted via text and email.
Old-fashioned face to face communication remains “at the highest level of importance,” she said. The full extent of the effects of modern technology are unknown. She said, “I don’t know that we have all the answers yet.”