I wish I could feel my government has “got my back.” With Congress’ approval rating at a mere and miserable 20%, and with President Obama’s “change we can believe in” mantra reduced to wet confetti, I’m looking for some signs of life on the national leadership level. I have long held that leadership operates on multiple levels. At the most basic or physical level leaders are responsible for the safety and well-being of their constituents. And this principle holds for any of our social or economic entities, be they governments or businesses. Today in the U.S. that translates to, 'are we successfully defending our citizens from physical attack and are we successfully operating at an economic level that sustains our needs and aspirations?' The current feeling in our country on these two questions seems to be “not sure” and “no.”
Another level of leadership is vision. We expect good leaders to peer into the mists of time and anticipate our future needs. This is a tough game. It requires wisdom, a sense of perspective, both past and future, and inclusion of our people and cultures. It also requires that those who purport to lead us set aside their egos, at least for a bit. Congress has crumbled in this regard over the last year and more, especially with regard to fixing our health care system. They have made several monstrous mistakes. One mistake is ignoring their constituents. That may be okay in a dictatorship, but in a society of representative governance it is a fatal political error. The other mistake is not making sure the basics, specifically economic health, are in good shape. Our federal representatives, Congress and the President, seem to believe they can continue to borrow as much as they want from the future without repercussion. Are they on some strange drug that is not available to the rest of us? Those of us with mortgages, student loans, and car loans know we will be severely penalized if we default on our payments. When our government goes berserk with unsupported spending in these economic conditions, what voters are going to believe or trust them? This level of leadership is the mental level. It is not a question of “what are they thinking?” It is a question of “are they thinking at all?”
A good leader is also a good coach. Bad stuff happens. That’s life. When bad stuff happens on a community, regional or national level, we expect responsiveness, empathy, and honesty about the situation. Without those, faith in our government is lost. It is much easier to measure these factors in traumatic situations such as Hurricane Katrina. But faith can also be lost through inattention to longer term and persistent issues. We have these kinds of situations with regard to immigration, drugs, the environment, and the oppression of women to name a few. These kinds of issues happen at all levels of our society, so local and regional governments are as much on the hook to perform as is the federal government. These kinds of issues evoke strong emotions so we need leaders who are good coaches. Our leaders need to understand the emotions involved and have the skills to mold fear and anger into effective resolve. And words, especially those that are devoid of substance, are not a substitute for action.
Good leaders truly inspire us. They touch our souls. It may sound corny and trite, but it may be only through the way leaders lead their lives that we will know them. Have they shown selfless service or truly walked in the shoes of others? Can they relate what they have learned and experienced to us in a way that we know comes from their authentic selves? The process leaders use is every bit as important as the results achieved. Leaders need to be in touch with what is important to those they govern. An alternative response to the town halls last summer could have been for our representatives to ask constituents, “What is important to you?” Instead they told people what to think or do, or in some cases, to shut up. In the town hall I attended, there was no listening, merely disdain. Another approach is for government to recognize that by far the majority of Americans really want what is best for their communities. I believe the public will listen to and endorse well thought out and collaborative approaches to problem solving. The challenge of our elected officials is to recognize that desire and mobilize it with a non-political spirit. We are a team oriented, can-do people and will respond to the same attitude in our leaders. Still further, our leaders need to work on integrating the logical action-result approach to problem solving with the collaborative-intuitive community approach of working, thinking and creating together. After all, it often seems we haven’t really made a lot of progress in the last 5,000 years. Perhaps we can add some new thinking to how we lead. Maybe then I would feel like my government has “got my back.”
