Leadership and “Chasing Unicorns”
Leadership and “Chasing Unicorns”
What “Grade” Would You Give Americans on our Collective Ability to Elect Leaders?
We are in 2024, an election year, a year I call “the Year of the Precipice” for our democracy. To better equip Americans to exercise their civic duty this year, we have begun a series in Democraticus examining important ways of thinking and belief systems that can have a major impact on our democracy’s future.
Asking Hard Questions of Ourselves
Having covered the world of “fantasyland”, aka the authoritarian disinformation campaign that has been unleashed on Americans over the last eight years, it is now time to focus Democraticus on another key area of civic literacy- choosing our leaders. As such, we will be focus on choosing our presidential leadership. Specifically, we will be asking questions such as what is leadership itself, as well as what constitutes both good and bad leadership within the context of the U.S. presidency? We begin by first asking some hard questions about Americans’ collective ability to even identify important leadership skills and abilities when we consider who to elect to occupy our White House.
Are We Adrift in a “Sea of Leadershiplessness”?
Leadership- now there is a word one hears often today. We Americans talk about it, seemingly, all the time. We say we need strong leadership, or we opine that leadership is good, or bad, mediocre, and so on. We want good leadership at home, work, in our civic clubs, youth sports organizations, church, as well as at our city, county, school district, state, and national governments. Americans give at least lip service to the belief that we want good leadership in all aspects of our lives.
Yet, what do we Americans really know about leadership in general? More specifically, what do we know about leadership that is truly integral? While there is an abundance of books and resources about how to lead in business or in the non-profit world, how many good books are there teaching what good leadership should look like in government? Can we recognize good public sector leadership when we see it? Is there a prototype of good leadership for our government that we Americans are taught to be able to recognize?
With such an apparent desire for good leadership and a thirst to know more about it, why is it that we elect so many people to public office that show poor, if any, leadership skills? Why do we, more frequently than we care to admit, elect people who seem to show leadership at first, but falter so badly in that role when faced with difficult choices?
It does seem at times that we are literally adrift in a “sea of leadershiplessness”, with more people than we care to admit holding leadership positions while seemingly more interested in their personal or party’s political welfare than the common good of our nation. Perhaps our “leadership journey” begins by asking what we can do in our role as American citizens to improve our own ability to select outstanding leaders?
The Single Most Important “Unasked Question” in Democracy
A good place to start might be here by asking yourself this- what is the single most important question we Americans could ask a political candidate seeking office in our democracy? Especially, what would this question be if we asked it of presidential candidates?
Arguably, that question should be something like this-
“Mr./Ms. Presidential candidate, how would you describe your leadership abilities (i.e., your leadership style) and how would you bring those abilities to the Oval Office and apply them specifically to govern and address the many challenges our nation is facing today to the benefit of all Americans?”
Certainly, one could take issue with this being the single most important question to ask any candidate, particularly one running for president. But, can you remember this question, or one similar, ever being asked of a presidential candidate? And if it has been asked, can you recall a cogent, coherent, thoughtful answer being given by the candidate that would help Americans make their best-informed choice at the polls?
It is likely you cannot recall it ever being asked, not even once. But, the depth and breadth of this question is the single most important argument as to its importance. We cannot select good leadership until we first learn to question, delve into, evaluate, and assess the quality of leadership being offered by those in office public office or those that aspire to be. This is especially true as it relates to the office of President of the United States. After all, we all want a leader whom we want to follow, whom we have confidence in, believe in, and are confident in them doing the right thing for the right reasons, even in the most difficult of circumstances. Right?
If that’s what we claim to want, why do we have such a hard time finding that kind of leadership?
Learning to Ask the Right Questions
But do we even know what to look for in our government leaders to determine whether they are offering good or bad leadership, or no leadership at all? Is there a model of good leadership that we are taught that should be exemplified in the beliefs and behaviors of those we elect? What might we be taught about leadership that would enhance our civic literacy? Is it possible for us to know what to look for so we can identify consistently good leadership in our leaders? Or, are we simply “chasing unicorns” on a quest that is impossible to complete? Perhaps the most fundamental question to ask when examining this concept called leadership is- what exactly is it? And, what are the most important prerequisites to be a good, effective leader in a democracy?
What is Our Track Record on Presidential Leadership?
Truth be told, Americans’ record in answering these questions is not always good, especially when one studies our presidents. If we use these questions as a benchmark, it is not a “stretch” to conclude that we Americans seem to not know much, if anything, about leadership, much less what comprises good presidential leadership. Take a moment and scan your memory banks relating to American history and ask yourself, how many of our presidents exhibited strong, effective leadership skills and abilities?
Certainly, we do have national figures in our history, especially certain well-known presidents such as Lincoln, Washington, Jefferson, John Adams, FDR, and Theodore Roosevelt, that we rightfully often hold up as examples of good leaders. What about so many of the others- Pearce, Polk, Buchanan, Johnson, Coolidge, and Hoover, to name a few? Do we honestly believe that history finds them to be good leaders? Yet, we Americans elected them as our leaders for a time, with major consequences for our nation, some of them deleterious. The stakes for us selecting poor leaders, especially presidents, are often high.
Do We Even Know What We Should and Should Not be Looking for in a Leader?
As important as we seem to think leadership is, what we should be looking for as civically literate people in the way of effective leadership? Or, are we sending ourselves off on a “mission impossible” when we go looking for it, with the result being that we rarely seem to find the leadership we believe our democratic republic truly needs?
And, although we want good leadership, we also want to avoid bad leadership. On that note, what type or types of bad leadership should we be taught to identify so we can avoid them? Conversely, what are the qualities of leadership that are paramount to our democratic republic? What questions should we learn to ask of our leaders so we can find these things out before they are elected? What should we be instructing our children are the qualities of leadership a representative democracy like ours requires? Let us begin exploring those questions.
What Is This Thing Called Leadership?
This question has puzzled many and created many answers, including some from very respected leading thinkers and businesspeople. Kevin Kruse, writing in Forbes, contends that a good place to start in determining how to define leadership is to eliminate what it is not.[1] Kruse explains that leadership is not positional, or having to do with seniority or hierarchy, although leadership can come from senior members of an organization or those high up in the “food chain” (and most expect it to, although they often are sadly disappointed when no leadership comes from those places).
Leadership is not about titles, although those with a certain title may exercise leadership, if they choose to do so. It is not about personal attributes or a personality “type”, although it is possible for leadership to come from those with dynamic or charismatic personalities. But sometimes it does not. And leadership is not management. Management is important. It involves planning, measuring, monitoring, coordinating and other important tasks, but that is not leading, it is managing. One can manage things, but as Kruse succinctly puts it, “…Leaders lead people.”[2]
Kruse zeros in on what leadership is by examining how some “leading business thinkers of our time” define it. According to Kruse:[3]
· Peter Drucker says, “The only definition of a leader is someone who has followers”.
· Warren Bennis defines it as “…the capacity to translate vision into reality.
· Bill Gates is quoted saying, “As we look ahead into the next century, leaders will be those who empower others.”
· Author John Maxwell says, “Leadership is influence-nothing more, nothing less”.
Ultimately Kruse defines leadership as “…a process of social influence, which maximizes the efforts of others, towards the achievement of a goal”[4] (emphasis mine). Kruse notes that in this definition, leadership stems from social influence, not authority or power. Leadership can come from one in power or a position of authority, but it does not have to. Leadership requires followers (others). No followership means there is no leadership. This definition does not mention personality traits because, according to Kruse, there are “many paths to leadership”, both from extroverts and introverts. Finally, Kruse’s definition highlights that leadership includes a goal, an intended outcome.[5]
While this is a good, general definition of leadership and a good place to start in terms of learning about leadership, it does not answer the question most of us are interested in. That is, what type of leadership do Americans need for their country and what kind of leadership should we Americans be willing to follow? To answer that, it is prudent to first understand and educate ourselves so we can identify dangerous, bad leadership- leadership that ultimately is opposed and antithetical to sustaining our democracy.
America’s Leadership Contradiction
Many of us who are called “baby boomers” have parents or relatives who served in the military during World War II. Often called “the Greatest Generation”, these Americans, many of them teenagers at that time, served in two world war theaters, defeating three fascist dictatorships. If you are one of those “boomers”, you might recall as a child hearing your father or relative answering your question- why did the United States fight World War II? Why did you dad (or uncle, etc. the reader can insert the relative)- go to war?
Aside from being told that he had to fight because he was “drafted”, it is likely the answer to this question was, “I went to fight Hitler and his Nazi dictatorship. Or, “I went to fight the Japanese dictator Tojo who attacked us at Pearl Harbor”. When this author asked his father this question (and fortunately, the war ended before my dad could go into combat), it was clear that fascism and dictatorships, both anathema to my father and his democratic values, were the reason he served. He saw them as a threat to United States’ democracy, as did millions of other Americans.
Why is it then, that today, the very thing that “the greatest generation” fought against, and many gave the last full measure for, is something that many Americans seem attracted to? Why is it that many can be drawn to leadership that is autocratic, oligarchic, and demagogic, even exhibiting fascist characteristics?
Our Democracy’s Most Important Defense Against Bad Leadership
It is a fact that many Americans are now drawn to the very form of leadership that concerned our founders. As education scholars Kahlenberg and Janey point out, our nation’s founders placed huge importance on Americans being able to identify good and bad leaders saying:
“For the experiment to succeed, the Founders knew a second fundamental bulwark against demagogues needed to be created: an educated populace…The Founders wanted voters to be intelligent in order to discern serious leaders of high character from con men who do not have the have the nation’s interests at heart...In this way, demagogues who sought to undermine those institutions would be suspect themselves…Educating common people was the answer to the oligarchs who said the average citizen could not be trusted to choose their leaders wisely.”[6] (emphasis mine)
The “experiment” Kahlenberg and Janey refer to is our democracy. The first bulwark they refer to is our Constitution and the protections our founders placed in it to guard it. But, as these scholars note, there was a second level of protection our Founding Fathers believed we needed for our democracy to succeed, and it came from what may seem like an unlikely place- an educated citizenry. Why? So that Americans would have the knowledge and thus, the discernment, not to allow “oligarchs” into positions of leadership. This was so we could elect individuals with the type of positive leadership skills a democratic nation truly needs.
Our Founders’ “Leadership Nightmare”
Perhaps former president Harry Truman best described the criticality of the right leadership for a democracy to thrive (or without it would dissolve) when he said: “There is no indispensable man in a democracy…When a republic comes to a point where a man is indispensable, then we have a Caesar." ”[7] (emphasis mine)
Nonetheless, here we are, in the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election, with a substantial number of Americans continuing to believe now former president Trump’s Big Lie and his unsubstantiated claims that his re-election was “stolen”. Further, they are willing to overlook mountains of evidence that he incited an insurrection on our nation’s Capital on January 6, 2021. Like a magnet, what draws so many Americans who claim to love democracy to this type of leadership? And, for those that are drawn to it, do they understand the type of leadership into which they are buying? Learning the “autocrat/oligarch//strongman/demagogue playbook”, often referred to as authoritarianism, can teach us much about what this kind of leadership can do to negatively impact our democracy. Let us begin looking into that that next.
We will continue exploring topics like this that are not given near enough time and emphasis in our civic education efforts, if they are even taught at all. Democracy is so important. But it’s hard to keep, and it’s easy to lose. It’s up to us, and only us, to protect it. Support democracy, become a Democratist! Spread the word! For more information, go to www.tomthedemocratist.com
[1] “What is Leadership?”, by Kevin Kruse, Forbes, April 9, 2013, 10:06 EDT, https://www.forbes.com/sites/kevinkruse/2013/04/09/what-is-leaddership/?+1ccc241d5b90
[2] “What is Leadership?”, by Kevin Kruse, Forbes, April 9, 2013, 10:06 EDT, Ibid
[3] “What is Leadership?”, by Kevin Kruse, Forbes, April 9, 2013, 10:06 EDT, Ibid
[4] “What is Leadership?”, by Kevin Kruse, Forbes, April 9, 2013, 10:06 EDT, Ibid
[5] “What is Leadership?”, by Kevin Kruse, Forbes, April 9, 2013, 10:06 EDT, Ibid
[6] “Putting Democracy Back into Public Education”, by Richard D. Kahlenberg and Clifford Janney, The Century Foundation, November 10, 2016, Ibid
[7] Truman Quotes, Truman Library, https://www.trumanlibraryinstitute.org/truman/truman-quotes/