During my entire professional life, I have always singled out great leaders and asked them to summarize for me the characteristics that most defined their leadership. For example, my neighbor on the Chesapeake did what some thought was unthinkable. He took Dupont into China. How did you do it? He responded, “The dirty thirty.” He made sure that everyone was up for the challenge by commenting that if 30% of their day is bad and 70% is good, that is the definition of a good day. Another friend/leader suggested regarding challenging people who were not honest in their actions that the faster people talk, the more you should worry.
I am a fan of Ed Rendell so I read with interest his leadership lessons for the next mayor based on his experience in that office. His lesson in leadership in today’s Inquirer should be learned by the politicians in Washington.
First and foremost, learn to make hard decisions by focusing on the right thing to do and not what will get you elected again. He cites this as the greatest problem of today’s leaders. He had to make a difficult decision during his first days in office by removing certain city services so that the budget could be balanced and returned those services before the end of his term so that his constituency knew that he kept his promise. Rendell quotes John F. Kennedy about courage and hard decisions. “We do these things not because they are easy, we do them because they are hard.”
In bioethics we refer to this as short-term decisions that have long term consequences for the greater good.
I had occasion to be around Ed Rendell. Although it is not mentioned in the article, he was everywhere and seemed to love being around people. He showed up early one Sunday morning to give the starting cry at the beginning of a road race that I was in. Given his busy schedule he also inconvenienced himself for others. He was fun and people just liked to be around him.
Today we have so many political leaders who want adulation from their people as opposed to the adulation that a leader should shower on his people to encourage and fill them with hope. Last night Trump gave a 108 minutes address at a Conservative Convention. Instead of God Bless America as the tune to bring him on stage, his address resembled more of How Great I Art. Reporters indicated he must have had someone read him Mein Kampf as his remarks resembled that of Hitler himself. His words pure fascism.
I am in the midst of reading Mark Leibovich’s book, Thank You for Your Servitude, which is a scathing indictment of Trump and his enablers in the Republican party. He reminds the reader that Trump started his term with the unforgettable and unforgivable event of having each of his cabinet members go around the room and comment why it was so great to have the opportunity to work with him. The boot licking was sickening. It was televised on national TV. The one person who stood out was General Mattis who did not reference Trump at all, but indicated that he was grateful for the armed forces. You knew in that moment that he would not last for the whole term, and he didn’t.
My cousin, the Reverend Noble M. Smith, who was one of my mentors, didn’t waste words about leadership and life. “Never let anyone outwork you!”
Perhaps one of the best pieces of leadership advice that I received was when I was working as a janitor after graduating from high school. The school superintendent, Dr. Oermann, offered the position to me to help to pay for college when no jobs were available in the community. I watched a leader’s actions and not his words. I was working for the head janitor, Mr. Banks, who could have given me all the challenging jobs like cleaning the public restrooms. He didn’t. He split the job assignments in such a way that all duties were shared with him. What I learned is that you shouldn’t ask others do what you are not willing to do yourself.
Regarding the importance of action over words, one of my mentors is Robert Coles, Professor of the Moral Life, at Harvard. I read most of what he wrote about the ethical life. I never met him as the one evening that we were supposed to be in the same place at the same time did not occur because of weather trouble in Boston for his flight to Philly. A friend of mine, John Crosby, summarized all of Coles’ work with the words: “Do as I do not as I say.” That is the very definition of moral leadership.
Khizr Khan whose son was killed in the war in Iraq summarized the heart of Trump’s lack of leadership when he stated at the Democratic Convention. “You have sacrificed nothing!”
We can learn as well about great leadership from leaders who fail to grasp how to find the leader that is in them. Hypocrisy is any leader who thinks of himself before thinking about the people he is leading.
I was struck by a video during the investigation of the officers after the Uvalde school shooting that highlighted the training that new officers receive. The instructor stood in the front of the room and began his teaching by letting the candidates for law enforcement know that “Unless you are willing to sacrifice your lives for others, you should not return for class tomorrow. I will not judge you in any way. Just don’t show up for that is job one, first and foremost in your job description in being a leader as an officer of the law.”
Comments