Why do political leaders offer so little leadership?
by Miki SaxonI’m not a lover of political rhetoric I freely admit that I don’t follow politics in depth, especially in the early stages, but from what I do follow I see few signs of real leadership.
And although Rich over at Copywrite Ink said this in the context of social media, it perfectly addresses my question.
…I was not advocating for leaders as they defined the term as much as I was advocating leadership. The two are vastly different.
Leadership is not defined by power, privilege, rank, title, position, or authority. Leadership is a quality of action, one that rarely requires force of law, threat, manipulation, control, or the attempted shutdown of dissent. On the contrary, leaders welcome all parties, all views, and then effectively match those to organizational goals and not necessarily their opinions or preferences.
So I’m asking you readers to weigh in here with the information and post real-life examples of good political leadership, whether national or local, guided by Rich’s description and focused on DOing sans ideology and talk.
November 16th, 2007 at 9:04 pm
Hey Miki,
Thank you for the reference to the definition.
It is a good question. Unfortunately, most political leaders (but not all) are elected on popularity (those with leadership skills are often running the campaign). So, the public doesn’t learn whether the political leader has leadership skills until after they are in office, which often leads to voter remorse.
Best,
Rich
November 17th, 2007 at 12:32 am
Hey back at ya, Rich. Based on what I’ve heard about political campaigns globally they’re a breeding ground for all those things you say leadership is NOT and none of the positive ones, plus ‘political leader’ sounds like an oxymoron to me:)
November 17th, 2007 at 1:43 am
Ha! Funny.
The ones I’ve worked on are different, mostly. (Wink.) But I like to do things differently and had one of the best mentors ever. She’s retired, but she taught me a lot about volunteer leadership as opposed to management.
Love the blog too!
Best,
Rich
November 20th, 2007 at 2:51 pm
Good grief, Rich, you must have bitten your tongue in half writing that first sentence! It’s cool that you had a good mentor, but it wouldn’t have helped if you’d had the wrong MAP.
Also, thanks for the kind words about the blog, but in fairness you should know that I’m only responsible from mid August on.