What can I say? There is no way to skip Rod Blagojevich in a weekly post called Quotable Quotes.

But I found a couple of others that add a lot to the picture.

“I appreciate anybody who wants to tape me openly and notoriously, and those who feel like they want to sneakily and wear taping devices, I would remind them that it kind of smells like Nixon and Watergate.” (Interesting choice to link himself to considering…)

“When the President does it, that means that it is not illegal.” –Richard Nixon (Sense a connection?.)

(Soul mates. Sweet…)

“You want to know my philosophy? One day a peacock. The next day a feather duster.” –Pat Quinn, Illinois Governor (Wow! Do you think he’s authentic?)

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Image credit: Chicago Tribune

I really dislike words that have no definition other than a different form of themselves.

Leader – a person or thing that leads.

Leadership – the position or function of a leader

Talk about something with no real meaning—except when looking at the man-hours spent teaching and writing about it or the hundreds of millions of dollars spent on acquiring it.

And I find the practice of identifying ‘leaders’ early in their careers particularly repugnant for two reasons.

1. The idea that you can identify future ‘leaders’ from their actions on the playground or in high school or during their initial working years is inaccurate at best and stupid at worst.

Those identified as kids are the ones who excel at getting noticed, love the spotlight, have a good story to tell and are typically attractive and mainstream. The nerds and misfits are rarely noticed as future ‘leaders’—think Steve Jobs.

Picking them out for special training during their first five years of work eliminates all those who work for bad bosses or for companies where entry level hires are grunts with no real responsibility.

Choosing them because they have an MBA is really ridiculous—all the degree proves is that they could afford grad school (either had the money or went into debt) and that they made it through. That’s it.

Further, the ‘early leader’ approach eliminates all those late bloomers giving them far less opportunities to excel.

The second reason is much worse.

2.Those ‘chosen’ start getting extra attention and mentoring from day one of being identified, so the traits that got them noticed get stronger. Stronger isn’t always better.

They are anointed, singled out for greatness, they are special.

Being special sets you apart; suddenly you’re better than the others and that means that there must be different rules for you because you’re special, better—and entitled. An attitude best summed up by Richard Nixon when he said, “When the President does it, that means that it is not illegal.”

And that sense of being anointed a ‘leader’ is partly responsible for the current debacle.

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Have you stopped to think that the “leaders” responsible for this mess are mostly Boomers and a few older Gen X?

It doesn’t surprise me, the Boomers’ parents tried to give them everything that they didn’t have and ended up with the first sex/drugs/rock&roll generation that thumbed their collective nose at “the rules” more than any previous one.

They, in turn, raised the first “entitled” generation and Gen X has increased that attitude by an order of magnitude.

In 1977 Richard Nixon said, “When the president does it, that means it is not illegal,” and it seems as if the generations that revile him have taken that as their individual mantra—in spirit if not in fact.

The effort eliminate accountability and further increasing that sense of entitlement to further trash future leaders’ ethical base is in full swing. (Texas seems to be taking a leading role in both. Read this, this and this.)

Religion doesn’t seem to be the answer—I’m sure that most “leaders” of the current debacle would tell you that they have a strong faith, as would all the religious “leaders” who have lied, cheated, stolen and abused.

Education certainly doesn’t lead to a higher moral plane—the millions of people damaged by the well-educated people who wreaked havoc on the global economy certainly equals, if not exceeds, the damage done by drug dealers and other criminals.

Obviously, ignorance doesn’t cut it, either.

I don’t know the answer, but I’m pretty sure it starts in the crib and the initial responsibility belongs to the people responsible for creating that life.

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Photo by Sandy Caldwell