Naked Leadership

Naked Leadership

Remember the fable about the king wearing no clothes? If you don’t, it told of a vain king who believed he was wearing the most opulent outfits when, in fact, he was wearing nothing. He would parade around his kingdom in the altogether and his subjects, afraid to tell him the truth, would applaud his choice of garments while chuckling behind his back.

For some reason, I see this fable having relevance to today’s political/economic environment in the U.S. Those who proclaim to be leaders in these fields are presumably proud of their achievements and success and are generally lionized by an ever-accommodating media. But . . . . Don’t you get the feeling that they, too, have ‘no clothes on’ - that they believe they are doing a job of leading the nation but are, rather, empty of ideas, morals, consciences, any hint of real leadership qualities, and self-awareness? Now I don’t know if things were ever really different but I’d like to think they were and that one of the reasons we progressed as far as we have (until 1980) was in part due to responsible leadership. And I know there must be several happy exceptions to today’s cadres of incompetents. But . . . .

What, really, constitutes leadership qualities? This is trickier than what first might appear. Usually, our first thoughts revolve around the great leaders of history – Alexander, Julius Caesar, Genghis Khan, Henry V, Lincoln, and Gandhi. We all think we know why they were leaders. It’s funny, we all think we know a leader when we see/hear one? And we probably do. They lead for reasons of strength of character, will, intelligence, passion, vision, and moral fibre. Yet, excluding Gandhi, it seems to be more difficult in this era to reach any sort of critical concensus as to who might have been a genuine leader. The main reason, of course, is that we know so much more about those who would have us believe they are leaders. The Big Lies that underpin any military or political campaign find it harder to take root amongst a more critical and analytical public. Arguably, one would have to go back to the Second World War to find much agreement on calling anyone a real leader. We’ve spent almost all the last half century dissecting our so-called leaders and finding them wanting to some degree. It’s the real world’s version of ‘No, Virginia, there is no Santa Claus’. God knows we’ve bought in many pretenders and from experience alone I can only think of three who may have measured up– Lyndon Johnson, Pierre Elliot Trudeau, and Jimmy Carter, respectively for reasons of strength of character, intelligence, and moral fibre. In my estimation, there’s no one else even close (although I admit to ignoring – for reasons of ignorance – Ho Chi Minh). It’s an odd feature of the modern age It’s easier, for a start, to examine some of the types we are led to believe are leaders and by looking closer, discover they’re really something else entirely

We’ve had 3 years of Barack Obama and discouragingly little has happened. The medical plan was ostensibly a step forward but it is seriously flawed and it’s hard to find anyone jumping up and down to proclaim its virtues. The economy is still in the toilet, Congress is grid-locked in shallow partisanship, and the ship of state has no idea where it is headed.

So how can the country get back on track? The truth is that it will take a special person or, ideally, several special persons, working independently, to lead us out of this downward spiral. Committees, associations, and clubs won’t do it. Grassroot movements must lead the way and, through it, we will find the leadership we need. Political parties of today seldom cultivate real leaders. The inner circles are caught up with finding candidates who are malleable. Leadership is, by its nature, individual. ANY organization that has been around long enough (what constitutes ‘long enough’ is, in most cases, discouragingly short) finds it intrinsically difficult, if not impossible, to recognize and reward a true leader. Vested interests and the inevitable turning of vision inward to deal with the future of the organization rather than focusing on what it was originally set up to do, poisons the selection process and we end up with the George Bush’s of this world; corporate CEO’s who refuse to think beyond this year’s bottom line and University presidents who think listening to the corporate world is more important than providing a real education.

Many of us thought Obama had the potential to be a true leader (it would be interesting to know what he thought he had achieved when so many real people put their faith in him because he behaves like his taking of office was nothing more than being selected by some mysterious committee), but he has proven to have surprisingly little substance. For all his flowery oratory he certainly SEEMS to be amenable to agendas we don’t see or understand. But it’s not only him. Looking over at the current political/economic horizon, is like peering into a Bosch painting, madness personified. Character warps of astonishing mediocrity cavort in corrupted system and thumb their snouts at the notion of a responsible democracy. Theirs is a world of entitlement, venality, cockamamie theorizing, and insensitivity. For all their faults, the founding fathers would have jailed most of these brigands and scofflaws.

Where does this wretched situation leave you and me? Well, we can start looking for real people to follow; start believing in all that Hallmarkian cliche about believing in yourself (Such truths have no business being peddled via greeting card – they belong in the school curricula). Which means thinking for yourself. Which means evaluating what you hear and see – independently. And if you find someone, don’t be so quick to try to tear them down. We’re all imperfect. We can cooperate. Remember, this isn’t a struggle to get people to agree with you as to the path we take; it’s a struggle to let civilized debate take preference over selfishness, narrow-mindedness, puritanical screeching, and institutionalized deception. Take responsibility for yourself as a citizen. Be your own leader. There are no other solutions.

Robert Alan Davidson