The TRUTH is…I’m scared!

I don’t ever remember things being this bad. Anywhere you look these days you see crises, failure, corruption, deceit, or outright disaster. The economy, foreign policy, our sovereign borders, foreign policy, education, healthcare…and the list goes on. Perhaps my greatest worry, however, is the lack of leadership.

So, what is leadership? The answer to this question should be simple enough, but even the experts disagree. For the sake of this post, and the points I am trying to make, let’s define leadership as follows:

Simply put, leadership is the ability to influence and guide followers or other members of an organization toward a common goal or purpose.

How can we have leaders without a clear sense of common goal or purpose? We are a deeply divided country with no clear paths or solutions for our most pressing problems.

Our crisis of leadership is not just political. Yes, inside our political parties we do find different factions. This is nowhere better defined than our recent efforts to elect a Speaker of the House. A few individuals are holding our nation captive for their own selfish interests or motives. It is near impossible to forge enough agreement on anything to get the business of the people…us, done!

Our crisis of leadership also impacts our economy, social structure, and religious base. Institutes of higher learning are out of control. Churches are split over issues they once took for granted. The right to life conflicts with self-control and direction. Many of our nations’ businesses are owned and controlled by China. We focus on green energy but produce cars that people do not want and cannot afford that are powered by electricity produced by coal and oil.

Leaders are decision makers. They think critically and strategically about the best course of action for their team or for themselves as an individual. They gather input, weigh the pros and cons, and consider all the implications of each choice. Then, they adjust their decisions as needed, based on new information or circumstances that arise.

My friends, we are living in unprecedented times. We need new paths to face the problems and circumstances of today. We need more strategic leaders. We look at too many things around us as problems, not opportunities. This is because we have become so bogged down by the size and scope of the situations we fail to understand the full and long-term implications.

Strategic leadership is difficult to find because most of us work on a tactical level. The tactical level consists of the actual plans and actions to gain a specific end. We are asking questions like:

·         How do we protect our borders?

·         What is our plan to create new jobs?

·         What policies will help us to lower healthcare costs?

·         How do we teach our kids and increase their scores?

If you do, then you are squarely tactical in your thinking. You may solve a certain problem only to create others.

The key strategic question we must ask first is “Why?” And the answer to this question must not be simply “to make more money” or “to reduce inflation”. Those are reasons to do something, but they are not reasons to be anything. A leader must determine the why clearly and succinctly. This is strategic thinking.

Insight before initiative. Insight is an accurate and intuitive understanding of something. You know it at a deep level, from all angles. Simply put, before we act on something, we need to have a good understanding of what we are getting ourselves into. Where the why guides our overall direction and shapes our goals, insight drives the actions that help us accomplish our objectives. Gaining insight happens through research and experience. Insight comes from looking at evidence and facts.

There’s a fantastic quote from John Quincy Adams. He said, "If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader."

That’s a terrific definition – action based on facts and understanding, inspiring others to have a vision and to dream big dreams. Yes, we define leadership by our own actions and abilities. But all those things are oriented toward others. It’s all about the people we serve.

For action as complex as it can be to define leadership, it really does come down to serving people well and inspiring them to become more. How do you define leadership? What makes a good leader – or a bad one? Leave a comment below and join the conversation!