LEADERS LEAD, THAT’S WHY THEY’RE CALLED LEADERS

Everyone knows leaders lead.

The big mystery is why anyone follows a leader.

And if it’s a mystery to you, maybe you’re following the wrong leader.

Or you’re married.

Let’s break down the makings of a good leader and get things straightened out.

Are they trustworthy?

Leaders should be trustworthy. Will they do what they said they’d do, what they’ve been tasked, elected, and entrusted to do?

Leaders carry hopes and dreams for a better day, a better deal, a sense of doing what’s right.

If that’s not happening, it’s wrong.

Are they loyal?

A leader who double deals is a double dealing leader.

They bet against themselves, and by their office, against you.

If you are a leader from a state near the top for receiving federal dollars, are you being loyal to your constituents by zipping around in a movie star car and living on a yacht?

According to a 2004 Washington Post article on the boat, then called the Jennifer Anne, “You could call it a houseboat, but that would be like calling Air Force One a plane.”

Man of the people, or man out for himself?

Are They Helpful

When leaders lead they are helpful, but not to everyone.

The idea is leading the way and still giving directions to those with an aversion to following.

Leaders help their cause by doing the big things, but also helping out with small things along the way.

You know, coattails.

Are They Friendly

Has this happened yet? You meet someone and hit it off, make plans, do things, then the friendly facade starts to slip.

The more time you spend together the more authentic they become and it’s not the same person you thought they were when you met them.

Maybe they’re a different sort of friendly, the double life sort of friendly where they separate people they know into groups and each grouping gets a different version of friendly.

I asked a friend a question once and they gave a half hour answer. Wouldn’t shut up. It felt like an invitation to a whole new world they’d kept hidden. Math.

Leaders lead by showing only so much and still be believable; followers take the bits they understand.

Are They Courteous

The gracious and mannered leaders from the great states of Integrity and Truth can accept a judge, even call them more qualified than other judges they had confirmed, and still vote against them.

That’s the sort of hollow courtesy that echoes in poor leaders’ ears.

‘If I say the right things and do the wrong things then it’s a wash back home if I’m courteous.’

Or from a new book, “I didn’t get to be leader by voting with five people.”

Are They Kind

For all of the baby kissing and dog petting, leaders at certain levels have grave responsibilities.

It’s not State Rep. Goober holding a door open for protesters, or Sen. Twit raising a fist to the Jan. 6 insurrection crew.

Leaders lead by showing kindness in their actions and the action of those around them, not by explaining how women invite you for a hopeful career-move-grope if you’re famous.

How did that play out in theater programs across the country with girls dreaming about working in television and movies?

Are They Obedient

The question is not whether leaders are obedient, but obedient to who?

Voters elect political leaders, who run campaigns, which are financed by people who want a return on their investment.

Do leaders lead by doing the will of the people, or the will of their sponsors?

Are They Cheerful

I like leaders with a consistent demeanor.

Cheerful at rallies, defiant at election results, and cowering like a whipped dog around Putin, is not a consistent demeanor.

Leaders lead with the power of personality, charisma, charm, whatever you want to call it. The rest of us are drawn in.

Cheerful is a good draw.

Are They Thrifty

It doesn’t matter if leaders have thrifty personal habits; it does matter when they exchange their thrifty habits for the pampered life in leadership.

When you get to the top things may change, but Jimmy Carter carried his suitcase.

The vision from the top gets filtered in leaders from modest backgrounds, which is how I try to understand Nixon’s Guards.

One of the things that stayed with the president during all his official travels wasn’t just the advancement of American foreign policy, it was also the ceremonial uniforms worn by palace guards in many of those countries. So he decided to give the Secret Service a makeover. 

It wasn’t thrifty.

Are They Brave

A brave leader can admit a mistake, but not too many.

No one follows a f#ck-up for too long.

How long has it been since the 2020 presidential elections?

Wouldn’t it be brave to show the courtesy of embracing reality sooner than later, because it feels later already.

Go ahead and be different, be odd, be unconventional and off the rails, but be brave enough to know when it’s time to shut up and leave.

Are They Clean

The Greek ideal is a sound body and mind. Let’s start there.

Aristotle defined Education as – “Education is the creation of a sound mind in a sound body…… It develops man’s faculty especially his mind so that he may be able to enjoy the contemplation of supreme truth, goodness, and beauty of which perfect happiness essentially consists.”

If leaders embraced Aristotle’s definition of education, their goal would be perfect happiness.

I’d settle for happiness, but what do you get when leaders from states leading the need for infrastructure cast their vote against infrastructure funding?

Something dirty in there.

Are They Reverent

Depends on who you ask. I asked Forbes, who asked:

Will Dark-Money-Funded Tax-Exempt Churches Campaign In 2020?

President Trump ordered executive agencies to stop enforcing the Johnson Amendment, a current law that prevents section 501(c)(3) entities from supporting or opposing political campaigns. Specifically, Executive Order 13798, issued May 4, 2017, provides that all executive departments and agencies will respect and “protect the freedom of persons and organizations” to engage in religious and political speech “to the extent permitted by law.” Many agree with the administration’s desire to protect unnecessary disclosure of donors’ identities and the free speech of churches that might otherwise lose their tax-exempt status by supporting political candidates.

Can I get an “Amen?”

Later in the article Oregon spoke up with:

On July 17, 2018, Senate Finance Committee ranking member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., released a statement asserting that “Trump’s Treasury Department made it easier for anonymous foreign donors to funnel dark money into nonprofits the same day a Russian national linked to the NRA was arrested for attempting to influence our elections.”

What I’m seeing is a very heavy plate getting passed down the pew on Sundays.

Are they reverent? For a price?

If, like me, the term dark money seem ominous, you could either google ‘dark money’ or stick with:

“Voters elect leaders who run campaigns funded by contributors.”

Darker?

Dark Money: funds raised for the purpose of influencing elections by nonprofit organizations that are not required to disclose the identities of their donors.

Russians and Churches and Guns? Oh, my.

Thank you for reading. Leave a comment if you know the headings’ origins.