I’ve been thinking about leadership lately, perhaps because it’s football season again—finally!—and the Broncos have a new quarterback. Coach Sean Payton tested three potential starting QBs during the preseason. They’re all very skilled football players, but he was looking for something in addition to ball handling skills. Coach Payton said, “You’re evaluating the person. How they fit in with the organization.” I heard him during a press conference say something like, “We can teach nutrition, ball handling, the playbook, and other fundamentals of the sport. But we can’t teach leadership.”
Leadership.
We’re on the brink of the most important election of our lives, and both parties have had their nominating conventions. I listened to speeches from both the RNC and the DNC, but I heard vast differences. Pessimism vs optimism; backward vs forward; failure vs opportunity.
Good politicians are unique creatures. Their egos must be big enough to think they can do this impossible job, but they also must know they need to do their work for reasons larger than themselves. Mainly, they need to work for the entirety of the American populace.
That’s a tough job.
Economic policy, healthcare, tax codes, national security, terrorism, housing, systemic racism/misogyny/homophobia, climate change, homelessness are all very complicated problems. And those aren’t the only problems.
Good politicians know they can’t know or do everything, so they surround themselves with brilliant tacticians, diplomats, policy wonks, and experts in all fields to help guide their decisions.
But they can’t hire or appoint someone to give them character … or empathy … or optimism … or maturity. Nobody can be an expert in everything, but everyone has the capacity to care about people.
I certainly don’t know everything, but I do know this— a nation can’t survive with leaders who surround themselves with yes-men and -women and hate and who fear wide swaths of their constituency.
Who are some great leaders you’ve known? Employers? Teachers? Coaches? Parents? What made them great?