Who is strong/strong leader?

Now that the Republican Party’s Presidential hopefuls are already in full gear, the topic of being a strong leader will become a major talking point for the various candidates. We are going to hear all sorts of definitions of what is a strong leader and why they consider themselves that person.

Is it really a dog eat dog world? Are the winners winners and the losers losers? Can we define who is the strongest by who is on top? What is a strong leader amongst strong leaders? How all the candidates plan to address this is going to be interesting. And of course all of them will be comparing themselves to Hillary Clinton and how much stronger of a leader they are going to be than her. So yeah, we are going to get the irony of a bunch of men trying to prove they are stronger than a woman.

And before you go off and say are you too machismo here. I do believe there are strong woman and woman who can lead countries. I didn’t always agree with Margaret Thatcher, but I always admired her. Germany’s Merkel is doing well as a leader. You can argue with her about Greece policy or other policies, but you cannot disagree she is leading Germany. And there are other good examples such as Indira Ghandi in India and Golda Meir in Israel. This is not going to be a discussion of man vs woman though. I do feel that Hillary Clinton is not a strong leader. So for me the probable comparison mentioned above is going to be a bit more comedic.

The real discussion that won’t be brought up is how can you prove yourself to be strong. There will be some boisterous talk and some of the candidates that are governors or were governors will bring some examples of how they led their state. And some of it will have some credence to it.

The candidates that can talk about how they create opportunity for all or have come up fighting for opportunities for all and experienced truly overcoming obstacles have the best start at the topic. This to me is the first test. And I am not talking about the ones born with silver spoons in their mouth not overcoming obstacles, I am talking about the ones who can truly prove they understand the importance of being successful while competing against all in an equal playing field. This is true strength.

As regular readers know I have been very critical of those who buy the government to create the rules that only benefit themselves. They are some of the most poisonous people to our constitution’s foundations and values on the planet. There are external enemies that we can identify, but it is this internal manipulation that is just as dangerous. Basically too much of our electorate has a blind eye to this problem.

And these are some of the weakest people on the planet. Why? This is because they try to eliminate the playing field. You cannot call yourself a leader if you spend more time trying to eliminate or prevent competition than actually competing. Yes it is good you won, but competition is ongoing. True leaders or people who are truly strong are not afraid of change, not afraid to keep fighting the good fight so they become better leaders. Once you reach a point where you don’t want others to have a chance you are no longer a leader. If the only answer you want to hear to a problem is your answer you are doing more harm than good to yourself, your organization, or whatever is your responsibility.

You will hear some people say the humble people are weak. You need to learn the difference between being humble than someone who may just acquiesce. Here is the sports analogy. Would you rather have Kobe Bryant or Tim Duncan on your team? Most people will probably say either, some will be smart and say it depends who else is on the team meaning which person either fits in better or do you need a guard or a forward. Yet think about which team has a longer lasting success rate right now. The big difference is Tim leads by example, he does have high expectations for his teammates and communicates this, he does not hold himself above others nor puts himself first above the interests of the organization. Yes Kobe has been successful, but now that he is past his prime his behavior of putting himself first is hurting his team, where Tim is finding ways to continue to be successful. The Spurs always competed, worked to find the best team within the competition and now everyone wants to be a Spur. This is strong leadership. Yes they win and looks like they are going to win for a long time even after Tim Duncan retires. This is successful leadership by him and the organization. Yet Tim never talks about himself. He has always been humble in his success and attitude. This is an example that being humble is not being weak. Hopefully this example shows that you being humble is a trait of being truly strong. A person does not need to tell me they are great, their actions and life prove it to me.

You hear everyone say change is good. Is it? Well yes, but this gets more lip service than action. Leadership knows times change. If you want to move your organization forward you need to adapt to a changing world. And unfortunately change became a buzz word that hides people trying not to change. Have you ever been in an organization where you say the more things change the more they stay the same? Sometimes this is just the case of an organization with a large bureaucracy. They just can’t change without something radical happen, but they try. The difference is when problems are not solvable by the current methods of doing business and you keep the course or keep the same action plan. No one wants to step up and be the leader, sometimes because the organization is run by leaders who use fear as their power source. IE do my biding or don’t have a job. These organizations eventually fail and take everyone down with them. The organizations that can change and adapt are the ones that thrive.

Which leads to the next point. The leaders who can hear new ideas from others are the ones that survive. No one person has all the answers, much less all the right answers. Even I have to admit that to myself once every blue moon. And my kids will confirm that more than I care to admit. Leadership is driving the ship and using all the resources not to hit the iceberg or end up in an unplanned destination. Strength is being able to listen to others, truly listen to others at all times and not when it suits you. You will hear the phrase that person only has yes men; so what do they learn. Unfortunately having no contrarians on the staff is one of your own worst enemies.

Will any of the candidates in the next year plus talk about leadership in these terms? I doubt it, however, I put this out there for you to maybe read between their lines to see if any of our current candidates have these qualities. Folks I mean truly look at them for these and other qualities. Don’t just think your guy or gal is a leader just because you want them to be. That is one of the great obstacles of the people following the leader. It goes back to the old children’s story, does the emperor truly have on clothes? Be the child. Funny how the child had the less fear of anyone in the story. What does that say about us as adults?

And what am I asking you to look for in a leader: Do not be afraid to question. Are they true to their words? Are they afraid of competition or are they competing in an artificial environment? Can they understand that tomorrow will not be the same as today? Can they adapt? Will they adapt? Who is the most important person in their world? Is it them? Or is it you? How do you know if it is you? Review their past actions, not their words. Who do they listen to? Or are they even listening to anyone? Where do they get their answers? How varied are the answers they are receiving?

The people who try to manipulate their environment or the environment in general are the ones who weaken us all. It is their failings that cause them to manipulate us. We have to be on guard. Or on guard for the ones who create artificial or superficial strength as an image. Remember when T Roosevelt said speak lightly and yield a big stick. Sometimes strength is knowing when not to use the big stick also.

Strength comes in a variety of ways and from a variety of people, but many times it is not from the person telling you they are strong. Now some people will talk about sacrifice as a characteristic of a strong leader and I do not disagree, but I left it out of this discussion for now. For now I would ask you look to yourself, to ask yourself, what do I expect from a leader? I ask you search to find what truly works, not what you are told works.

We are the United States and we are about to do something very few people in the history of the world has ever had the opportunity to do. We can honestly affect the world in a very positive way as the people of a country. We have the opportunity not to be led, but lead by who we choose. The world has many problems that need to be overcome. We can be blind and choose like we are told or we can tear up the status quo to keep the great experiment of democracy going and choose someone who can actually find the right paths this century is demanding we follow.

Unfortunately I do not see that person in our current crop of potential candidates from either the Democrats or Republicans. Hopefully I am wrong or hopefully someone chooses the reality instead of the image and crawls their way out of the madness we are about to partake called the Presidential election and stand up as a true leader.

What say you?