[WCUSP] Where Have All the Leaders Gone?

[yvonne simmons]

---------------------------------
Let's tell 'em all we've had enough:

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article17516.htm


                                                      
                  
 
            
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Iacocca: Where HaveAll the Leaders Gone?
            
American Empire | Books 
            
Excerpt:             Where Have All the Leaders Gone? 
            
            By Lee Iacocca with Catherine Whitney
            
            04/11/07 "ICH" -- -- -Had Enough? Am I the
only guyin this country who's fed up with what's
happening? Where the hell isour outrage? We should be
screaming bloody murder. We've got a gang ofclueless
bozos steering our ship of state right over a cliff,
we've gotcorporate gangsters stealing us blind, and we
can't even clean up aftera hurricane much less build a
hybrid car. But instead of getting mad,everyone sits
around and nods their heads when the politicians
say,"Stay the course." Stay the course? You've got to
be kidding. This isAmerica, not the damned Titanic.
I'll give you a sound bite: Throw thebums out! You
might think I'm getting senile, that I've gone off
myrocker, and maybe I have. But someone has to speak
up. I hardlyrecognize this country anymore. The
President of the United States isgiven a free pass to
ignore the Constitution, tap our phones, and leadus to
war on a pack of lies.Congress responds to record
deficits bypassing a huge tax cut for the wealthy
(thanks, but I don't need it).The most famous business
leaders are not the innovators but the guys
inhandcuffs. While we're fiddling in Iraq, the Middle
East is burning andnobody seems to know what to do.
And the press is waving pom-pomsinstead of asking hard
questions. That's not the promise of America myparents
and yours traveled across the ocean for.
            
I've had enough. How about you? I'll go a step
further. You can't callyourself a patriot if you're
not outraged. This is a fight I'm readyand willing to
have. My friends tell me to calm down. They say,
"Lee,you're eighty-two years old. Leave the rage to
the young people." I'dlove to, as soon as I can pry
them away from their iPods for fiveseconds and get
them to pay attention. I'm going to speak up
becauseit's my patriotic duty. I think people will
listen to me. They say Ihave a reputation as a
straight shooter. So I'll tell you how I see it,and
it's not pretty, but at least it's real. I'm hoping to
strike anerve in those young folks who say they don't
vote because they don'ttrust politicians to represent
their interests. Hey, America, wake up.These guys work
for us. Who Are These Guys, Anyway? Why are we in
thismess? How did we end up with this crowd in
Washington? Well, we votedfor them, or at least some
of us did. But I'll tell you what we didn'tdo. We
didn't agree to suspend the Constitution. We didn't
agree tostop asking questions or demanding answers.
Some of us are sick andtired of people who call free
speech treason. Where I come from that'sa
dictatorship, not a democracy. And don't tell me it's
all the faultof right-wing Republicans or liberal
Democrats. That's anintellectually lazy argument, and
it's part of the reason we're in thisstew. We're not
just a nation of factions. We're a people. We
sharecommon principles and ideals. And we rise and
fall together.
            
Where are the voices of leaders who can inspire us to
action and makeus stand taller? What happened to the
strong and resolute party ofLincoln? What happened to
the courageous, populist party of FDR andTruman? There
was a time in this country when the voices of
greatleaders lifted us up and made us want to do
better. Where have all theleaders gone?
            
            The Test of a Leader
I've never been Commander in Chief, but I've been a
CEO. I understand afew things about leadership at the
top. I've figured out nine points,not ten (I don't
want people accusing me of thinking I'm Moses). I
callthem the "Nine Cs of Leadership." They're not
fancy or complicated.Just clear, obvious qualities
that every true leader should have. Weshould look at
how the current administration stacks up. Like it
ornot, this crew is going to be around until January
2009. Maybe we canlearn something before we go to the
polls in 2008. Then let's be surewe use the leadership
test to screen the candidates who say they wantto run
the country. It's up to us to choose wisely.
            
A leader has to show CURIOSITY. He has to listen to
people outside ofthe "Yes, sir" crowd in his inner
circle. He has to read voraciously,because the world
is a big, complicated place. George W. Bush bragsabout
never reading a newspaper. "I just scan the
headlines," he says.Am I hearing this right? He's the
President of the United States and henever reads a
newspaper? Thomas Jefferson once said, "Were it left
tome to decide whether we should have a government
without newspapers, ornewspapers without a government,
I should not hesitate for a moment toprefer the
latter." Bush disagrees. As long as he gets his daily
hourin the gym, with Fox News piped through the sound
system, he's ready togo.
            
If a leader never steps outside his comfort zone to
hear differentideas, he grows stale. If he doesn't put
his beliefs to the test, howdoes he know he's right?
The inability to listen is a form ofarrogance. It
means either you think you already know it all, or
youjust don't care. Before the 2006 election, George
Bush made a big pointof saying he didn't listen to the
polls. Yeah, that's what they all saywhen the polls
stink. But maybe he should have listened, because
70percent of the people were saying he was on the
wrong track. It took a"thumping" on election day to
wake him up, but even then you got thefeeling he
wasn't listening so much as he was calculating how to
do abetter job of convincing everyone he was right.
            
A leader has to be CREATIVE, go out on a limb, be
willing to trysomething different. You know, think
outside the box. George Bushprides himself on never
changing, even as the world around him isspinning out
of control. God forbid someone should accuse him
offlip-flopping. There's a disturbingly messianic
fervor to hiscertainty. Senator Joe Biden recalled a
conversation he had with Bush afew months after our
troops marched into Baghdad. Joe was in the OvalOffice
outlining his concerns to the President, the explosive
mix ofShiite and Sunni, the disbanded Iraqi army, the
problems securing theoil fields. "The President was
serene," Joe recalled. "He told me hewas sure that we
were on the right course and that all would be
well.'Mr. President,' I finally said, 'how can you be
so sure when you don'tyet know all the facts?'" Bush
then reached over and put a steadyinghand on Joe's
shoulder. "My instincts," he said. "My instincts."
Joewas flabbergasted. He told Bush,"Mr. President,
your instincts aren'tgood enough." Joe Biden sure
didn't think the matter was settled. And,as we all
know now, it wasn't. Leadership is all about managing
change,whether you're leading a company or leading a
country. Things change,and you get creative. You
adapt. Maybe Bush was absent the day theycovered that
at Harvard Business School.
            
A leader has to COMMUNICATE. I'm not talking about
running off at themouth or spouting sound bites. I'm
talking about facing reality andtelling the truth.
Nobody in the current administration seems to knowhow
to talk straight anymore. Instead, they spend most of
their timetrying to convince us that things are not
really as bad as they seem. Idon't know if it's denial
or dishonesty, but it can start to drive youcrazy
after a while. Communication has to start with telling
the truth,even when it's painful. The war in Iraq has
been, among other things, agrand failure of
communication. Bush is like the boy who didn't crywolf
when the wolf was at the door. After years of being
told that allis well, even as the casualties and chaos
mount, we've stoppedlistening to him.
            
A leader has to be a person of CHARACTER. That means
knowing thedifference between right and wrong and
having the guts to do the rightthing. Abraham Lincoln
once said, "If you want to test a man'scharacter, give
him power." George Bush has a lot of power. What
doesit say about his character? Bush has shown a
willingness to take boldaction on the world stage
because he has the power, but he shows littleregard
for the grievous consequences. He has sent our troops
(not tomention hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqi
citizens) to theirdeaths. For what? To build our oil
reserves? To avenge his daddybecause Saddam Hussein
once tried to have him killed? To show his daddyhe's
tougher? The motivations behind the war in Iraq are
questionable,and the execution of the war has been a
disaster. A man of characterdoes not ask a single
soldier to die for a failed policy.
            
A leader must have COURAGE. I'm talking about balls.
(That even goesfor female leaders.) Swagger isn't
courage. Tough talk isn't courage.George Bush comes
from a blue-blooded Connecticut family, but he likesto
talk like a cowboy. You know, My gun is bigger than
your gun.Courage in the twenty-first century doesn't
mean posturing and bravado.Courage is a commitment to
sit down at the negotiating table and talk. 
            
If you're a politician, courage means taking a
position even when youknow it will cost you votes.
Bush can't even make a public appearanceunless the
audience has been handpicked and sanitized. He did a
seriesof so-called town hall meetings last year, in
auditoriums packed withhis most devoted fans. The
questions were all softballs.
            
To be a leader you've got to have CONVICTION, a fire
in your belly.You've got to have passion. You've got
to really want to get somethingdone. How do you
measure fire in the belly? Bush has set the
all-timerecord for number of vacation days taken by a
U.S. President, fourhundred and counting. He'd rather
clear brush on his ranch than immersehimself in the
business of governing. He even told an interviewer
thatthe high point of his presidency so far was
catching aseven-and-a-half-pound perch in his
hand-stocked lake. It's no betteron Capitol Hill.
Congress was in session only ninety-seven days in2006.
That's eleven days less than the record set in 1948,
whenPresident Harry Truman coined the term do-nothing
Congress. Most peoplewould expect to be fired if they
worked so little and had nothing toshow for it. But
Congress managed to find the time to vote itself
araise. Now, that's not leadership.
            
A leader should have CHARISMA. I'm not talking about
being flashy.Charisma is the quality that makes people
want to follow you. It's theability to inspire. People
follow a leader because they trust him.That's my
definition of charisma. Maybe George Bush is a great
guy tohang out with at a barbecue or a ball game. But
put him at a globalsummit where the future of our
planet is at stake, and he doesn't lookvery
presidential. Those frat-boy pranks and the kidding
around heenjoys so much don't go over that well with
world leaders. Just askGerman Chancellor Angela
Merkel, who received an unwelcome shouldermassage from
our President at a G-8 Summit. When he came up behind
herand started squeezing, I thought she was going to
go right through theroof.
            
A leader has to be COMPETENT. That seems obvious,
doesn't it? You'vegot to know what you're doing. More
important than that, you've got tosurround yourself
with people who know what they're doing. Bush
bragsabout being our first MBA President. Does that
make him competent?Well, let's see. Thanks to our
first MBA President, we've got thelargest deficit in
history, Social Security is on life support, andwe've
run up a half-a-trillion-dollar price tag (so far) in
Iraq. Andthat's just for starters. A leader has to be
a problem solver, and thebiggest problems we face as a
nation seem to be on the back burner.
            
You can't be a leader if you don't have COMMON SENSE.
I call thisCharlie Beacham's rule. When I was a young
guy just starting out in thecar business, one of my
first jobs was as Ford's zone manager inWilkes-Barre,
Pennsylvania. My boss was a guy named Charlie
Beacham,who was the East Coast regional manager.
Charlie was a big Southerner,with a warm drawl, a huge
smile, and a core of steel. Charlie used totell me,
"Remember, Lee, the only thing you've got going for
you as ahuman being is your ability to reason and your
common sense. If youdon't know a dip of horseshit from
a dip of vanilla ice cream, you'llnever make it."
George Bush doesn't have common sense. He just has
alot of sound bites. You
know,Mr.they'll-welcome-us-as-liberators-no-child-left-behind-heck-of-a-job-Brownie-mission-accomplishedBush.
Former President Bill Clinton once said, "I grew up in
analcoholic home. I spent half my childhood trying to
get into thereality-based world, and I like it here."
I think our current Presidentshould visit the real
world once in a while.
            
The Biggest C is Crisis Leaders are made, not born.
Leadership isforged in times of crisis. It's easy to
sit there with your feet up onthe desk and talk
theory. Or send someone else's kids off to war
whenyou've never seen a battlefield yourself. It's
another thing to leadwhen your world comes tumbling
down. On September 11, 2001, we needed astrong leader
more than any other time in our history. We needed
asteady hand to guide us out of the ashes. Where was
George Bush? He wasreading a story about a pet goat to
kids in Florida when he heard aboutthe attacks. He
kept sitting there for twenty minutes with a
baffledlook on his face. It's all on tape. You can see
it for yourself. Then,instead of taking the quickest
route back to Washington and immediatelygoing on the
air to reassure the panicked people of this country,
hedecided it wasn't safe to return to the White House.
He basically wentinto hiding for the day, and he told
Vice President Dick Cheney to stayput in his bunker.
We were all frozen in front of our TVs, scared outof
our wits, waiting for our leaders to tell us that we
were going tobe okay, and there was nobody home. It
took Bush a couple of days toget his bearings and
devise the right photo op at Ground Zero. That
wasGeorge Bush's moment of truth, and he was
paralyzed. And what did he dowhen he'd regained his
composure? He led us down the road to Iraq, aroad his
own father had considered disastrous when he was
President.But Bush didn't listen to Daddy. He listened
to a higher father. Heprides himself on being faith
based, not reality based. If that doesn'tscare the
crap out of you,I don't know what will. 
            
            A Hell of a Mess.
So here's where we stand. We're immersed in a bloody
war with no planfor winning and no plan for leaving.
We're running the biggest deficitin the history of the
country. We're losing the manufacturing edge toAsia,
while our once-great companies are getting slaughtered
by healthcare costs. Gas prices are skyrocketing, and
nobody in power has acoherent energy policy. Our
schools are in trouble. Our borders arelike sieves.
The middle class is being squeezed every which way.
Theseare times that cry out for leadership.
            
But when you look around, you've got to ask: "Where
have all theleaders gone?" Where are the curious,
creative communicators? Where arethe people of
character, courage, conviction, competence, and
commonsense? I may be a sucker for alliteration, but I
think you get thepoint.
            
Name me a leader who has a better idea for homeland
security thanmaking us take off our shoes in airports
and throw away our shampoo?We've spent billions of
dollars building a huge new bureaucracy, andall we
know how to do is react to things that have already
happened.Name me one leader who emerged from the
crisis of Hurricane Katrina.Congress has yet to spend
a single day evaluating the response to thehurricane,
or demanding accountability for the decisions that
were madein the crucial hours after the storm.
Everyone's hunkering down,fingers crossed, hoping it
doesn't happen again. Now, that's justcrazy. Storms
happen. Deal with it. Make a plan. Figure out what
you'regoing to do the next time.
            
Name me an industry leader who is thinking creatively
about how we canrestore our competitive edge in
manufacturing. Who would have believedthat there could
ever be a time when "the Big Three" referred
toJapanese car companies? How did this happen, and
more important, whatare we going to do about it?
<!--[if !supportEmptyParas]-->Nameme a government
leader who can articulate a plan for paying down
thedebt, or solving the energy crisis, or managing the
health careproblem. The silence is deafening. But
these are the crises that areeating away at our
country and milking the middle class
dry.<!--[endif]-->
            
I have news for the gang in Congress. We didn't elect
you to sit onyour asses and do nothing and remain
silent while our democracy isbeing hijacked and our
greatness is being replaced with mediocrity.What is
everybody so afraid of? That some bobblehead on Fox
News willcall them a name? Give me a break. Why don't
you guys show some spinefor a change? Had Enough? Hey,
I'm not trying to be the voice of gloomand doom here.
I'm trying to light a fire. I'm speaking out because
Ihave hope. I believe in America. In my lifetime I've
had the privilegeof living through some of America's
greatest moments. I've alsoexperienced some of our
worst crises, the Great Depression, World WarII, the
Korean War, the Kennedy assassination, the Vietnam
War, the1970s oil crisis, and the struggles of recent
years culminating with9/11. If I've learned one thing,
it's this: You don't get anywhere bystanding on the
sidelines waiting for somebody else to take
action.Whether it's building a better car or building
a better future for ourchildren, we all have a role to
play. That's the challenge I'm raisingin this book.
It's a call to action for people who, like me, believe
inAmerica. It's not too late, but it's getting pretty
close. So let'sshake off the horseshit and go to work.
Let's tell 'em all we've hadenough            
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