I found myself mulling over leadership after listening to pundits holding forth on the issue of leadership during the current Federal election, reflecting on the scene in BC and with reference to Abbotsford’s municipal election in November.

The conclusion I reached was that it has been so long since Canadians and people around the world have had any real leadership in the public and political arenas that Canadians and others no longer know or understand what leadership is and so they accept the pale imitation passed off as leadership today.

In considering Mr. Harper’s “leadership advantage” it became clear that people have erroneously come to falsely mistake management for leadership.

“Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.” Peter Drucker

Calling this election as Mr. Harper did was a management decision based on perceived political opportunity and advantage. The right thing to have done, the right message to send and example to set was to not to give into temptation but to obey they law Mr. Harpers government had passed as necessary to prevent political opportunism by federal parties – the opportunism he gave into.

Mr. Harper made a strategic decision rather than a decision based on character ignoring the wisdom shared by General H. Norman Schwarzkopf that “Leadership is a combination of strategy and character. If you must be without one, be without the strategy.”

Mr. Harper may well run a tight ship, ruling with an iron fist but as Dwight D. Eisenhower noted “You do not lead by hitting people over the head-that’s assault, not leadership.”

Arnold Glasgow: “One of the tests of leadership is the ability to recognize a problem before it becomes an emergency.” One of the ways you do this is by facing the music, even if you don’t want to hear the tune.

Not only has Mr. Harper refused to acknowledge problems that interfere with his plans or that he doesn’t want to talk about – demonstrated by his recent behaviour of repeatedly stating the Canadian economy was fine in the face of evidence to the contrary; Mr. Harper fails to acknowledge or act on issues such as the major social problems facing Canadians and our cities (homelessness, poverty, affordable housing) that do not fit into his world view.

“A real leader faces the music, even when he doesn’t like the tune.” Anon

Of course with reference to major social problems such as homelessness, poverty and affordable housing Mr. Harper is not alone in his refusal to see or address a problem while it is more manageable in size rather than allowing it to grow into a large problem or a crisis. Provincial governments/politicians as well as municipal governments/politicians also chose to turn a blind eye to these issues, pointing their fingers at others as being responsible for addressing the issues and when they grew into an epidemic – they run around the proverbial “chickens without heads”.

They bury their heads in the sand to avoid seeing or hearing what they do not want to see or hear while Canadians long for the “good old days” as society becomes less civil and more dog-eat-dog.

“The very essence of leadership is that you have to have vision.” Theodore Hesburgh.

Why is vision so important? Because if we want a civil, supportive and healthy society we all need to be better than we are.

We have to do the little things and the big things – the things we would rather not do or have to do. For example: Carry your litter until you find a garbage can to put it in; Saying please and thank you or being patient in line-ups; Donating to the food bank – even when worried for ourselves; Taking a deep breath and behaving in a rational manner – even when our emotions are running high; Remembering that children are the future, that we need to raise healthy children and that it takes a community to raise a child and that as a community we need to invest and provide the resources needed to raise healthy children; Look at the long term as well, instead of focusing on the short term – yes “going green” will cause some economic pain but not making those changes will, in the longer run, cause economic disaster;

It is this need bring out the best that led Blaine Lee to state “The great leaders are like the best conductors – they reach beyond the notes to reach the magic in the players.”

To do that you need vision not dogma as reaching for the magic in the players requires inspiring the player to want to strive for the vision. Reaching out to inspire also serves to remind a leader that decisions made have an effect on the players in the real world and you have to consider, to understand, that those decisions will have effects in the real world.

“Leadership should be born out of the understanding of the needs of those who would be affected by it.” – Marian Anderson

I do not know if it is ideology or that he just does not get it, but Mr. Harper’s actions and words show a total lack of understanding of the costs and challenges of issues such as child care for most Canadians. Mr. Harper stated that the other parties’ plans to replace the nominal $100 per month Conservative policy with a real investment in childcare were a bad idea because parents would lose the $100 a month. Ordinary Canadians struggling with child care need real help, not a token $100 a month. Of course for the wealthy the $100 was a nice bonus, a further transfer of wealth to the wealthy from the poor.

The flagrant lack of understanding demonstrated by Mr. Harper on this manner is the effect this $100 a month could have on those who were not wealthy or well off. i.e. those families where the extra $1200 put them over the income limit at the food bank and disqualified them from using the food bank. For these people the $100 a month was a devastating blow to their survival – forget about child care. Making up for not being able to access the food bank cost more out of pocket than they received, making the child care payment a cost not a gain.

Don’t they ever think? What world are they living in? Hey – pay attention to the effect of your actions in the real world. You’re supposed to represent all Canadians not just the wealthy and corporations.

Federal, provincial, municipal politicians – I can not count the times I have made those statements or heard them from others.

“Becoming a leader is synonymous with becoming yourself. It is precisely that simple, and it is also that difficult.” – Warren Bennis

I end with this quote because life has, over the past few years, taught me just how important it is to grow and to continue to grow as a person; just how difficult and uncomfortable that can be; how rewarding making the effort and working through the discomfort is.

I am comfortable in my own skin now and like the person I have become and am becoming. I will not be having spin doctors dressing me up in warm fuzzy sweaters or staging “meetings” with families, not simply because becoming who I am has granted me empathy and understanding, but because such falsehoods would not be being true to ME.

In becoming yourself you learn the importance of not taking yourself to seriously, of being able to laugh at yourself; that life is something to be lived and enjoyed and far to important to be taken only seriously.