Welcome to episode number seven where we will discuss leadership. Lead, follow or get out of the way! We’ll let you decide which one of those options you recommend for candidate Trump and his organization. And no one has to be a sociologist or a psychologist to know that the quality of its leadership is critically important. Leaders bring people together to achieve mutually shared goals. While going through officer training, and this is taught in every branch of the American military and is, in my opinion, a trait that should be developed in every corporation, organization, nonprofit, workplace, any place where people join in accomplishing something together, what should be taught. And if it’s not the first thing taught, I believe it should be. Are you ready? In order to lead, First learn to follow. I’ll Say it again. In order to lead, First, learn to follow.
At age 18, I didn’t like that one. I was smart enough to not fight it, but I didn’t like it. Why can’t I know what needs to be done without actually having me do those things? Thankfully, I kept that question to myself and eventually figured it out.
Leaders should not only know what needs to be done, leaders should know how it feels to do them. Things we ask our followers to complete should be known to the leader. Yup. Feelings. And it’s not rocket science either. Feelings are where/how humans connect. That’s easy, right? Don’t believe me? I’m gonna give you two scenarios.
Scenario one. Consider this: You work in a retail store that has shopping carts. It’s evening, eight degrees Fahrenheit outside and your supervisor, a new hire, tells you to go out, retrieve carts. Let him know when you’re done. Then he turns, walks back to his office and its space heater, leaving you to it, generally unconcerned.
Scenario two. The supervisor, who once did what you now do, says it’s bitterly cold outside and we need carts in the store, pauses and observes your reaction then continues. I’m going to assign Bob to work with you. I don’t want either of you out in the cold beyond 10 minutes at a time. I don’t care if you both work at the same time or take turns however you want to do it, but not beyond 10 minutes stretches. And this windchill frostbite is probable. Let me see your hats and gloves, scarf to cover your mouth and nose. The boss thinks Bob’s gloves are too thin and says, Bob, go get yourself a thermal pair from aisle 11.
Which supervisor would you prefer working for scenario one or scenario two? If you say scenario one, I’ll think you’re just being a stinker. Knowing that Boss number two once had their jobs, which is the equivalent of having learned to follow, makes it easier for the employees to accept the unpleasant assignment.
When I worked for Edward Jones, they recorded a talk given to us by Lou Holtz, the famous Notre Dame football coach back in the eighties. Much in leadership applies to the craft of salesmanship and vice versa. So Jones hired him to talk to us. Holtz summed up the quality of leadership with three general requirements that can be answered by the following questions. One, Can I trust you to? Are you committed to excellence? And three, do you care about me? And that’s pretty much a solid indicator of quality leadership. The first question, Can I trust you is answered by always doing the right thing. This isn’t an immediate one-time event either. Choosing the right thing over the easiest or over the selfish thing is observed over time and is what a reputation, how a reputation is built. Trust, integrity, reliability are established by doing the right thing.
I guess we can each choose or define what great things are. But generally, everyone agrees that lying to three wives and cheating on them does not get listed as doing the right thing. Neither does perpetuating doubt in our national elections, to persist in maintaining a belief in opposition to the overwhelming evidence that all 50 states conducted fair and reliable elections, does not qualify to be categorized as a right thing. Neither is calling the Georgia secretary of State seeking help in finding 11,000 more votes. See, Americans have a shared vision handed down generation after generation on how we want to be governed, not on who governs us. How is more important than Who! That vision started with The Declaration of Independence agreed upon by everyone who calls themselves Americans and documented in our in our Constitution and its 27 Amendments and in all of the existing laws that flow from there. Trustworthy, presidents who place this American system first before their own self-interests. Indeed, degrees of patriotism are measured by how much a candidate emphasizes our system. The less patriotic place themselves above that,
What is another component of leadership? Well, the US Army esteems selflessness. I Imagine the other’s services do too. The habit of sacrificing personal comfort or gain for the benefit of the organization is not only practiced, it’s expected, without prompting. It’s the military culture. Soldiers reluctant to do so, had a difficult time [chuckle chuckle] until they embraced selflessness. The army is not going to change that. The soldier’s going to change or if not, they just part ways. When we went out in the field on alert or on maneuvers Army leaders eat last, period. No ifs, ands or buts. The lowest ranked soldier, the ones with the least power, eat first. It’s the way it is. The entire army knows this. And to observe an officer eating before a hungry soldier sends the message an officer’s integrity is weak. And it’s not as if any junior is going to go up and correct the senior. That won’t happen either. They’ll all just see it, though. The same message: that officer put self first and others last. It fractures the bond of trust.
Now, I don’t know any specific instances of Joe Biden being selfless, wanting to become the president has to be, in part an ego trip.
Reporters in 2018, though, documented Trump refusing to visit Bois de Belleau, the Belleau Woods, a World War One battle still fervently esteemed by the U.S. Marine Corps, Democrats and Republicans. Trump claimed that rain, rain made transportation difficult. Evidently, a little rain was difficult for the world’s most powerful man, but not too difficult for other world leaders who attended memorial services. Do you really think the presidential planning staff had no contingency rainy day plans? Of course they had. For every presidential visit, there are contingency plans. The truth is, he didn’t want to suffer the inconvenience of traveling 50 miles by motorcade. No, instead, he stayed in his room in Paris and tweeted away
Different news sources reported Trump referred to our military dead as suckers and losers. Several military officers confirmed this, but with no video or audio, the characterization gets dismissed as petty political propaganda. And so we’ll give them that one. But let’s ask This question anyway. Ask yourself this: Knowing what you do of Biden and his family’s military history AND that no one in Trump’s family ever strapped on a pair of combat boots, of these two men, who do you think would be the most likely to have described our dead as “suckers or losers”??
For Trump? Full speed ahead. Self-interest is how the world operates. At a visit in Arlington to the gravesite of General Kelly’s son killed in Afghanistan in 2010. Trump looked at the general said, I don’t get it. Why do they do it? What’s in it for them?
I have No doubt he was being authentic and genuinely curious. Trump’s inability to value selflessness and be selfless himself makes him unfit. He fails the basic requirements of solid leadership. With Memorial Day coming at the end of the month, remember to share this episode with patriotic Americans and even include those who admire Trump.
I’m CPTScott@DumptyTrumpty.org. I appreciate the sincere depth of feeling you have for America and your desire to unravel the falsehoods of Trumpism.
Thanks for your time this time. Until next time. Have a great week!