Where Have All The Leaders Gone? Article and Reply

Lee Iococca with Catherine Whitney Visit Author's Website

July 23, 2007

Am I the only guy in this country who's fed up with what's happening? Where the hell is our outrage?

should be screaming bloody murder.

We've got a gang of clueless bozos steering our ship of state right over a cliff, we've got corporate gangsters stealing us blind, and we can't even clean up after a 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 is America, not the damned Titanic. I'll give you a sound bite: Throw the bums out!

You might think I'm getting senile, that I've gone off my rocker, and maybe I have. But someone has to speak up.

I hardly recognize this country anymore. The president of the United States is given a free pass to ignore the Constitution, tap our phones and lead us to war on a pack of lies. Congress responds to record deficits by passing 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 in handcuffs.

While we're fiddling in Iraq, the Middle East is burning and nobody seems to know what to do. And the press is waving pompoms instead of asking hard questions. That's not the promise of America my parents and yours traveled across the ocean for.

I've had enough. How about you? I'll go a step further. You can't call yourself a patriot if you're not outraged.

This is a fight I'm ready and willing to have. My friends tell me to calm down. They say, "Lee, you're 82 years old. Leave the rage to the young people." I'd love to - as soon as I can pry them away from their iPods for five seconds and get them to pay attention.

I'm going to speak up because it's my patriotic duty. I think people will listen to me. They say I have 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 a nerve in those young folks who say they don't vote because they don't trust politicians to represent their interests.

Hey, America, wake up. These guys work for us. Why are we in this mess? How did we end up with this crowd in Washington? Well, we voted for them - or at least some of us did.

But I'll tell you what we didn't do. We didn't agree to suspend the Constitution. We didn't agree to stop asking questions or demanding answers.

Some of us are sick and tired of people who call free speech treason. Where I come from, that's a dictatorship, not a democracy. And don't tell me it's all the fault of right-wing Republicans or liberal Democrats. That's an intellectually lazy argument, and it's part of the reason we're in this stew.

We're not just a nation of factions. We're a people. We share common principles and ideals. And we rise and fall together. . . .

There was a time in this country when the voices of great leaders lifted us up and made us want to do better. Where have all the leaders gone?

I've never been commander in chief, but I've been a CEO. I understand a few things about leadership at the top. I've figured out nine points - not 10 (I don't want people accusing me of thinking I'm Moses).

I call them the "Nine C's of Leadership." They're not fancy or complicated. Just clear, obvious qualities that every true leader should have.

We should look at how the current administration stacks up. Like it or not, this crew is going to be around until January 2009. Maybe we can learn something before we go to the polls in 2008. Then let's be sure we use the leadership test to screen the candidates who say they want to run the country. It's up to us to choose wisely.

So, here's my C list:

A leader has to show CURIOSITY.

He has to listen to people outside of the "Yes, sir"crowd in his inner circle. He has to read voraciously, because the world is a big, complicated place.

George W. Bush brags about 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 he never reads a newspaper?

Thomas Jefferson once said, "Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate for a moment to prefer the latter."

Bush disagrees. As long as he gets his daily hour in the gym, with Fox News piped through the sound system, he's ready to go. If a leader never steps outside his comfort zone to hear different ideas, he grows stale. If he doesn't put his beliefs to the test, how does he know he's right? The inability to listen is a form of arrogance. It means either you think you already know it all, or you just don't care. . . .

A leader has to be CREATIVE, go out on a limb, be willing to try something different. You know, think outside the box. George Bush prides himself on never changing, even as the world around him is spinning out of control. God forbid someone should accuse him of flip-flopping. . . .

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 they covered that at Harvard Business School.

A leader has to COMMUNICATE. I'm not talking about running off at the mouth or spouting sound bites. I'm talking about facing reality and telling the truth.

Nobody in the current administration seems to know how to talk straight anymore. Instead, they spend most of their time trying to convince us that things are not really as bad as they seem. I don't know if it's denial or dishonesty, but it can start to drive you crazy 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, a grand failure of communication. Bush is like the boy who didn't cry wolf when the wolf was at the door. After years of being told that all is well, even as the casualties and chaos mount, we've stopped listening to him.

A leader has to be a person of CHARACTER. That means knowing the difference between right and wrong and having the guts to do the right thing. Abraham Lincoln once said, "If you want to test a man's character, give him power."

George Bush has a lot of power. What does it say about his character? Bush has shown a willingness to take bold action on the world stage because he has the power, but he shows little regard for the grievous consequences. He has sent our troops (not to mention hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqi citizens) to their deaths - for what?

To build our oil reserves? To avenge his daddy because Saddam Hussein once tried to have him killed? To show his daddy he's tougher? The motivations behind the war in Iraq are questionable, and the execution of the war has been a disaster.

A man of character does not ask a single soldier to die for a failed policy.

A leader must have COURAGE. Swagger isn't courage. Tough talk isn't courage. George Bush comes from a blue-blooded Connecticut family, but he likes to talk like a cowboy. You know, my gun is bigger than your gun. Courage in the 21st 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 you know it will cost you votes. Bush can't even make a public appearance unless the audience has been handpicked and sanitized. He did a series of so-called town hall meetings last year, in auditoriums packed with his 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 something done.

How do you measure fire in the belly? Bush has set the all-time record for number of vacation days taken by a U.S. president - 400 and counting. He'd rather clear brush on his ranch than immerse himself in the business of governing. . . .

It's no better on Capitol Hill. Congress was in session only 97 days in 2006. That's 11 days less than the record set in 1948, when President Harry Truman coined the term "do-nothing Congress." Most people would expect to be fired if they worked so little and had nothing to show for it.

But Congress managed to find the time to vote itself a raise. 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 the ability to inspire. People follow a leader because they trust him. That's my definition of charisma. Maybe George Bush is a great guy to hang out with at a barbecue or a ball game. But put him at a global summit where the future of our planet is at stake, and he doesn't look very presidential. Those frat-boy pranks and the kidding around he enjoys so much don't go over that well with world leaders. . . .

A leader has to be COMPETENT.

That seems obvious, doesn't it? You've got to know what you're doing. More important than that, you've got to surround yourself with people who know what they're doing. Bush brags about being our first MBA president.

Does that make him competent? Well, let's see. Thanks to our first MBA president, we've got the largest deficit in history, Social Security is on life support, and we've run up a half-a-trillion-dollar price tag (so far) in Iraq.

And that's just for starters. A leader has to be a problem solver, and the biggest 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 this Charlie Beacham's rule. When I was a young guy just starting out in the car business, one of my first jobs was as Ford's zone manager in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. 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 to tell me, "Remember, Lee, the only thing you've got going for you as a human being is your ability to reason and your common sense. If you don't know a dip of horse---- from a dip of vanilla ice cream, you'll never make it."

George Bush doesn't have common sense. He just has a lot of sound bites. You know - Mr. they'll-welcome-us-as-liberators-no-child-left-behind-heck-of​-a-job-Brownie-mission-accomplished Bush.

Former President Bill Clinton once said, "I grew up in an alcoholic home. I spent half my childhood trying to get into the reality-based world - and I like it here."

I think our current president should visit the real world once in a while.


Leaders are made, not born.

Leadership is forged in times of crisis. It's easy to sit there with your feet up on the desk and talk theory. Or send someone else's kids off to war when you've never seen a battlefield yourself.

It's another thing to lead when your world comes tumbling down. . . .

So here's where we stand. We're immersed in a bloody war with no plan for winning and no plan for leaving. We're running the biggest deficit in the history of the country. We're losing the manufacturing edge to Asia, while our once-great companies are getting slaughtered by health care costs.

Gas prices are skyrocketing, and nobody in power has a coherent energy policy. Our schools are in trouble. Our borders are like sieves. The middle class is being squeezed every which way. These are times that cry out for leadership.

But when you look around, you've got to ask: "Where have all the leaders gone?" Where are the curious, creative communicators? Where are the people of character, courage, conviction, competence and common sense? Name me a leader who has a better idea for homeland security than making us take off our shoes in airports and throw away our shampoo? We've spent billions of dollars building a huge new bureaucracy, and all 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 the hurricane, or demanding accountability for the decisions that were made in the crucial hours after the storm.

Everyone's hunkering down, fingers crossed, hoping it doesn't happen again. Now, that's just crazy. Storms happen. Deal with it. Make a plan. Figure out what you're going to do the next time.

Name me an industry leader who is thinking creatively about how we can restore our competitive edge in manufacturing. Who would have believed that there could ever be a time when "the Big Three" referred to Japanese car companies?

How did this happen - and more important, what are we going to do about it?

Name me a government leader who can articulate a plan for paying down the debt, or solving the energy crisis, or managing the health care problem. The silence is deafening. But these are the crises that are eating away at our country and milking the middle class dry.

I have news for the gang in Congress. We didn't elect you to sit on your asses and do nothing and remain silent while our democracy is being hijacked and our greatness is being replaced with mediocrity.

What is everybody so afraid of? That some bobblehead on Fox News will call them a name? Give me a break. Why don't you guys show some spine for a change?

Hey, I'm not trying to be the voice of gloom and doom here. I'm trying to light a fire. I'm speaking out because I have hope. I believe in America.

If I've learned one thing, it's this: You don't get anywhere by standing on the sidelines waiting for somebody else to take action. Whether it's building a better car or building a better future for our children, we all have a role to play.

That's the challenge I'm raising in this book. It's a call to action for people who, like me, believe in America.

It's not too late, but it's getting pretty close. So let's shake off the horse---- and go to work.

Let's tell 'em all we've had enough.

This article is excerpted from "Where Have All the Leaders Gone?," written by legendary auto executive Lee Iacocca, and is reprinted with permission of the book's publisher, Scribner. It has been on bestseller lists for several weeks.

[link to www.fourwinds10.com]


Allow Me to be the first to respond to this excellent excerpt from a book that I am sure many of Us agree with to at least some degree if not a large one.

Where have all the leaders gone You ask? It is a fair enough question, to be sure, considering the situation We now find Our Selves in. I mean, sure We've had leaders but they have largely abandoned We the People by their own selfish greed, corruption and cowardice as has been well documented through the last free mass media/communication tool We have at Our disposal. It is for this very reason that We are even asking where all the leaders have gone.

The truth is that We haven't gone anywhere. We have always been among We the People, living Our Life to the fullest of Our ability in a way that is in harmony with All Life. As politics has become more and more bogged down in the mire and muck of greed and corruption that politics now radiates, many of the true leaders of Our great nations and Humanity as a whole have naturally shunned politics and focused on leading in other areas that We have discovered to be much more influential than any seat in any house or senate.

All of this fully ties in with the bigger picture of Our evolution as has also been documented on Our beloved internet for all to remember. As Our individual and collective consciousness has grown in its ability to more efficiently and effectively affect Our environment regardless of what We are actually doing, the true leaders of Our shared Earth have moved beyond the simple and mundane physical realms of consciousness by integrating and evolving within the mental, emotional and spiritual realms that make up far more of Our daily experience than some People are comfortable admitting to.

Of course, the majority of such People are the very same who have foregone the very virtues upon which such evolutionary documents as the Declaration of Independence, the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights have been established. Freedom, prosperity, honour, integrity, Truth, compassion, Peace, Joy; where are these virtues in politics? A few lights shine where they can even as they are 'dealt with' so as not to rock the boat too much. These People have had very difficult assignments and have done enough to make Our goal attainable.

You say to leave the anger to young People, and I say this is a very wise way to test Us to see who has been able to move past that anger. How can We as the leaders of tomorrow ever expect to do better than what has come before Us if We have not moved past what has come before Us? Learning by osmosis has been the greatest gift Our politicians have given Us for it has allowed Us to see, deal with, integrate, learn from and move past all of the crap that has occurred to keep money flowing and We the People ignorant of that money flow.

The true leaders of Our times and the events that are transpiring even as I write out this message are those of Us who have made it Our most sincere, humble and heart-felt choice to raise Our level of consciousness past the point of anger, past pride, even past the virtues of courage, willingness, acceptance and reason to arrive at the level of consciousness that has already assured Us of Our victory despite how things appear: Our new Home is the conscious vibration of Love, the Divine nectar of Life itself.

Through Our leadership with and within Love as Our guide, We have remembered how to live a style of Life that can only contribute to the support and continuance of anything and everything that is leading Us to a grander way of Life. It is easy to look at Our world, being in the mess it is, and doubt that all of this crap has been leading Us to a grander way of Life. Conversely, it takes great Mastery to be able to find the golden lining in the dark cloud that has made its home over Washington DC; many of Us have come to such a place of Mastery and are ready to step up from the crowd at the appropriate times.

Successful change always comes from within as any Master will tell You so it is more than appropriate that Our story has played out as it has. The grassroots movement of many People and their affect on everyone else has proven a far superior tool in affecting the whole compared to just sending a handful of People to storm the hill and take over the government. The efforts of a few can always be minimalized and convoluted to suit a particular agenda; the evolution of the whole that was tried to be contained has proven too much for Our corrupt politicians and those they have actually been serving over the years. We the People are stronger for what has come before Us which is why We are so calm about how it is going to finish: We know that the subtle forces of Our reality/experience are Ours to guide now, and We are taking full action to ensure that Our story moves into the chapter that it has been destined to arrive within ever since the creation of Our Universe.

Our leaders are here, now, seeing the perfection in every event that impacts Earth and Humanity, hearing the clarion call of Heaven to accept, let go of and transmute all the dark emotions that have wreaked so much havoc in Our lives, speaking and writing to those of Us who are ready to hear Our truth in order to spark the remembrance of their own, Loving each and every single Human Being for contributing to Our success, Living as if We have already made it to the Golden Age of Heaven here on Earth because We already have. There is no way to turn back what We have accomplished concerning the collective evolution of Our consciousness and there is no way Heaven's Plan is not being fulfilled as We move forward day by day.

The removal of Our corrupt governments on a world-wide scale and those People who have been part of the corruption has already been secured. We the People have been speaking Our Voice loud and clear for a long time now, and to many different sources of power, including all industrialized nations on Earth, many developing nations, Our star Brothers and Sisters, Heaven, and even God Himself. Our prayers have been answered, and it is time to go Home to the Love that Is Who We Truly Are because once We all remember to do this in every moment of Our Life, the appropriate action will be obvious, whether that action is inaction through biting Our angry tongue and stopping the injustices of Our past or handcuffing the criminals who have hijacked Our world and leading them off to answer some very tough questions.

Sometimes tough Love is the answer, as so many are about to find out the hard way. They will figure it out, as We already have. Enjoy the show.

Namaste dear Brothers and Sisters.