In thinking more on the subject of the impossible dream, I thought about all of those who say it cannot be done and try to dissuade people from making an effectual attempt at things that ought to be done. When I first started doing Franklin/Covey, I learned really quickly how tempting it was to check off lots of nonessential things for a sense of accomplishment instead of tending to what I considered most important. Furthermore, the problem is exacerbated by the fact that since politicians define success as “getting things done (Rush Limbaugh)”, we end up with a ton of legislation that does more harm to the nation than good.
Many people, including apparently some readers, consider themselves to be good leaders, despite lack of credentials on that front. While I make no claim at being a great leader, I have been in charge of several different types of organizations where I supervised other people. I see in many, especially in many liberals, the tendency to provide naught but destination without direction, which equates with a man who gives you a cargo to deliver to San Antonio but neglects to mention it's the San Antonio off the west coast of Africa.
At a previous job, my manager told me all about the creative things he did when he was at my level that helped the organization prosper. When I asked him to give me examples, he refused to share. My father thinks he didn’t want me to advance and by so doing held back the entire organization. In the movie “Dave”, Kevin Cline’s character says he’s going to make it the job of his administration to find jobs, but the reporters point out that his affirmation is short on details about just how that’s going to be accomplished. Many people dream, but without vision, the people perish. Without a plan, a dream is just a wish.
Then of course there’s leader type who thinks his solution is the only viable one. Consider the situation with the one in the group who poo-poos an idea without suggesting a better alternative. His destructive criticism leaves the group sans any ideas at all. Or the leader who, enveloped in his own brilliance, attempts prognostication of projection, pointing out all the benchmarks as foregone conclusions with the assumption that it will come to pass exactly as they see it. I made a nuisance of myself by attending scientific conferences and asking just two questions: what is the practical application, and where are their statistics? Most of them cast out flagrant conclusions without evidence, making their ideas largely opinions masquerading as facts. You cannot underestimate the value of statistics in evaluating ideas, especially where money is concerned. What is the likelihood for success?
My final grouse on leadership revolves around drifters and dreamers of the type unwilling to roll up their sleeves and pitch in with the hoe and ax. They want to direct everything without doing any of the work. My immediate manager at my last job would do that- get in the trenches when the going got tough. His manager…only saw him once, and that’s when the general manager was also in the trenches. Leadership is more about giving orders. It involves gaining respect, and you don’t gain respect by talking down to people.
Many of the intelligentsia among liberals abide by the Miss America Pageant theory of leadership. They talk big plans and big ideas about how we need them and then and only then will the world be better. Anyone who proclaims world peace without concrete strategies by which to arrive thereat only knows what other people tell him, and that’s not a leader, it’s a marionette. Although I may not see all ends, I see more than just the end, and unlike so many naysayers and soothsayers in society today, at least I'm working toward my vision instead of trying to convince all of you to actualize it for me.
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