Resolute Leadership

Leadership on the line….

The presidential election of 2008 is about more than the usual flood of empty promises and rhetoric that typifies the electoral process. This time, our national security is at stake in a way unprecedented in modern history.

Over the last month, the price of gasoline at the pump has skyrocketed to over $4.00 per gallon. Some say this is due to the weak dollar overseas. Some say it is about OPEC’s boundless greed. Some say it’s about our own oil company’s lust for windfall profits, from which they are making plenty. And others say it’s those nasty speculators who are driving prices through the roof.

Well, gang, all of these issues add to the problem. But, at the end of the day, one overwhelming factor lies at the heart of the matter: through lousy leadership, this nation has elected, across a span of seven administrations from both political parties and an array of Congresses, to resist independence from foreign oil. It is not more complicated than that!

Now we can sit on our duffs and do the all-American blame assigning drill. Or, we can take a more productive route. We can demand leadership at a time when it is needed most.

Our nation is vulnerable to economic blackmail because of our dependence on foreign oil. What would happen if Iran attacked Israel? What if violence escalates in Iraq? What if bin Laden and his terrorist psychopaths pull off another attack on us or upon our allies? Through it all, we are left quaking in worry over our oil supply. Are we tired of living in fear yet? Fear drives us to make poor decisions. Fear saps our sense of enthusiasm and entrepreneurship. Fear drives recessionary thinking. Fear makes us weak.

The economy has been amazingly resilient to this point, but it can only flex so far. Sooner or later, the economy will plunge into recession if the oil situation shows no signs of easing. Haven’t we learned anything from oil yet? Haven’t we learned that every time oil prices spike or supplies are purposely diminished because OPEC wants to punish America and the West, our economy and the economies of our friends plunge into negative growth? Millions lose their jobs. Fortunes are lost as markets contract. Are we ready to wake up and admit these destructive cycles need not take place?

Giving up our cars and turning off the air conditioning is not the answer! Sure, smart conservation always helps. But this problem will not go away simply by trading in our SUVs for Hybrids. The leadership we must demand will endeavor to do something useful about the oil situation, and will endeavor to do it now.

The presidential election is less than 150 days away. I want to see Senator McCain and Senator Obama get real and begin a serious debate about our oil dependence problem, and tell how they propose to lead the nation towards, as Winston Churchill once said, “broad, sunlit uplands.” And I want Americans to hold them to their word. Might I suggest, here is how our leaders in Washington must act if we are to break free of the energy prison in which we’ve placed ourselves:

• Take Ownership. Instead of assigning blame and finger pointing, we must own the fact we’ve become dependent on foreign oil. We must affirm our unshakeable will to turn this condition around, fast.
• Admit Conservation is not the Answer. Cutting back on fuel consumption and energy is all very nice, and helps. But it will not change our nation’s dependence on foreign oil. In fact, all conservation does is announce to our detractors the fact they can dictate terms to us over oil manipulation.
• It’s About American Supply, Stupid! There is enough oil in the ground in North America and its environs to support the United States for many decades to come. We can drill in Alaska. We can drill in the Gulf of Mexico. We can drill more in Texas. We can boost our refining capacity exponentially. By accessing the oil supplies available to Americans, we can essentially tell the OPEC community to “kiss off.” Won’t that be fun? Then, we can use the interim to develop the technological miracles that are so possible to keep us energy independent, and move us from oil to new, efficient propellants.

What is wrong with us? How much economic blackmail will we accept before we finally mobilize the vast power of American technology and industry? Why not put Americans back to work on making America strong? Let’s make our oil industry second to none!

Sound too hard? Well, examples of how the United States persevered through difficult times abound. Can’t think of any? Try these two on for size:

We Won the Second World War
As World War II approached, our nation mobilized at unprecedented rates.We trained pilots, navigators, gunners, infantry troops, artillery experts, you name it. Women mobilized by the hundreds of thousands and learned how to assemble the aircraft, guns and equipment so vital to the war effort. America produced thousands of airplanes every month, many of which were technologically so advanced they were believed impossible to design only years before. We built battleships, submarines, transports and fast destroyers. We built tanks. We built cannons. We developed atomic weapons. Our alliance with Great Britain and other friendly nations was powerful beyond description. We did what needed to be done to win the war. Oh, and by the way, we produced most of the oil it took to power the machines that crushed Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan.

We Landed Astronauts on the Moon
In 1961, President Kennedy vowed to send Americans to the moon and return them safely to the earth by the end of the 1960s. His vision of placing Americans on another celestial body moved the nation to mobilize its technological, manufacturing, and educational resources and might to the extent miracles called Project Mercury, Project Gemini and Project Apollo enabled Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins to pilot Apollo 11 to the first manned lunar landing in July of 1969. The by-products of NASA’s grandest years continue to benefit us today, in ways that touch our lives nearly every second.

So, don’t tell me the United States is incapable of producing enough petroleum to detach itself, in a timely manner, from those barons of economic blackmail, the OPEC cartel! What it’s going to take is leadership, first and foremost. And that leadership is needed right now.

Senator McCain and Senator Obama, if you really want to serve this nation’s vital interests, you will place making the United States energy independent at the top of your list. And you will endeavor to accomplish this not by allowing OPEC and others to dictate to Americans what kind of lifestyle and future they wish for them. Instead, you will endeavor to accomplish this by using our resources, wisely but imminently.

Let’s stop messing around here. Let’s demand tough leadership now, and keep the United States strong in the face of those who wish to see us weak and needy.

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Yielding to the moment is one of the most powerful leadership tools at our disposal. Why do so few use it?

From childhood, two concepts are ingrained into our heads:

1. Always consider the past, for the past will indicate what will take place in the future
2. Always consider the future, for planning is the most important thing one can do if one is to have a successful career and a great life

While neither axiom in itself is faulty, the totality of our upbringing, education and journeys through the halls of businessdom reinforce our propensities to trade the moment for intense focus on the past or future. In the United States, this toxic mindset has reached epidemic proportions. All that is necessary to see the past/future mindset in action is to observe two businesspeople “communicating.” While one talks loudly over the other, we gesture wildly and, as if there was some prize in store, complete the other’s sentences before he or she has the chance to finish. We tend to talk in gasps, always running towards some life-or-death finish line. We calculate our responses even as our partner begins his or her thought.

The prices we pay for this behavior are immeasurable. Aside from the lost opportunities and the miscommunication and errors created by discounting the present, we invite high blood pressure, stroke, heart attack, diabetes, anxiety, depression and a host of other not-so-nice conditions from this behavior.

In his book A New Earth (Penguin Group, New York, 2005), Eckhart Tolle details how men and women can harness the power of living in the moment as opposed to our chronic preoccupations with the past and the future. In reading Tolle’s book, what struck me as most significant were the multiple applications his findings hold for top leaders. Remember, leaders are those to whom others look for examples. And the examples we’ve been setting as leaders haven’t been that great of late.

Sound like a bunch of psychobabble “fluff?” Well, consider this: chances are you will make more money if you learn to quit obsessing on the past and the future, and learn how to lead by being in the moment with those around you. Does that get your attention, fellow moneymakers? Good. Let’s try a little experiment.

Imagine yourself in your next meeting. Come on, you know you have one right around the corner. It doesn’t matter with whom you’re meeting. It could be a client, a supplier, your husband or wife, or even one of your kids. All you need is another human being, and poof! You’re in a meeting.

Now, think about how you typically respond when in a meeting. If it’s a business meeting, no doubt you’ve “prepared” so you’ll know just how to counter whatever the other guy puts on the table. Right? Well, preparation is fine. But, instead of trying to anticipate what he’s going to do or say, try doing nothing. That’s right! Do nothing. Do nothing except listen to him, make eye contact and shut up. Then, when he’s completely finished his thoughts, respond to him by repeating back essentially what he said. Use phrases like, “OK, Bob, what you’re saying is that in order to make this work, your people would like to see us operate along side you in Florida and in Georgia. Is that correct?”

What you have done is to affirm what the other person had to say. You haven’t agreed to anything. But, instead of jumping ahead of your partner’s thoughts and judging the content before he or she had even finished, you demonstrated the unusual ability to listen in the moment, absorb what was said, and exhibit you understood by asking intelligent questions that summarize your partner’s thoughts. The credibility you have just established will go way beyond this meeting, and we’ll guarantee this: if negotiation is necessary, you will end up with more win-win scenarios than you ever have before by using this methodology.

Next, consider reinventing your entire life so that the present becomes your focal point. Why? Because, at the end of the day, the present moment is all we’ve got. The past is over and cannot be altered, no matter how much we obsess over it. The future has not happened yet, no matter how much we worry about it. Leading from the present shows us that, while it is useful to learn from the past, it is a waste of time to try to complete unfinished business there. And leading from the present shows us that worrying about what might happen in the future is really a function of fear. And it is that fear that leads us to catastrophic thinking and virtual paralysis in terms of generating positive thoughts. All chronic fear accomplishes is to keep the adrenal glands pumping fight-or-flight into our psyches, which is why we often become aggressive or depressed whenever things appear to not be “going our way.”

When we lead by observing the moment instead of attempting to control it (which we cannot, no matter how big our salary, office or Lexus), we give ourselves the raw advantage of time: time to consider alternatives and options. In many cases, you will realize no response is necessary to a wide range of interactions during which you normally would be right in there, in someone’s face, attempting to demonstrate what a great leader you are.

Invest some time in a new way of thinking. We highly recommend A New Earth. It’s an easy read, and one we are sure you’ll enjoy. It may even help you become a more resolute leader.

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