In the common parlance our American society seems to prefer, I’d say the acceptable standard of performance by our leaders, especially political ones, has dropped so low that even our expectations as Americans has spiraled downward as well. It’s been a race to the bottom, and a very low bar has been set.
I understand that within any profession or activity there can be different ideas about what constitutes a high performance level and equally so what a low performance looks like. The continuum line of evaluating performance level from low to high, or if you prefer the bell curve which depicts low, medium, to high levels of performance, can help clarify performance levels so that individuals, families, groups, communities, and countries can know what level they need to reach to thrive, much less just survive.
To compound our misunderstanding of what actually constitutes different levels of performance, however, not only has the bar of acceptable performance been lowered, the entire scale has been lowered. In effect, too many people now seem to accept an average or medium level of performance or actions by our political leaders that in prior years or maybe even decades was seen as low level performance. The whole scale has moved down. So we blame the internet / social media/ fake news/ smart phones/ China / privileged white men/ vegans/ religion/ immigrants / liberals / conservatives/ “uppity” women, black people/ and the list goes on and on.
It’s far easier to see and understand what constitutes high performance in the literal actions and performances of top athletes, musicians, artists, actors, scientists, medical professionals, soldiers and others where what they do is so tangible. Their behavior and results are not ideas or feelings or wishes, but actual, tangible, and literal. They are easier to see and understand.
In the political world the ultimate end results are laws and policies. Tangible enough to measure, and part of what has led to such a low bar of both results and perceptions. The other part we witness from politicians is the ever worsening process they engage in with each other as our leaders. It’s ugly, disrespectful, immature, often uninformed and incompetent, embarrassing, and not a single kindergarten teacher in America would approve of such behavior in their classrooms. So there! You cowardly, feckless leaders, go take a nap, get some milk and cookies, say you are sorry for ruining the country and bringing us to such a low bar, and try again. Do better, much f…ing better.
To be clear, from the founders of our country through the so called greatest generation of WW II who saved the world from depression, Nazis, and Emperors, to my baby boomer generation who literally and figuratively fought back against racism, sexism, political corruption (Watergate), and the Viet Nam war, to younger generations now shouting out about the earth’s climate crisis and more, there are good and bad leaders in every generation. Historical context matters but is also not an excuse for spiraling downward to such low standards that we now see and experience in America today.
I can think of at least one former President, maybe several, in my lifetime of 73 years who could not get hired by any smart and successful corporation or small business. Add to that list many other political leaders, especially at the state and national levels who would not get a job unless the company just wanted some free publicity, or if the politician was somehow able to crawl up out of their ideological hole and give up such a low bar of mediocrity and foolishness.
Having worked as both a consultant and employee for over thirty five years in the business world, including several Fortune 100 companies, I have some idea about the standard most companies (not all) strive for in their hiring process and far too many politicians simply would not cut the mustard if they submitted their political behavior resume’ as the reason to be hired. “Sorry, you don’t seem to be the right fit for our company.” Or country.
Certainly there are still some high level performers within the political world all over the spectrum from left to right or liberal to conservative. The “exceptional” leaders, however, no longer seem to hold as much influence and have lost their standing as role models among their peers and constituents, as well across the broad array of voters. Even so, here are a few names to consider as having endeavored to mostly perform at a higher level. All failed to do so at times, but mostly they have stood out to me for their effort to stay consistent rather than stoop to the cowardly lows we see so often today. Again, I don’t mean their political views or policies they supported, but the integrity by which they mostly lived their lives and behaved as leaders. Some of these I didn’t even vote for but overall I have admired their efforts.
John McCain, George McGovern, Frank Church, Eugene McCarthy, Jerry Brown, Ronald Reagan, Barack Obama, Olympia Snowe, George Mitchell, Richard Lugar, Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, Amy Klobuchar, Adam Kizinger, William Cohen, John Lewis, Jim Hightower, Liz Cheney, Larry Hogan, and others, but not enough.
By the historical standards of conduct that enabled our founders to even conceive of declaring independence from Great Britain, much less acting with the courage to establish the American republic, it seems to me that most (but luckily not all) of modern day politicians would be incapable of such a high level of performance, daring, and courage. They are not necessarily acting as total cowards all the time but I’m guessing most can smell it on themselves. Almost like someone trying to hide their farts. Everyone else can smell it while the politician tries to pretend they didn’t actually cause the foul odor. Or, low bar behavior.
So what can we do to raise the bar of expectations and outcomes? As I stated in my piece here last week to re-start my newsletter here: character, character, character. The right laws and policies will come forth at the right times in history if we mostly have political leaders of high character and the ability to perform at a high level.
As the writer/ consultant Jim Collins said so simply and clearly in his books on leadership and high performing organizations (and by inference…countries), get the right people on the bus if you want the bus to go in the right direction and succeed in reaching the right destination.
Inclusive list for the Good Character side. ThankYou!