Found this great Time article (via The Redemptive Angle) in which the author details two things we need — and can’t seem to find — in a leader. Astringency and intelligence.
One attribute we don’t need, although commonly associated with greatness in a leader, is empathy. Politicians–including the two at the top–tell the great American middle class that its problems are not its fault. Or that, whoever may be at fault, the problems can be solved if only we can agree on a tax cut.
During the second debate, both candidates were given a chance to be honest and give an example of a way Americans would need to sacrifice. During hard times and times of great national need, our leadership has been known to call on us to sacrifice. Presented with the opportunity, we had both our future president and the runner-up tell us that they’d have to look into their programs. That’s not Americans sacrificing. That’s the government doing it’s damn job.
What we need instead from a leader is astringency. Astringency means telling people what they don’t want to hear and leading them where they don’t want to go. It’s not comforting people about their current situation and reassuring them it will get better. It’s telling them that the situation is likely to get worse and that only their efforts can determine how soon it will start getting better. Astringent leadership is Churchill calling on Britons to “brace ourselves to our duties.”
Times are bad right now. Newsflash: they’re going to get a lot worse before they get better. It’s time Americans individually and as local communities start to prepare. Any notion that the Government can somehow find the right magic wand in time is laughable.
Remember all the talk about how we have been “borrowing from future generations” with the federal deficit, consumer debt and so on? Well, it’s been going on for more than a generation, and the future is now.
Call it a doomsday mentality if you like, but there’s nothing wrong with heeding a sound warning. And honestly, it’s something every American should take seriously right now.
A second desirable quality of leadership, especially now, is toxic even to mention for its allegedly élitist overtones: intelligence.
Think about it. Wouldn’t that be fantastic? And I don’t think the author means that it can be evidenced by some kind of equivocating nuance or morally indulgent platitude. Intelligence isn’t in soundbites, folks.
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