The Presidential Election: The Real State of the Union

By way of deception, thou shalt do war – Motto of the Mossad

Life is the art of being well deceived and in order that the deception may succeed, it must be habitual and uninterrupted.- William Hazlitt

The #1206 “fiction” series continues …

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Using his credit card, he deftly laid out the lines of cocaine on the small mirror he had placed on the dining room table.  Laying the card aside, he grabbed a small straw and snorted up the fine white powder.  Within a minute or so, his worries began to fade away.

He staggered into the bedroom and climbed into bed next to his girlfriend.  She kissed him lightly and he snuggled in to her.

“Thanks for putting gas in my car”, she said, “I don’t think I could have gotten to the abortion clinic without it.”

“No skin off my nose”, he said as the room began to spin around him, “I used the company credit card.  They’ll never notice.  I’m sure the guys at the top steal from the company all the time.”

“And besides”, he continued, “It’s no good if my wife finds out that I’m a dad to someone else’s baby, is it?”

“That’s true”, she said as she laughed.

She got serious for a moment and then asked him, “Do you think there will be any complications because it’s my third abortion?”

“Third?”, he asked, surprised by the number.

“Nah”, he replied, shaking his head, “Doctors know what they are doing these days.”

She nodded, reached over for the remote control and turned the TV on.  It blared the latest controversy about Trump and Clinton as they prepared for the next Presidential Debate.

“I’m so disgusted with both of these people”, he said, “They’re both full of crap with all the dishonest and immoral things they do.”

“I know”, she replied, “When are we going to get someone who represents the people and not their own selfish, stupid behavior?”

“Exactly”, he said as his phone chirped.  He glanced at it, reading the SMS from a friend of his who had picked up a few guns “off the radar”.  He replied that he would reach out later and placed the phone back on the nightstand.

His girlfriend stared at the TV screen, her eyes seeing but not seeing the brief note on the ticker about the Russian military sending more nuclear weapons towards the Baltic and Mediterranean, another about India and Pakistan inching closer to a nuclear war and a report on the number of people killed in Haiti by Hurricane Matthew.

“I just don’t know”, she said, sighing.

“What’s wrong?”, he asked, momentarily glancing at the TV as he rolled over towards her.

“I’m picking up my new iPhone after I go to the clinic tomorrow”, she replied, “and I really don’t know if I should get the white one or the pink one.”

“Hmmmmm”, he said, pursing his lips in thought, “That’s a good question.”

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The two “men” sat in a coffee shop, leaning in towards each other and speaking in low voices.

“Fascinating”, said the first, “The planet economy is in tatters with no solution in sight, Russian and US militaries are repositioning their assets for an all out war and all these people can worry about is which one of two immoral people is the most or least immoral.  It’s a race to the bottom and no one is the winner.”

“I know”, replied the second, “The government leaders they elect train and supply terrorists who come back to them with hostile intentions and even though the terror threat is not significant, with more people being killed by drunk drivers every year, the so-called leaders then sell to the American people the idea that they can save them from the very people who were created by their own policies and actions in the first place.“

“Yes”, agreed the first, “Tax returns and missing emails seem far more important than the economy, healthcare, education, safety from nuclear, bio and cyber weapons and the myriad of other issues requiring attention.  People even fall prey to statistical manipulation, not knowing or caring that the means by which unemployment is being calculated has been changed to omit those who would have been included in the unemployment ranks years ago, putting the real unemployment rate at over 20% while 48 million people need food stamps to survive and 98 million people are not in the ranks of the employed at all.  It wouldn’t be as easy to control their minds if it weren’t for a news media long since having given up its soul to the highest bidder.  People watch the news not to be informed but to feel good about being superior to or luckier than the poor schlep they are watching.”

“What about that rumor that Trump is actually a mole for the Democrat party and that a fix is in for the election right under the noses of the people?”, asked the second, “Isn’t that the craziest thing ever?”

The first one laughed at the thought.  “It sounds to me like you have been watching too much of their news media.”

“The really sad thing”, said the second as he stood up to leave, “Is that while the American people complain about their choices for President, they fail to recognize that the two choices are not aberrations of their society but are in fact products of it.  Given that, what else could they choose from other than those who represent a natural evolution of their society?”

“True”, agreed the first as he also stood up to leave, “Maybe if they didn’t numb their brain sharing the mundane on social media, they might have the interest or ability to figure this out.”

He looked around at the people sitting at tables around him and shook his head quietly.

“It’s easy to see issues in others that people don’t see in themselves”, he said quietly, “while waiting for someone else to be responsible for their own problems.”

The second nodded and then noticed a teenager listening to some music on his phone.

He waved at the kid to get his attention, waited for him to remove his ear buds and then asked him, “What are you listening to, kid?”

“Armageddon by Prism”, he said before placing the ear buds back in his ear.

“Well at least someone has a grasp on where they are headed”, the second man said to the first as he laughed.

The first man joined him in laughter and clapped his hand against the back of the second.

“So true”, he said, “It would be nice to help these people but their history shows that they only learn when their backs are up against the wall.”

The second pushed the door open before observing, “Hopefully for them, the lesson doesn’t come too late or deliver a punch that cannot be survived.”

They walked out of the coffee shop and vanished into the night air.

To be continued.

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© 2016 – Harry Tucker – All Rights Reserved

Background

There are a lot of parables buried in this story and within the parables, there is both fact and fiction.

If you need the parables explained to you, you may be part of a larger problem.

If you don’t understand them or don’t care about them at all, you are part of a larger problem.

If you are in neither of these two camps, then the world, with its amazing beauty and unlimited potential is waiting for your voice, your gifts, your talents, your strengths and your leadership.

What are you waiting for?

Series Origin

This series, a departure from my usual musings, is inspired as a result of conversations with former senior advisors to multiple Presidents of the United States, senior officers in the US Military and other interesting folks as well as my own professional background as a Wall St. / Fortune 25 strategy advisor and large-scale technology architect.

While this musing is just “fiction” (note the quotes) and a departure from my musings on technology, strategy, politics and society, as a strategy guy, I do everything for a reason and with a measurable outcome in mind. :-)

This “fictional” musing is a continuation of the #1206 series noted here.

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Addendum - An Interesting Question - October 9, 2016

Holly Simon asked this question, which I found to be very thought provoking:

@HarryTucker people are a product of their own actions? Or a reflection on their own actions.

Interesting question indeed!

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Addendum 2 - Another Interesting (Albeit Blunt) Opinion - October 10, 2016

Here's an intriguing, albeit blunt, opinion that follows a similar theme to this blog post. It's not an endorsement of any political candidate.

Feel free to be offended if it suits your need.

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Honesty–The Wrong Policy

I was really too honest a man to be a politician and live. – Socrates

Since a politician never believes what he says, he is quite surprised to be taken at his word. - Charles de Gaulle

The #1206 “fiction” series continues ….

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The President stared at the monitors in front of him as he sat safely ensconced deep within the bowels of a secure location known only to the President, a few advisors and the men assigned to protect them.

“How bad is it?”, he asked no one in particular as images of rampant violence played before him from locations across the country.

“Worse than we anticipated”, said one of his junior advisors.  “We had hoped that we could come clean on the state of the nation and then pin it on the other party prior to the election but things got out of control once we released the information.”

“I can’t believe that we didn’t anticipate this”, the President said, the frustration evident in his voice.

He stared at the statement he held in his hand.  It contained a list of concerns for which there were no solutions that he and his advisors could think of.  Someone he didn’t know deep inside one of the government think tanks had recommended that by pinning this list on Congress, they would clear the way for election wins for the foreseeable future.

He looked up wearily at the monitors again and suddenly felt the weight of the world on his shoulders in ways he had never felt before.

The National Guard and local law enforcement, despite their best efforts, had long since lost control and by their own analysis, indicated that the best strategy was to let everyone “do their thing” until the need for violence subsided out of exhaustion.

His attention returned to the statement.  The content seemed politically loaded but safe at first blush but he could now see that the content was problematic with a significant potential for volatility.

My fellow Americans.  In the past six years, our nation has been bombarded with challenges and we have risen to the challenge as we have always done in our storied history.

The times before us, while difficult, can be overcome as we create a brighter future for our nation.  However, the other party still prevents us from carrying out policy that will ensure the safety and security of our nation.  Specifically, I continue to have concerns in the following areas:

1. Despite hundreds of billions of dollars spent in surveillance technology, terrorists are still able to communicate in ways that cannot be deciphered and whose source and destination location cannot be traced.  They can do so with hundreds of dollars of low-tech equipment that still defies our massive surveillance industry’s ability to prevent it.
2. Our personal debt levels are still way to high to be sustainable, with banks being responsible for making credit still too easy to obtain.
3. Some of our banks are failing viability tests that ensure that they are financially healthy enough to carry currently identified liability loads.
4. The Government’s ability to not have to consider social security and Medicare payments as liabilities are distorting the books and underreporting our nations true debt position.
5. Our intention to continue raising the debt ceiling is destroying the future for our children and cannot continue.
6. Falling oil prices threaten to take the nation out of the oil production business unless the government wants to accept the financial burden of subsidizing companies that are going out of business.  Other that that, we may be forced to accept that our economy will always be at the beck and call of OPEC.
7. Our infrastructure is old and decrepit and requires hundreds of billions of dollars injected into it in order to prevent escalation of its physical collapse.
8. Our energy, water, transportation, communication, financial and military systems are wide open to cyber attack from lone wolves, fundamentalist states and nations that we consider unfriendly to our nation.  A successful cyber attack against one or more of these leaves our nation extremely vulnerable from inside or outside the nation and no one can explain to me what the impact level would be.
9. Our housing market, while promoted as desirable for investment by the real estate industry, in fact contains the same vulnerabilities contained in 2008 when, a month before the financial collapse, realtors were promoting that “now is the best time to buy”.
10. Our calculation of unemployment figures is not accurate, having been changed repeatedly over the years until it now reflects about 1/4 of what it should be showing.
11. Our national emergency plan is of such a confidential nature that it can only be communicated to the people once an emergency actually occurs.  While the plan is much weaker than I would prefer, how we communicate this plan to the people during a real emergency is something that no one can explain to me.

The list went on and on, referencing weak foreign policy in regards to Russia, North Korea, Iran and others, the nation’s diminished space exploration policy and the risks this presented, the escalating arms race, the true impact of the EU’s current debt loads, the impact of an aging population on a strained healthcare system and a collection of other concerns.

In the closing paragraphs, it made it clear that Congress and the Senate were to blame for all of these issues.

Unfortunately for the people who were now rioting, the realization that significant challenges existed with no visible solutions was the critical matter and not who was to blame for it.

And so the riots displayed on the monitors in front of him were the result of a poorly calculated political move.

“So much for honesty being the best policy”, he mumbled to himself.

“What was that, Mr. President?”, asked one of the advisors.

The President said nothing, his brain failing to comprehend what he was watching.  He had a strong feeling that he had been set up.

The advisor paused as he observed the President’s obvious level of angst.

“I think it is time to consider Executive Directive 51, Mr. President”, the advisor said quietly.

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In a posh Washington DC office, a desk lamp provides the sole source of light.  The desk is clean except for a briefcase with the name of the owner and his title – “Senior Presidential Advisor – Special Projects”.

A prayer mat sits on the floor in front of the desk.

The room’s lone occupant kneels in gratitude.

To be continued.

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© 2015 – Harry Tucker – All Rights Reserved

Background:

The items listed in the President’s statement are all true.  I considered outlining all of them here but I felt it would make this post far too long and academic.

The ending is pure “fiction” but is interesting to play with given current world events.  I have many good friends who are adherents of the Islamic faith.  This is not directed to them so those who believe I have just make a blanket statement condemning an entire faith can sit down now.

Most of the items on the list can be Googled although I caution the reader to stay away from conspiracy-laden websites as their information is often distorted or incorrect altogether.  Some of the ones less obvious are described in some of my other posts.  For example, there is actually a means of how terrorists can communicate in a manner that cannot be decoded or traced and is available for a few hundred dollars in equipment.  I describe that technique here in National Security – Arming Both Sides.

As a data person, supporting facts are critical to me when making any suggestion or argument.  If you can’t find information on any of the items mentioned here, email me and I will send them to you and / or make the sharing public.

Being afraid of reality serves no value. 

Embracing reality produces the opportunity to find solutions to the challenges that we face in business, relationships, government and the like, allowing us to reach our ultimate, unlimited potential.

Ignoring reality is a different thing altogether.

One produces comfort now.

One produces pain later.

Do you know which is which?

Do you care?

Does it matter?

Can we do better than this poster suggests?

 Preservation: Action will be taken to prevent the next disaster as soon as possible after it has occurred.

How do you know?

Series Origin:

This series, a departure from my usual musings, is inspired as a result of conversations with former senior advisors to multiple Presidents of the United States, senior officers in the US Military and other interesting folks as well as my own professional background as a Wall St. / Fortune 25 strategy and large-scale technology architect.

While this musing is just “fiction” and a departure from my musings on technology, strategy, politics and society, as a strategy guy, I do everything for a reason and with a measurable outcome in mind. :-)

This “fictional” musing is a continuation of the #1206 series noted here.

The US Election and the Real Energy Crisis in America

It is with a sigh of relief (of sorts) that I see the current election campaign coming to an end in America.

It has been the most partisan, nastiest, information-less, information-twisting, spin-filled, hate-filled campaign that I have witnessed in my stay on this planet.

This campaign has truly brought out the best and the worst in many citizens in the great nation that is the United States of America.

It is also a reminder to me of the real energy crisis in America.

I hear that we need to be more energy-independent, that we will have an energy crisis if we don’t figure out more ways to be self-sustaining.

However, the real energy crisis is in how much negativity we are embracing and spreading, in this election campaign and in Life in general.

A shortage of petrol is not our issue.

A surplus of vitriol is the issue.

And as long as we drive our selfish wants and needs first and foremost and we are willing to beat people physically or verbally in order to drive our agenda with little respect for the opinions, ideas and needs of others, our situation will continue to get worse and not better.

“Democrat or Republican – A Difference Not It Makes” – Yoda

As Americans go to the polls today, it doesn’t matter if the winner is Democrat or Republican.

To think that one man with a few specific party ideals will magically transform the nation overnight is naive and dangerous.

2008 should have taught people this.

The country has an inertia that cannot be changed by the actions of a few people on the Hill.

It’s like a swimmer deciding that they can change the direction of a cruise ship by swimming up to it and pushing against the bow with their pinkie finger.

What matters is that the winner, either the incumbent or the challenger, put personal and party needs behind them and do what is right for the nation.

And that we lay our personal wants and needs aside, stop yelling and hurling insults at each other and work together with our lawmakers, regardless of party affiliation, to create a stronger nation and a stronger world.

Because if we don’t, our future looks far more uncertain than our present and may include some very real, very frightening scenarios.

Are you prepared to allow that to happen?

Are you willing to condemn your children to such a future – a future that you created because you couldn’t get past your disdain for the beliefs of your countryman in order to create a better world?

I didn’t think so.

But words are cheap.

Let your actions be so loud that no one can hear what you are saying.

Why wait for others to create a better world and be constantly disappointed in their efforts when we have a better chance to create one by working together and holding each other accountable and responsible for a better result?

It’s not up to “them” to create a better world.

It’s up to us.

All of us.

Create a great day – because merely having one is too passive an experience.

And if you live in America, get out and vote.  It is a privilege that many in the world will never have the opportunity to experience.

A privilege that should be the foundation of something to build a brighter future upon instead of something that divides us.

In service and servanthood,

Harry

The US Elections–Choosing Your Poison

Do you remember when you could tell by the way a person spoke and lived whether that person was a Republican or Democrat - that being one or the other meant that you stood for certain positive ideals (and yes, both have some positive things that they stand for)?

As a result of this clear demarcation, one knew what one was in for in terms of domestic and international policy when one voted in a representative of either party in the national election.

I remember those days well.

Now ….

Do you remember when a political candidate ran solely on the merits of their personal and party values and past performance, focusing on their proactive strategic and tactical intentions to make the country and the world a better place instead of merely focusing on trying to convince us why the other guy is “a loser who will destroy the country”?

That’s what I thought.

I don’t remember those days either.

Our modern day election process is no longer one of inspiring people to follow a vision, a vision representing personal and party values, backed up by past performance of the candidate and communicated via a strategic and tactical roadmap with measurable outcomes that resonates with the electorate.

It has transformed from being a process of making a proactive choice for the best person for the job to one of proactive avoidance, avoiding the person who, as we are led to believe, will cause us the most pain.

This is like saying you have two choices:

- death by cyanide (because arsenic poisoning can cause severe diarrhea)

- death by arsenic (because cyanide poisoning can cause severe headaches)

In this case, you have been told that death is unavoidable and so you examine the pain caused by each and choose the option that allows you to avoid that which you fear the most.

Such a process doesn’t move us purposefully towards success.

It’s a strategy for avoiding pain (and failure), which is the complete opposite of striving for success.

And in politics, as in business and even Life itself, you ultimately achieve what you focus on.

Unfortunately, it may or may not be the result you had hoped to achieve.

It’s no wonder we can’t move towards more positive results in the country and in the world-at-large.

It’s because we’re too busy trying to avoid failure and the person whom we have been told will bring us failure instead of embracing the candidate who has demonstrated that he or she has the best chance to lead us towards success.

Oh well … maybe we will do better in 2016.

Maybe.

In service and servanthood,

Harry

Why Can’t We All Just Get Along?

 

I just had the most intriguing interaction with a Twitter user by the name of @Donna_West that reminds me why we have so many problems in this world.

It’s because we are so busy trying to prove we are right that we don’t even bother listening to the other side.

In fact, we are so busy trying to prove we are right that we don’t even have time to respect the other side and understand their intentions before we slam them for something.

I had noted on Twitter that Senate Majority Leader Reid blocked the vote on President Obama’s Jobs Bill and within a few minutes, the White House issued an email asking people to demand that their Republican reps do the right thing and vote for the bill.

My tweet read:

Truth: Dem Senator Reid blocks vote on Obama jobs bill and then email blames GOP - tsk tsk tsk. http://t.co/lhz1g1Wa

Within seconds, @Donna_West replied:

@HarryTucker you are really so stupid you don't understand what happened and why?

Now … I hadn’t actually commented on who was telling the truth and who wasn’t.  I had merely made an observation.

The exchange with Ms. West developed into a full-on confrontational exchange where I was accused of not understanding government, not understanding how to tweet, not “getting it” in general, having an alleged ignorance of how government works, etc.  Her tweets flowed freely and venomously.

I tried to interrupt her emotional tirade with a couple of tweets, one referencing her Twitter profile where she describes herself as a “peace lover”:

@Donna_West I am always impressed when self-proclaimed "peace lovers" use intimidation to accomplish their means. #fail

@Donna_West Please find another direction to send your misguided, uber-aggressive, confrontational attitude. :-)

After a few more insulting tweets, this confrontational individual decided to report me to Twitter as a spam generator who was threatening her.  Meanwhile, I am receiving the brunt of the intimidation from this person’s network, including this gentle tweet from @good2bgreene.

@HarryTucker So you're just some schmuchk who invented the term "leadership incubation" to have purpose? And you think @Donna_West is spam?

Ahhhhhh …. what it is to experience intimidation from people who need to get a hobby.

Or attempted intimidation anyway.

The funny thing is that as I write this blog, a couple of these people are still wound up about me and continue to issue one tweet after another insulting me.  There is an incredible level of anger in them aching to escape.

Anger that is now directed at me because I posted a single tweet, disappointed that Republicans and Democrats can’t get along and solve the problems that need to be solved.

The response from a couple of people in the twitterverse doesn’t really matter.  There are lots of people in the world who won’t agree with everything I say.  If I needed 100% acceptance of every thought I ever had, I’d be waiting for the rest of my life.

What does bother me is how aggressive people will be in defending their position against someone else BEFORE they even know what the other person’s position is.

They make an assumption, the anger rises within them and they are off to the races.

Of course, what aids them in expressing their aggression is the anonymity they feel by targeting someone 1000 miles away.  If they stood toe-to-toe with my 6’3” frame, I don’t think they would necessarily be as aggressive.

Then again, I could be wrong.

The funny, sad, predictable thing is that many of these people, after insulting the living daylights out of someone, will turn around and play the victim when the person defends themselves.

Many bullies like to play the victim – it somehow helps them rationalize their actions, forgetting that often they are the instigator and not the victim.

They do it with a misplaced desire to “win” the confrontation, even if the other side is not even arguing.

But in the end, when such interactions occur, no one wins.

When such interactions occur, the opportunity to collaborate dies and with it, the opportunity to really produce a solution dies as well.

When someone uses anger, intimidation or misrepresentation to assert themselves without understanding the ideas or intentions of the other person, everyone loses.

As long as this continues to happen, whether it be in social media or on Capitol Hill or anywhere else for that matter, we will never solve our problems nor meet our true potential as individuals or as a society.

Hopefully, we are not yet ready to write an epitaph that reads “Civility – RIP”.

If that day ever comes, that and the result it produces will be the greatest disappointment we as a species will have ever created.

We can do better … in fact … we must do better.

Our future depends on it.

In service and servanthood,

Harry

PS I took a quick look at @Donna_West and @good2bgreene to see what they are posting as I published this post.  They have moved on to aggressively intimidating other people now.  Whew … I thought it was just me. :-)

S&P Ratings–What We Need, Not What We Want

I hear a lot of noise about the Standard and Poors’ downgrade of the United States current economic standing.  Today, Standard and Poors downgraded Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae and the market is responding again with terror and fear.  Meanwhile, we hear stories that the US Postal Service may be about to default (while running commercials on television that revenue from stamps and services makes them fully viable and self-sustainable).

What does all of this mean?  Is this the end of the world as we know it in the US?

Not at all.

What it does mean is that we are being told by a lot of information sources and very intelligent people that the economic models we have adopted are not sustainable.

Unfortunately, human beings tend to ignore good advice until they are thrown up against the wall and told to listen up or face dire consequences.  Many people who have challenging habits, whether it be poor spending habits, substance abuse or anything else will often continue those habits despite the pleas of others.

“I can’t stop”, they say, “or I will try better the next time”.

Meanwhile, their behavior continues unabated until they finally hit bottom and they are forced to listen to the advice they avoided before.  Unfortunately by then, the pain and loss they have experienced is much worse – they just didn’t know earlier that it could get that bad.

In recent decades, politicians have been elected on the platform of fiscal prudence and responsibility and once in power, it’s “same old, same old” again.  Spending and borrowing continue unabated and the savings that occasionally manifest are trumpeted as large and significant when in fact they are nothing in the big picture.

So instead of being afraid of the Standard and Poors downgrades, let’s look at it for what it really is and, dare I say, be GRATEFUL for it.

It is a wake-up call that what we are doing is not sustainable and doesn’t reflect our potential to do better.  That being said, this is not a time for rhetoric or political positioning – it is a time for action towards strategic, measurable results.

The question becomes:

Are the people in office able to see it this way or will they choose the path that Treasury Secretary Geithner chose the other day when he went on a rant about how Standard and Poors doesn’t understand the mathematics of economics?

There is an old adage, Mr. Geithner, that if it’s you against the world, bet on the world and right now, the world is asking for the US to get its act together.

We are being called to wake up, straighten up and build an economic model that makes better sense for future generations.

We are being called to build a model that extends beyond the next election horizon and is built with the intention of creating a strong future for the citizens of America and the world and not for the politicians who hope to get reelected.

Are we ready to wake up or would we rather wait until the pain gets greater, the stakes are larger and we are REALLY forced up against a wall?

Based on past results, it is easy to assume that we will wait until the warning signs are so loud that we can’t hear ourselves think.

Hopefully, we won’t wait that long.

There is something to be said for being told what we need to hear, not what we want to hear.  Unfortunately we often only see the value in what we were told AFTER the fact.

This is one of those times when we can’t afford to wait until later to see the value of what S&P is telling us now.  We must suck it up and take action now.  Empty assurances, rhetoric and rah-rah speeches just don’t cut it any more and haven’t for sometime.

By taking action now, we will see the wisdom in what groups like the S&P are telling us.

We can thank them later for saving our skins … if we listen to them now.

In service and servanthood,

Harry

Ignoring the Fine Print Can Be Fatal

Most people who have had the opportunity to sign a mortgage contract have always been strongly advised to have a lawyer oversee the process, to make sure there is nothing in the fine print that could seriously hurt the people signing it.

Many of us have seen the car commercials where a really good suggested retail price is highlighted in large digits on the screen while a pile of fine print, accompanied by a fast-speaking voice, tells us in 5 seconds about the taxes, fees, etc. that are not included in the compelling price.

Even a single-page legal document is usually examined by a lawyer prior to signing to make sure ever period, comma and exclamation mark is in the right place.

Sometimes, fine print can be a source of fun, as shown in this sign:

 

 

In case you don’t have Superman’s super duper vision, the VERY bottom line says “Also, the bridge is out ahead”.

The devil is in the details, as they say.

So I wonder how it is that legislators on Capitol Hill (and on Parliament Hill in Canada to a similar extent) can sign 500 - 1500+ page documents without reading them or understanding them.

Even worse, our legislators sometimes tell us that when it comes to important bills, it is better to sign them first and worry about them later when one has time to reflect on them in a more quiet atmosphere.

Don’t believe me?  I’ll allow then Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi to describe this in her own words where she describes the Health Care Bill passed in 2010:

 

Nancy Pelosi suggests that understanding a binding contract before signing it is not important.

 

The Democrat and Republican parties both insist that they want to find a solution to the current issues with the debt ceiling, the deficit spending and revenue potential, all at the same time.

Anything they come up with will bend the minds of the world’s greatest mathematicians and economists.  Many conflicting opinions will result as people read this material and the disconcerting thing is that they will ALL be right using their respective rationale.

The impact of signing such a document will be almost impossible to predict, just as much of what we are experiencing now is the result of previous decisions that are producing our present-day outcomes - outcomes that were not anticipated when the decisions were made.

Meanwhile, our leaders assure us that everything is under control.

I wonder how they know, given that what they are dealing with is impossible for the greatest minds in the world to understand.

No offence to the wonderful people who serve the voters of Canada and the US with great sacrifice to themselves, but if matched up against the most brilliant minds in the world, not many of them would be on the same intellectual footing.

Try this for an experiment. 

The next time new, significant legislation is being tabled for a vote, call your local Congressman, Senator or Member of Parliament and ask them to tell you in specific, concrete terms and without political rah-rah rhetoric:

1. How we will benefit from the legislation.

2. What are the risks, if any?

3. How will we mitigate those risks?

And above all, with all of the answers provided, ask them:

4. How do you REALLY know?

After all, buying a house is a relatively safe, painless, fairly low-risk / low-impact  task and yet we still put this process under a microscope for our own protection.

And yet, with far-reaching, high-impact legislation, we hardly give it a second thought.

All of this being said, remember that the challenges of today come as a result of such legislation in the past.

And we never gave that any thought either.

An educated electorate is an informed and powerful one.

If we choose to not proactively participate in our democratic processes (which means more than just voting), what French political philosopher Alexis de Tocqueville once said is true:

In a democracy, we get the government we deserve.

And then when challenges like the ones we are currently facing threaten to derail our lives, we can’t really blame the people we put into office, can we?

We will have to hold someone else responsible and accountable for the mess.

We know exactly who the guilty parties will be, don’t we?

And that of all things is a most bitter pill to swallow indeed, unless we prefer the process of denial and blame government anyway.

But that’s as effective as applying a band aid to an amputation – and potentially just as fatal.

In service and servanthood,

Harry

Strategy 101: What Are Your Objectives?

It is generally accepted that any strategic intention requires a number of things, not the least of which are measurable outcomes and objectives.

As Michael Porter, the Bishop William Lawrence University Professor at Harvard Business School, notes:

Sound strategy starts with having the right goal.

What About Democrat and Republican Strategy?

As I observe the Democrat and Republican exchanges with bemusement, concern and sadness and I listen to their saber rattling regarding the debt ceiling, spending reductions and such, I can’t help but wonder about their respective objectives and wonder if they are in alignment with the needs of the American people.

I wonder if they have any at all.

From a strategy advisor perspective, the goals proposed look more like reactive tactics than proactive strategies.

A proactive strategy would require that we define realistic stretch goals that contain measurable outcomes; measurable meaning that by date x we know we have achieved our strategic intentions based on some predefined, quantifiable, qualifiable criteria.

But I don’t see this in the debate on the Hill at all.

What I see is a call to increase the debt ceiling to allow for fuzzy spending while the other party seeks a hazily defined collection of spending cuts.

Neither side seems to understand (or at least want to share with the American people) what the impact will be of either of these self-described “strategies”.

Why Should This Worry Us?

The scary reason why they don’t share the potential impact is probably because they don’t know what the result will be and this should really concern us.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke even admitted a couple of weeks ago that he doesn’t know why the economy is not working the way it should.

And so despite historical evidence that our current economic models do not work, we continue to rely on reactive tactics, taking action only when the pain requires us to while hoping that our random actions will somehow fix everything as if by magic.

We don’t even know how we got here in the first place so how can we be so confident of our proposed solutions?  Meanwhile, our debt grows larger, despite promises by many elected officials for many decades that “we have it under control”.  If we really knew what we were doing, we wouldn’t have the current economic conditions that we have.

But how can we know what we are doing when we don’t set out with measurable outcomes, when we don’t compare current execution against those measurable outcomes and when we don’t have plans in place to make minor adjustments to our outcomes or strategy as needed, instead of waiting until the last minute when disaster is a heartbeat away.

Why Do Leaders Avoid Strategy?

Many organizations that fail do so because they do not know how to create a strategy from which a roadmap can be created – a roadmap that shows you how to get from here to there with some semblance of confidence.

Many leaders say that it takes too much effort, that it is better to just “dive in”.  Some say that it is too difficult to figure out the outcome, that it will become easier to know where we are going once we are closer to the destination.

That’s like saying I’m going to drive from New York City to San Diego - I know it takes 5 days to do so but I will start out without a map and in 5 days I will look out the window and see if I have arrived and adjust my driving behavior accordingly.

Strategy – The Benefit of Accountability

One of the greatest benefits to a strategy with measurable outcomes is that it keep us accountable.

Unfortunately, it takes real courage and authenticity to allow ourselves to be held accountable.

More courage and authenticity than many self-described “leaders” have.

And when our leaders refuse to embrace accountability and measurable outcomes, the primary stakeholders, whether they be shareholders, voters or any other interested party, have to demand something better.

As Winston Churchill noted:

However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results.

When you look at the results, then you will REALLY know how beautiful the strategy is and how effective the leadership is … or not.

As I observe the goings-on on Capital Hill, I wonder if the strategy embraced looks more like actor Ben Kingsley’s strategy for finding new roles:

I honestly have no strategy whatsoever. I'm waiting for that script to pop through the letterbox and completely surprise me.

Without Strategy, Failure is Inevitable

We can wait and hope that the right solution magically appears.

However, if that is the strategy, I fear we will run out of time long before that happens.

The oil light on the dashboard of our planet has just illuminated.  That’s ok – we can cover it up with a piece of tape.

Meanwhile, the low gas light has just illuminated.  No problem – wherever we travel, we need to make sure we are going downhill with a strong tailwind to help keep us going.

Ah, but now the brakes are squealing really loudly.  That’s why we have a radio – we just turn it up and the problem disappears.

Sounds pretty simple, doesn’t it?

Unfortunately being reactive while avoiding reality is not going to get us where we need to go much longer, despite our intention to pretend otherwise.

In service and servanthood,

Harry

 

Addendum: July 17, 2012

It feels like only yesterday that I wrote this.  How are we doing a year later?  Take a look at this blog – “Democrats: Kicking Our Butt Instead of Kissing It” and this interesting analysis of Ben Bernanke’s results a year later. 

I told you so brings no comfort when our future is at stake.

Leaders Serve Others–Not Themselves

Another mid-term election has come and gone in the US and amongst all the celebration, lamentations over losses and talk of change, there is another dialogue that is less exciting to hear.

It is the dialogue focused around “We the insert party name here Party will focus on the next two years in preparation for the next election”.

They are focused on future events that are critical to their personal needs instead of focusing on the important tasks at hand that are key to the futures of those whom they serve.

Leaders, whether they be within corporations, governments or any other institution, exist to serve others and to exert appropriate levels of influence in the course of serving others.  They serve others in order to maximize the potential of their organization and the team members within the organization and in turn, to maximize the product or service that their organization provides.  They also exist to represent the needs of others.  In the case of the US, 330 million people cannot fit into the Capitol Building.

When a leader is more focused on the leadership position itself and not on the people they serve, then they are merely self-serving individuals who seek the position for their own gain at the detriment of others. 

After the mid-term election, the Democrats are expressing concern about President Obama’s chances for winning re-election in 2012.

What they should be focused on is the state that the country is in.  The US, a great nation with unlimited potential, is mired down with a number of challenges that are a millstone around its neck, preventing it from reaching it greatest potential.

To the Democrats, I say “show us that you care about the country and can put the country before your own personal needs”.

As I am an equal opportunity critic, Sen. Mitch McConnell, leader of the Senate Republicans, recently said: "The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president.”

To the Republicans, I say “You’ve got a lot to address within the nation – focus on that and worry less about who you think should sit in the President’s chair”.

Neither side seems focused on what they should be focused on – serving the people.  It appears that they are focused on their own needs.

If a leader’s focus becomes entirely centered around the needs of the leader; attaining power, keeping it or getting it back if lost, then we need to find new leaders.

When it comes to attaining and retaining the title of “leader”, we must let their time in office be based on their actions on behalf of those whom they serve and not allow them to be focused on actions solely focused on retaining the title.

Let their actions speak so loudly that we cannot hear what they are saying.

When this happens and they truly serve others, they win and so do we.

And so we support them as we should ….

…. as long as we see them serve the needs of those whom they exist to serve.

In service and servanthood,

Harry

For my Musings-in-a-Minute version of “Leaders Serve Others – Not Themselves”, please click here.