Power is not Leadership
“Power should be reserved for powerboats and weightlifting; leadership involves responsibility, not power.”
Herb Kelleher, CEO Emeritus, Southwest Airlines
Power is not Leadership. People in positions of authority in government- any government (federal, state, local), but particularly local government- have power. Just an estimate, but 80% of my focus, my neighbor’s focus, my friend across town’s focus- is on what happens locally. I’m as interested in the trade deal with India as the next person, but if I’m choosing to pay attention to the trade deal or whether my trash gets collected, then I’m going with the trash. I’m interested in Trump’s cabinet picks, but I’m more interested in if the roads get plowed when it snows.
My entire civilian career has been spent in local government. I truly believe someone can make the most difference locally. The local level is where someone can see that projects are being completed, and services are being provided, and programs are being delivered. The pick for Secretary of Education is important. But how well kids are educated is due primarily to the decisions the local school board makes. As former Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill said, “All politics is local.”
Local elected officials have the opportunity to make things better (or worse). They are in a position of leadership and authority. They ran for office, usually on an agenda or platform of some kind, which is how it should be. I want people to run on an agenda. Tell me what you believe. Tell me what you want to do and want to fix.
Tell me why you are better than the person in that office who is not qualified to be there! (see a previous post discussing candidates not qualified for office here )
People get elected, whether qualified or not, and at the local level, it’s rare that someone is “qualified”. And, for some reason (and I don’t know the reason, maybe someone has done a Master’s Thesis on it), some of these people get the office they ran for, and then….they become cowardly. They are afraid to make decisions. To make the hard choices, to hold employees accountable- in short, to do the things they said they were going to do.
These elected officials have power. At the very least, they have authority. We gave it to them when we elected them! And they are golden! I’ve never held elected office, I’ve always been a Director or held an Assistant City Manager level position in local government. I’ve never had a contract, so I could always be terminated. But once someone is elected, unless they commit a felony, or are so incompetent there is a recall vote, they are in for the length of the term! They can do anything! They can make tough decisions, decisions that will piss people off, decisions that haven’t been made in years.
They are in power, and no one can do anything about it until the next election.
But Power Isn’t Leadership. Elected officials who delegate their power are cowards. If they give their authority to subordinates, they are cowards. If they fail, or refuse, to make decisions (“you gotta turn left or right, I don’t care which, but not changing course runs us off the cliff”), they are cowards. If they exploit and celebrate the easy wins while ignoring the hard problems, they are cowards. They have power, they have authority.
But They Are Not Leaders.
