Where Jim Kouzes turns to the data on what people want from a leader they admire and willingly follow, Robert Fritz - author, consultant, musician, and film-maker - paints a different picture of what America needs in a president. Fritz is best known for his book The Path of Least Resistance, a book about creativity, that has huge implications for leadership. Fritz’s work on the power of vision and on creativity is useful for individuals as well as for organizations. Creativity? Yes! One could argue that to be president is all about creating: a President paints pictures, finds resolution among differing voices, orchestrates agreements, envisions possibilities others have not, sculpts new policies, and builds teams. In short it’s highly creative work! . Today, with the characteristic passion of a creative thinker, Robert Fritz tells . . .

What I Want In The Next President

It’s a hard time for leadership in America because so many of those in present positions of leadership have poisoned the well.

I am particularly thinking of President Bush, who has been the very worst American leader I have seen in my lifetime. I was born when Franklin Roosevelt was President, I can remember Truman when I was a little boy, the first person I planned on voting for was Kennedy in ‘64. Up to now, I thought Nixon was the worst.

Now Nixon looks fairly good to me in his understanding of international affairs, especially his daring move of opening China. While I didn’t like Reagan’s politics, I thought he was a true leader. He had a positive vision for America, and, in many ways, he represented what was best in the American spirit. I feel about him the same as a business leader I know felt about Kennedy. He said, “I didn’t agree with anything Kennedy did. But when he was president, I felt better about being an American.” That’s about how I felt about Reagan.

But now the world has changed. The new political strategy, the one that Carl Rove exploited to a tee, is to distort what the opponent has said, making it seem to be absolutely ridiculous. Then, the talking points are arguments against something the opposing candidate never said and doesn’t think. This “new” politics is a throwback to the old “Big Lie,” pioneered by Joseph Goebbels. And it has worked and worked, election after election.

I hope Abraham Lincoln was right about not being able to fool all the people all the time. Reality has a way of showing up and eventually the truth rises to the top. But before it does, there is a lot of dysfunctional politics that has a chance to fester and grow. When this is the case, interesting ideas - which can come from anywhere within the political spectrum - are hard to explore, good will is hard to generate, and nonsense becomes the order of the day.

The leadership qualities I would like to see for the next president must be understood by the tenor of our current times…

I long for intellectual honesty. I long for creativity. I long for good sense. I long for the long view, where American interests are seen from a vantage point of decades and centuries.

I long for someone who was as cultured and street smart as JFK.

I long for someone who understands history, our own and that of the world. I long for someone, who like Kennedy, does not blindly follow the advice of the generals, but combines that advice with a sense of proportion. (Had Kennedy followed the advice of General Curtis LeMay, we would have had a nuclear war in 1963.)

I long for the insight of an Eisenhower, the guts and inner strength of a Truman (who didn’t mind surrounding himself with the likes of a General Marshal, who he considered much better than himself.)

I long for someone who can put complex thoughts together and express them with a simple elegance like Theodore Roosevelt could and Bill Clinton can.

I long for a leader who can lift us with the highest of aspirations, feed our public soul with greatness of purpose, instill in us the fundamental causes of truth, justice, respect, innovation, freedom, and adventure.

I long for a leader who can touch that incredible creative and affirmative thing that is so much part of the America spirit.

I long for someone who truly loves freedom of the individual, and sees that, rather than the political system of democracy, as the formative cause that can powerfully compete against radical anything. After all, the point of democracy is to assure freedom of the individual, not simply to hold elections.

I long for a leader who has read and understands Thomas Jefferson’s monumental writings on the separation of church and state, and has read and understands The Federalists Papers. I long for a leader who has read Theodore White’s In Search of History.

I long for a leader who is motivated by love rather than hate. I long for a builder, a practical visionary, a leader who can forge a new and better path through the dangers of the times, and can play our very best hand: demonstrating how people from such diverse backgrounds, religions, thoughts, cultures, traditions, ethnic groups, and customs can become one people.

©2007 Robert Fritz

These observations only reinforce my view that we need to speak about the importance of these virtuous characteristics. We need to seek them. No matter how hard they are to discern from commercials, sound bytes, and triangulations. I believe that at this point in our history, more than at others, we need honesty, or integrity in action as Ruth and Bill have suggested (Jim Kouzes, by the way, would heartily agree). I don’t think I’m partisan in saying that our President has just not been straight with us, e.g., in spreading the ignorant belief that Saadam and al Quaeda were joined at the hip. That has hurt the credibility of our government in our eyes and the eyes of the world. And Bush’s predecessor’s personal travails and tortuous answers did little to generate - especially among his adversaries - a sense that simple honesty prevailed.

I am intent on looking for honesty, as a primary virtue. It won’t be simple. For instance, is Hilary trying to be totally open, or trying to have it both ways, when she refuses to say her vote for the war was a mistake? When she takes middling positions is that an honest stance on a complicated issue? Does she get credit for being transparent about her thinking, or does honesty mean taking a “conclusive” position as Mr. Petrie argues? Do we value Mitt Romney’s honesty in saying his views on abortion changed, because he saw a moral light? Or do we believe that the real reason was a political reality that a Republican who was “soft on abortion” could not win? Was he honest the first time, and the second time, and in explaining the change? These are tough questions to evaluate, but they seem essential if we are looking for a credible leader, someone we will willingly follow.

How important is honesty to you? And how will you know when you have it?

Dan

Given the needs of America at this unique moment in history, what does it especially need in a leader? Are there particular attributes, characteristics or practices that would especially serve our country?

For the last twenty-five years my coauthor, Barry Posner, and I have been asking working people around the world to answer the following question: “What do you look for and admire in a leader, someone whose direction you would willingly follow?” The results have been striking in their regularity over the years, and they do not significantly vary by demographical, organizational, or cultural differences.

What is most striking and most evident in our research is that only four qualities, over time, have always received over 60 percent of the votes. Mind you that this research spans 25 years, so this is not some fad. The data tell us that there are a few essential “character tests” someone must pass before others are willing to grant the designation leader. These are the basics, and they are fundamental to what people expect of any leader in our country, no matter what the times. So, what are they?

For people to follow someone willingly, the majority of constituents believe the leader must be

• Honest
• Forward-looking
• Inspiring
• Competent

Taken by themselves, these four characteristics are useful. Write them down and take them into the polling booth with you. Put them next to the names and then vote. But what is more significant is what these qualities mean when taken as a whole. Three of these four key characteristics—honest, competent, and inspiring—make up what communications experts refer to as “source credibility.” More than anything, people want leaders in whom they can believe. Credibility is the foundation of leadership. Period. Full stop. Put another way, if you don’t believe in the messenger, you won’t believe the message.

The fourth universal quality of being forward-looking is the attribute that differentiates leaders from other credible people. People expect their leaders to have a point of view about the future. They want to be confident that their leaders know where they’re going.

So, here are the basic questions to ask yourself as you approach voting day:

• How much do I trust this person? To what extent has this person been honest with the people? How open are they about their beliefs?
• How clear and compelling is their vision for this country?
• To what extent does this person convey hope and optimism about the future? How upbeat is this person? When I listen to and watch this person, how positive and uplifted do I feel?
• How much experience does this person have in leading others and in significant executive roles? What’s been this person’s track record of accomplishments? How successful has this person been in getting things done?

While there is more to a president than credibility and vision, I’ll start here. First I need to believe in the candidate, and then I can begin to believe in the message. Credibility is the foundation of leadership.

Written by Jim Kouzes, coauthor of the bestselling and award-winning book The Leadership Challenge.