"The price of greatness is responsibility."

Leadership.

Simplistically defined as "The art of influencing human behavior in such a way as to accomplish a task in the manner desired by the leader." Such a simple definition that teenagers have no difficulty with understanding or practicing it (when they put their mind to it).

In my reasonably short life I have been actively involved with leadership for about twenty years now. I have lead and been led, been under and in command, and existed at various rungs in different chains of command, often at the same time. Now before anyone asks if I think of myself as a good leader, I will only say that it isn't for me to judge. Usually when someone is in charge, their effectiveness is measured against those that came before, by those that will come after.

Because, or maybe in spite of my experiences, I have looked at leaders at different points in my life and measured them against my own personal yardstick. Leaders in different fields ranging from military to civilian, sports to academic, professional to political. I tend to look at anyone in a leadership role and evaluate my perception of their abilities or lack thereof.

So what's got me all hot and bothered about leadership today? I've been kicking around the idea for the blog for a week or so now; partly because of what's going on in the political arenas; and partly for other reasons.

At the federal level our elected leaders have taken leave from running the country to get into a he said/she said argument over name calling. Incidentally, the subject of the name calling (the "dog" in the dog and pony show) is doing an admirable job of trying to stay focused on the issues. Provincially they are still stuck in the Caledonia quagmire, and locally they are frantically gearing up for a municipal election on November 13th.

Locally in the mayoral race their are only two real candidates. The incumbent Larry DiIanni, and the challenger Fred Eisenberger. You may recall Mayor DiIanni recently plead guilty to taking illegal campaign contributions in the 2003 mayoral race. Yet he still says his integrity is intact. How exactly I don't know because he only plead guilty when it was obvious this issue wasn't going away. What leadership example is that showing? It is not a "pick yourself up when you're down" example I assure you. He did something wrong, denied it, lied about it, and fessed up only as a last resort. I have no respect for the man.

Is Eisenberger perfect? Nope. I do believe he's honest though; and a better leader. As a "for instance". Eisenberger doesn't believe that candidates should take campaign contributions from corporations, even though it is legal. I think Fred makes a good point because it wouldn't look good for an elected official to appear beholden to any group. So he doesn't take donations from corporations. As a consequence he doesn't have nearly the money Di Ianni has, but he is showing a better leadership example.

If you stop and look, there are leaders all around you. Good and bad. From coaches, work supervisors, and union reps to police officers, polititians and a host of others. If they are our leaders, whether we want them there or not, do we have the right to question them? You bet your butt you do. Not only is it your right to question those in leadership but it is also your responsibility.

As a personal example. At work the method for picking vacations has changed since last year and the new method is to say the least contentious. Because it's a union issue I sent an email seeking clarification from the union executive. This prompted a series of emails between myself and the local president on this issue. The local president returned each and every one of my emails promptly (usually the same day) and answered each one of my questions. Nothing was changed but I didn't expect anything to; that wasn't the point. The point was I had a burr in my saddle and wanted more information as well as making my opinion known.

We should never fear asking questions; truly the only stupid question is the one that doesn't get asked. We should never fear questioning those in authority be they a Member of Parliament, a religious leader, or even your soccer coach. No leader worth their salt will ever have difficulty explaining their actions or their stance on any issue that comes from their leadership position. The caveat to that being that if the matter is private and has no bearing on the professional, we do not have the right to stick our noses in.

So to sum up. The mantle of leadership is an awesome responsibility; and one that shouldn't be taken lightly. If you can't do it, or even do it effectively, then you shouldn't have it.

Like I said earlier, this has been on my mind lately.

Thanks for stopping by.

Be well all.