Who Is To Blame for New Orleans?
My friend Michael wondered if, from New Orleans, we'd learn our lesson.
It's not that we need to learn our lesson. We have had enough lessons, both at home and from disasters elsewhere; the lessons are obvious. The problem is that our leaders have not taken courageous and decisive political action based on those lessons. In our political system, and probably in all political systems, the people who can get elected are good at politics, not good at being decisive, and not good at being courageous, not good at taking action.
We need bold, decisive, courageous, and skilled executives at all levels of government and in FEMA and in other agencies; people who have a vision of what needs to be done, and the leadership skills to get it done; people who are demanding and unrelenting in the pursuit of excellence and, more than anything, results.
We need leaders who demand excellence from their subordinates and who are merciless at replacing people who do not perform; who quickly recognize the seriousness of a situation, quickly get good advice about what needs to be done, and let nothing stand in the way of execution.
People like this do exist. They can be found in business (often) and in the military (when wars need to be won) but rarely in US political circles.
A story I read about one Lieutenant General who arrived in New Orleans, stepped out of a helicopter and started cussing and giving orders and kicking butts of people who offered excuses instead of getting the job done in any way that was needed. This was when the situation on the ground started to change, I don't know that guy's name, but we need more like him.
Instead we get people whose main skill is playing politics. In the US system we weed out anyone who steps on toes or is courageous or takes strong action, anyone who has strong principles, before they can advance beyond the level of city council.
We reward those who can placate everyone, offend no one, and compromise everything. We reward them by electing them.
It has been said that democracies get the leaders they deserve, meaning if they don't pay attention, and are not selective, they will vote for poor leaders, and by being so careless, they get what they deserve.
If we want change, if we want better leaders, if we want leaders who will "learn the lesson", we need to look to ourselves.
The problem is that the electorate in the US is not demanding enough.
We should be.
We have only ourselves to blame.
Fred Roswold
It's not that we need to learn our lesson. We have had enough lessons, both at home and from disasters elsewhere; the lessons are obvious. The problem is that our leaders have not taken courageous and decisive political action based on those lessons. In our political system, and probably in all political systems, the people who can get elected are good at politics, not good at being decisive, and not good at being courageous, not good at taking action.
We need bold, decisive, courageous, and skilled executives at all levels of government and in FEMA and in other agencies; people who have a vision of what needs to be done, and the leadership skills to get it done; people who are demanding and unrelenting in the pursuit of excellence and, more than anything, results.
We need leaders who demand excellence from their subordinates and who are merciless at replacing people who do not perform; who quickly recognize the seriousness of a situation, quickly get good advice about what needs to be done, and let nothing stand in the way of execution.
People like this do exist. They can be found in business (often) and in the military (when wars need to be won) but rarely in US political circles.
A story I read about one Lieutenant General who arrived in New Orleans, stepped out of a helicopter and started cussing and giving orders and kicking butts of people who offered excuses instead of getting the job done in any way that was needed. This was when the situation on the ground started to change, I don't know that guy's name, but we need more like him.
Instead we get people whose main skill is playing politics. In the US system we weed out anyone who steps on toes or is courageous or takes strong action, anyone who has strong principles, before they can advance beyond the level of city council.
We reward those who can placate everyone, offend no one, and compromise everything. We reward them by electing them.
It has been said that democracies get the leaders they deserve, meaning if they don't pay attention, and are not selective, they will vote for poor leaders, and by being so careless, they get what they deserve.
If we want change, if we want better leaders, if we want leaders who will "learn the lesson", we need to look to ourselves.
The problem is that the electorate in the US is not demanding enough.
We should be.
We have only ourselves to blame.
Fred Roswold
posted by wingssail at 5:12 PM
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