Leaders

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/09/10/1129815/-The-Dubious-Patriotism-of-Republicans

For anyone who wants to read one of my totally partisan political posts on Daily Kos, there's the link right there.

I have found that it is much easier to write consistently when I am not working.  Too bad, although that may mean I get to do more writing in a few weeks.

But about leaders.  On a non-political note, let me start with a political analogy.  In an excellent world, politicians would be elected and re-elected based on their ability to accomplish things in the political arena that helped the people who elected them.  The better you did at making good policies and voting for the right bills, the better your chances of being re-elected.  That seems reasonable.

But we all know that it isn't the way that politicians are chosen or re-elected.  In fact, being a good legislator is not even the most important requirement for the job.  The most important trait for a politician is the ability to obtain and hang onto power.  Making intelligent decisions in office is a component of obtaining and hanging onto power, but it probably isn't a very big factor.

As a result, we get the politicians that we get, and on the whole, I don't think most people are impressed with the leaders our democracy turns out -- Congress's 11% approval rating, for instance, is a strong indication that we are not real happy.  Sure, we get some good politicians on occasion, but not often enough, and the truth is that the type of person who can navigate the election process and get into office may not be the type who should be leading us.

And I think that the same problem exists in the working world.  One thing that people at the higher levels of any company all have in common is that they know how to keep their jobs, or move on to the next one.  And when you sort people based on this criterion, you aren't always going to get the best, the most reasonable, the smartest, or the most decent ones.  And you don't.

Now the argument can be made that the selection of leaders in corporations is much more based on merit than it is for politicians, and this is probably true.  Still, when you consider how many jobs in any company cannot be objectively evaluated in terms of the profit they bring to the organization, you have to realize that there is enough room for subjective decisions that the politicians have the advantage.  And, just as with real politicians, I have heard this phenomenon justified on the grounds that the ability to communicate is a critical part of the job.  It is, but unless your job is in a field like Marketing that really is about communication, it's probably more important as a factor in keeping your job than it is in doing your job.

So what to do about that?  Beats me, and I think I have written enough for today anyway.  But perhaps one day I will come up with a better way.