As a young man Peacock went to work for a small but very fast growing division of a large corporation. The division was growing at 40% per year and the section that I was in was growing at 100% per year. It was incredibly interesting and exciting. We all worked hard and long, morale was high and cooperation between departments was exceptional. This went on for about three years.
Then we got a new division president who brought in some new ideas. New ideas are often good but this person’s ideas didn’t fit the culture of our organization at all. One of the new ideas was a philosophy called “professional contention”. It is fairly self-explanatory and done the right way it probably has considerable benefit at driving multiple teams to coherent conclusions. Unhappily, the new division president was more of a manger than an executive leader. Emphasis began to be place more on contention than on professionalism. Departments and individuals contended in a manner that caused dissention and suspicion. Progress slowed. Barriers formed between departments.
But the real problem was that the division president didn’t see what was happening. As dissention and suspicion built there was less honesty in the sharing of information. Not only were there barriers between departments, there was also a barrier opening up between middle and executive management. Initially, the division president didn’t see what was happening in his organization. Eventually, he had no chance of seeing what was happening. He lived in a different company from the rest of us who were growing increasingly dissatisfied with our work environment. The best began to leave.
I can’t help but draw a comparison with what is happening in our great country. Our new President has brought in some ideas that our new for our country but old for the world. They have been tried elsewhere and have failed. He has surrounded himself with people who think just like he does. They are reinforcing their own beliefs with a constant stream of internal positive feedback. The majority of the country, according to polling systems that try their best to report without bias, disagrees dramatically with the President and his inner circle. The President’s response to this is to press on with his agenda as rapidly as he can and tell the majority in the country who disagree to “bring it on”. Sounds more like a novice, insecure manager than an executive leader.
As a young man Peacock was fortunate to have friends who provided him with an alternative go working in the division he was in. He went to the corporate headquarters where he went to work for the best leader he has ever known and now has the honor to have as a friend. This leader listened excellently to all of his people. By example this leader quietly demanded professionalism and showed us all how working together we could be great beyond our individual skills. As a result the organization became great and the individuals excelled. We kept our individuality and our special ways of doing thing and cooperated to share our skills with each other and with many others. Over time we celebrated great successes.
Leadership is a special talent. It can be learned but it is generally learned only by working for great leaders. A hallmark of great leaders is their special ability to make us individually and collectively proud of ourselves. To make us believe in ourselves so much that we achieve more than we ever thought possible. President Reagan had this special ability to nurture through leadership.
President Obama is more like the division president, referred to in the opening paragraphs, who failed. He is not listening to the majority of the American people. He has created a massive barrier between himself and Americans. He has created an increasing barrier between Washington and a growing number of States. His rapid series of secretive and forceful actions are creating an environment of distrust between Americans who are now choosing sides more than ever and angrily contending with each other. This contention has reached a dangerous level for our country and the President’s response is to “bring it on”.
Our President is not a leader and is not worthy of being in a leadership position. He is creating dissention, dissatisfaction and barriers to say nothing of destroying our economic infrastructure. We will be fortunate if our country survives his term of office without a massive economic collapse.
Peacock had the opportunity as a young man to leave his division that had a terrible leader and go elsewhere. But that option doesn’t feel available with our country. Peacock has lived elsewhere and knows beyond any doubt that our way of life, and our country, is the greatest in the world. Peacock won’t be leaving to go elsewhere and will continue to use this blog and other legal tools to remove our very destructive President from office.
As a young man Peacock went to work for a small but very fast growing division of a large corporation. The division was growing at 40% per year and the section that I was in was growing at 100% per year. It was incredibly interesting and exciting. We all worked hard and long, morale was high and cooperation between departments was exceptional. This went on for about three years.
Then we got a new division president who brought in some new ideas. New ideas are often good but this person’s ideas didn’t fit the culture of our organization at all. One of the new ideas was a philosophy called “professional contention”. It is fairly self-explanatory and done the right way it probably has considerable benefit at driving multiple teams to coherent conclusions. Unhappily, the new division president was more of a manger than an executive leader. Emphasis began to be place more on contention than on professionalism. Departments and individuals contended in a manner that caused dissention and suspicion. Progress slowed. Barriers formed between departments.
But the real problem was that the division president didn’t see what was happening. As dissention and suspicion built there was less honesty in the sharing of information. Not only were there barriers between departments, there was also a barrier opening up between middle and executive management. Initially, the division president didn’t see what was happening in his organization. Eventually, he had no chance of seeing what was happening. He lived in a different company from the rest of us who were growing increasingly dissatisfied with our work environment. The best began to leave.
I can’t help but draw a comparison with what is happening in our great country. Our new President has brought in some ideas that our new for our country but old for the world. They have been tried elsewhere and have failed. He has surrounded himself with people who think just like he does. They are reinforcing their own beliefs with a constant stream of internal positive feedback. The majority of the country, according to polling systems that try their best to report without bias, disagrees dramatically with the President and his inner circle. The President’s response to this is to press on with his agenda as rapidly as he can and tell the majority in the country who disagree to “bring it on”. Sounds more like a novice, insecure manager than an executive leader.
As a young man Peacock was fortunate to have friends who provided him with an alternative go working in the division he was in. He went to the corporate headquarters where he went to work for the best leader he has ever known and now has the honor to have as a friend. This leader listened excellently to all of his people. By example this leader quietly demanded professionalism and showed us all how working together we could be great beyond our individual skills. As a result the organization became great and the individuals excelled. We kept our individuality and our special ways of doing thing and cooperated to share our skills with each other and with many others. Over time we celebrated great successes.
Leadership is a special talent. It can be learned but it is generally learned only by working for great leaders. A hallmark of great leaders is their special ability to make us individually and collectively proud of ourselves. To make us believe in ourselves so much that we achieve more than we ever thought possible. President Reagan had this special ability to nurture through leadership.
President Obama is more like the division president, referred to in the opening paragraphs, who failed. He is not listening to the majority of the American people. He has created a massive barrier between himself and Americans. He has created an increasing barrier between Washington and a growing number of States. His rapid series of secretive and forceful actions are creating an environment of distrust between Americans who are now choosing sides more than ever and angrily contending with each other. This contention has reached a dangerous level for our country and the President’s response is to “bring it on”.
Our President is not a leader and is not worthy of being in a leadership position. He is creating dissention, dissatisfaction and barriers to say nothing of destroying our economic infrastructure. We will be fortunate if our country survives his term of office without a massive economic collapse.
Peacock had the opportunity as a young man to leave his division that had a terrible leader and go elsewhere. But that option doesn’t feel available with our country. Peacock has lived elsewhere and knows beyond any doubt that our way of life, and our country, is the greatest in the world. Peacock won’t be leaving to go elsewhere and will continue to use this blog and other legal tools to remove our very destructive President from office.
