Lee Iacocca on Lack of Leadership

Where are the great leaders of our time? Lee Iacocca takes on the topic in his new book. This topic has puzzled me as well for quite a while now.

For now, note the second last sentence: "We all have a role to play". As a concerned Albertan, please pay a role and contact your MLA and the Premier's office about how you feel.

Links to contact them are here: http://wtfjournal.blogspot.com/2007/10/how-to-make-your-voice-heard.html

I've also posted a form letter should you note choose to write your own piece: http://wtfjournal.blogspot.com/2007/10/letter-from-concerned-albertan.html

Annoyed at the Void

Legendary Lee Iacocca says great political leaders have vanished

By Greg Weston, Toronto Sun

http://www.torontosun.com/News/Columnists/Weston_Greg/2007/10/02/4542817-sun.php

Watching Stephane Dion's pitiful stumbling from public rejection in recent byelections to chaos in crumbling Liberal party, Canadians are once again left to wonder where all the great leaders have gone.

While Stephen Harper consistently -- and deservedly -- polls well ahead of Dion and the NDP's Jack Layton in leadership surveys, the fact that the PM has not been able to boost his party's fortunes suggests Canadians generally are underwhelmed with all of the above.

It may be small consolation, but we are not alone in bemoaning a dearth of leadership.

The legendary Lee Iacocca, the former head of Chrysler Corp. who brought the auto giant back from the brink of bankruptcy in the 1970s, has written a scathing book lamenting the decline and fall of both political and economic leadership in America

While Iacocca's rant -- titled Where Have All the Leaders Gone? -- is obviously directed at the U.S., his observations and dismay with public apathy ring true on this side of the border.

Here are a few nuggets from the book:

"Am I the only guy in this country who's fed up with what's happening? Where the hell is our outrage? We should be screaming bloody murder. We've got a gang of clueless bozos steering our ship of state right over a cliff, we've got corporate gangsters stealing us blind, and we can't even clean up after a hurricane much less build a hybrid car. But instead of getting mad, everyone sits around and nods their heads when the politicians say, 'Stay the course.'

TOSS 'EM

"Stay the course? You've got to be kidding. This is America, not the damned Titanic. I'll give you a sound bite: Throw the bums out!

"You might think I'm getting senile, that I've gone off my rocker, and maybe I have. But someone has to speak up. I hardly recognize this country anymore...

"Here's where we stand. We're immersed in a bloody war with no plan for winning and no plan for leaving. We're running the biggest deficit in the history of the country. We're losing the manufacturing edge to Asia, while our once-great companies are getting slaughtered by health care costs. Gas prices are skyrocketing, and nobody in power has a coherent energy policy. Our schools are in trouble. Our borders are like sieves. The middle class is being squeezed every which way. These are times that cry out for leadership.

"But when you look around, you've got to ask: Where have all the leaders gone? Where are the curious, creative communicators? Where are the people of character, courage, conviction, omnipotence, and common sense?

"Leaders are made, not born. Leadership is forged in times of crisis. It's easy to sit there with your feet up on the desk and talk theory. Or send someone else's kids off to war when you've never seen a battlefield yourself. It's another thing to lead when your world comes tumbling down.

"Name me a leader who has a better idea for homeland security than making us take off our shoes in airports and throw away our shampoo? We've spent billions of dollars building a huge new (security) bureaucracy, and all we know how to do is react to things that have already happened.

"Name me an industry leader who is thinking creatively about how we can restore our competitive edge in manufacturing. Who would have believed that there could ever be a time when "the Big Three" referred to Japanese car companies? How did this happen, and more important, what are we going to do about it?

"If I've learned one thing, it's this: You don't get anywhere by standing on the sidelines waiting for somebody else to take action. Whether it's building a better car or building a better future for our children, we all have a role to play.

"It's not too late, but it's getting pretty close."