CRISIS LEADERSHIP PART 4-- WHAT MUST BE DONE TO SAVE THE COUNTRY!!!

THIS PART THREE OF A SERIES ON CRISIS LEADERSHIP AND WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE.

SO WHAT?
These are the two words have applied in all of my professional career. Is there a solution?
I think there is a solution but it will be painful and must be executed now.
The first solution is to change the type of leaders we have now. I think that we have a government of too many “caretakers”, who are more concerned with the status-quo and their own personal needs and wants. Note: the word…too many… I am not saying that we don’t have some of the right type of leaders, but if we do they are a small minority and not the majority.
Right Leaders for the Right TIME and SITUATION.

In my 1993 book ,Risktaker. Caretaker, Surgeon, Undertaker- the four faces of strategic leadership, I classify leaders into four types and describe their characteristics.

• This is a summary of each of the leadership characteristics and its relationship to the life cycle of the organization
  
  · Risk takers are most appropriate for start up situations. These individuals are missionaries, intuitive, dynamic and excellent communicators. They have a mission and are willing to bet their lives on making them happen. They are revolutionary.
  · Caretakers are more cautious, managerial and tied to evolutionary rather than revolutionary changes.
  · Surgeons are required when an organization is in trouble and needs restructuring. These leaders are willing to challenge the status quo and folklore and hold NOTHING SACRED…everything and everyone is challenged and subject to being divested or liquidated.
  · Undertakers are those able to take an organization and either wind it down or divest or merge it with another more viable organization.
  

The names are not critical, but what is critical is that there are NO LEADERS FOR ALL TIMES and that if you put the wrong leader in the wrong situation they will fail.
WANTED—Surgeon Leaders.
The United States now need leaders in the Executive and Legislative branches that are willing to take actions that will set priorities and allocate the resources consistent with the priorities, they are SELECTIVE and not “all things to all people”.
This means that they are willing TO CUT programs, Be POLITICALLY INCORRECT and recognize that they will antagonize some of the their constituents and even other nations.

· “NOTHING and NO ONE is SACRED”- The country leaders, including the President, his administration and Congress must be will to step back and evaluate all of the country needs and requirements and not make anything or anyone sacred.
· Set Priorities and Allocate Resources- Using a clear set of viable criteria the leaders must do an OBJECTIVE evaluation and set priorities and then be willing to communicate what needs to be done and what can’t be done… this means being POLITICALLY INCORRECT is needed.
· DO what they SAY…this is the essence of strategic leadership. Strategy is what you do and not what you say. Unfortunately, this will take a major change in the “political mindset”..where it is common to say one thing and do something else.
· LINE ITEM VETO- The president must be able to cut out the pork and not permit the valuable and needed programs to be surrounded by politically motivated, non-productive waste full pork.
· BALANCED BUDGET. Willingness to live in our means and not just continue to add to the debt… this means that there must be a CONSTITUTIONAL BALANCED BUDGET and no exceptions. If programs are increased in one area, others must be decreased or more revenues must be generated.
· TERM LIMITS FOR EVERYONE- Time limits on all members of government. Roosevelt made it clear that there must be time limits on the Presidency and so we have a two term president. But the Senate have become the House of Lords and a long tenure group of “too comfortable” and too Powerful individuals. If it make sense for two terms for the PRESIDENT, why doesn’t it make sense for the Senate? The House members terms should be extended to four years and they two must only be able to serve for two terms.
· STOP FINANCING OUR ENEMIES. Stop all FOREIGN aid and examine where it should go. Don’t give money to our enemies or to those who are wealthier than we are. We can’t buy friendship and these funds should be used to solve real problems and be time limited. No annuities that go on and on and are actually used to undermine their purpose.
· NO MORE POLICEMAN AND MISSIONARY- Moving from the policeman and “democratic” missionaries to willing to allow other countries to manage their own countries and select the best form of government for them and not what may work of us. This also means a reality test on whether democracy is really working here. It is only partially working.
IMPOSSIBLE DREAM??
Reading this list of requirements may make you think that I am totally naive and it is impossible to get these type of changes. After all, the current systems and policies protect the incumbents in government and allow them to get enough “pork” to keep them in office. There are too many and strong lobbyists who have created one of the only growth industries in the United States. There is a great fear of not giving away money to all nations even to our enemy since the country is already unpopular.

So, on the surface it is impossible and the current policies and practices will continue UNTIL THERE IS A REAL CRISIS. The crisis is likely to take the form of major recession, combined with massive unemployment and even some form of the “bread lines of the Great Depression”.

In conclusion… the United States must recognize its world role is changing and it must focus on being a little more self centered and not try to be the policeman and democracy missionary of the world. If it doesn’t, it will just become another “historical” empire who self destructed because it lived in a “fairyland” and not in a real, changing and highly competitive world.

Bill Rothschild, author of THE SECRET TO GE’s SUCCESS and RISKTAKER, CARETAKER, SURGEON, UNDERTAKER- the four faces of strategic leadership.