Today someone got in touch with me to discuss a recent piece I had written. They apparently have less faith in humanity than I do - but they were brought up in an East European communist state. As it turns out, they are equally disappointed and frustrated with our lack of leadership in the west.
This lady raised an excellent point, paraphrasing, "We in the west have standards for everything, yet we have no standards for leadership - we accept anything and anyone. Money, lies, greed and influence speak louder than ability, honesty and the innocence of wanting to do better."
It is true, but how exactly we would set about standardising leadership is unclear. And besides, in trying to do that, we would also destroy the very essence of leadership, which perhaps, more than anything else, is giving direction to a dream or thought. Just as the wind changes, as with the experienced hand on a ship's tiller, reacting to circumstance - change is constant.
It would be challenging to standardise leadership. However, the point is well made. The shockingly low calibre of leadership requires attention from all of us. And it all gets down to how we choose our leaders. We need to change our methods of selecting leaders because, more or less, wherever you look, what we are doing now is clearly not working.
Rick - Suffolk - UK - 20th February - 2021
www.ricknotesfromengland.com
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