Front
Lines
by Kerry C. Stackpole, CAE
EMA President & CEO
(Originally published in Messaging Magazine,
September/October 1999)
Stories That Don't Exist
I was shocked the other day while reading the newspaper at how inventive we’ve allowed ourselves to become. George W. Bush, Jr.’s refusal to answer the New York Post’s recent question on whether he had ever used cocaine has reportedly now become a campaign issue. Although the other eleven Presidential candidates had responded in the negative, Bush has steadfastly maintained his position that what he did or didn’t do thirty years ago is nobody’s business. Yet the cynics among us claim that Bush’s unwillingness to answer the drug-use question is a real, honest-to-goodness campaign issue and should be a cause for alarm among the electorate. I don’t think so.
Mind you, I’m no apologist (nor is one needed in my opinion) for Governor George W. Bush, Jr. While the Republican Party has all but anointed him their nominee for the presidential race in 2000, there’s much more I’d like to know about the man, the quality of his thinking, his leadership style, policies and persuasions. I also think journalists should stop inventing "non-issue" issues in campaigns and get back to the business of digging into the policies, decision-making styles, quality of thinking and capacity to lead, which are all important when it comes to being America’s CEO. As any leader worth his or her salt knows, it’s less about what you’ve done in the past, than what it is you’ll do today and tomorrow. As one Fortune 500 CEO has said, "You’re only as good as your next success."
In Internet time, yesterday’s decision can be second-guessed into infinity. Leaders—especially smart and capable ones—are expert at looking ahead, leveraging foresight over hindsight, and taking the lessons of the past into the future, applying them when useful, and discarding them when not. One of the most commonly identified traits of outstanding leaders is a limited willingness (ability?) to look back or second-guess themselves. The age-old adage of ready, fire, aim takes closer hold everyday. I’m reminded of the whimsical dialog in Disney’s animated feature The Lion King. The wise old baboon strikes the young lion prince on the head with his staff. The lion prince protests saying, "Hey, what’s that for?" The wise baboon retorts, "It doesn’t matter, it’s in the past." "Yeah, but it still hurts," protests the young lion prince.
Strong leaders realize that what’s in the past can indeed hurt, but that it need not be the case, if the lessons they learned along the way are applied wisely today and tomorrow. MM