On Leadership

Gerry Adams at it Again

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica C. McWade) — Sat, 12 May 2012 11:01:31 PDT

Dublin, Ireland - Gerry Adams and Sinn Fein can be interesting to watch, though never to trust. Adams is riding the “anti-austerity” victory of Francois Hollande in France and the results of Greece’s economic and political carnage last week to voice deep-throated opposition to the pending EU fiscal stability treaty. A national referendum on the treaty will be held here in Ireland on May 31st. Reasonable people can agree that Europe tilted too far in the direction of severe, no-growth policies over the past four years. And yet the grandstanding of Adams and Greece’s far-Left EU rejectionists are sobering reminders that there are few credible ways out of this mess than as one moderately integrated European Union with a more robust growth agenda.

Boris Overcomes. Ugh!

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica C. McWade) — Sat, 12 May 2012 11:07:18 PDT

Limerick, Ireland - Boris Johnson is among my least favorite politicians. And that's a very long list. Somehow, despite being down 19 points to Labour's Ken Livingstone in the polls for London's mayoralty, Johnson has won re-election. Is it conceivable that this character is now the Tory Party heir-apparent to David Cameron?

Education as a National Security Issue.

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica C. McWade) — Sat, 12 May 2012 10:50:07 PDT

I participated in a conference call this morning with Joel Klein, former Chancellor of the NYC school system, and Condoleezza Rice. They’re co-chairs of the Council on Foreign Relations’ Task Force on "U.S. Education Reform and National Security." In addition to the usual and yet essential laments about the American school year and school day remaining hostage to a centuries-old agrarian calendar and the continued supremacy of teacher seniority over teacher excellence, Rice and Klein offered three useful insights for framing the issue.

First, they are right to examine U.S. education – especially public education – through the lens of national security. Not accepting that the system is broken in some ways and that exceptional strategy, talent and resources are needed to repair it is, indeed, a clear and present danger. Next, and this one’s sensitive, Rice and Klein remind us that we are not attracting the best of our college graduates into the teaching ranks, unlike our competitors in Singapore, Taiwan, Germany, Finland and elsewhere. Yes, thankfully, there are many gifted, talented and committed teachers on these shores. There just aren’t enough of them! Of course, it’s not all about compensation. However, realizing pay scales that are at least a meaningful rounding error on what hedge-fund managers make would help. Finally, Rice and Klein speak to the essential role of education in restoring national purpose and cohesion. Is there any doubt that the decline in U.S. K-12 education is contributing to the deterioration of our public discourse?

We wanted to hear more from the Task Force today on solutions. However, their compelling framing of the issue today could help bring us closer to tangible, productive outcomes.

Saints No More.

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica C. McWade) — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 07:22:13 PDT

Seattle

I've always liked the New Orleans Saints. While not surprising, revelations of a bounty program designed to hurt other players seriously is painful if not perplexing. When will so-called leaders such as Defensive Coordinator Gregg Williams ever learn that there are principles larger than their twisted objectives and, for that matter, that these schemes are totally discoverable in our 24x7 social media world?

I was in the Super Dome in 1987 when the Saints clinched the playoffs for the first time in history. Thousands of us paraded to the French Quarter that night, recognizing that the 'Aints were no longer losers. Well, they're big losers now - and other teams are sure to follow.

Broken Windows, Class Act.

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica C. McWade) — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 07:24:24 PDT

Seattle

The eminent social scientist James Q. Wilson died last week. He was a conservative I greatly admired. Fewer of them around these days. His "Broken Windows" essay reinvented policing and made crime-fighting stars of Bill Bratton and others. I was fortunate to take a seminar in municipal policing in the late '80s taught by "Windows" co-author George Kelling, with guest lecturers such as Wilson and Bratton. There are many reasons for the sharp declines in capital crime, but a small portion of it owes to Wilson and Kelling's work.

Shush Rush!

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica C. McWade) — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 10:39:51 PDT

Seattle

Georgetown University President Jack DeGioia is to be commended for his powerful, swift denunciation of Rush Limbaugh in the Sandra Fluke matter. His display of leadership is inspirational and the antithesis of the vulgarity, pettiness and inanity of Limbaugh.

There's Hope.

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica C. McWade) — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 10:34:31 PDT

Minneapolis

The never-ending merry-go-round of horrible leadership examples is spinning out of control these days. And yet, two shining examples emerge amidst the heinous Penn State scandals, long-overdue departures of George Papandreou and the contemptible Silvio Berlusconi, the soon-to-be "perp walking" ex-MF Global chief Jon Corzine, and the foolishness of Herman Cain and most of the field of U.S. Presidential candidates.

Dover Air Force Base mortuary employees James Parsons, Mary Ellen Spera and Bill Zwicharowski had repeatedly tried to tell their supervisors about gross malpractices at the nation's largest military mortuary. As is so often the case in these situations, however, their concerns fell on deaf ears. The predictable inclination to protect one's institution and one's career suffocated their dissent. And yet, these three persistent professionals went outside the chain of command to express their legitimate concerns and, well, justice has now been served. Unlike Paterno, McQuery and the entire Penn State crowd, these brave three transcended institutional insularity and rose to a their leadership moment.

Then there's retired NHL veteran Theo Fleury. He was one of those scrappy guys you hated when he played for opposing teams, but his recent work underscores that this man is a leader. He wrote the best-selling novel, Playing With Fire last year in which he spoke to the pain of longstanding sexual abuse at the hands of a criminally deranged coach and that coach's enablers. As the Penn State scandal unfolds for the next year and more, Fleury has been an important, informed voice on the subject of sexual abuse. His work with kids recovering from these unspeakable crimes is certainly to be commended.

Folks like Theo Fleury and the "Dover" whistleblowers should make us proud as we nonetheless feel such profound shame about so many others - insulated and invidious - who dare to think of themselves as leaders.

Connecting Dots, Incorrectly

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica C. McWade) — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 14:26:07 PST

It was a surprise, to say the least. I was almost through a September 8th Fouad Ajami column in The Wall Street Journal and found myself in agreement with it. And then it happened. What was a reasonable piece concluded - as the From 9/11 to the Arab Spring headline promised – by making dubious connections between the U.S. invasion of Iraq and this year's Arab Spring.

Ajami writes, "The spectacle of the Iraqi despot (Saddam Hussein) flushed out of his spider hole by American soldiers was a lesson to the Arabs as to the falseness and futility of radicalism." He continued, "America held the line in the aftermath of 9/11. It wasn’t brilliant at everything it attempted in Arab lands. But a chance was given the Arabs to come face to face, and truly for the first time, with the harvest of their own history."

This is dangerous, post-facto rationalization. It’s also a patronizing attempt to suggest that we Americans are the chosen ones, somehow destined in this context to give other peoples their “chance.” To the contrary, our choice to enter Iraq in 2003 continues to embitter the Arab Street. To act as if that decision somehow empowered if not mobilized people to rise up against dictators is dangerous revisionism. Qaddafi aside, most of these dictators were or are our “friends” anyway, and nobody knows that better than the Arab people. It is not clear what the Arab Spring will ultimately look like through the long lens of history. One thing is clear right now, however; it occurred in Egypt, Libya and Tunisia - and perhaps Syria - in spite of and not because of the Iraq War.

So what is said of people who jump off the deep in, for example, continuing to rationalize the Iraq War? They’re all wet! As next year's 10th anniversary of the war approaches, we'll need much greater scrutiny of these kind of claims if we are to separate fact from self-justifying fiction. We were faulted once for not connecting the dots. Claims like Ajami’s, however, connect them incorrectly.

.

Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica C. McWade) — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 12:16:58 PDT

Detroit, MI

This is the problem with Berlusconi. Well, actually, there are many problems with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. But here’s one very big one. His fear of an unprecedented Center-Right defeat in Milan’s mayoral elections, fueled by a stunning loss in the first round last week, finds Berlusconi and his henchmen resorting to predictable scare tactics and – guess what? – attacking immigrants and less-than-pure Italians. Sound familiar?

With breathless claims of “Zingarapoli,” suggesting that Milan will become a sinister “Gypsy City” should the Center-Left win the mayoralty, Berlusconi is playing the petty hatred card to stoke fear and scare the vote his way. Right wingers in Europe frequently fiddle the “blame the Gypsies” tune when made insecure by economic or political misfortune or its prospect. The Le Pens in France would gladly make Gypsies the primary focus of their scorn and ridicule, too, except they have more convenient targets for their selfish, xenophobic scare tactics – North Africans.

Here’s the point that Berlusconi and anti-immigrant crowds everywhere completely miss. Nations such as Italy, Japan and Russia, for example, are confronting huge demographic time bombs. Simply put, they’re not producing enough young people to fuel future economic productivity and consumption and, as alarming, take care of all the old people. It’s the opposite problem facing Egypt, Iran and Saudi Arabia, which have staggeringly large populations of restless (and unemployed) young people. Without immigrants and people of mixed heritage, Italy risks suffocating its own economic growth and regional clout. This point is conveniently lost on U.S. right-wingers, too, who can’t dare to imagine where this nation would be economically and in other ways without the energy, creativity, labor and innovation of immigrant communities.

There is good news from Milan, though. The Financial Times and other European media are suggesting that Berlusconi’s fear-mongering may be backfiring. Despite serving as Berlusconi’s power base, Milan is a considerably sophisticated place. And now even the conservative Catholic Church there is debunking “Zingarapoli” and, in doing so, perhaps thwarting Berlusconi’s efforts to steal an election by blaming “the other.” Wouldn't it be nice to send a message to Russian nationalists, Islamic fundamentalists, Japanese arch-conservatives, right-wing Hindu extremists and ignorant, vein-popping haters in this country that this garbage isn’t going to work anymore?

To those of us hoping we can grow beyond self-serving politicians pandering to primordial base instincts, this weekend’s run-off election in Milan may provide some comfort. There’s reason to hope.....but don’t hold your breath.

Y Not?

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica C. McWade) — Thu, 26 May 2011 17:55:49 PDT

The Woodrow Wilson Center has just published A National Strategic Narrative, which should be required reading for any serious contender for national public office. Published under the pseudonym "Mr. Y," evoking George Kennan's 1947 "Mr. X" essay The Sources of Soviet Conduct , the piece argues that in our new interconnected global system the United States must invest less in defense and more in sustainable prosperity and renewed global engagement.

No kidding, right? Except Mr. Y is actually two of Joint Chiefs Chairman Admiral Mike Mullen's top strategic thinkers, Captain Wayne Porter, USN and Colonel Mark Mykleby, USMC. This really shouldn't be a surprise. Many of the Pentagon's best thinkers have long maintained that old systems of fear-based containment - be they focused on Communism or Terrorism - are calcifying in the face of today's Internet-accelerated, asynchronous, and sometimes-unpredictable open systems. Indeed, both Mullen and Defense Secretary Gates have delivered major speeches on the need to demilitarize U.S. foreign policy. Amen! The problem is politicians and large defense contractors who insist on their big fat slabs of pork in the form of expensive and even needless weapons systems designed to fight the last war; platforms that Gates, Mullen, and many of our top warriors say they don't need and don't want.

Porter and Mykleby urge Americans to compete on innovation and trade with a renewed willingness to invest in education, infrastructure, and alternative energy sources. Yes, they fully understand that our deficit and debt addiction is our greatest national security threat. They realize, however, that reducing the deficit has much to do with appropriately calibrated withdrawals from the $3 trillion Afghanistan and Iraq forays, reductions in gold-plated weapons systems that are unneeded and unwanted by so many people in uniform, and wise, serious restructuring of entitlements.

What they and most thinking people "get," but that otherwise eludes too many politicians and pundits, is that deficit and debt reduction cannot come at the expense of addressing our second and third most serious national security challenges - energy and education. We do need to walk and chew gum at the same time. Seriously, can there be any doubt that finding alternative sources of energy for a post-oil world and ridding ourselves of reliance on the likes of Saudi Arabia is a more serious existential challenge than terrorism? Can there be any questioning that our broken K-12 mediocracy is more of a clear and present danger than terrorism? No!

Besides, how should a proud and patriotic American feel about this country spending more on defense - in what has become something of a national security state - than the rest of the world combined and at a time of untenable deficits? Well, I feel that something is very wrong. It's made so much worse by any media focus whatsoever on clowns like Bachmann, Palin, Gingrich, Trump and even Huckabee and Santorum. Mullen, Porter and Mykleby are real leaders and they are showing us the way? Will we listen?

p.s. Captain Williams and I served for a week with Admiral Mullen in the mid-90s. You'd be hard pressed to find a better leader and Naval officer, whose well-deserved retirement from service later this year is nonetheless making me squeamish.

Low Post

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica C. McWade) — Sat, 07 May 2011 06:52:02 PDT

The Washington Post was once a great newspaper. Those days are long gone, for sure. Its dwindling size and relevance is now only surpassed by its lack of judgment and good taste. Imagine any serious organization hosting Donald Trump at a public event right now, as the Post did at Saturday's White House Correspondents' Association dinner?

Trump's asinine behavior, race-baiting, self-aggrandizement, appalling lack of knowledge about public, foreign and economic policy, and flat-out lying are a shame to this nation. Worse, Trump's nonsense has been a costly strategic distraction at a time when we need serious people engaged in serious issues. It's one thing for TMZ, The Hollywood Dish, The National Enquirer or Fox News to cover, honor, or host this guy, but not the once-fabled Post.

Memo to Washington Post heir and celebrity interviewer Lally Weymouth, or whomever concocted this beaut of an idea, some suggestions for next year's dinner include Charlie Sheen, Lindsay Lohan and the ghosts of George Wallace and Father Coughlin.

Still, there are four welcome developments here. First, Osama Bin Laden's death has removed Trump and the birthers from the top of the news, let's hope permanently. Second, the Post's Dana Milbank did a fine job using his column to question his management's thinking about Trump and the whole Correspondents' dinner. Third, President Obama and Seth Meyers humiliated Trump at the dinner in front of all of official Washington with humor that exposed him with his own words and deeds. And fourth, I have cancelled my e-subscription to The Washington Post. Adieu.

It Doesn't Add Up

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica C. McWade) — Wed, 04 May 2011 15:51:13 PDT

US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told our audience at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) yesterday that the Republicans are now seeing the political fallout from budget proposals that provide tax breaks for the rich while placing undue burdens on the poor and middle class. “They cannot defend it, and they’ll eventually move away from it," he said.

The “it” here are the most Draconian aspects of Congressman Paul Ryan’s GOP budget, such as the proposed Medicare voucher plan for Americans under 55 years old. Geithner said that “the politics are heavy now, very hard.” And they’re getting harder it seems for Republican Congressmen returning to even safe GOP districts now plagued by pushback against their ill-formed thinking. Some of Ryan's thinking can be refreshing, but his doctrinal blindness has him otherwise stumbling around in some pretty messy political corners.

Geithner called the reckless U.S. deficit and debt condition “completely unsustainable.” Obviously, but certain folks aren’t getting the message. CFR President Richard Haass has labeled the national debt disgrace a “war of necessity,” and it’s far more of a strategic imperative than wars in Libya, Afghanistan, and Iraq. Yes, everything should be on the table right now to deal effectively and appropriately with this historic fiscal mess. That starts with two blindingly obvious lessons from the not-too-distant past. First, needless wars of choice are hideously expensive propositions, measured in terms of strategic, human, financial, and opportunity costs. Second, “trickle-down economics” didn’t work then and it won’t work now. It’s time to get serious about asking the most privileged among us to step up to plate, put greed aside, and work for the common good. Otherwise, the math will never add up.

Earth Calling Jacob Zuma

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica C. McWade) — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 17:55:22 PDT

I'm not a big Jacob Zuma fan. Of course, it's difficult for any mere mortal to serve as South Africa's President in the formidable shadow of Nelson Mandela. Still, how can somebody agree to serve as part of the African Union's heads-of-state negotiating team in Libya and skip the Benghazi portion of the trip? Negotiating peace means speaking with both sides, Gaddafi in Tripoli and the rebels in Benghazi.

Zuma has seen fit, however, to reap the publicity and adulation of the pro-Gaddafi forces, which almost certainly has been his aim from the start, while thumbing his noise at Benghazi. His people say he needs to return to South Africa to depart for the BRICS meeting in China. Baloney. This is too important to not have carved out a day in Benghazi and, besides, his presidential aircraft is just as capable of departing for Beijing from Benghazi. The AU's mission to Libya is nothing more than posturing and window dressing and, in Zuma's case, has only made matters worse.

Brains Aren't Enough

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica C. McWade) — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 08:53:53 PDT

Washington, DC

The New England Council superbly organized our White House visit yesterday. Education Secretary Arne Duncan and regulation czar Cass Sunstein illustrated the sheer brainpower of the Obama team. Too bad brains aren't always enough. Chief of Staff William Daley, however, reminded us that these guys are getting better at fighting back, with cunning, clarity, and speed.

Daley's Financial Times op-ed piece yesterday debunking the unfortunate I'll-move-the-company-to-Canada-or-Mexico nonsense from 3M CEO George Buckley, for which the patron of Post-Its should apologize, was a refreshing counterpunch from a sometimes too-tepid Administration.

School Reform: Balancing Pugilism With Patience

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica C. McWade) — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 17:22:44 PST

Cincinnati, OH

Joel Klein’s resignation as Chancellor of the New York City Public Schools, and that of Michelle Rhee in the comparable job in Washington DC, raise interesting and important questions about finding the right balance between the pugilistic determination and patient diplomacy necessary for achieving desperately needed school reform.

Basically, I’ve been a fan of both these leaders – though a guarded one. They’ve been unafraid to confront lethargic, insular, deeply entrenched systems that have been allowed to decay over many decades and, as a result, are doing such a disservice to children so as to represent a clear and present danger to our country. Perhaps the best thing the Kleins and Rhees of the world bring to the task is to question existing orthodoxies and shake-up the status quo, which they can only do with healthy outside perspectives and the backing of a strong mayors such as Bloomberg in New York and, or so we thought, Fenty in DC. They also buoy so many individuals and institutions that had otherwise given up hope that real and lasting reform is even possible in large urban systems.

Those who resist change and argue for gradualism in school reform are just wrong. Gradualism seems like a dilatory tactic by unions, opposing politicians, vendors, and other vested interests designed to slow down if not entirely halt reform. What’s needed instead is what organizational scholars call “punctuated equilibrium,” and lighting rods Klein and Rhee come with very big punctuation marks. That is to say, they enrage many people who stand to lose from rising performance expectations and other interruptions to business as usual.

Angering resistors can be a useful albeit anecdotal indicator of success, since nobody determined to overhaul something as sclerotic and frighteningly political as the New York or Washington systems will ever make friends. Just ask Mayor Fenty who was tossed out of office in his recent re-election bid because he dared to support (one might say, create) Rhee and her reform efforts. It seems logical and even desirable that reform-minded leaders will make some enemies or otherwise risk not being effective on these brutal playing fields. Too much patience and excessive due process risk running out the clock, continually perpetuating systems that like to talk about change but have little authentic interest in doing so. Are Klein and Rhee divisive? Yes, of course. They absolutely must be.

The two outgoing Chancellors are right to have brought a palpable sense of urgency to this seemingly impossible task. If a Taliban (or yesterday’s bogeyman, a Communist) sleeper cell had somehow formed on these shores 40 years ago and conspired to create what we have had in the New York and Washington systems, well, we would be on a war footing right now to address it. It’s that bad.

Having said this, however, Klein and Rhee often took matters too far. Teachers are not the enemy here. Most teachers are good, hard-working folks who are trying to do the best they can and sometimes against all odds. Yes, union intransigence can be a serious impediment to progress, but that doesn’t warrant stereotyping or vilifying teachers. Rhee told a group of us in Washington DC last week that she’s learned some painful lessons in this regard, about the rightness if not the utility of treating people with respect, preserving the dignity of those who must change, communicating and collaborating across the board, and understanding that some inclusion, protocol, and due process are necessary to ensure sustainable change. You don’t have to be nice, but you do have to be smart about these things.

It’s too easy to conflate these qualities and skills with simply “playing nice.” Far from it! An effective leader can be firm and yet reasonable, tough and yet respectful, determined and yet diplomatic enough to not fear communicating and collaborating with some needed measure of inclusion. Otherwise, with little or no “buy in” from those being asked to change, the system will simply reject the “foreign organism” invading it like so many antibodies gathering in reflexive self protection.

One gets the sense from Rhee that she sees matters of inclusion, respect, and dignity as unacceptable forms of gradualism, despite words to the contrary. Instead, I might suggest she see them as the tools needed to achieve and sustain lasting reform. After all, the “body politic” in DC just rejected the Fenty-Rhee “organism,” leaving those of us among her fans to wonder what they will have actually accomplished in the long term. Perhaps another year or two of due diligence and due process would have preserved the Fenty-Rhee program and ensured that it actually succeeded in carrying out large-scale systemic change. Otherwise, what’s the point? Opposition forces can simply wait it out until the flash-in-the-pan, “divisive” leaders impale themselves on the sharp pickets of personal animosity and petty resentments that may never needed to have been so pointed in the first place.

So Why Does This Happen?

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica C. McWade) — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 03:48:57 PST

San Diego, CA

We were pleased once again to attend The College Board’s annual Inspiration Awards luncheon last week in Washington DC, honoring three truly excellent schools. We listened to remarkable young people from Green River High School in Virginia Beach, VA; Hogan Preparatory Academy in Kansas City, MO; and Medgar Evers College Prep School in Brooklyn, NY declare their passionate commitment to careers in public service and their desire to run for public office – even, as several of them said with a twinkle in their eyes, to be President of the United States.

The event was thrilling and inspiring in the extreme. It gave us great hope for our nation’s future, a sentiment expressed well by former Congressman Kweisi Mfune who said after the ceremony that, “It’s good to know who’s on the battlefield and who’s coming behind you. Given what we’ve seen from these young people today, there can be no doubt about our future.” Well, maybe.

The problem is the enormous gap between the earnest, honest, and public-spirited orientation of these young scholars and leaders – who truly want to rock the world – and what we actually get from the adults who purport to lead us. As I listened to these young people, occasionally with tears of joy in my eyes, I simultaneously conjured images of the “me first” blind ambition of a Mitt Romney, Andrew Cuomo, Carly Fiorina, and Sarah Palin or the utter lunacy of a Sharon Angle, Christine O’Donnell, Joe Miller and, yes, Sarah Palin and asked myself, “What have we wrought?” Or better still, “Why such rot?”

How can we the people help these extraordinary kids avoid the selfishness and rancid divisiveness that is public life today? Sure, most of these great young people will ultimately avoid elective office – as so many sane people do, much to our peril – and make amazing contributions in the education, non-profit, and business sectors. That’s wonderful, but we need more of them running for Congress, governorships, and other offices. The climate that we have created in Washington DC these days – the circus, really, and it’s a litter box that’s ours to own – will find many of them turning their back on politics just when we need them most. What a shame. More important, what a peril.

We assume that youthful idealism, passion, and reason will eventually get beaten down by the “system.” Somehow the so-called “real world” is supposed to enter stage right and coat these wonderful young people with the thick syrup of doubt, unreasonableness, and cynicism. Well, enough already! Hasn’t the “system” proven to be so catastrophically broken that it’s time we embrace new ways? These kids can show us the way if our politicians would just get out of the way. I’m going to hang onto the memory of these young people during the next two years of bitter, vindictive stalemate and mind-numbing selfishness in our body politic.

Wooden Figures Behind Wooden Podiums

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica C. McWade) — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 03:57:24 PST

Why do they even bother? I'm referring to the countless CEOs and other so-called leaders who deliver speeches and say absolutely nothing or worse, sometimes collecting big fees to embarrass themselves and bore us. The phrase "mailing it in" comes to mind.

Here's the "absolutely nothing" part. I recall attending a 2008 Houston speech by Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig that still irritates me today. Here's this guy, no Bart Giamatti for sure, speaking to higher education leaders about one of America's great institutions - baseball. It was clear that Selig spent not one second thinking about the many interesting issues shared by universities and professional sports such as recruiting, Asian and Latin competition and growth, drug abuse, leadership training and such. All we got were the same tired stories and PR gloss he had delivered the previous 50 speeches with not even an intern's hand present in trying to make some connection - anything, please - to his audience.

Here's the "worse" part. We at the Council on Foreign Relations heard earlier this week from Intel president and CEO Paul Otellini. Now don't get me wrong. I have the utmost respect for Intel and especially its longstanding visionary leader Andy Grove. I don't know anything else about Otellini other than his speech was indefensibly selfish, predictable, and contradictory.

He called for a "culture of investment" in the U.S. to "create the conditions" for entrepreneurial success. Well, who can argue with that? The key questions are always, what are the specifics and who's going to pay for it? In whining about businesses being overtaxed, it's clear that he doesn't see Corporate America as the source of such new funding? So, Mr. Otellini, where will the money come from to fund this new investment culture and what's not working with the billions of taxpayer dollars the U.S. already invests in such initiatives? He complained that California has become a "third world nation" in terms of services and infrastructure. Fine, let's grant him that point for the sake of argument. Please tell us then how your incessant call for cutting taxes will help us find the taxpayer resources needed to repair California infrastructure - and that of so many other cities and states?

This is the same narrow-interests fallacy underlying the Tea Party calls for tax cuts, especially now amidst recession and unprecedented budget deficits and national debt. Until you tell us how you will find the money - in specific policy and financial details, please - to pay for your needs and expectations and those of your fellow countrymen then, well, sit down, be quiet, and let somebody else speak. And please, speakers, do your homework before asking us to invest our time in your message.

Beware Sudden Embraces Of Democracy

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica C. McWade) — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 17:07:30 PDT

One has to laugh at the pronouncement yesterday by former Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov that he plans to form a new democracy movement. It’s always fascinating to watch desperate political strongmen, such as the 18-year veteran of the Moscow mayoralty just dumped by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, suddenly discover the joys of democracy.

Luzhkov has been tarred by claims of corruption, some undoubtedly true and others likely not so true. What is known is that he has been notorious over two decades for helping his billionaire wife, construction mogul Yelena Baturina, secure lucrative contracts for the reconstruction of Moscow. Friends tell me that Moscow is today a high-energy “city on the move,” thanks in part to the Luzhkov-Baturina vision. Nobody should kid themselves, however, that this “new Moscow” emerged from anything remotely resembling democracy.

Luzhkov’s cynical embrace of democracy now has to be seen in the context of the strong-arm, anti-democratic impulses that built both his city and his fortune.

They Just Don't Get It

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica C. McWade) — Sun, 19 Sep 2010 10:12:25 PDT

High-paid jocks who just don't get it have become the norm. It's one thing for these so-called leaders and erstwhile role models to frequent strip clubs at 3:00 a.m. brandishing firearms. I guess that’s their pathetic business. It’s quite another matter, however, when they turn their backs on wounded servicemen and servicewomen recovering at the Walter Reed Medical Center.

Enter three fools from The New York Mets. It seems that multimillionaires Carlos Beltran, Oliver Perez, and Luis Castillo had better things to do on Tuesday than to join their teammates on an annual visit with wounded soldiers. Shades of Manny Ramirez's boycott when the Red Sox visited Walter Reed in 2008.

It’s pretty clear that these beauts don’t know much about much at all. At minimum, however, one wonders why their handlers failed to persuade them at least to appear to do the right thing. Beltran’s told The New York Times today that, “I don’t know who is creating this issue. I had my own things to do, and I couldn’t make it.” Here’s the answer Carlos, you are creating the issue and it is manifest in your profound selfishness and ignorance.

What would guys like this see if they possessed the ability let alone the willingness to be introspective and think beyond themselves? Nothing. Absolutely nothing! Let's leave to another day why it is that some organizations (like the Mets) acquire more than their fair share of such characterless people.

Hillary On Debt And Damage

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica C. McWade) — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 18:03:22 PDT

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton addressed a group of us today at the Council on Foreign Relations. Once again, she demonstrated just how capable a leader and policy expert she is. We are in very good hands here, indeed, whatever your concerns may be about President Obama.

In this age of vapid leadership, here's a brilliant, articulate, thoughtful, credible, forceful, and no-nonsense woman who is working against all odds to repair the systematic damage done over the past decade to our global standing and effectiveness. One measure of the diminution of U.S. diplomacy in recent years, for example, comes in the fact that the United States has more people in military marching bands than we do working as diplomats. That's nothing to trumpet, for sure.

Council President Richard Haass asked Secretary Clinton whether and how our mind-numbing national debt interferes with the protection and projection of U.S. economic, diplomatic, and national security interests overseas. Amidst so much political trash-talking these days on the subjects of debt and deficits, Secretary Clinton response was as informed and impassioned as it was sobering.

She told us "there is no free lunch" and that our profligate record of deficit spending certainly does constrain our capacity to act internationally. "It sends a message of weakness abroad," she added. While suggesting that "we don't have to relitigate how we got here," she then did just that by reminding us that the U.S. attempted to wage two wars and make excessively large tax cuts without any mechanism to pay for these choices. So be it, lest we ever forget these financially calamitous follies of the recent past. How could we, it would seem, since we are paying for them in triplicate?

Secretary Clinton concluded by saying that "responsible voices are not being heard right now" on the subjects of debt and deficits. Well no kidding! It's only going to get worse between now and the November elections. At least we have one responsible voice on this and other subjects who merits our continued support and gratitude.

Five Lessons From LeBron

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica C. McWade) — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 14:41:00 PDT

Thanks, LeBron James. Your utter crassness has given us a powerful "teachable moment" in matters of decency, communication, and leadership. Here are five lessons I'm considering this week:

1. Don't Blame The Younger Generation: Too many LeBron critics are ascribing his epic lack of grace, civility, respect, and humility to the way it is with young people in today's celebrity age. How preposterous! Good people of any age know how to do the right thing, or at least know how to find out how to do the right thing. LeBron's boorishness last week owes instead to the fact that he inhabits an imaginary world, which has been exacerbated by bad advice coming from childhood buddies at his LRMR company in, gulp, Cleveland. He needs to find a mentor with wisdom, and real fast! If you find yourself blaming young people then, well, you're getting old.

2. Don't Sink To His Level, Dan Gilbert: Cleveland's majority owner Dan Gilbert, a slick mortgage banker, took the bait and absolutely choked on it. His Thursday night diatribe in reaction to LeBron's actions was an embarrassment to his city, his team, his fans, and himself. Sure, anyone subjected to what LeBron did to that guy deserves to be outraged. However, he should have had the presence of mind to wait until the morning to react. The lesson for us all is not to send any e-mail or letter in a state of rage. Gilbert will be living that one down for many years to come. Perhaps he, too, has nobody to help him achieve perspective beyond himself. "You bet, boss, it's a great letter. Go get 'em." And wasn't Gilbert the guy who grossly enabled LeBron's behaviors over the past seven years in the first place?

3. Where Was Pat Riley In All Of This? Should that source of wisdom and sanity LeBron so clearly needs have been esteemed Miami Heat President Pat Riley. Why not? He can't shrug it off as having been none of his business until LeBron joined his team. What he has to realize is that LeBron's actions discredited Riley and his Heat franchise, too. And even without preventing LeBron from hurting himself with that putrid Thursday night made-for-television non-event, Riley certainly had responsibility for the garish, out-of-control Worldwide Wrestling Entertainment-style introduction of the new "Big Three" in Miami on Friday. For some of us, that spectacle was worse than the Thursday night TV event. What were these people thinking?

4. Manage Expectations Carefully: One should learn at an early age to underpromise and overdeliver. Here's the self-anointed "King" who after seven years in the league has yet to win a championship. Here are the biggest of the Big Three ever, also self-proclaimed, who've yet to play a game let alone win a championship. LeBron should exercise extreme caution in declaring that the Heat will win "multiple championships." This is especially true under a new Collective Bargaining Agreement in 2011-2012 that could conceivably set the salary cap below what Miami's Big Three would need to make, meaning that one of them would have to go.

5. Stay Out Of It, Jesse Jackson: Please! You are only adding embarrassment to an embarrassment and, in the process, making matters worse. Jackson consistently fails to understand that leadership is not the same thing as publicity.

Blown Calls and Blown Wells

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica C. McWade) — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 05:04:35 PDT

If only BP CEO Tony Hayward had some of umpire Jim Joyce's humanity. Hayward's firm blew a deepwater oil well with devastating consequences, especially for those who lost their lives aboard the Deepwater Horizon as well as their families. Every time he speaks, he loses credibility and only seems to make matters worse. This is what happens when CEOs sacrifice common sense and humanity enroute to the top and are then surrounded in crisis by too many lawyers and equivocators.

Joyce blew a call in a baseball game, robbing a pitcher and his fans of a perfect game. He apologized immediately and with a level of class, dignity, and speed not frequently seen these days. No hedging, no caveats, and no lawyers. Yes, Hayward's challenges are far more complex than those faced by Joyce, but the need for authenticity and humanity remain as fundamentally simple as they are essential to effective leadership.

Will We Ever Reform Education, Really?

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica C. McWade) — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 10:23:46 PDT

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan says that desperately needed education reform in the United States is "this generation's Moon shot." Of course, that's precisely how Tom Friedman frames our equally desperate need for energy reform. Indeed, desperate times require desperate analogies. Duncan spoke to a group of us at the Council on Foreign Relations yesterday.

Sure, the U.S. remains the world's undisputed higher education leader. However, Yale President Richard Levin's article in the current issue of Foreign Affairs suggests it's just a matter of a decade or two before China catches up. Meanwhile, Duncan cited a sobering litany of U.S. K-12 worldwide performance statistics. For example, we're 24th of 29 nations in one study of high school math proficiency and 21st of 30 in a comparable study of science proficiency. Do we truly realize as citizens that the U.S. is suffering a 27 percent high school dropout rate, that as many as 40 percent of our college students need remedial help, and that we rank 10th in college completion globally, according to Duncan?

Remember that '80s music video in which Huey Lewis plunges his head into a sink full of ice water? Well, somehow, we the people need just such a wake-up call. Every second we spend on peripheral "wedge" issues in this country, to serve narrow political agendas, we're sapping our ability and willingness to solve the truly monumental challenges before us, such as real education reform.

In that context, Secretary Duncan speaks of the Obama Administration's "cradle to career" vision for education. Great! It's nice rhetoric, as is his welcome alignment of cultural awareness and language proficiency with the "smart power" movement, but is it really achievable in four or even eight years? Instead, I'd prefer that the Administration be a little less grandiose in packaging concepts and more focused, for example, on attacking ten programmatic reforms that are needed before we can ever credibly dream of a "cradle to career" vision.

I Hear A Symphony

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica C. McWade) — Thu, 27 May 2010 11:19:17 PDT

New York, NY

Antonio Pappano is an interesting guy with no shortage of useful opinions. He's music director of London's Royal Opera House and Rome's Orchestra of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia. When asked by The Financial Times recently for his views on Italian culture and politics, his answer was instructive.

He claimed that Italy needs a new style of cultural leadership, capable of nurturing and coalescing talent, “because one of the difficulties in Italy is how to create teams”. (The Financial Times, May 15-16, Page C3) Pappano has no franchise on wisdom on this subject, for too many of us have seen the consequences of failing to develop teams, organizations, and even nations so that the whole feels greater than the sum of their disparate pieces. Politics in the United States these days comes to mind.

Pappano leads teams for a living. His job in two global capitals is to develop the whole so that it exceeds the sum of its parts, literally marking the difference between symphony and cacophony. Too many teams today are a muddle of conflicting visions and competing agendas, too often because they lack the connecting, synthesizing, and unifying qualities of an Antonio Pappano.

Unlike so many conductors, especially bygone greats such as Bernstein and Solti who were dictatorial and put their ego needs ahead of their players, Pappano is in FT's view "the opposite of dictatorial. Colleagues talk of a hands-on, hard-working boss, more approachable than many other top-flight conductors who can be charismatic but aloof."

This is what is missing in so many leadership contexts now, where entities big and small seem atomized by the selfish needs of their loudest constituents. Well, why not take Italy for example? Under a photo caption of Italy's ridiculous President Silvio Berlusconi and two coalition partner-rivals dubbed, "The three stooges running Italy," The Economist reports that far too many Italians think the unification of their country (150 years ago) was a mistake.

The truth is when leaders fail to understand their essential role in helping those they lead see beyond narrow, selfish interests, they fail generally. Berlusconi is clueless on this subject, since he's been focused solely on his own ambitions.

I saw Judy Collins perform the other night at the Cafe Carlyle here. To paraphrase her, isn't it time to stop sending in the clowns? Indeed, maybe the wrong guy is running Italy.

All Greek To Me

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica C. McWade) — Wed, 19 May 2010 13:28:29 PDT

Buffalo, NY

Well, that didn’t work. I stopped blogging the past 10 months to complete my doctorate. Fat chance! It seemed like a good idea at the time. So I’m exercising the writing habit again, hoping that some of it will rub off on my dissertation.

The rants of those who angrily slam government and rail against taxation have grown more pernicious in recent months. We the people deserve good government, but it's impossible to achieve when the evil menace of “big government” is constantly foisted upon us by the Tea Party and other forums for angry nativism, nationalism, and nihilism. We are certainly free to question government, of course, and to be skeptical about how our tax dollars are being spent. Yet the unrelenting assault for 30 years now on the very institutions and individuals we expect to serve us well has become a clear and present danger.

After all, who else but government can and should arm and protect our brave sons and daughters fighting for freedom? Who else will ensure that the airline flights we endure these days depart and land safely? Who else will pave our highways and save our wetlands? Who else will manage our public universities and community colleges? Who else will patrol our streets and extinguish our fires?

Ironically, the shrillest anti-tax voices are often the same people who nonetheless demand everything from a government they perpetually bash and, in the process, make less capable of actually delivering it. These are the same folks unable or unwilling to cite specific, meaningful examples of how to reduce the national deficit or cut big-ticket defense platforms designed to fight yesterday's Cold War. Hey, maybe that's what Tea Partyers mean when they state a longing for the way things used to be in this country. I don't think so.

Among the many painful lessons of the current financial debacle in Greece is what happens when citizens want it all but are unwilling to pay for it. The system collapses.