Tuesday, July 12, 2005
Leadership
I was reading the help wanted ads and came across the following that I thought encapsulated what is presently missing from the pro-democracy network in the US.
...Our San Francisco office is looking for a Leadership Development Director to ensure a continuing corps of talented and committed leaders for the Jewish Community Federation and the broader network of Jewish communal agencies and synagogues. The process of leadership development entails the identification, cultivation, training, placement and retention of talented leaders...
Go ahead and substitute a political party or other religious or ethnic group for Jewish here, but you get the idea: there are no resources being regularly or systematically invested in pro-democracy leaders in America--only in adherents willing to accept the dogmatic guidance of established, elitist powers. This is not to say you won't encounter some marginally useful leadership development programs out in the liberal non-profit universe, but these are almost without fail merely adult level remedial courses and workshops for those in positions of responsibility who lack the inate capabilities and drive to be leaders. In other words, they mostly give out certificates and plaques to the inept and unworthy.
An obvious but deliberately overlooked way of developing and retaining authentic leadership is to get resources and opportunities to those who will accomplish something with them. These people aren't hard to find; they are often maligned in the mainstream news by conservatives and liberals alike--people who fight for their communities, not for philanthropists.
...Our San Francisco office is looking for a Leadership Development Director to ensure a continuing corps of talented and committed leaders for the Jewish Community Federation and the broader network of Jewish communal agencies and synagogues. The process of leadership development entails the identification, cultivation, training, placement and retention of talented leaders...
Go ahead and substitute a political party or other religious or ethnic group for Jewish here, but you get the idea: there are no resources being regularly or systematically invested in pro-democracy leaders in America--only in adherents willing to accept the dogmatic guidance of established, elitist powers. This is not to say you won't encounter some marginally useful leadership development programs out in the liberal non-profit universe, but these are almost without fail merely adult level remedial courses and workshops for those in positions of responsibility who lack the inate capabilities and drive to be leaders. In other words, they mostly give out certificates and plaques to the inept and unworthy.
An obvious but deliberately overlooked way of developing and retaining authentic leadership is to get resources and opportunities to those who will accomplish something with them. These people aren't hard to find; they are often maligned in the mainstream news by conservatives and liberals alike--people who fight for their communities, not for philanthropists.
