Muddledness at the Top
On the May 9 “Meet the Press,” host David Gregory had a disturbing discussion with Attorney General Eric Holder. What was so unsettling was the insistent use of law enforcement language rather than speaking of war on terrorism and terrorists; the refusal by Obama Administration and complicit mainstream media to acknowledge the fact that we are at war.
Key word: war. What is needed to save us is public and political agreement that we are engaged in World War III, and therefore other nations must be identified accurately as allies or enemies, based on their harboring and abetting those bent on our destruction or co-operatively, comprehensively and aggressively rooting them out and eradicating them. We need to act with our allies in ways appropriate to ally relationships, and act toward the allies of our enemies in ways appropriate to enemies – including trade embargos, closing off travel to and from, even – yes – profiling of the enemy states’ citizens in or entering our borders, and more. We need definitive, unambiguous clarity.
A nation, its political leaders and its citizenry behave very differently during the conduct of a war in which its homeland is under threat and attack than when that nation is merely bothered by occasional crime appropriately dealt with by routine law enforcement and judicial process. Presently, most American citizens, taking their cues from this President and his league of liberal ideologues, fools, incompetents and liars and the co-opted media, are muddling about as if in the latter circumstances. They are unconvinced we are above the “code red” level of, say, World War II.
For 30 years, I have been advising, consulting, coaching and assisting business owners, from small shop operators to CEO’s of billion dollar enterprises, with strategies to not only grow but strengthen their companies. The successful and the unsuccessful are foundationally separated by willingness and ability to clearly and candidly diagnose, name, enunciate and frankly discuss their problems, the threats to their prosperity or, at times, survival, and the realities in which they operate. Companies burdened with “see no evil, hear no evil, speak about no evil” leadership die.
For example, consider a small thing, like an employee engaged in malfeasance, sabotage or simply toxic influence on others. The rule of the business leader who keeps his company safe and strong is: fire fast, hire slow. He has clarity, decisiveness and zero tolerance for threats. (If this interests you, I’ve written an entire book about it: No B.S. Guide to Ruthless Management of People and Profits.) More tolerant, gentle, indecisive, hesitant, timid, non-forthright leadership inevitably leads only one place: the steps of bankruptcy court.
Ultimately, if we can’t accurately and candidly articulate the threat to our very survival, identify and name and hold accountable the true enemy and its allies, we cannot possibly prevail. If we won’t even acknowledge that we are at war, we have already lost.
One of the panelists on “Meet the Press” did, at least, acknowledge that the Obama positions, policies and leadership on this matter – the safety, security and sovereignty of the
We stand on a shrinking island of crisis. Our southern border is virtually non-existent, nominally defended, and the collectively enraged population of legal citizens in
In
These are not separate matters at all. They are all connected cars on the same runaway train, and we are all passengers being raced to our deaths. If we do not mutiny, rush the engine room, pull the emergency brake, and wrest control,
Dan Kennedy is a serial entrepreneur, adviser to business owners, sought-after speaker and author of 14 books. His latest, “Make ‘Em Laugh & Take Their Money: A Few Thoughts on Using Humor as a Speaker or Writer or Sales Professional for Purposes of Persuasion,” contains a lelection of his BMI essays. More information about Dan can be found at www.NoBSBooks.com, and a free collection of his business resources including newsletters and webinars at www.DanKennedy.com.<?xml:namespace prefix = u2 />
