It’s no secret we are suffering from a leadership crisis in America today. From the top down, weak leaders and followers who seem to be incapable of taking control of their own destiny and leading others to a greater goal seem to be a growing sect. Too many are quick to throw out labels and excuses for themselves to cover for their inability to go through difficult challenges. A society that is afraid of risk and taking any chances outside of the status quo is one that can easily be manipulated by the powers that be over time. This is what we are seeing little by little over the past half century in this great country. We need leaders. We need entrepreneurs with a vision that can capture the imagination of people and get them excited to be a part of something bigger than themselves. That premise is the foundation of America and what makes it so great!
Why we’re lacking in leadership
Do you remember when you were a kid and you were asked by your teacher, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” You probably gave a very out-of-the-box answer, one an imaginative kid should give at an early age. “An astronaut!” “The President!” “A professional baseball player!” These are just a few of the goals and aspirations that are common at a young age. As we got older, we were told to be more “realistic” with what we wanted to do with our lives. That bulb of imaginative energy had been dampened and it no longer shined as bright. School nowadays doesn’t care if you get the right answer to a problem, they only care that your process to get to that solution is the same as everyone else’s. I remember this vividly in math class during high school when I would show my work in a different way than what was taught to me and arrive at the same correct final answer but still get points taken off for “using the incorrect process”. School is meant to produce conformity and dull the imagination of what is and isn’t possible from a young age. For some reason, we as a society have bought into this dogma hook line and sinker not questioning any of the reasons for this being the norm.
This notion continues on after high school where 17 and 18 year old kids are asked to choose a specific major with a career they will then feel obligated to take up once graduated from college. During that time, they will pile up an insurmountable amount of debt they can only wish to eventually pay off with their measly wages from their jobs they work so hard in. This is called the rat race and it’s a race many people spend their whole lives running until they can’t run anymore.
This short description of what it is to grow up in America today is the antithesis of the leadership problem we face. Creativity and outside the norm behavior is frowned upon. Descent or questioning of any sort are unacceptable reactions. You can only accept things at face value as you are told and stepping outside this dogma makes you a social outcast. Well, there are countless examples of leaders and entrepreneurs that broke through the barriers of the system and are now leading some of the biggest companies in the world today. It is clear that the system needs to change, and that people should not be programmed to take the path of least resistance. That is a quick path to mediocrity and the biggest reason we are in the lack of leadership environment we suffer from today.
Embrace differences and difficulties
We are in a culture that uses the words “embrace differences” as sort of a slogan for an agenda. While they say embrace differences, they penalize you inside school for thinking differently than what you are told. The solution to this problem is to actually put the meaning back into the phrase, “embrace differences”. People all have unique gifts and qualities they should be allowed to pursue. Imagination is a wonderful thing and it produces passion which leads to innovation and transforms society and the people in it for the better. This is how leaders are built. It shouldn’t matter how someone solves a problem, it should matter that they got the right answer. The process should not be the same for everyone because people don’t naturally think the same, and they shouldn’t have to! This is the gift that makes us human. Along the way to solving a problem, someone might find an innovative solution for a problem they didn’t even set out to solve! This has occurred countless times in history and has led to some of the most commonly used inventions we all know and love. For example, the Post-It was an accident. In 1968, a scientist named Spencer Silver tried to create a strong adhesive and accidentally invented the durable and easily peel and stick adhesive used on the Post-It today! If he hadn’t had his own creative process that he used to solve his problem, Post-its might never have been invented!
The second piece of the leadership puzzle that we are so desperate for is difficulty. People today are terrified of difficulty. If you do a quick Google Search for “lose weight fast”, you might see ads for special pills, fad diets, and easy training programs that are appealing to the key word in the query, “fast”. People always go after what is expedient, never choosing to take the more obvious difficult path that would reap so much greater reward. To lose weight, the answer to the question is obvious. Cut out junk food and workout, yet, no one wants to hear that or face that truth. Losing weight and getting in shape is hard, slow, painful, and takes a lot of time and energy. People know that and it scares them away. If you actually put the work in, everyone knows what will happen. There are so many examples of these “open secrets” in society that no one talks about and feels very taboo. Too often, we Americans take what we have for granted and get fat, lazy, and complacent. We need leaders to step up and embrace challenges without a moment’s hesitation. The answer to most problems we have are often simple, but rarely are they easy. The weight example is a perfect one. We live in a country where almost half the population is obese. Why is that? Because it’s easy to be!
Differences and difficulty are what makes leaders who they are. People who are able to embrace their strengths and weaknesses and maximize their potential, who aren’t afraid of the difficulty that lies ahead have a way of galvanizing people around them. The more leaders we have, the more productive society becomes and the better off we all are. We need to fix this problem before it’s too late! There is a leadership epidemic in this country and this formula is the beginning of an antidote that can cure it!