By Larry Oscar
There has been a lot of interest, comments, and attention paid to the subject of leadership recently. Oddly enough about nine years ago I had a series of articles and on the subject. I guess the articles must have been ahead of its time.
The military has been very interested in the subject for over 238 years. They have a great field manual on the subject. It dates back to the Revolutionary War. Funny, that when your life is on the line one tends to pay attention to the subject more than normal. Leadership is something that most of our CEO’s and politicians never took a course in. And believe me it shows.
Larry Oscar Every Saturday we have sporting events such as baseball, football, hockey, soccer, and golf. Most of us are so caught up in the action of the game that we fail to note one of the more important points of the sport, the end of the game hand shake. Did you ever notice at the end of the competition how the teams congratulate each other on their efforts? They shake hands, embrace, pat each other on the back, and depart as friends. The loser congratulates the winner and the winner congratulates the loser for their valiant effort. This is how it should be.
To be a gracious winner and loser is highly important. It is a mark of class. Good leaders know how to win and lose with classy dignity. We have seen very poor leadership by our politicians in the past few decades. You are not very smart when you tell your opponents, “We don’t mind you coming along for the ride, but you got to get in back,” and then ask them for their help in passing legislation in the very next sentence.
Wise leaders get out in front of the issue instead of letting it become a crisis and then trying to clean up the mess after the fact. Good leaders respect their opponents, and they use humor to ease tense situations. Poor leadership takes some time before it becomes obvious to their supporters what the problem is. Nobody wants to see who they voted for fail. It would be a reflection of their poor judgment in voting for that person.
On the other hand, we are a product of the choices we make in life. All of your choices have consequences. Recently one of our more famous politicians was stumping in the great state of Arkansas and encouraging voters to “vote with your heart.” Are you kidding me. Voting with our hearts is what got us into this mess in the first place.
I also seem to recall that his misbehaving with his heart and his cigar got him into a lot of trouble when he was in the White
House. One would have thought that he would have learned something, but politicians seldom do.
Larry Oscar is a graduate from the University of Tulsa and holds a degree in electrical engineering. He is retired and lives with his wife on a lake in Oklahoma where he brews his own beer, sails, and is a member of numerous clubs and organizations.