Two decades ago a record number of women were elected to our nation’s highest legislative offices. In 1992, California became the first state to send two women Senators to Washington; they were joined by two other newcomers to triple the number of women serving in the Senate to a whopping six! Those yearning for aRead… Read more »
The confetti has fallen, the balloons have been released and the adoring crowds are gone. The moment that every candidate hopes to face is here—victory. Yet, this the point at which successful candidates must pivot from election year warrior to genteel statesman or woman. The challenge for so many elected officials is that they rarelyRead… Read more »
In looking at the forest of the second Presidential debate and not the trees, here is want I saw: 1. Americans don’t want government interfering in their lives and yet they want to know how the next President is going to help them go to college, lower gas prices and find a job. 2. ItRead… Read more »
During the 1990’s the professional political consultant emerged as a definitive player in American politics. As a young woman in this burgeoning field this was the time I first encountered the men who are now the top advisers to our nation’s leaders. We sat around tables in shabby campaign headquarters and airport restaurants discussing theRead… Read more »
I found a story on American Public Media’s Marketplace fascinating. The interview discussed a recent paper by researchers at Stanford and Harvard that reveal that employers are more interested in what you may accomplish that what you already have. Essentially, people want to believe in the promise of what someone has to offer more thanRead… Read more »
Ultimately the efficacy of a leader depends on his motivation. The intention one brings to the work they are doing directly correlates to the quality of the outcome he is producing. We have reached unprecedented unhappiness with the quality of political leadership in our country because the intention of most candidates is not to serveRead… Read more »
It is no surprise that Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney once again has found himself in hot water over comments he made at a fundraiser. As discussed in previous articles (http://leadershipconnection.net/blog/romneys-inauthenticity-doom-defeat-november/) Romney’s propensity to “misstate” his positions comes less from jumbled words and more from a value system that isn’t always in sync with theRead… Read more »
“Violence Leads Nowhere” This is the phrase that stands out in the latest Facebook post sent to me by an Egyptian woman whom I came to know when I was in Cairo earlier this year. I was there speaking to members of the various political parties on leadership at The American University in Cairo. InRead… Read more »
Why Words Matter Words are like eggs dropped from great heights; you can no more call them back than ignore the mess they leave when they fall. ― Jodi Picoult, Salem Falls If each of us, most particularly our political leaders, were to treat words as eggs, perhaps we wouldn’t feel as if we areRead… Read more »
Determining the outcome of an election is no more difficult than accessing which candidate is most comfortable in his or her own skin. Even with this knowledge, it is a spectacle each election as we witness the mind-blowing lengths candidates go through to make us believe they are something they are not. Bad advisers andRead… Read more »