Leadership

Give me a leader with: the confidence to say what they know is right even if it is unpopular; the self-awareness to know and address their own strengths, weaknesses and bias; the logic to know where their responsibility begins and ends; and the reflection to learn from their mistakes.

Not that the previous comment is solely about the current presedential election but I believe it holds true there too. That’s why I was very happy to catch an inteview on The Daily Show where John Stewart and Peggy Noonan had what I saw as an intelligent and candid discussion of the shortcomings of this election, committed by both parties. I’ve since started reading more of Peggy Noonan’s Wall Street Journal articles and have been happily surprised to finally find somebody who maintains a level of professional journalism and objectivity.

In the interview (left), her final comment after asked whether things were going to get better was:

“It has got to. I’m hoping this economic thing is going to break this thing out of the stupid, small, narrow rut that it is in. And maybe that each of these men, who are good men, will come forward and be their best selves and make this campaign serious. And remind us who we are as a nation, a very great people. In a fix at the moment, but never bet against us.

Her articles are available on WSJ.com if you are interested. Shortly after this interview she published an article called “Playing Frisbee on a Precipice” which is much in line with the conversation from this interview and has an amusing nod to one of John Stewart’s comments with the “playing frisbee” part of the title.