Leadership

Member Group : From the Kitchen Table

There is an exercise sometimes done in business settings to identify leaders. Prospective managers are brought into a training session. In the back of the room a lovely buffet is set up, with whatever the appropriate meal would be. The trainer tells the prospects that in the interests of time, there will be no breaks, but that the buffet is available whenever anyone feels like walking to the back of the room and partaking of it.

In some cases, not one attendee will get up, walk to the back, and fill a plate. In most cases, everyone looks to see if anyone else is getting up before doing so himself. Sometimes, the trainer watches as two people agree to get up together before either one moves toward the buffet. But once in a while, a single person just quietly rises, walks to the buffet and fills a plate. As soon as that first person gets there, a line forms behind him.

That first person is a leader.

It appears that there aren’t any such people among the Republicans in Congress. (This is not a pass for the Democrats, but they have a President to stand behind.)

Congress does not need the President’s permission to pass legislation. So one wonders why they are waiting to get it.

If the Republican-controlled House of Representatives has a plan to address the looming debt limit that includes real, measurable spending cuts, where is it?

They can put their plan on the table in the form of a bill that has passed their Chamber of Congress. Then the President and his fellow Democrats will have to say why a particular spending cut is not acceptable and propose a concrete alternative. Such action will move the conversation from generic platitudes and accusations to specific action items.

The same action could be taken on the taxing issues. The House could pass legislation addressing how they would deal with loopholes and tax cuts – legislation that would again move the conversation forward.

Their constituents may love the plan, or hate the plan. The point is, there would actually BE a plan. Someone would have gotten up and moved toward the table.

Right now, we have nothing except a bunch of people all waiting to see who will be the first one to approach the buffet and pointing fingers at everyone else for not getting up and going to the table.

When a training session for prospective managers results in a lonely buffet table, every one of those prospects finds himself not promoted because he did not exhibit the necessary leadership qualities.

So what does that say about the folks who have yet to leave their chairs in Washington?

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