Approval ratings versus respect

In the last 30 days I have heard and read so much more about public approval ratings and leadership than I have in the last six months. Whether you confine yourself to local events or expand your horizon all the way to the US, you have probably noticed the same thing.

“Leadership” as a topic and a concept is clearly in vogue or the popular thing to dwell on simply because there is a famine in true leadership. Many world leaders are as controversial as they come. Putin of Russia is being linked or associated with a “Mission Impossible” type hit on a known Putin critic. The Israeli Prime Minister has one foot out the door on charges of misconduct and receiving money from a businessman, who like Putin’s critic has also gone very public about the matter.

President George Bush Jr. has been vilified and ridiculed for his pro war stance and his lack of sophistication, if not eloquence. The French President Nicolas Sarkozy thought his marriage to the beautiful model Carla Bruni would give him pogi points with the French voters. Yes they liked the model but they still disliked the new President for his failed marriage and perceived weakness as a leader.

In contrast to the absence of active role models, TIME magazine features Nelson Mandela and his 8 lessons on leadership. It is interesting to note that Mandela is one of the few “African” leaders who had the courage to openly criticize President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe for electoral abuse while many other leaders of African nations avoided the issue. By fate or by coincidence another TIME magazine “icon” former Mayor Rudy Giuliani of New York visited Manila to speak at the Leadership In Crisis forum.

Alongside all these, we have had a series of political surveys related to the state of the nation, surveys on government performance, surveys on the popularity of potential candidates for the 2010 Presidential elections and most recently a survey on the performance rating of government offices and officials.

The sad reality is that when we compare our modern day “political leaders” to those we universally accept and respect as true leaders, we discover what the differences are.

People like Mandela, Gandhi, even Ninoy Aquino are real flesh and blood characters who underwent a process and the experience of living through what they believed and the consequences thereof. They were not products of a moment or an impulse or some short-term electoral exercise. They were raised, educated, mentored and evolved into becoming what they believed. They were surrounded by family, friends, and believers who share their convictions, persecution, and punishment.

Political figures on the other hand are either self manufactured or created. Their evolution as leaders are fast tracked, momentary and temporary. At the core of their being are political agendas or goals, not a lifelong value system. They are surrounded by the talented, by the ambitious, but rarely those willing to make personal sacrifice or lose it all on principle and conviction.

While true leaders come from the refining furnace of life and integrity, many political figures are merely the sum total of publicity, rhetoric, and expenditures often paid with tax money.

Even in the most recent popularity survey for potential candidates as President in 2010, it is clear that those who finished at the top are also those who have been featured in multi-million peso advertising campaigns in the last six months.

They are the products of expert public relations people. Their claim to fame is not a lifelong training on true leadership and sacrifice but the successful messaging and packaging that their PR people have done on them. In terms of true leadership and actual experience or performance they are as hollow as an empty cave.

I recently came across a Podcast teaching of author/pastor Andy Stanley of the Northpoint Community in the US where they did a series entitled “Letters to the next President”. Whether you claim yourself to be a business leader, a leader at home, or in society, it may serve you well to consider his message.

Dear Mr. President,

One of the many things we don’t envy about your job is the public’s fascination with approval ratings. For the next 4 years you will be reminded on a daily basis of whether or not the citizens of this country approve of your performance. Our hope is that you will set your sights on something of far greater consequence than our approval.

We want you to lead us in such a way as to gain and maintain our respect. For that to happen there must be consistency between what you say and what you do. This alignment provides you with the moral authority necessary to lead and influence those who selected your name (in November) as well as those who did not. Conduct your public life in a way that positions you to confront without reservation those who have abused their power and influence. And conduct your private life in such a way that you can speak with authority to husbands and fathers about their responsibilities at home. Lead the way in personal generosity, be the first president of our generation to give away 20 percent of your annual income and do it publicly so as to remove any doubt from either party that your are a man who truly cares about the less fortunate in our nation and in our world. Our country is deeply divided about the economy, health care and national security. A significant portion of the population will not share your beliefs about how these issues should be addressed. There’s nothing you can do about that. But please, don’t do anything that will lead us to wonder if you really believe what you have said about those issues. The late journalist Louis Fischer wrote: History is the chronicle of divorces between creed and deed. We pray that, that will not be the case with your administration. Our hope is that you will be a president whose actions reflect the promises you’ve made and the values you claim to embody and if that's the case you will have something far more valuable than our approval, you will have our respect.