Solving Problems in Government

Earlier this month we had a local primary election in Knox County, and people are still talking and writing about how the results were part of the fallout from Knox County Commission's Black Wednesday when the Sunshine Law was violated. I decided this might also be a good time to share some of my thoughts regarding common challenges in government, what causes them, and what might be done about it. Enjoy!

Not too long after I’d conducted training in a global Fortune 500 corporation, I received an email from one of the participants. He wrote to tell me about some controversy within the municipal government of his city and to ask me to contact his city’s mayor.

“The Mayor and City Council in my town really needs your training,” he said, “I’m not sure they’re ever going to be able to work effectively together without it.”

I politely thanked him for his vote of confidence, while diplomatically explaining to him that his mayor and councilmen and women would need to first recognize they could benefit from my help, before I or anyone else could ever be of any use to them. I could only assist them, if they want me to.

The training to which he was referring had been part of a broader initiative in his organization, which I had helped design and facilitate, to transform the organization’s culture into one that was “principle-centered.”

Similar to the nature of his city’s government, which is to serve its constituents, his organization was a service organization, which existed to provide service to the consumers of its products. The corporation’s philosophy was that, in order to treat its consumers the way they should be treated, thereby ensuring long term buy-in, everyone in the service organization needed to be operating with a solid set of moral principles.

Principles are defined as natural laws that operate in the world. These principles of which I speak span all cultures, religions and social strata. They are universally true, whether we align ourselves with them or not. The degree to which we do or do not align our behavior with these natural laws generates a constant stream of positive and negative consequences in our lives. For instance, gravity is a natural law of physics. I may say, “I choose not to observe gravity,” but if I climb up on the roof and jump off, the natural principle of gravity is still going to operate, and I am going to experience the negative consequences of choosing to behave as if it won’t.

Likewise, there are moral principles—such as Integrity, Honesty, and Respect—which, if we choose to ignore in our behavior, will eventually generate equally negative consequences. Apparently, the mayor and city council of this man’s town were right smack in the middle of experiencing the negative consequences of their previous, unprincipled behavior.

The important fact to understand is that these moral principles are inexplicably linked to the level of trust we’re able to build in all our relationships. Stephen Covey, author of the book, “Principle-Centered Leadership,” says trust (or the lack of it) is the root of success or failure in relationships and in the bottom-line results of business, industry, education and government. The key to dealing with the challenges that face us today, he says, is the ability to build trust, which becomes achievable once we recognize a principle-centered core within both ourselves and our organizations.

Covey’s philosophy—and the philosophy upon which we based the culture change in the corporation I worked with—is to align ourselves with these universally-true principles to bring true power, focus, energy, and integrity to our work and our lives.

The focus of the corporation’s culture-change initiative, and the focus of my training, had been on teaching men and women how to be principle-centered leaders of character who work on the basis of natural principles and build those principles into the center of their lives, into the center of their relationships with others, into the center of their agreements and contracts, and into the center of their management and work practices.

Anyone who has read any of Covey's other books, such as “Seven Habits of Highly Effective People” and “First Things First,” is familiar with his belief that the four basic needs of all people is "to live, to love, to learn and to leave a legacy.” Many leaders from all different sectors struggle with the second point, “to love.” So I was fascinated when I heard former mayor of New York City and former Republican senate and presidential candidate, Rudy Giuliani, speak at a conference on this very topic. Giuliani, who, beginning on September 11, 2001, skillfully led New York City through the greatest tragedy in American history, was speaking at the conference about his philosophy of leadership. He had made several points and cited specific examples from his own lengthy public service career, first as U.S. Attorney and then a two-term mayor in one of the country’s largest cities. When Giuliani finally reached his concluding point, I listened intently as he prefaced it by explaining that nothing he’d described up to that point in his speech mattered unless you got this last one right. “You have to love people,” he said matter-of-factly, placing great emphasis on the L-word when he spoke it. He then proceeded to explain. A public servant, if he or she is to be effective in the long term, must be operating from a core commitment to compassion for others and an overriding desire to do what is right for those they serve, even if it is unpopular in some circles or could be detrimental to you personally.

How can any of us hope to do that? I believe, and those who have been part of these kinds of initiatives agree, it’s by operating from that principle-centered core. That certainly was what my former student was expressing to me, when he asked me to contact his city mayor.

Covey says this has to be practiced from the "inside out" on four levels:
1. Personal trustworthiness - our relationship to ourselves.
2. Interpersonal trust - our relationships with others.
3. Managerial empowerment - our responsibility to get a job done by working with others.
4. Organizational alignment - our need to organize people: recruit them, train them, compensate them, build teams, create aligned structures, develop strategies, form systems, and solve problems.

Each one of these levels is necessary but doesn't work well individually on its own. The four levels must work together in a comprehensive way.

Nowhere are those more critical, as pointed out by Rudy Giuliani, than in the government sector. Those are the levels on which government administrations can be helped . . . but only if the people who comprise those administrations want help.

Reflections on Recent Tragedies

January has already been an interesting month for me, although not for the reasons I ever expected. Normally January of every year is consumed with activities related to resolution-making and goal-setting and then trying to keep those oft ill-fated resolutions and goals. In that regard, this January has been no exception. But in today’s world of unrest, it’s been impossible, I imagine, for even the most self-absorbed individuals to ignore happenings out in the world and maintain a completely inward focus. Try though we might, our focus continues to be drawn outward. And, I’d have to say, I don’t think that’s a bad thing. But, sadly, some of what’s attracting our attention is very bad indeed.

I know what you’re thinking. You think I’m referring to the tragic earthquake in Haiti, the indiscriminate devastation, the horrendous loss of life, the woefully inadequate medical and humanitarian response, the continuing disintegration of a country and its people, and the prospect of continued suffering and death. Yes, there’s no denying, this is a very, very bad situation that’s consuming a great deal of our thoughts and energies.

But that’s not exactly what I’m talking about.

So, maybe you think, if I’m not talking about that attention-grabber, perhaps I’m referring to something else. Maybe you think I’m referring to the two wars on foreign soil in which we continue to sacrifice young American men and women. It’s true, most of us are directly touched by this situation. I have a brother-in-law preparing to return to Iraq in just days, leaving behind a nine- and fifteen-year-old son to worry about what the rest of their lives might be like, God forbid, without a father. And we have a young man from our church who’s on the frontlines in Afghanistan. I read his Facebook entries, and, although I can literally hear this war shaping him into a man with each passing day, I can still hear the hopes and fears of a boy. Relatively speaking, he is just a boy, really. Only a little more than a year out of high school, and now he is protecting me and my freedom? I understand that’s just the way it works. But, I’m sorry, as far as I’m concerned, the fact that we live in a world where that is just the way it works is something I consider very, very bad.

Nevertheless, when I say in this blog that there are very bad situations in the world that are drawing an inordinate amount of our attention, that’s not even what I’m referring to.

Okay, I’ll give you one last chance. If I’m not talking about a devastating earthquake or never-ending wars and rumors of wars, maybe you think I’m referring to this divisive presidency we now have. Not that every other presidency we’ve ever had in this country hasn’t eventually grown into an increasingly divisive situation, but, with the exception of anti-war demonstrations, this is the first time in my lifetime that I can recall actual public demonstrations, innocuously named “Tea Parties,” although there was no tea and, if you ask me, it wasn’t much of a party. And let’s not forget the near brawls when various congressmen and senators conducted district meetings regarding new healthcare legislation. Given those scenes and the visceral emotions displayed, I know how dangerous it is for me to even get near the subject of politics, so please graciously accept my admission to you here and now that I simply hate partisan politics. And it’s not just politics. I hate partisan anything. The irrational, ugly, and sometimes downright mean-spirited behavior we’ve seen lately, especially when it comes to taxes and healthcare, in my humble opinion, is not how an effective democracy would operate. To me, it’s a very, very bad situation in our country today.

However, that’s also not exactly what I’m referring to when I say there are bad situations getting too much attention…but it’s getting close. It’s a good segue. Let me illustrate the point I want to make today with another story.

My sister’s husband (the one who’s going to Iraq and is as red-white-and-blue-blooded American Republican as they come) drives over one-hundred miles round-trip from their home to Fort Campbell every day, and recently decided to purchase a Honda Hybrid in order to save on gas and money. Shortly thereafter, my nine-year-old nephew’s best friend, Tyler, came over to play. Upon returning home, Tyler, who has been my nephew’s BFF since kindergarten, stared up at his mom with a deer-in-the-headlights look in his eyes and said, “Mom, I’m not sure I can be Dane’s friend anymore!”

“What on earth are you talking about, Tyler?” inquired his shocked mom, who is also one of my sister’s closest friends.

“I’m not sure I can be friends with him,” he explained, “because his dad is a Democrat!”

“A Democrat!” she exclaimed, “He’s not a Democrat! What makes you think he’s a Democrat?”

“Well,” he said, “because he drives a hybrid!”

Okay, excuse me for just a second while I get this off my chest….oh, puh-leeeeze! This child is nine-years-old! Don’t get me wrong, I love his mother. She’s a wonderful first-grade teacher, plus she’s a hoot to be around and just an all-around wonderful person. So I’m not throwing stones at her. But do we really think this is okay…for even our children—the few left among us that we could once point to as being the last humans who were completely accepting and loving of all—to have become partisan?! Where are they learning this behavior, if not from us?

But then, should we really expect anything else? When we have a so-called spiritual leader spouting off in the national and international media that the Haitians brought this earthquake on themselves…that somehow they deserved it…thus turning this tragedy into another partisan issue.

We have a so-called republican leader saying that our president is only pretending to care about the Haitians, because it will make him look good, and urging people not to help him by contributing aid…thus turning our nation’s efforts to help a suffering people into yet another partisan issue.

And what I think is probably worst of all is that one side of the partisan divide has now laid claim to Christianity and morality. It seems to have snuck up on us, but now we’re into it up to our necks—Republicans have claimed ownership of faith. If you’re not Republican, well, I hope you like warm weather because I hear it’s pretty hot in hell.

Stop and think, people! What are we doing? Faith is now a partisan issue in this country. War is a partisan issue. Healthcare is partisan. What kind of car you drive is partisan. Even my nine-year-old nephew’s friends has become a partisan issue. There is absolutely nothing left in this country on which we have not drawn the battle lines. And we’re ruining our children.

Do you need more proof? Here’s another story, coming, ironically, from Tyler’s mom.

She has a little boy in her first-grade class named Wesley. Slight, frail, and freckle-faced, his pale-skin is even more distinct in contrast to his shiny red hair. Wesley is a sweet and, what you might call, nervous child. He’s the type, she explains, who, if he even suspects he might have done something wrong, will just come and confess it, trembling and stuttering all the while…too scared to confess, but too scared not to. This week we celebrated Martin Luther King Jr. Day. So, knowing this Monday off from school was approaching, Wesley’s teacher decided to teach her first-graders about the reasons we now recognize this man with a national holiday. On the preceding Friday, she gathered the children, read to them about MLK, explained that they would not be coming to school on Monday because we would be celebrating the Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday, and then dismissed them to play. Within minutes, she looked up to see nervous little Wesley walking sheepishly toward her desk.

Wringing his hands, his eyes darting all around as if trying to avoid making direct contact with hers, Wesley stammered, “Uh, uh, Miss Terry, uh, I was just wondering, uh, should I just come to school on Monday?”

Surprised, she responded, “Why, no, Wesley! I just explained to you that you don’t come to school on Monday because we’ll be celebrating MLK Day.”

“Uh, yeah, uh, yeah, I know, Miss Terry. I, I know that’s what you said, but, uh, well, uh, in my family, uh, well, uh, well, we don’t actually celebrate that holiday.” He suddenly spit out the final phrase like jerking a band-aid from a wound.

“So…should I just come on to school, Miss Terry?”

It was all she could do to keep from laughing as she tried to further explain.

I’ll admit I laughed, too, at both the story about her nine-year-old son’s reaction to my brother-in-law’s hybrid and her student Wesley’s reaction to the Martin Luther King holiday. But when I stop to reflect on why these types of situations are occurring with our children, it’s no laughing matter. I can’t even begin to imagine what that six-year-old little boy had heard in his house that made him afraid to go home and tell his parents that he was not going to school on Monday because he was celebrating Martin Luther King! In our country, we have gone so far as to even take a human being who sacrificed his life for the fair treatment of others—much like Jesus Christ who gave his life to purchase freedom for everyone—and that, too, we have made into a partisan issue.

Can we please just stop the madness? I’m tired of being afraid that the wrong person will find out and railroad or ostracize me for my politics or my faith…a faith, which, just so you know, is the guiding principle and the foundation for every single position, decision, or action I take…a faith that calls for unconditional love, acceptance, mercy, grace, compassion, and forgiveness…a faith that is open to all. No matter how hard people in our country try to make my faith a partisan issue, it is not one. And, if we’d all just come to our senses, neither would anything else be.