What we really need in leaders
Part of why they disappoint is that they don’t have the right experience to lead
During the last two years as the world battled the COVID-19 pandemic, the performance of Canadian politicians has been erratic at best. At times they performed well and at other times seemed badly out of their depth. This culminated in the last month as we saw protesters shut down border crossings and paralyze Ottawa with an occupation for three weeks.
During this last month, one thing became very clear. Our political leadership has failed Canadians badly. Politicians of each party and at every level seemed to be at a loss as to how to react. In Ottawa, residents were forced to endure sleepless nights, barricaded streets and threats of violence all while the federal, provincial and municipal governments passed the buck.
This poor performance calls into question how Canadians select those who we ask to govern our nation. Traditionally (but not always), Canadians tend to vote for leaders who are either lawyers, and/or career politicians. Very few of our leaders actually come to office with a proven track record of strong leadership. For example, look at Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. If instead of entering politics, Mr. Trudeau had applied to be the president of the company you work for, would he have even received a courtesy interview? The answer is probably not. He had no experience whatsoever in leading any form of organization. And yet we Canadians entrusted him to run what is possibly the largest organization in Canada (the federal government). Premier Doug Ford inherited a labels company from his father and ran it with mixed results with a brother. Alberta Premier Jason Kenney, who has been widely criticized for his performance during the pandemic, has been a career politician with the exception of an eight-year span when he was the executive director of the Alberta Taxpayers Association and then later the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. In these three examples, we see people elected to very important positions to which quite frankly they were unqualified for and when very serious crisis’s occurred they floundered.
Moving forward, we need to do a far better job selecting our leaders. In particular, we need leaders who have a proven background in providing leadership during difficult times. For example, compare the leadership shown by American president John F. Kennedy to Canadian prime minister John Diefenbaker during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. Kennedy, who had been a decorated naval officer during the Second World War and displayed tremendous courage and leadership during a battle in which his ship was sunk, performed admirably during this crisis. He remained cool headed, listened intently to his advisers, and provided the free world with outstanding leadership. His training as a naval officer and combat experience had given him the leadership skills to handle a crisis that threatened the very existence of our planet. Diefenbaker was a lawyer and career politician. He served in the military during the First World War, however was discharged before seeing combat. His leadership during this crisis was by all accounts very poor. He detested Kennedy and refused to put the Canadian military on alert (thereby threatening our national security — the military went on alert on their authority) and seemed emotionally distraught during cabinet meetings. Kennedy seemed to thrive when facing the greatest international crisis since the Second World War while Diefenbaker seemingly melted down.
Good leaders don’t need to come only from the military. Lee Iacocca successfully led Chrysler Corporation through one of the darkest periods in its history. His previous employer the Ford Motor Company had ensured Iacocca’s leadership skills had been developed and nurtured. He may well have thrived as a politician as he had a strong leadership record.
The pandemic and recent social chaos has shown that Canada requires leaders who have the training and background to lead us during very dangerous times.