Sunday, April 6, 2008

Where Have All The Leaders Gone?

The following was received via email and well worth presenting here.

This makes sense no matter which political party you support.

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Where Have All The Leaders Gone? Lee Iacocca - With Catherine Whitney.

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Remember Lee Iacocca, the man who rescued Chrysler Corporation from
it's death throes? He has a new book, and here are some excerpts.

Lee Iacocca says:

'Am I the only guy in this country who's fed up with what's
happening? Where the hell is our outrage? We should be screaming
bloody murder. We've got a gang of clueless bozos steering our ship
of state right over a cliff, we've got corporate gangsters stealing
us blind, and we can't even clean up after a hurricane much less
build a hybrid car. But instead of getting mad, everyone sits around
and nods their heads when the politicians say, 'Stay the course'.

Stay the course? You've got to be kidding. This is America, not the
damned 'Titanic'. I'll give you a sound bite: 'Throw all the bums out!'

You might think I'm getting senile, that I've gone off my rocker,
and maybe I have. But someone has to speak up. I hardly recognize
this country anymore.

The most famous business leaders are not the innovators but the
guys in handcuffs. While we're fiddling in Iraq, the Middle East is
burning and nobody seems to know what to do. And the press is waving
'pom-poms' instead of asking hard questions. That's not the promise
of the 'America' my parents and yours traveled across the ocean for.
I've had enough. How about you?

I'll go a step further. You can't call yourself a patriot if you're
not outraged. This is a fight I'm ready and willing to have. The
Biggest 'C' is Crisis!

Leaders are made, not born. Leadership is forged in times of crisis.
It's easy to sit there with your feet up on the desk and talk
theory. Or send someone else's kids off to war when you've never
seen a battlefield yourself. It's another thing to lead when your
world comes tumbling down.

On September 11, 2001, we needed a strong leader more than any other
time in our history. We needed a steady hand to guide us out of the
ashes. A Hell of a Mess! So here's where we stand. We're immersed in
a bloody war with no plan for winning and no plan for leaving. We're
running the biggest deficit in the history of the country. We're
losing the manufacturing edge to Asia, while our once-great
companies are getting slaughtered by health care costs. Gas prices
are skyrocketing, and nobody in power has a coherent energy policy.
Our schools are in trouble. Our borders are like sieves. The middle
class is being squeezed every which way. These are times that cry
out for leadership.

But when you look around, you've got to ask: 'Where have all the
leaders gone?' Where are the curious, creative communicators? Where
are the people of character, courage, conviction, omnipotence, and
common sense? I may be a sucker for alliteration, but I think you
get the point.

Name me a leader who has a better idea for homeland security than
making us take off our shoes in airports and throw away our shampoo.
We've spent billions of dollars building a huge new bureaucracy, and
all we know how to do is react to things that have already happened.

Name me one leader who emerged from the crisis of Hurricane Katrina.
Congress has yet to spend a single day evaluating the response to
the hurricane, or demanding accountability for the decisions that
were made in the crucial hours after the storm. Everyone's hunkering
down, fingers crossed, hoping it doesn't happen again. Now, that's
just crazy. Storms happen. Deal with it! Make a plan! Figure out
what you're going to do the next time.

Name me an industry leader who is thinking creatively about how we
can restore our competitive edge in manufacturing. Who would have
believed that there could ever be a time when 'The Big Three'
referred to Japanese car companies? How did this happen, and more
important, what are we going to do about it?

Name me a government leader who can articulate a plan for paying
down the debt, or solving the energy crisis, or managing the health
care problem. The silence is deafening. But these are the crises
that are eating away at our country and milking the middle class dry.

I have news for the gang in Congress. We didn't elect you to sit on
your asses and do nothing and remain silent while our democracy is
being hijacked and our greatness is being replaced with mediocrity.
What is everybody so afraid of? That some bonehead on the News will
call them a name? Give me a break. Why don't you guys show some
spine for a change?

Had Enough?

Hey, I'm not trying to be the voice of gloom and doom here. I'm
trying to light a fire. I'm speaking out because I have hope; I
believe in America. In my lifetime I've had the privilege of living
through some of America's greatest moments. I've also experienced
some of our worst crises: the 'Great Depression', 'World War II',
the 'Korean War', the 'Kennedy Assassination', the 'Vietnam War',
the 1970s oil crisis, and the struggles of recent years culminating
with 9/11. If I've learned one thing, it's this: 'You don't get
anywhere by standing on the sidelines waiting for somebody else to
take action. Whether it's building a better car or building a better
future for our children, we all have a role to play. That's the
challenge I'm raising in this book. It's a call to 'Action' for
people who, like me, believe in America . It's not too late, but
it's getting pretty close. So let's shake off the crap and go to
work. Let's tell 'em all we've had 'enough.'

3 comments:

Karen said...

Maybe we should just give Lee Iacocca a couple of billion dollars and let him run the country and pass on electing a president for the next four years.

And, while we're at it, let's give the congresscritters a vacation for the same period of time.

Anonymous said...

Hear! Hear!

Anonymous said...

Oh yeah, sure. Let Iakooka run the country for a while, then when he leaves Germany (Daimler) can buy us, then cast us off to a private equity firm (Cerebus).

Just like the "great" Chrysler company of today... yeah, great long term job Lee.

It really irks me when people say "we need to run the county like a business". Well, guess what? The country (i.e. government) is not a business and can't be run like one.

If a business were in debt as much as this country, there would first be layoffs. Are you Democrats and your puppetmasters, the unions, going to allow that?

Next, there would be massive cuts in expenditures. Are you liberals going to stand for that (other than cuts in military spending of course....)?

Then look at it from the "customer" (citizen) side of things. What business has the right to force everyone to "buy" their product or service? None.

But the government has the right to force everyone to "buy" their product/service via taxes. And if you don't "buy" enough of their product/service, they raise the "price" (taxes) to get more from you.

Finally, a CEO is the *boss*. What he says goes. Is that how you want the country run? Basically, a dictator? Ready to do away with the Congress and the courts?

That's what it would take to run the country like a "business", and that's been the downfall of many successful business people who tried to make the transition into government.

So stop with the Iacocca stuff. Come on, be honest. The only reason he's getting so much play with his spiel is that it says some negative stuff about George Bush, and the libs and the Democrat-Media Complex loves a good BushBash.