Driven by Passion, Guided by Wisdom
>> Sunday, May 3, 2015
Ajay Pradhan | February 26, 2011
The looming federal government shutdown in the U.S. sends me down the memory lane, back to the 1995/96 government shutdown in America. The episode taught me a lesson—about passion and wisdom, the two defining characteristics of a successful leader. I think it is a lesson that we, in communities small and large, can benefit from.
I remember the year 1995 vividly. It had already been two years since I had traded the balmy piedmont of North Carolina for the amber flatlands of Indiana.
President Bill Clinton, a Democrat, was in the penultimate year of the first term of his Presidency. Newt Gingrich, a Republican, had become the Speaker earlier in the year, ending 40 years of Democratic majority in the U.S. House of Representatives, touting to the voters the Republican legislative agenda, the Contract with America.
Gingrich and his Republican colleagues vowed to implement the controversial legislative agenda that called for sweeping budget cuts in social programs like Medicare, public health, education, and the environment.
When the Republican-controlled Congress sent the budget bill laced with deep cuts to the social programs to President Clinton, he immediately vetoed it, saying that the cuts would hurt the average Americans.
In retaliation, Gingrich and his fiercely loyal conservative colleagues threatened the President that if he didn’t pass the budget bill, they would shut the federal government down rather than repeal the cuts from the budget.
If that happened, the Republicans warned Clinton, his Presidency and political career would be over.
Republicans expected the President to buckle under their pressure. He didn’t.
Republicans shut the federal government for five days in November 1995 and for three weeks in December 1995 to January 1996. Non-essential services were shut down and non-essential federal government employees were furloughed during the time the government was shut down.
Gingrich and his uncompromising Republican congressional colleagues were driven by passion – passion to cut social spending, in order to keep the corporate taxes low, never mind if it hurt the average Americans. It was a purely conservative ideological agenda.
Interestingly, to the dismay of Gingrich and contrary to his expectation, Clinton’s popularity soared and his own popularity plummeted in the public opinion polls. Public outrage was clearly against Gingrich. The public saw him as an arrogant, uncompromising and bellicose politician.
Clinton, whose popularity had gone down to low levels earlier in the 1994 mid-term congressional elections, regained his popularity—in fact, his popularity went through the roofs—and easily won the second term to his Presidency in the 1996 Presidential election.
Gingrich’s dream faltered, because he was simply driven by passion, but wasn’t guided by wisdom.
For a leader to be successful, it’s not enough for him to be driven by passion. His actions have to be guided by wisdom and his behavior tempered by tolerance and pragmatism.
One can be intelligent and educated, but still be unwise in actions and decisions. One can hold a leadership position, but still may not be able to be a true leader.
The one and only ability that a true leader must have is the ability to convince others to follow him, embrace his ideas. It’s not enough for him to limit his sphere of influence to a limited group of followers. It’s not enough to be a dreamer; one needs to be pragmatic and have the guts to cut across dividing lines.
To convince a diverse group of people with diverse sets of ideas to follow him, he must be open-minded. He must understand that diversity in ideas is not a weakness; it’s strength.
In simple words, he must have a big enough heart to acknowledge and respect ideas that may not necessarily conform to his own.
He must not—not ever, never—out of frustration, dismiss opposing viewpoints; let alone dismiss them with offensive and disparaging remarks, as did Gingrich when he defined Clinton as his adversary that he dreamed of sending into oblivion. In the end, Gingrich earned the label of a most uncompromising, haughty, condescending, arrogant, and dislikeable American politician in the modern history.
A leader that descends to the level of dispensing absurd, indecent, disparaging remarks on those who question his vision must correct his behavior… or step aside.
No matter how genuine his passion is for the causes he believes in, if it is only passion that he has to give, and not wisdom, then he cannot lead.
The cause is not as important as the trust of the people that he is trying to champion the cause for.
It is not enough for a leader to be driven by passion; he must be guided by wisdom.
An uncompromising, narrow-minded Gingrich with a passion for conservative ideology may be able to shut the government down, but that passion is not enough to win the trust of the people and lead them towards his cause.
It’s for each of us to decide, in our own places in little communities and larger society, whether we only want to blindly push for a cause when we are not wiling to let our minds guide our actions.
Note:
This article was published in The Republica (daily broadsheet newspaper published from Kathmandu) on March 16, 2011. The Republica article may have been edited and is copied/pasted below.
| Driven by passion, guided by wisdom | ||
AJAY PRADHAN
I remember the year 1995 vividly. It had already been two years since I had traded the balmy piedmont of North Carolina for the amber flatlands of Indiana. President Bill Clinton, a Democrat, was in the penultimate year of the first term of his Presidency. Newt Gingrich, a Republican, had become the Speaker earlier in the year, ending 40 years of Democratic majority in the US House of Representatives, touting to the voters the Republican legislative agenda, the Contract with America. Gingrich and his Republican colleagues vowed to implement the controversial legislative agenda that called for sweeping budget cuts in social programs like Medicare, public health, education, and the environment. When the Republican-controlled Congress sent the budget bill laced with deep cuts to the social programs to President Clinton, he immediately vetoed it, saying that the cuts would hurt the average Americans. In retaliation, Gingrich and his fiercely loyal conservative colleagues threatened the President that if he didn’t pass the budget bill, they would shut the federal government down rather than repeal the cuts from the budget. If that happened, the Republicans warned Clinton, his Presidency and political career would be over. Republicans expected the President to buckle under their pressure. He didn’t. Republicans shut the federal government for five days in November 1995 and for three weeks in December 1995 to January 1996. Non-essential services were shut down and non-essential federal government employees were furloughed during the time the government was shut down. Gingrich and his uncompromising Republican congressional colleagues were driven by passion – passion to cut social spending, in order to keep the corporate taxes low, never mind if it hurt the average Americans. It was a purely conservative ideological agenda. Interestingly, to the dismay of Gingrich and contrary to his expectation, Clinton’s popularity soared and his own popularity plummeted in the public opinion polls. Public outrage was clearly against Gingrich. The public saw him as an arrogant, uncompromising and bellicose politician. Clinton, whose popularity had gone down to low levels earlier in the 1994 mid-term congressional elections, regained his popularity—in fact, his popularity went through the roofs—and easily won the second term to his Presidency in the 1996 Presidential election. Gingrich’s dream faltered, because he was simply driven by passion, but wasn’t guided by wisdom.
No matter how genuine a leader´s passion is for the causes he believes in, if it is only passion that he has to give, and not wisdom, then he cannot lead. The cause is not as important as the trust of the people that he is trying to champion the cause for.
For a leader to be successful, it’s not enough for him to be driven by passion. His actions have to be guided by wisdom and his behavior tempered by tolerance and pragmatism. One can be intelligent and educated, but still be unwise in actions and decisions. One can hold a leadership position, but still may not be able to be a true leader. The one and only ability that a true leader must have is the ability to convince others to follow him, embrace his ideas. It’s not enough for him to limit his sphere of influence to a limited group of followers. It’s not enough to be a dreamer; one needs to be pragmatic and have the guts to cut across dividing lines. To convince a diverse group of people with diverse sets of ideas to follow him, he must be open-minded. He must understand that diversity in ideas is not a weakness; it’s strength. In simple words, he must have a big enough heart to acknowledge and respect ideas that may not necessarily conform to his own. He must not—not now, not ever—out of frustration or otherwise, dismiss opposing viewpoints; let alone dismiss them with offensive and disparaging remarks, as did Gingrich when he defined Clinton as his adversary that he dreamed of sending into oblivion. In the end, Gingrich earned the label of a most uncompromising, haughty, condescending, arrogant, and dislikeable American politician in the modern history. A leader that descends to level of dispensing absurd, indecent, disparaging remarks on those who question his vision must correct his behavior or step aside. No matter how genuine his passion is for the causes he believes in, if it is only passion that he has to give, and not wisdom, then he cannot lead. The cause is not as important as the trust of the people that he is trying to champion the cause for. An uncompromising, narrow-minded Gingrich with a passion for conservative ideology may be able to shut the government down, but that passion is not enough to win the trust of the people and lead them towards his cause. It’s for each of us to decide, in our own places in little communities and larger society, whether we only want to blindly push for a cause when we are not wiling to let our minds guide our actions. ajayspradhan@gmail.com | ||
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