Stiffening
The world is stiffening and becoming less flexible. One of my favorite old New Yorker Cartoons shows a Viking pushing up against a tree with the caption, “Even the Vikings had to stretch.” Obviously, what was intended was to take the ruthless and blindly ambitious Viking way of life (thought to be all about pillaging lesser and more sedate communities within their reach) and suggesting that no one can be continuously aggressive without regard to the realities of muscular warmth or ligament limitations. I think it is a much more astute observation about the world than perhaps even the author realized. We assume aggression is continuous and always at full-throttle and it is simply not so. Remaining flexible is key to leadership.
I saw General James Mattis this morning on Morning Joe and I was taken with his simple and clear comment. He said that intelligent leadership consists of continuously training the younger members of the team to take charge and carry on the battle. The comment was to suggest that initiative, ingenuity and consistent effort are only maintained past a short period of time by both training and empowering younger leadership. He said that whether in battle, business or on the playing field, it is an essential element of success and that without it there is nothing more than a cult of momentary glory. He would have said that Vikings not only needed to stretch, but they needed to nurture their young to wage the next advance. The flesh and the focus of the mind cannot be expected to prevail for more than short periods of time. There must be non-personality-driven leadership that systematically creates a culture of success to carry on any regime and its mission for more than brief moments in time.
The way the world has generally handled this reality has been to create dynasties. The thought that one’s children will be like oneself is fallacy and has, over the years, led to more dynastic decline than anything else. To hear Trump suggest he will stay in power forever and that Donald Junior will somehow carry on in his legacy, is nothing short of absurd. It is generally flawed thinking and specifically laughable thinking. It is emblematic of a weak narcissistic mind that one thinks one will not age and suffer diminishing capabilities or that one’s offspring are necessarily the same as them and as driven as them, or at least as driven in the same direction as them.
When I worked at Bear Stearns, the iconic leader of the firm, Ace Greenberg, had many wonderful policies which served this Viking-like investment bank well over its years. He had an anti-nepotism policy that was quite rigid that suggested that the best of executive’s descendants would likely go their own way (as smart, independent people often do) and that the company was most likely to get the descendant dregs. He knew that would not take long to bring about the demise of the firm. The ability to think beyond the moment and anticipate the problems of the future is truly the sign of enlightened long-term leadership.
I take Vikings stretching in the broadest possible manner. Stretching is a euphemism for both making oneself more flexible, but also in accepting one’s limitations. It is very easy as one climbs the mountain to become self-absorbed in one’s own abilities and accomplishments. It is almost a foregone conclusion that it leads to an unrealistic assessment of the sustainability of that effort and success. It is one of the reasons that people say that having a blend of setbacks as well as successes are key to forming a realistic and flexible outlook. Take a fall and recognize your fallibility and you are more aware and capable leader. The secret to that may be the recognition aspect of the process. President Trump is a shitty leader and I attribute it as much to his tactic of never admitting defeat as anything else. He has had as many or more failures as any business leader and yet he is not accepting of those failings and thus cannot get the benefit of their learnings. I once had an employee that took a dramatically bad review and suggested that he would take that as a positive. That could be a good comment if it meant he learned something and would improve, but what is ultimately meant was that he did not acknowledge any of his failings and just carried on. Sound familiar?
Yesterday in London, Boris Johnson got handed a dramatic reprimand by his own conservative party in the House of Commons. He lost an important Brexit-related vote and had enough defections, literally walking across the aisle, to undermine his move to Brexit the EU at all costs and, if needed, without a deal. It will be most interesting to see whether Johnson, with his mop of non-conformist blonde hair, will take this setback to heart and find a more flexible path forward or if he will absorb the loss and do a Trump by doubling down.
The world of geopolitics is stiffening, and it may be getting to the point where the prevalence of older, less-flexible leadership needs to step aside and give the younger, more nimble and creative leaders the ability to take charge of the world. I view Macron and Trudeau in that mold with Merkel having the good sense to step aside while Trump clings to power like a cat on a curtain. It is hard to suggest where Xi stands on this spectrum since dictatorships are inherently less prone to the say-anything, do-anything needs of a regime which must fight continuously for its position. That hardly justifies its existence, but it does make it an outlier that does not fit the definitional mold on the issue of stiffening. One might even say that China is pre-stiffened by design and the only hope for the Chinese people is that its dictatorship will be more benign than not. The Kim Jung Un example portends badly for both dynastic and autocratic forms of leadership. Stiffness does not begin to describe what’s going on in that part of northern Asia.
So, we can probably agree that stiffness is not a desirable trait. In a world that is accelerating in its pace of change, flexibility would seem to be a sine qua non. So why do old Vikings conclude that they are different and that they do not need to stretch? Maybe stretching is too painful. Perhaps it makes the Viking feel less powerful. I suspect the biggest reason is that to be a Viking, one must have a psyche that is devoid of large swaths of conscience and self-awareness. The ability to ignore danger and charge in mindlessly is often mistaken for courage. Real courage is about knowing the risks and putting oneself behind the good of the cause. Few leaders and only the greatest leaders have that innate ability to understand the warning value of the stiffening they feel.
When was the last time you heard a politician say “I was wrong “? I don’t know if it is the same in other governments, but my gut says it probably is. They will say things like ‘I’ve changed my position’ or ‘New information is present’ but will not take personal ownership.
Years ago I read how cell phones have impacted the social environment, something we have all seen, but also was stunting the growth of developing future leaders, decision makers. Where before, when the boss was unreachable, whomever he left in charge had to make the tough decisions when they came up. Now, with the ability to reach out and touch someone, the number two person can defer to the number one with the touch of a button. Why take the risk their selves?
In a seemingly unrelated example, I love the segment of the congressional hearings from the fifties when Joseph Valatchi was testifying. He was asked what his job was and he said he was a ‘button man’. The questioner was at a loss and Valatchi laughed at him like he was an idiot. How could he not know what a button man was? Valatchi explained that, you know a button man, someone who when told, would push the button, get rid of the problem. And in the ‘Godfather’ when Diane Keaton’s character Kay says to Michael Corleone that ‘Presidents and senators don’t have people killed!’ he reply’s ‘Now who’s being naive?’. They’re speaking of lives but it is still dealing with important decisions that had to be made.
Perhaps society has become more acclimated to cell phones and retrenched into cultivating new, younger people who aren’t afraid to make the call. But they are the younger generation and it is why I favor the new political people on the scene. Not only are new ideas needed but those with the guts to stretch themselves and accept the good and bad and adapt without always hiding behind excuses when things go sideways.
Agreed