Leadership 101 For Politicians

Does the day-to-day business of local governance impede broad-based progress? That’s what former Chief of Staff to the Buffalo Common Council, Paul Wolf, recently asked on his blog.

People run for office, because they want to accomplish something. Dealing with garbage totes, parking tickets and barking dogs is probably not what most candidates had in mind, yet most elected officials spend all of their time focusing on solving individual problems. Peter Senge noted author and management consultant, points out that spending all of your time solving problems in the end gets you no where. Problems never go away; they keep coming and coming. Problem solving drains your time and energy, preventing you from focusing on big ideas that can make a difference.

Effective elected officials move beyond problem solving and focus on a vision for the future. What is your vision for your community? What are you passionate about seeing happen in your community? Effective elected officials can answer such questions, as they know what they want to accomplish, they have a vision that is clear and that others can rally behind.

Each year as I draw the curtain behind me in the voting booth, this is the question I ask; Which candidate has a big picture vision? Oftentimes, I am disappointed to find that neither of the major party candidates for office are effectively equipped with the skills to set a vision and work towards implementing it.

Erie County Legislature candidates are usually embroiled in budget minutiae and jumping through the nonsensical political hoops the media sets for them. Will you support take home cars? Cell phones for staff? The small potatoes pablum that fills a ninety second redcoat “On Your Side” news segment with great efficacy. Nary a word about the big picture of county governance, few questions about state mandated service delivery mechanisms and ways to implement vision based programs to reduce cost and accomplish something revolutionary or unique.

The same holds true in Common Council elections. What will my councilmember do to make my particular corner of the world safer, quieter, cleaner? There is very little discussion about citywide planning, changes to stagnant cost structures, or project master plans.

The politicians who have come forward with vision based plans in recent years are few and far between. Joel Giambra trumpeted his vision of regionalism but lacked the political capital (or the good sense to stop wasting it) to implement that vision. Satish Mohan, Mary Travers-Murphy, Steve Walters, and Cindy Locklear rode big idea government vision into office in 2005 only to meet varying levels of opposition from a political establishment who were interested in the maintenance of status quo day-to-day governance. Chris Collins rode to a massive victory in 2007 based on his Six Sigma methodology mantra and we’ve yet to see if he has the will and muscle to implement.

I look around the political landscape and see few local officials who possess the vision to accomplish big things. What is the grand plan and vision put forth by Mayor Byron Brown? Ask your councilmember or legislator what their vision for the town, city, or county is. Are they able to put something together that is more than a loosely organized set of “priorities”?

Possessing vision and leadership skills seems like it ought to be a prerequisite for holding political office, but I fear in this region, it is not.